INTRODUCTION

Outcomes By the end of this lesson, you should be able: • To know and understand the history of the and its speakers. • To pronounce vowels, clicks and sounds which are not common in English and .

Historical background

Xhosa is one of the indigenous languages of South . It belongs to the Nguni

Group of languages with Zulu, Ndebele and Swati. Xhosa is the second most spoken language after Zulu in . It is one of the 11 official languages of

South Africa and is spoken in 5 of the 9 provinces of South Africa (,

Western Cape, , and ). In the , where it is legislated by the Western Cape Languages Act that Xhosa should be actively used as an official language, it is actively used by the Provincial

Government.

Xhosa was first recorded by the missionaris early in 1820 in the Eastern Cape. The

Xhosa variety recognized as the standard variety is spoken by the Amarharhabe.

The missionaries were stationed in this area, which is why this variety was recorded, as the Xhosa standard variety. Though strongly argued against by some scholars and researchers, it is believed that the name Xhosa comes from the word meaning angry men. It is believed that other Xhosa clicks also come from the

Khoisani. intermingled with the Khoisan in the Eastern Cape, especially in the coastal areas.

Pronunciation Vowels Xhosa vowels are pronounced as follows: Vowel Pronunciation Examples aaa as in aaa in aaarma amanzi (water) eee as aiaiai in aiaiairai ipete (pip, fruit seed) iii as i in iiinki i-inki (ink) ooo as o in doooooooor imoto (motor car) uuu as oo in oooooozeoo umntwana (child)

Clicks

Click Example Pronunciation ccc cela (ask for) This click is produced by pressing the front of the tongue where the front palate and the front teeth meet.

XXX uxolo This is produced by sucking the side of the tongue to the side teeth and palate and pulling it away quickly.

QQQ qala (start) This is produced by sucking the front of the tongue to the front of the palate and pulling it away rapidly to produce a popping sound.

Clicks have a number of variants. Here are some examplesexamples:::: xxx xxxokax tell lies gxgxgx gxgxgxotha gx dismiss xhxhxh XhXhXhosa Xh Xhosa

ccc cccula sing gcgcgc gcgcgcisa gc stingy chchch chchchitha spill

qqq qqqonda understand gqgqgq gqgqgqibile gq finished qhqhqh qhqhqhuba qh drive

More practice

Eli cici lincinci This earring is small Ucikicane uyangcangcazela The small finger is trembling Uxam uyaxhentsa The monitor lizard is dancing Inxanxadi lixabene negxiya The butcher bird has quarrelled with the tick bird AmaXhosa axoxa ingxelo kaNxele The Xhosa people are discussing Nxele’s report Iqaqa liyaqhaqhazela The polecat is shivering Iqaqa laqhawuk’ uqhoqhoqho The polecat has broken its windpipe Beqhumisa iinqawa bangqengqa kuqaqaqa Lighting their pipes and lounging on the couch grass

Sounds not common in other languages

Note that once an -h- is with another consonant, that combination is pronounced as an explosive sound, i.e. articulated by explosion of breath. Can you explain the difference between the ways these sounds are formed?

Implosive sounds Explosive sounds bbb beka = put bhbhbh bhala = write like of boo ppp pela = spell phphph pheka = cook like p of Afrikaans pap like p of pack ttt tofa = inject (medical) ththth thatha = take like t of Afrikaans tot like t of take rrr ilori = lorry rhrhrh rhola = take out like r of lorry, rat like g of Afrikaans gogga kkk ikati = cat khkhkh khetha = choose/prefer like k of Afrikaans kat like c of coo

Double Double consonants are slightly more difficult, see the following examples below. Dl dlala play Hl hlala stay/live Nd ndi I Ng ngena come in Ty ukutya food Tyh tyhila uncover Rh irhorho an insect

The hl is created by placing the tip of the tongue on the roof of the mouth just behind the teeth and breath. The sound dldldl is created in the same way as the hlhlhl sound, except that it requires more resonance. The sound ndndnd is created by putting the two sounds together and not pausing between them. Begin by just pronouncing the ddd,d otherwise you will not really hear nnn since it is a e.g. ndiya could sound like IndiaIndia....