Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing
Lexical borrowing may provide valuable clues about the sociohistorical context of language contact. Here we explore patterns of vocabulary transfer between languages from three families (Kx’a, Tuu, Khoe-Kwadi) comprising the linguistic unit commonly referred to as Southern African Khoisan. In our da...
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Cambridge University Press
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X25100145/type/journal_article |
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| author | Anne-Maria Fehn Bonny E. Sands Admire Phiri Maitseo Bolaane Gaseitsiwe Masunga Ezequiel Fabiano Jorge Rocha |
| author_facet | Anne-Maria Fehn Bonny E. Sands Admire Phiri Maitseo Bolaane Gaseitsiwe Masunga Ezequiel Fabiano Jorge Rocha |
| author_sort | Anne-Maria Fehn |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lexical borrowing may provide valuable clues about the sociohistorical context of language contact. Here we explore patterns of vocabulary transfer between languages from three families (Kx’a, Tuu, Khoe-Kwadi) comprising the linguistic unit commonly referred to as Southern African Khoisan. In our data set, 20% of 1,706 roots are shared between at least two families. By applying a carefully chosen set of linguistic and extralinguistic criteria, we were able to trace the origin of 71% of shared roots, with the remaining 29% constituting good candidates for ancient contact or shared common ancestry of the forager families Kx’a and Tuu. More than half of the shared roots for which an origin could be determined trace back to Khoe-Kwadi and were borrowed into languages of other families within two major confluence zones with different sociohistorical profiles: (i) the Central Kalahari characterized by egalitarian interaction between languages of all three families and (ii) the southern and south-western Kalahari Basin fringes showing unilateral transfer from Khoe-Kwadi-speaking herders into resident forager groups. The findings of this study complement genetic and archaeological research on southern Africa and testify to the value of linguistics in the multidisciplinary inference of contact and migration scenarios. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-828b847ac6b84f6ba4637be44f3ee45a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2513-843X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
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| series | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-828b847ac6b84f6ba4637be44f3ee45a2025-08-26T06:55:08ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2025-01-01710.1017/ehs.2025.10014Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowingAnne-Maria Fehn0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2006-6552Bonny E. Sands1Admire Phiri2Maitseo Bolaane3Gaseitsiwe Masunga4Ezequiel Fabiano5Jorge Rocha6CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, PortugalDepartment of English, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USACIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal Department of Linguistics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South AfricaSan Research Centre, University of Botswana, Gaborone, BotswanaOkavango Research Institute, University of Botswana, Maun, BotswanaCIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal University of Namibia, Windhoek, NamibiaCIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal Biopolis Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, Vairão, Portugal Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto, PortugalLexical borrowing may provide valuable clues about the sociohistorical context of language contact. Here we explore patterns of vocabulary transfer between languages from three families (Kx’a, Tuu, Khoe-Kwadi) comprising the linguistic unit commonly referred to as Southern African Khoisan. In our data set, 20% of 1,706 roots are shared between at least two families. By applying a carefully chosen set of linguistic and extralinguistic criteria, we were able to trace the origin of 71% of shared roots, with the remaining 29% constituting good candidates for ancient contact or shared common ancestry of the forager families Kx’a and Tuu. More than half of the shared roots for which an origin could be determined trace back to Khoe-Kwadi and were borrowed into languages of other families within two major confluence zones with different sociohistorical profiles: (i) the Central Kalahari characterized by egalitarian interaction between languages of all three families and (ii) the southern and south-western Kalahari Basin fringes showing unilateral transfer from Khoe-Kwadi-speaking herders into resident forager groups. The findings of this study complement genetic and archaeological research on southern Africa and testify to the value of linguistics in the multidisciplinary inference of contact and migration scenarios.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X25100145/type/journal_articleSouthern African prehistorySouthern African Khoisanevolutionary linguisticsquantitative linguisticslexical borrowinglanguage contact |
| spellingShingle | Anne-Maria Fehn Bonny E. Sands Admire Phiri Maitseo Bolaane Gaseitsiwe Masunga Ezequiel Fabiano Jorge Rocha Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing Evolutionary Human Sciences Southern African prehistory Southern African Khoisan evolutionary linguistics quantitative linguistics lexical borrowing language contact |
| title | Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing |
| title_full | Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing |
| title_fullStr | Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing |
| title_short | Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing |
| title_sort | tracing contact and migration in pre bantu southern africa through lexical borrowing |
| topic | Southern African prehistory Southern African Khoisan evolutionary linguistics quantitative linguistics lexical borrowing language contact |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X25100145/type/journal_article |
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