A Unity Hypothesis For The Southern African Khoesan Languages - Menan du Plesis

2009·12.8 MB·English

by  du Plessis, Menan

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The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No
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quotation from it or information derived from it is to be

published without full acknowledgeement of the source.
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The thesis is to be used for private study or non-
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commercial research purposes only.

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Published by the Universit y of Cape Town (UCT) in terms
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of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author.
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A UNITY HYPOTHESIS

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FOR THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN KHOESAN LANGUAGES.
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A doctoral thesis submitted by Menan du Plessis,

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candidate for the degree, PhD in Linguistics.
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August 2009.
Rondebosch.
A UNITY HYPOTHESIS FOR THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN KHOESAN
LANGUAGES. Abstract.
The study demonstrates for the first time the probable genetic unity of the KHOE, JU and
!U J -T AA groups of southern African Khoesan, by means of the first full-scale application of
a conventional comparative approach.
It is shown in the first stage that there are repeated cross-SAK resemblances in the
morphology of those verbs most frequently enlisted for grammatical purposes in the context
of multi-verb constructions; and that these languages furthermore display multiple
similarities 'horizontally' across their specifier systems. where the resembnlances are often
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also visible 'vertically', i.e. down the lists of possible exponents. These structural affinities
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are sufficiently thoroughgoing to warrant a working surmise that the SAK languages might
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be genetically related.

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In the second stage, cross-SAK comparative materiaal from various sources is presented in the
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form of arrays. The tabulations reveal a range of repeating alternations involving the basic

positional click types, with some associatedf patternings of the possible click
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'accompaniments'. The fact that the a lternations are iterated and do not necessarily involve
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identities makes it more likely, when combined with the weight of the structural evidence,
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that the items in the comparative series are inherited than borrowed.
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Lastly, preliminary suggestions are made concerning a proto-inventory for the hypothetical
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ancestral language, as well as the probable shape of a basic stem pattern: and mechanisms
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are sketched whereby some of the presently seen clicks could have emerged from
conventional non-click underliers. The model has considerable explanatory potential, in that
it provides a natural explanation for the Back Vowel Constraint, and can moreover account
economically not only for the emergence of clicks from a simple inventory of conventional
underliers - as well as some of the alternation patterns they participate in - but also for some
of the click accompaniments and the patterns of 'quirky' alternations these display in
comparative series.
Menan du Plessis. August 2009.
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CONTENTS.
Acknowledgements.
Abbreviations used in the text.
A note on the Bantu languages referred to in the text.
A note on the fonts usedfor the phonetic symbols.
Summary oft he work.
INTRODUCTORY.
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CHAPTER 1. Introduction.
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1.2. Briefpreliminary overview of the southern Mrican Khoesan languages.

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I. 3. Selected relevant characteristics of the SAK languages, with particular focus on the
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conventions used to represent them. a
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I.4. Sources of the comparative data used in the study.

1.5. The narrow perspective: points of diffference between KHOE and the remaining SAK
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languages.
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L 6. The wider perspective: properties the SAK languages have in common not only with
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each other but with other languages of the continent.
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CHAPTER II. Methodology, and a few other preliminaries.
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II. 1. The classical method of demonstrating language relatedness.
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II.2. Anticipating the potential counter-hypothesis that structural affinities may be
attributable to areal diffusion.
IL2.i. Introduction.
II.2.ii. The fact of borrowing.
II.2.iii. The problem of testing scenarios of areal diffusion as explanatory
hypotheses.
II.2.iv. The inadmissability of non-linguistic evidence.
II.2.v. Examining linguistic evidence that might be considered sufficient to support
a premise of absolute prior difference behveen KHOE and the other SAK languages.
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CHAPTER III. Literature survey, Pts 1 and 2.
Chapter III. Pt 1: 'Splitters': Linguistic arguments previously raised to support a premise of
absolute prior difference between KHOE and the other SAK languages.
III.l.l. The notion of a 'SAK-internal split'.
III.l.l.i. Differences in preferred sequencing of constituents.
III.l.l.ii. Differences in the morphology of the pronominal forms.
III.l.l.iii. Differences in the overall configuration of the pronominal paradigms.
III.l.l.iv. Differences in the systems of nominal subcategorization (i.e. semantic
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IILl.2. Various early and contemporary versions of a 'northern link' hypothesis.
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III.l.2.i. Reasons for excluding Kwadi from the ambit of the present study.

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Chapter III. Pt 2: 'Lumpers': Previous comparativae work on the SAK languages, and related
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studies.

III.2.1. Introduction. f
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III.2.2. Traill's presentation (1 986b) o f potentially cognate lexical items with cross-SAK
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III. 2.3. Honken's study (1998) of 'Sound correspondence patterns in Khoisan languages'.
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III.2A. Traill and Vossen'es theory (1997) of click shift leading to loss.
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III.Pt 2A.i. Consequences of accepting the implications ofTraill and Vossen's
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model: Vossen's inventory of segments for proto-KHOE
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STAGE 1: ESTABLISHING THE BASIS FOR THE WORKING HYPOTHESIS.
CHAPTER IV. Cross-SAK similarities involving multi- and serial verb constructions (or
their grarnmaticalized outcomes).
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Introduction.
IY.2. The typology of serial verb constructions.
IY.3. Multi-verb constructions.
IVA. Aspects of multi-verb constructions in JU and !UI-TAA languages.
IV.5. Aspects of the verb phrase and the compound verb in representative KHOE languages.
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Main Tables for Chapter IV: Showing cross-SAK similarities in the morphological
substance of verbs commonly enlisted for use in multi-verb constructions.
CHAPTER V Cross-SAK similarities in the subsystems of specifiers.
V 1. Introduction.
V2 .. Differences in the ordering of specifiers as constituents of the noun phrase:
V2.i. Post-nominal ordering of specifiers in JU and !UI-TAA languages:
V2.ii. The pre-nominal ordering of specifiers in KHOE languages.
V.3. Differences in the kinds of construction associated with specifiers.
V3.i. Preliminary comments on the verb-like character of descriptive stems in
some Khoesan languages.
V3.ii. Kinds of construction associated with specifiers in JU and !nUI-TAA
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languages.
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V3.iii. Kinds of construction associated with specifiers in KHOE languages.
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V.4. Functions of specifiers not directly treated in the course of discussion above.

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V.4.i. Use of demonstrative specifiers for purposes of 'discourse deixis'.
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V.4.ii. Particularity of reference: the role of aspecifiers - and other grammatical
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morphemes - in delineating aspects of singleness, uniqueness and identity.

VS. Conclusion. f
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Main Tables for Chapter V: Showting cross-SAK similarities in the sub-systems of
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specifiers.
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Conclusion to the overall section on cross-SAK structural affinities.
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STAGE II: CORROBORATING THE WORKING HYPOTHESIS.
CHAPTER VI. Presentation of alternation patterns, and discussion of their implications for
eventual reconstruction.
VI. 1. Introduction.
VI.2 Discussion notes on the pattern types, involving regularly patterned relationships
between 'accompaniments' (Tables [VI]20-2S); between the positional click types (Tables
[VI]1-14); and between non-click initials and positional click types (Tables [VI]1S-19).
Main Comparative Tables [VI]I-2S.
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APPENDIX. Preliminary notes towards the reconstruction of the SAK ancestral language.
APP .1. Introduction.
APP.2 .. A suggested basic stem pattern. (Preliminary version.)
APP.3. A model of click emergence.
APP.3.i. A Kwanyama-like process of Alveolar Realization.
APP.3.ii. A Karanga-like process of Labiovelarization.
APP.3.iii. A Sotho-Tswana-like process of Alveolar Stopping.
APPJ.iv. Further discussion of the model of click emergence.
APPA. Projection of a sample underlier for selected positional types of click
APPA.i. A non-click underlier for the lateral alveolar click.
APP.5. Further consideration of some of the click characterizations.
APP.6. Concluding remarks. n
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REFERENCES ..
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Acknowledgements.
I am very grateful to Rajend Mesthrie from the University of Cape TO\\>11 for his great
kindness in allowing me to re-register after an absence of many years, in order to resume my
doctoral studies in Linguistics; and I am immeasurably grateful to my former Professor,
Roger Lass, not only for his unfailing personal faith in me, but for having provided me -
through the example of his 0\\>11 scholarly work -with my constant academic guidelight.
In addition I am deeply indebted to Mike Besten from the University of the Free State for his
kindly support and unflagging personal interest, and for making it possible for me not only to
attend the landmark Khoesan Convention in April 2008, but also to particnipate in fieldwork
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alongside the infinitely patient Levi Namaseb from the University of Namibia.
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I benefited greatly from the seminar series given by Tom GUldemann at the University of

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Cape Town in 2006: and it gave me great pleasure to spend time in the company of Bonny
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Sands and Amanda Miller when they too visited Capae TO\\>11. I am particularly grateful to
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Bonny Sands for her continuing generosity of spirit in sharing publications, references and

any other information she comes across, buft perhaps above all for her willingness at any time
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to act as a reader. tough critic and teach er.
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It has made a great difference to my circumstances to have been the beneficiary of financial
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support, from the National Research Foundation in particular. I am also most grateful to
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Mike Besten, whose supportiveness has extended to facilitating top-up funding on my behalf,
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sourced from the Norwegian Research Council. I am grateful also to Rajend Mesthrie for
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arranging financial support from the NRF for the final part of my studies. Lastly, I have been
very honoured indeed to be the recipient of a Lestrade Scho laship for the last two years.
In the end, though, I could never have completed this work without the unswerving and loyal
support of my two beloved daughters and my boundlessly tolerant husband.
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Abbroeviations used in the text.
AI alienable
Applic applicative
Assocpl associative plural
BEN benefactive
Caus causative
Cl. noun class (in the context of Bantu glosses). Numbers after this
symbol indicate the specific class as per the Bleek-Meinhof system.
DEMprox demonstrative pronoun (proximal)
Ext (verb) extension (verb) extension n
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Fern feminine
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Fut future
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Impfv imperfective
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Inal inalienable
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Instr instrumental a
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IRR irrealis

NEGimp negative imperative f
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PASS passIve
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PEK Proto-Eastertn Kalahari KHOR (= Vossen's 'Proto-Ost-Khoe')
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Perf perfect
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PK Proto-KHOE
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PKK Proto-Khoekhoe KHOE
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PKalK Proto-Kalahari KHOE (= Vossen's 'Proto-Nicht-Khoekhoe')
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PI plural
PI Redupl plural (reduplicated)
PossPRO possessIve pronoun
POT potential
PRO pronoun
PROI stplExcl Pronoun (Ist person plural- exclusive)
PR03rdlsg Pronoun (third person gender I singular)
PWK Proto-Western Kalahari KHOE (= Vossen's 'Proto-West-Khoe')
RelPROIsg relative pronoun (gender I singular)
ResumPROlsg resurnptive pronoun (gender I singular)
Recip reciprocal
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Subjunct subjunctive
SupplPI suppletive plural
TA morpheme expressive oftense or aspect
V verb
1s tsg First person singular
3rdmsg third person masculine singular
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