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Interjections in Tjwao

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2020

Alexander Andrason ,
Anne-Maria Fehn  and
Admire Phiri
Alexander Andrason*
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch University
Anne-Maria Fehn*
Affiliation:
CIBIO-InBIO, Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources in Vairão
Admire Phiri*
Affiliation:
Stellenbosch University
*
andrason@sun.ac.za
afehn@cibio.up.pt
phiriadmire1@gmail.com
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Abstract

The present paper provides a systematic description of interjections in a moribund Eastern Kalahari Khoe language – Tjwao. After analysing original evidence within a prototype-driven approach, the authors conclude the following: (a) in Tjwao, the interjectional lexical class constitutes an internally diverse category confined between the canonical centre and a non-prototypical periphery; and (b) primary emotive interjections exhibit the highest degree of canonicity and extra-systematicity, while the canonicity and extra-systematicity of secondary phatic interjections is lowest.

Keywords

Khoe-KwadiTjwaoInterjectionsPrototypeRadial categories
Type
Article
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 293 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London, 2020

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Footnotes

The present paper has been developed within the research project “The other grammar of Eastern Kalahari Khoe – the documentation and analysis of interjections, onomatopoeias, and ideophones in Tjwao” (2019–2021) funded by the Khoisan Fund of the Department of African Languages at Stellenbosch University. Anne-Maria Fehn was funded through the contract CEECIND/02765/2017; her work on Tjwao was supported by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors (COMPETE) and by Portuguese National Funds through FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) under PTDC/BIA-EVF/2907/2012, FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-028341, and PTDC/BIA-GEN/29273/2017. We would like to dedicate this article to the memory of the late Msindo Best Moyo, one of our most dedicated informants. His recent passing is an irreparable loss for the Tjwa community and language.

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