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Xhosa (/ ˈ k ɔː s ə / KAW-sə or / ˈ k oʊ s ə / KOH-sə, [5] [6] [7] Xhosa: [ᵏǁʰôːsa] ⓘ), formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its local name isiXhosa, is a Nguni language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. [8]
Apart from Dahalo, Damin and many of the Bantu languages (Yeyi and Xhosa being exceptions), 'click' languages have glottalized nasal clicks. Contour clicks are restricted to southern Africa, but are very common there: they are found in all members of the Tuu, Kxʼa and Khoe families, as well as in the Bantu language Yeyi.
All click types (alveolar ǃ, dental ǀ, lateral ǁ, palatal ǂ, retroflex ‼, and labial ʘ) have glottalized variants. They are very common: All of the Khoisan languages of Africa have them (the Khoe, Tuu, and Kx'a language families, Sandawe, and Hadza), as does Dahalo and the Bantu languages Yeyi and Xhosa (though Zulu does not). [1]
Of these languages, Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele and Yeyi have intricate systems of click consonants; the others, despite the click in the name Gciriku, more rudimentary ones. There is also the South Cushitic language Dahalo in Kenya , which has dental clicks in a few score words, and an extinct and presumably artificial Australian ritual language ...
The voiced-click letters are more individuated, a couple were simply inverted versions of the tenuis-click letters. The tenuis–voiced pairs were dental ʇ ɣ (the letter ɣ had not yet been added to the IPA for the voiced velar fricative ), alveolar ʗ 𝒬 , retroflex ψ ⫛ , [ 26 ] palatal ↆ ꙟ (or 🡣 🡡 ) and lateral ʖ ➿︎ .
Nasal clicks are click consonants pronounced with nasal airflow.All click types (alveolar ǃ, dental ǀ, lateral ǁ, palatal ǂ, retroflex ‼, and labial ʘ) have nasal variants, and these are attested in four or five phonations: voiced, voiceless, aspirated, murmured (breathy voiced), and—in the analysis of Miller (2011)—glottalized.
In the western world it is mainly known as The Click Song. The Xhosa title literally means "knock-knock beetle", which is a popular name for various species of darkling beetles that make a distinctive knocking sound by tapping their abdomens on the ground. These beetles are believed by the Xhosa to bring good luck and rain.
The languages of this category have click consonants in their regular vocabulary. Subcategories This category has the following 8 subcategories, out of 8 total.