Kgalagadi language

Kgalagadi
Kalahari
SheKgalagadi
Native to	Botswana
Ethnicity	Kgalagadi
Native speakers	65,400 (2015)
Language family	Niger-Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Sotho–Tswana Kgalagadi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xkv
Glottolog	kgal1244
Guthrie code	S.311 (ex-S.31d)
ELP
Linguasphere	incl. varieties 99-AUT-eha to 99-AUT-ehc 99-AUT-eh incl. varieties 99-AUT-eha to 99-AUT-ehc

Kgalagadi is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana, along the South African border. It is spoken by about 40,000 people. In the language, it is known as Shekgalagari.

Classification

Kgalagadi (also rendered Kgalagari, Kgalagarhi, Kgalagari, Khalagari, Khalakadi, Kxhalaxadi, Qhalaxarzi, Shekgalagadi, Shekgalagari, Kqalaqadi) is most closely related to Tswana, and until recently was classified as a dialect of Tswana.

Dialects include Shengologa, Sheshaga, Shebolaongwe, Shelala, Shekhena, Sheritjhauba and Shekgwatheng.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e ~ ɪ		o ~ ʊ
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

• Close-mid vowels /e, o/ are frequently heard as near-close sounds [ɪ, ʊ] among speakers in free variation.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar	Uvular	Glottal
				plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪					c	cʷ	k	q
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ					cʰ	cʰʷ	kʰ	qʰ
	voiced	b	d̪					ɟ		g
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ
	aspirated			t͡sʰ	t͡sʰʷ	t͡ʃʰ	t͡ʃʰʷ
	voiced			(d͡z)		d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless			s		ʃ	ʃʷ				χ	h
	voiced			z		ʒ	ʒʷ					(ɦ)
Nasal		m	(n̪)	n				ɲ		ŋ
Trill				r
Approximant				l				j		w

• Click sounds /ʘ, ǀ, ǀŋ, ǃŋ/ are also said to occur, but mostly in rare cases.
• A voiceless trill [r̥] may also occur phonemically among dialects, and may also be pronounced as breathy [r̤] in intervocalic positions.
• /r/ may also be heard as a flap [ɾ].
• /n/ may also be heard as [n̪] in free variation, or when preceding dental stops.
• /qʰ/ may also be heard as [q͡χʰ] in free variation.
• Lateral affricates [t͡ɬ, t͡ɬʰ] may occur from loanwords.
• Sounds /z, ʒ/ can be pronounced in free variation as affricates [d͡z, d͡ʒ] in the Bolaongwe dialect.
• /h/ can be heard as voiced [ɦ] when in intervocalic positions.