| Kw始adza | |
|---|---|
| Ngomvia | |
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Region | Mbulu |
| Extinct | 1980s [1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
wka |
| Glottolog |
kwad1248 |
| ELP | Kw'adza |
Kw始adza (Qwadza), or Ngomvia, is an extinct Afroasiatic language formerly spoken in Tanzania in the Mbulu District. The last speaker died sometime between 1976 and 1999. [1]
Classification
Kw始adza is poorly attested, and apart from perhaps being close to Aasax, its classification is not certain. Although it has a large number of identifiably Cushitic roots, the non-Cushitic numerals itame 'one' and be始a ~ mb蓻a 'two' suggest a connection with Hadza, while haka 'four' suggests a connection with Sandawe. It is possible that Kw始adza borrowed e.g. 'four' from Sandawe, but also that it was a non-Cushitic language whose speakers were undergoing language shift to Cushitic when it was recorded.[ citation needed]
Phonology
The phonology is not certain, but the following has been suggested (Ehret 1980):
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar |
Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labial | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | 刹 | 艐 | |||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | k史 | 蕯 | |||
| voiced | b | d | 伞 | 伞史 | |||||
| Affricate | dz | ||||||||
| Ejective | ts始 | t涩始 | t蕛始 | k始 | k始史 | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | 涩 | x | x史 | h | |||
| Approximant | 尾虨 | l | j | ||||||
/伞/ and /l/ have the allophones [d蕭] and [山] before front vowels. /t蕛始/ is 'mildly' ejective. Ehret reports that /k始/ and /k始史/ are voiced [伞, 伞史] if a preceding consonant is voiced.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
Notes
- ^
a
b
Kw始adza at
Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
References
- Christopher Ehret, 1980. "Kw始adza vocabulary". ms.
| Kw始adza | |
|---|---|
| Ngomvia | |
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Region | Mbulu |
| Extinct | 1980s [1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
wka |
| Glottolog |
kwad1248 |
| ELP | Kw'adza |
Kw始adza (Qwadza), or Ngomvia, is an extinct Afroasiatic language formerly spoken in Tanzania in the Mbulu District. The last speaker died sometime between 1976 and 1999. [1]
Classification
Kw始adza is poorly attested, and apart from perhaps being close to Aasax, its classification is not certain. Although it has a large number of identifiably Cushitic roots, the non-Cushitic numerals itame 'one' and be始a ~ mb蓻a 'two' suggest a connection with Hadza, while haka 'four' suggests a connection with Sandawe. It is possible that Kw始adza borrowed e.g. 'four' from Sandawe, but also that it was a non-Cushitic language whose speakers were undergoing language shift to Cushitic when it was recorded.[ citation needed]
Phonology
The phonology is not certain, but the following has been suggested (Ehret 1980):
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar |
Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labial | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | 刹 | 艐 | |||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | k史 | 蕯 | |||
| voiced | b | d | 伞 | 伞史 | |||||
| Affricate | dz | ||||||||
| Ejective | ts始 | t涩始 | t蕛始 | k始 | k始史 | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | 涩 | x | x史 | h | |||
| Approximant | 尾虨 | l | j | ||||||
/伞/ and /l/ have the allophones [d蕭] and [山] before front vowels. /t蕛始/ is 'mildly' ejective. Ehret reports that /k始/ and /k始史/ are voiced [伞, 伞史] if a preceding consonant is voiced.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
Notes
- ^
a
b
Kw始adza at
Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
References
- Christopher Ehret, 1980. "Kw始adza vocabulary". ms.