Prehistoric language contact in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier area: Khoisan influence on southwestern Bantu languages

• Published in: Journal of African languages and linguistics 2015-12, Vol.36 (2), p.193-232
• Main Authors: Gunnink, Hilde, Sands, Bonny, Pakendorf, Brigitte, Bostoen, Koen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bantu; Humanities and Social Sciences; identity; Khoisan; language contact; language shift; Linguistics
• ISSN: 0167-6164; 1613-3811
• DOI: 10.1515/jall-2015-0009

In this article, we show that the influence of Khoisan languages on five southwestern Bantu click languages spoken in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier area is diverse and complex. These Bantu languages acquired clicks through contact with both Khwe and Ju languages. However, they did not simply copy these Khoisan clicks words. They adapted them phonologically, resulting in a reduction of the click inventory and also integrated them into Bantu morphosyntax through the unusual process of paralexification. What is more, clicks do not only occur in words of Khoisan origin, but also spread to native vocabulary as a language-internal change, among other things through sound symbolism. Finally, calques and head-final nominal compounds in a number of these Bantu languages point to structural influence, most likely from Khwe. We argue that the contact-induced changes observed in the southwestern Bantu languages can be partly accounted for by the language shift of native Khoisan speakers who imposed certain features from their native language on the Bantu language they acquired. In addition, Bantu speakers may have used clicks and other Khoisan-derived elements as an emblem for marking a separate identity, as they were not only maintained, but extended to native structures as well.