Studies in African Linguistics
Volume 25, Number 2, Fall 1996
THE PHONETIC STRUCTURES OF HADZA *
Bonny Sands* , Ian Maddieson, and Peter Ladefoged
University of California, Los Angeles
Hadza is one of three East African languages with clicks. Previous field repons on
this language have disagreed on several of its phonetic chanacteristics, including the
number and nature of the clicks. This paper-based on acoustic and aniculatory
analyses of data collected in recent fieldwork-presents a more detailed picture than
any previous work. Special attention is given to the aniculation of the click types
and the acoustic features of the click accompaniments, the role of aspiration in
distinguishing classes of consonants, and the fonnant structure of vowels.
1. Introduction
Hadza is a language of uncertain genetic affiliation spoken in the neighborhood of
Lake Eyasi in north-central Tanzania by approximately 800 people. Among its
many interesting characteristics is its rich consonant inventory, including clicks,
ejective stops and affricates, and lateral fricatives and affricates. Along with
Sandawe and Dahalo, it is one of only three languages spoken outside southern
Africa to have clicks. In this paper, we will present a description of the basic
phonetic characteristics of the language, including results based on instrumental
* We are grateful to all the Hadza speakers who assisted us and shared their linguistic knowledge
with us, most especially Gudo Mahiya. We would also like to express appreciation to the
Tanzanian Commission on Science and Technology for their approval and encouragement for our
research. Professor Hennan Batibo, fonnerly of the Depanment of Foreign Languages and
Linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam, and the director of the Language and Culture
Survey Project of Tanzania has been a truly valued colleague of ours. We appreciate his help in
preparations and logistics; and are grateful for his commitment to field studies of Tanzanian
languages. We also owe a great debt to Professor Nicholas Blunon-Jones of UCLA for helping us
plan our trip and accompanying us to Mangola. He and Jeannette Hanby and David Bygott assisted
us by sponsoring our introduction to their friends among the Hadza and helped in many other
practical matters. At UCLA, we are grateful to SiniSa Spajic for help in editing the digitized video
images and analyzing the data, and to Stephan Schutze-Coburn for his assistance with the VOT
measurements. This work was supponed by NSF Grant BNS 9107004.
+Currently at Linguistics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
172
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
articulatory fieldwork and on acoustic analysis of field recordings. The sound
system of Hadza has been described previously in several studies, notably Tucker,
Bryan, and Woodburn [1977) and de Voogt [1992], but there are discrepancies
between the phonetic inventories reported by different researchers. In the notes
and analyses resulting from the considerable amount of fieldwork carried out by
a number of researchers [Obst 1912, Dempwolff 1916-17, Bleek 1931, 1956,
Berger 1943, Tucker, Bryan, and Woodburn 1977, Elderkin 1982, 1983, de
Voogt 1992, Wagner forthcoming] there are also differences on such matters as
the occurrence of aspiration, the distribution of nasalization and the qualities of
the vowels. We hope to clarify these disagreements by providing careful phonetic
observations based on a number of speakers, supported by our instrumental
analyses. In addition to enhancing our knowledge of this particular language, a
description of Hadza is important for the insights it provides into the overall
characteristics of typologically rare sounds, such as clicks. More generally, basic
phonetic descriptions of any language are relevant for the study of crosslinguistic universals.
A better understanding of the phonetic structure of Hadza may also assist in
clarifying its relationships with other languages. Relying on the structure of the
phonological inventory and a small number of plausible lexical and morphological similarities, some researchers have classified Hadza among the Khoisan
language [Bleek 1931, Greenberg 1966, Ehret 1986], while others maintain that it
is a language isolate [Woodburn 1962, Elderkin 1983] or that it cannot be
classified on the basis of present knowledge [Sands, to appear 1997]. A better
understanding of the linguistic structure of Hadza can assist in understanding the
nature of similarities to other languages, and aid in determining whether they are
indicative of historical relationship or not.
This study is based on field observations and transcriptions and instrumental
analyses. Field work was carried out in Mangola, Mbulu District, Tanzania, in
August 1991 by all three authors. All of the consultants for this study resided in
the Mangola area and speak a uniform dialect. Speakers in some areas are
considered to be more strongly influenced by Isanzu or Sukuma, both neighboring Bantu languages. The differences between dialects are primarily in the
lexicon and not in the sound system, and will not be discussed here. Two male
speakers served as primary consultants for the preparation of an extensive wordlist designed to illustrate all the salient segmental phonetic phenomena of the
language. Subsequently, a group of seven speakers, four women and three men
ranging in age from early 20's to early 50's, were tape-recorded saying the more
selective list of words which is provided as an Appendix to this paper. The audio
recording was made in a somewhat reverberant indoor setting in order to avoid
substantial outdoor wind noise, but is generally of very good quality despite these
difficulties. All the acoustic analyses reported below were conducted on words in
this recording. Articulatory characteristics of clicks and lateral affricates were
documented by palatograms and linguograrns provided by the two primary
The phonetic structures of Hadza
173
speakers. Palatal casts were also made to assist in interpreting the palatographic
and linguographic data. The first author returned to Mangola for further
fieldwork from January to June 1992. The analyses reported here are based on
the material obtained during the first field trip, supplemented by observations of
some additional words noted during the second period of fieldwork.
2. Consonants
An overview of the inventory of distinctive consonants of Hadza is provided by
the chart in Table 1. In this table, and in all subsequent citations of Hadza data,
the transcription follows the current practice of the IP A.
Table 1. Hadza Consonants
Bilabial
Labiodental Dental
th t
ph p b
Plosive
Ejective
PalatoAlveolar alveolar /
Palatal
kh k
d
p')
kl
k'w
k!
kll
Lat. Oral Click
n
m
I)!'
I)!
Prenas. Plosive mph mb
nth
nd
Prenas. Affricate
nts ndz
Cen. Affricate
15
Nas. Cen. Click
1)1'
1)1
Nas. Lat. Click
dz
I)
J1
1)11'
I)w
I)~
I)kh
I)g
nd3
tJ
d3
t5
Lat. Affricate
tI'
ts'
Ejec. Cen. Affr.
t5'
Ejec. Lat. Affr.
Ceo. Fricative
Glottal
9 k hw kW gW ?
k'
Cen. Oral Click
Nasal
Labialized
Velar
Velar
f
Lat. Fricative
J
s
i
j
Cen. Approx.
Lat. Approx.
(Cen. = central, Lat. = lateral, Nas.
Affr. = affricate)
w
fi
1
=nasalized. Prenas. = prenasalized, Ejec. = ejective,
174
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
As Table I shows, consonants occur at seven places of articulation but the
number of place contrasts differs depending on the manner of articulation. There
are three contrasting places among plain plosives: bilabial, alveolar, and velar.
Nasals and prenasalized stops occur at these three places, and there is in addition a
palatal nasal. On the other hand, there are only two places for ejective stops,
bilabial and velar, with the bilabial one occurring in only a very few lexical
items. One of the two places used for central clicks, the dental, does not occur
with other consonant manners, but there is a considerable number of other
consonants formed in the same place as the lateral clicks, the palato-alveolar or
palatal region. The only labio-dental is a voiceless fricative. Labialization occurs
only with velar consonants; a separate column is provided for labialized velars on
the chart. For convenience, the labial-velar approximant [w] has also been placed
in this column. "Glottal" is also listed as a place of articulation; the glottal stop is
shown in Table I with the plosives, and [fi] is shown as a glottal approximant.
Some of the articulations involved will be discussed in more detail later in this
paper.
Hadza has a large number of types of stop consonants, differing in onset and
release characteristics, laryngeal setting, and airstream mechanism. As we will
show in more detail later, plosives (pulmonic stops) occur voiced, voiceless, and
aspirated, but there is only a two-way laryngeal contrast among prenasalized
plosives and puhnonic central affricates. The only pulmonic lateral affricate is
voiceless. Hadza lacks implosives but has a variety of ejective stops, including
central and lateral ejective affricates. As we will also discuss in more detail
below, there are nine distinct clicks in Hadza, formed by combining three click
types with three click accompaniments: voiceless oral, voiced nasal, and voiceless
nasal with glottalization. The continuant consonants of Hadza include voiced
nasals, voiceless fricatives, and voiced approximants. There are two lateral
continuants, one a voiceless fricative, the other a voiced approximant. In intervocalic position, the approximant [1] varies with a flap [fl.
Words illustrating all the Hadza consonants are shown in phonemic form in
Table 2. The number after the gloss indicates the number of that word in the
Appendix, which lists the words in the order in which they appear on the field
recording mentioned above. Copies of this recording can be made available to
those who are interested in pursuing further research. A few of the words in
Table 2 are not among those on the recording, in some cases because they were
not observed until the second period of fieldwork.
(In the table, gender and number suffixes of nouns are separated from the root
by a hyphen. Verbs are generally cited as roots, with a rmal hyphen to indicate
that a suffix would normally follow, for example the infinitive -?V.)
The phonetic structures of Hadza
175
Table 2. Words illustrating the contrastive consonants of Hadza in initial and
medial positions.
word
gloss
# on word
tape
gloss
# on
tape
Bilabial:
ph
p
b
p'
m
mph
mb
Phand3u-Pbe
pataku'Je
bada
p'a?Uwemakllo
mphalamafio-kho
mbalata-kllo
'sp.plant'
'palm of hand'
'hole'
'to split'
'clay pot'
'slingshot'
'cockroach'
32 ?uphukhwa
99 iupa-kho
44
I)~oba-kho
85 samakha-phi
-
-
'leg'
'foam'
'baobab'
fiomphai-kho
kJlamba-bi
'three'
'wing'
'small intestine'
ts'ifi
'night'
101
81
138
37
186
Labiodental:
f
fa-
kI
Dental:
kjUthi_
lJl'
lJl'ats'e-
1)1
'I)lathll
th
t
d
n
ntb
nd
Alveolar:
thase
titfidalal)ga
nathi
ntbuli-bi
ndagWe-ko
'to drink.'
'neck'
'to reheat'
'longue'
177 kjakja
211 talJl'e
228 k/ikili'rja
'large jla! roc/(
'belt'
'little finger'
'long'
'black'
'flour'
'donkey'
'beer'
'notch'
'gazelle'
'porcupine'
'come!'
'to steal'
123 atha'ma
120 pat<iku'fe
'blood'
'palm of hand'
'hole
'grass'
'nose'
'agama lizaT{f
'honey'
'to grow old'
'to say'
'fat'
'to crack'
'reedbuck'
'hip bone'
'palate'
l[r]
ts
dz
ts'
nts
ndz
s
i
lala-kho
tsipit'J
dza-
k!
'k!cik."l1-
'bottle'
'three'
'python'
'to jwnp over'
lJ! '
I)!
lJ!' oje
(wax'
I)"ina-
'sp. mongoose'
ts'akentsa-kho
ndzopha.
samaka-phi
iano
11
lsrar'
-
67
65
2
24
47
bada
?ena-phi
?inthawe
lJ!anda
ba?ala-kho
tsetselA'odzofiits'a-phe
tan(t)semindza
37 papa'sa
95 Q!'ak'iia
4 k!o'k!6-kho
139 fia~!'a-kho
64
I)!ikil)!i-
'back of head'
'rock'
'to push a lot'
46
140
181
107
99
44
30
97
91
19
89
109
179
137
184
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
176
word
gloss
# on word
tape
gloss
# on
tape
PalatoalveolarlPalatal:
j1
tI
j1au-wa
tIatIa
d3
d3<ind~i
tI'
'tJ'a-kho
nd3
nd~
I
Iamu-ko
~
~ilite
~'
~'a?a-
k~
kJapba
IJl'ekhwa
'I)!a?ajarnu-a
IJr
I)!
'cal
'bushbaby'
'leopard'
'guineajowl'
'reedbuck'
'Swahili'
'rhino'
'to sing'
'stump'
'sp. root'
'to scavenge'
'land
56 mOJ16da
55 titIarne
167 gubid3i117 fiatI' apitJ' i-kho
-
-
d~nd~i
andlfIa
183 kWa~a
22 mi~'a:
190 kak/la188 kha9re214 kOI)~afiete
40 ?ijatu-bi
'salt'
'one'
'to get s.t. ready'
'ear'
'leopard
'caracal'
'shoe'
'bone'
'to hunt'
'to jump'
'man wi 2 wives'
'snakes'
92
36
167
84
142
14
203
96
Velar:
kh
k
9
k'
I)k h
I)g
I)
kllalimo
kaIJ9a
gaIa-bi
k'apaku-bi
I)kholo-'a-kho
I)gathif
I)al)a
'anima['
52
57
'sp. mongoose'
'honey beer'
'jaws'
'heart
'head ornament'
'kind offruit'
114
108
113
50
'to vomit'
'warthog'
224
68
-
85
13
makho-wa
fiaklfdamoga-kho
ts'ik'o
ts'al)kha
k!ol)ga
l)al)a
'clay pot'
'togo'
'beard'
'smoke'
'sp. mongoose'
'hare'
'kind offruit'
ukhwa-kho
Qr ekwa
fiagWanda
fiek'wa-be
'arm'
98
188
'sp. root'
'adolescent animal'
'shell, rind'
?awawa
'bee'
~'o'?a-kho
'a skin'
'to climb'
43
58
158
50
Labialized Velar:
k bw
kW
gW
k'w
w
khwakJakWa?i
g"'anda-kbo
k'wa?u-kbo
I) wapo-k ho
watI' 0
?
fi
{a'fill
fiaka
1)'"
'shirt'
'eggshell'
'ditch'
'sp. mongoose'
63
93
Glottal:
'skin'
'togo'
104
13
khiffia
103
8
3. Vowels
Hadza has five contrastive vowel qualities [i, e, a,
0,
u], as illustrated by the
examples in Table 3. The vowels occur nasalized when they precede a voiced or
The phonetic structures of Hadza
177
voiceless nasalized click. The vowels [i, il] occur in two recorded lexical items in
which their nasality cannot be predicted from the environment. These are also
given in Table 3. In both these examples. the nasalized vowel is followed by [fi].
but occurrence of [fi] is not generally associated with nasalized vowels. It is
possible that these words may once have contained a nasal or a nasalized click.
Table 3. Words illustrating the distinctive vowels of Hadza.
e
a
l)iIi-?i
I]le-?e
I]lata-
°
91'°-70
u
'I]ItJ?u-
1
Ii fie-
ii
safiiifie
'put poison onfemale arrow'
'put poison on male arrow'
'to scavenge'
'wash, bathe'
'to snore'
210
209
214
226
220
'to blow nose'
'be quiet!'
The oral vowel qualities are plotted on a standard vowel chart in Figure 1. Note
that Hadza vowels in general tend to be auditorily somewhat centralized rather
than peripheral.
• U
• 0
a
Figure 1. Qualities of Hadza oral vowels.
Length is not underlyingly contrastive in the vowel system. although there are
phonetic differences in length which correlate with differences in pitch or accent.
and long vowels may occur as the result of the addition of an affix to a word.
e.g., /ukhwa-a-kho/ 'It is an arm' [ukhwa:kho]. Reduction of intervocalic [fi] can
also result in a long vowel. e.g .• [khafia]/[kha:] 'to climb'. Final vowels frequently
become voiceless [j.~. ~. 9. l}]. particularly when preceded by a glottal stop or
any other voiceless stop. In fact. this devoicing can also extend to the penultimate
vowels so that as much as the final two syllables of a word in utterance-final
position can become whispered.
178
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
4. Tone and stress
The roles of tone and stress in Hadza are not entirely clear. Tucker, Bryan, and
Woodburn [1977] transcribe both stress and three level tones, high, low and mid
(urunarked), although they are careful not to claim that these are 'all contrastive
elements. They mark five tonal classes for the nouns (in the frame: _bahea
'there is _'): MMM, MML, MIm, HML, HMH. For the verbs they note four tonal
classes (using the first person singular future as the elicited form): LH, HL, HH,
LL. The mid tone thus appears not to be distinctive.
Words in this article are transcribed with high tone
and stress [']. These
notations are impresssionistic and based principally on repeated listening to the
recorded wordlist. Syllables without a tone mark were heard as low, at least on a
majority of occasions. In the field, we noted a good deal of variation in the pitch
pattern in repetitions of a given word, e.g., [~II'ekhwa], [~Ii'ekhwaL [I)Ii'ekhwa]
'species of root' (188). High toned syllables are typically longer and more
stressed than low toned syllables. We have found no minimal or near minimal
pairs which contrast a mid tone with either a high or a low tone. Most words
seem to have one or other of two word-level melodies, LHL and HL, but the
interaction of these melodies with additional morphemes attached to the root and
with larger prosodic constituents has not been worked out. We believe that these
facts, as well as the overall behavior of tone and stress might best be accounted
for by analysing Hadza as a pitch-accent language, with prominence shifting from
one syllable to another according to the context.
I
n,
5. Click types
The following more detailed description of the place of articulation of the clicks
is based on field observations combined with the questioning of the consultants
about their articulations, and instrumental palatographic records. Because only a
few studies, such as Doke [1923, 1925], Beach [1938], Traill [1985], and
Ladefoged and Traill [1984, 1994], have described clicks with the use of
instrumental techniques, these sounds were given particular attention in our
fieldwork. Following a tradition going back to Beach, we distinguish between
click type and click accompaniment (Beach used the terms 'influx' and 'efflux').
The type of a click is the place of articulation and manner of release of the front
closure. The accompaniment of a click is all of its other properties, such as the
place of the back closure and its manner of release, the laryngeal actions, and the
position of the velum determining if the click is nasalized or not. A given click
consonant is transcribed with one symbol representing the click type, and with
one or more other symbols and diacritics representing the accompaniment.
We consider that Hadza has three click types, dental, lateral and alveolar, but
some earlier descriptions reported a larger number of types. Bleek [1956 (but
based on fieldwork conducted in the early 1930's)] transcribed a fourth click type
The phonetic structures of H adza
179
with the symbol [=1=]. In Nama and other Southern African Khoisan languages the
click transcribed with this symbol has a more forward point of release and
usually greater affrication than [!] [Ladefoged and Maddieson 1966]. Greenberg
[1966] followed Bleek in reporting four click types in Hadza. All the words
which Bleek transcribed with the [=1=] click have been been transcribed by us or
Sands [1992 ms] with other sounds, such as [!], (11], and [k']. The recognition of a
[ :j:] click type, therefore, appears to be due to errors of transcription; it is
unlikely that it has disappeared through a set of diverse linguistic changes
occurring over the sixty years separating Bleek' s and our fieldwork.
Tucker, Bryan, and Woodburn [1977] in addition transcribe a bilabial click
and a "flapped" version of the [!] click, transcribed ell]. The two words they give
as examples of a bilabial click are in greetings; they also indicate that these words
may be produced with a dental click. Our consultants had aspirated bilabial stops
in these words. Neither a bilabial nor a dental click was considered an acceptable
substitute for the pulmonic stop; however it was acceptable to precede the
greeting with a labio-manual click - a kiss on one's own hand. We will consider
later the occurrence of a flapped version of the [!] click.
In order to study the production of the three click types, palatograms and
linguograms were made for two adult male speakers of Hadza, using techniques
described by Ladefoged [1993]. A small number of words containing a single
click and no other oral consonants were selected for study. Separate repetitions
were used to study the contact area on the upper surface of the mouth and the
part of the tongue making the contact. Each speaker uttered a given word twice
before the contact area was recorded on videotape, using a mirror to view the
contact on the roof of the ~outh, and having the speaker stick out the tongue to
see the lingual contact area. Palatograms and linguograms of the ejective lateral
affricate were also made, as this sound has a striking acoustic similarity to the
lateral type of click. The video images were later digitized using a Macintosh
computer equipped with a video capture card. For each speaker, a dental
impression was made, showing the shape of the roof of the mouth. This was used
to create a sagittal view of the fixed structures of the speaker's vocal tract.
The dental clicks [I] can be described as having a laminal coronal closure,
extending from the upper teeth to the alveolar ridge. This can be seen in Figure
2, which shows palatograms and linguograms of the front articulation in a dental
click, as produced by the two speakers. The palatograms on the left of each pair
of pictures show the front contact as observed in the mirror. The linguograms on
the right of each pair show the projected tongue viewed directly. The areas
covered by the black marking medium indicate where the articulators made
contact during the articulation in each case. A sagittal view of the maximum area
of the front contact for each speaker, inferred from the information in the
palatograms and linguograms, is shown above the palatograms. The location of
the back closure of the click cannot be seen on these palatograms and
linguograms; the dark areas toward toward the back, i.e., right, of the pictures
180
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
for speaker 2 are shadows caused by a rather small mouth opening, not part of
the contact pattern. The extension of the closure along the sides of the mouth,
however, can be seen. This lateral closure, along with the front and back
closures, is necessary to create a suction chamber and hence generate the inflow
of air characteristic of a click release.
Speaker 1
Speaker 2
Figure 2. Palatograms and Iinguograms of a dental click in the word [I)jaha] 'forget', as
spoken by two male Hadza speakers. The sagittal view of each articulation was inferred
from the patterns of contact on the tongue and palate, and the known contour of the
palate.
The inability to see the back closure in the pa1atograms of the dental click in
Figure 2 (and those of the alveolopalatal and lateral clicks in Figures 3 and 4,
which we will be discussing later) indicates that this contact must be quite far
back on the roof of the mouth and/or quite short in the sagittal plane. This is
similar to the production observed in Dahalo dental clicks [Maddie son, Spajic,
Sands, and Ladefoged 1993] but differs from the corresponding clicks in
languages spoken in Southern Africa, such as !X65 (Traill 1985] and Zulu [Doke
1923, 1925, Beach 1938]. In these other languages, the back closure extends
further forward so that the contact of the back of the tongue reaches about the
position of the second or third molars, and its forward edge is visible on
palatograrns. Sagittal diagrams of !X65 clicks [Traill 1985, Ladefoged and Traill
1984, 1994], based on x-ray cinema-tography, also show that at the onset of the
formation of the click there is usually a smaller enclosed air space than our
palatographic records indicate for Badza. It is uncertain if this difference is due
to the fact that the speakers differ in their oral morphology, or is attributable to a
different target position for the back closure. The two Badza speakers studied
have a somewhat higher palatal vault than the !X65 speakers, and a less sharply
curved arrangement of the teeth so that the distance between the left and right
The phonetic structures of H adza
181
molars is greater. These differences might make a more forward closure harder
to achieve. The shape of the roof of the mouth is not given for the Zulu speakers
studied by Doke, but their dentition seems to be more like that of the Hadza
speakers than that of the !X66 speakers studied by Trail [1985]. If this is so, it
may be the case that the more retracted back contact is a controlled property of
Hadza clicks, that is, a component of their target.
Palatograms, linguograms, and inferred sagittal sections of the front
articulation of the [!] click type are shown in Figure 3. We describe this click
type as alveolar since the front closure of these clicks tends to be made at a less
anterior place of articulation than the [I] type; it might even be labeled postalveolar. It is typically also more apical. This is certainly the case for speaker 2,
who shows a contact area on the tongue for [!] that is approximately half the size
of that for [1]. Speaker 1 shows more similarity in his articulations for [!] and [1].
The linguograms for speaker 1 show front closure contact on the tongue to be
similar in length and location for both [!] and [1], but these clicks differ in the
shape of the area in the middle of the tongue which did not make contact with the
roof of the mouth. In the dental clicks, this area is tapered toward the front,
whereas the alveolar click displays a more rectangular shape for the corresponding area. These linguograms and palatograms suggest that, at the midline,
the tongue behind the contact is more sharply lowered for the alveolar than for
the dental click.
speaker 1
speaker 2
Figure 3. Palatograms, linguograms, and inferred sagittal view of the alveolar click in
the word [I)!e?e] 'to cut', as spoken by two male Hadza speakers.
The palatogram of the alveolar click for speaker I shows that contact was also
made against the back of the front teeth, yet this contact does not extend to the
base of these teeth at the gumline. The blackened area on the front teeth must be
the result of a separate and lighter contact than the principal one in the alveolar
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
182
region, otherwise we would expect a continuous contact area extending over the
dental and alveolar regions. The contact pattern seen is thus not consistent with a
broad laminal denti-alveolar articulation, but is more likely to be the result of the
tip of the tongue quickly flipping against the teeth after the front contact closure
is released. The extent of the contact area for the front click closure is somewhat
longer in the sagittal dimension for speaker 1 than for speaker 2. This is
consistent with the idea that speaker 1 articulated the click with a rather forceful
release. The contact would have extended to the post-alveolar region initially, but
later only covered the alveolar region as the cavity behind the closure was
enlarged to lower the intraoral pressure. This is similar to the reduction in contact area before release seen in Traill's cineradiographic data on one speaker's
production of [!] in !X60 (TraillI985: 110].
The alveolar click [!] in Hadza was observed to vary a great deal in terms of
how forcefully it was produced by speakers. In some instances, the amplitude of
the click release was very low, as if the click were produced with very little
suction. This differs from the 'production of the similarly-transcribed click in
languages such as !X60 and lXii, which is typically very loud and salient [Traill
1994, Snyman 1978]. Waveforms illustrating strong and weak productions of this
click are shown in Figure 4. In the high-amplitude production of this click, the
burst is much louder than the surrounding vowels; in low-amplitude productions,
the burst can have less energy than the surrounding vowels, as in the token
illustrated here.
o
100
t
e
200
,.
300
400ms
e
Figure 4. Waveforms of the word [ten!'e] 'to carry on shoulders' as produced by two
different speakers. The upper exemplar (from a female speaker) shows a high-amplitude
burst for the release of this click; the lower examplar (from a male speaker) shows a lowamplitude burst
183
The phonetic structures of H adza
A notable unconditioned allophonic variant of the [I] click was observed at
times from most of the speakers we heard. In this variant, the normal click
release is quite quiet but the tongue tip makes a forceful contact with the bottom
of the mouth after the release of the front click closure. The release of the front
closure and the contact with the bottom of the mouth is one continuous, ballistic
movement, with the underside of the tip of the tongue making a percussive sound
as it strikes the floor of the mouth. This version of the [I] click is thus similar to
the sound sometimes made by speakers of non-click languages trying to imitate
the sound made by the shoes of a trotting horse. This is presumably the articulation which Tucker, Bryan, and Woodburn [1977] characterized as a flapped
palato-alveolar click. It is quite clearly a free variant of the unflapped [1] and not
a separate phoneme. The only parallel variant reported from any of the Southern
African languages with clicks concerns an individual !Xii speaker, noted as
atypical, who used what Doke [1925] called a palato-alveolar flapped click. The
tongue front is "flapped smartly to the floor of the mouth, the under-side making
a resounding 'smack' behind the lower front teeth and on the floor of the mouth"
[Doke 1925: 163]. No comparable allophonic variation is noted by current
researchers on Southern African languages with clicks [Traill, personal communication], but we have observed this kind of production of [1] to be quite frequent
in Sandawe [Wright, Maddieson, Sands, and Ladefoged 1995]. A suggested
phonetic notation for this variant is [j].
oI
100
I
200
I
300
400
I
600ms
500
I
I
I
""~-~.'''~t
k
1..'
o
~
a
a
a
p
a
a
a
Figure 5. Wavefonns ilustrating a lateral ejective affricate in the word [tt ala-a1
'dove' and a lateral click in the word [kJlapa-a] 'stump', spoken by one of the female
speakers recorded.
m,
The third type of click found in Hadza, the lateral click
is especially
interesting because of its similarity to the lateral ejective affricate. In many
184
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
acoustic and and articulatory respects, these two sounds are quite comparable.
Figure 5 shows waveforms of words containing [klIJ and rtf] in similar environments produced by one of the female speakers recorded. The similarity between
the two sounds in the burst amplitude and duration of frication is evident in this
figure. The acoustic likeness also extends to the frequency characteristics of the
frication period. Both these sounds are produced with a laminal closure involving
the front of the tongue and with a ring-like closure along the sides. For many
speakers, the lateral release in these sounds occurred quite far back in the mouth,
and could be properly characterized as a lateral palatal release. Our field transcriptions show that we transcribed the lateral ejective on various occasions as
[c,}'], or even as [kL']. Based on the articulatory data we classify these sounds as
palata-alveolar (or laminal alveolar) in place. Figure 6 shows the palatograms
and linguograms of the lateral click for the two speakers, and Figure 7 those for
the lateral ejective. T4e absence of any of the marking medium from the tongue
tip in the linguograms for speaker 1 shows very clearly that both laterals were
made with the tip of the tongue down. The laminal contact is on the teeth and
alveolar ridge for the click, but only on the alveolar ridge for the ejective.
Unfortunately, this speaker did not open his mouth sufficiently when the photograph was taken, and his upper teeth prevent us from seeing the backward extent
of the contact in the ejective. For speaker 2, the tongue tip also appears to be
down during both laterals. Contact occurred from the bottom of the top front
teeth to the back edge of the alveolar ridge, and appears quite similar in position
and extent for both sounds.
speaker 1
speaker 2
Figure 6. Palatograms, linguograms, and inferred sagittal view of a lateral click in the
word [lJIIa?aJ 'to scavenge' as spoken by two male Hadza speakers.
185
The phonetic structures of Hadza
speaker 1
speaker 2
Figure 7. Palatograms, linguograms, and inferred sagittal view of a lateral ejective
affricate in the word 'bone' [miL}'a] as spoken by two male Hadza speakers. The position of the tongue is shown by a dashed line for speaker 1 as the mouth was not open
sufficiently and the extent of contact cannot be seen.
6. Click accompaniment
The range of accompaniments to the clicks in Hadza is more limited than that
which occurs in many of the Khoisan languages of Southern Africa and even in
some of the Bantu languages of the same area [Ladefoged and Traill 1994,
Ladefoged and Maddieson 1996]. There are no plain (i.e., non-nasalized) voiced
clicks, and aspiration plays no role in distinguishing between clicks. In Hadza,
each of the three types of clicks, [I, II, !], can have three different accompaniments. The first possibility can be regarded as an accompanying voiceless velar
stop [k], giving [kl, k~, k!]. A waveform of a word in Hadza containing an
intervocalic dental click with this accompaniment is shown in Figure 8. The same
accompaniment is also illustrated in Figure 5. We will discuss the degree of
aspiration in these clicks in a later section.
o
100
?
k
e
Figure 8. Waveform of voiceless click in intervocalic position in the word [?ikJe-?e] 'to
close'.
186
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
The other two accompaniments involve nasalization of the click. The second
possibility is an accompanying voiced velar nasal [IJI, IJII, IJ!J. Voicing continues
throughout the production of clicks with this accompaniment, as shown in the
waveform of a dental click in Figure 9. Some anticipatory nasalization of a
preceding vowel occurs before clicks with this accompaniment.
o
200
100
1)
300ms
a
Figure 9. Waveform of voiced nasal click in intervocalic position in [kjikiliIJ/al 'little fmger'.
The third accompaniment is more complex; it is both nasalized and glottalized.
This voiceless nasal accompaniment is transcribed (~I', ~II', ~! '), although it should
be kept in mind that the devoicing is achieved not by opening the vocal folds but
by glottalization. The glottalization takes the form of a glottal stop which is
formed during the click closure, and released well after the release of the front
closure of the click, so that there is a delay before the onset of voicing. The
nasalized nature of this accompaniment can be hard to detect in an utteranceinitial click, but in word-medial cases it induces full or partial nasalization of a
preceding vowel, as in the word 'rock' [fia~!'a-akho]. Similar anticipation of
nasalization is also heard on a preceding vowel across a word boundary. Also,
when a vowel precedes, a short voiced nasal segment can sometimes be heard as
the click is being formed. However, in all environments the presence of nasal
airflow can be detected by placing a hand in front of the nose of the speaker, and
speakers themselves readily identify clicks with either the voiced or the voiceless
nasalized accompaniment as having nasal airflow. The waveform of a voiceless
nasalized alveolar click in Figure 10 clearly shows that the closure for this click
is voiceless. Airflow is interrupted at some point by glottal closure, but when
voicing resumes some time after the click is released the following vowel is
somewhat nasalized, indicating that the velum remains lowered during the
glottalization. Because of their similar effects on neighboring vowels, the voiced
and voiceless nasalized click accompaniments can be difficult to distinguish in
intervocalic position on first hearing. But as Figures 9 and 10 show, the laryngeal
contrast between them is not neutralized in this position.
187
The phonetic structures of H adza
300ms
200
100
IJ
a
Figure 10. Waveform of voiceless nasalized click in intervocalic position in [ha9!'a-ko]
'rock'.
Other researchers have distinguished different sets of accompaniments. Bleek
[1958] notes among the click accompaniments velar frication, ejection, and
voicing, writing [Ukx, Uk", gn, etc. We observed no voiced clicks other than the
nasalized ones, and none in which the back closure was released into velar
friction. The accompaniment marked as ejective may be the voiceless nasalized
accompaniment we have described with its glottal closure component. Other
disagreements in the literature also concern the failure to recognize the voiceless
nasalized and glottalized accompaniment for what it is. Tucker, Bryan, and
Woodburn [1977] note "pausal" (i.e., only utterance-initial) clicks which have a
glottalized accompaniment and go on to report that these have nasalized allophones in other positions. Elderkin [1992] also recognizes a glottalized click
accompaniment but notes that nasalization "before the glottalized click" is "almost
always present". A. de Voogt [1992] transcribes a total of four types of click
accompaniment, described respectively as voiced nasalized, aspirated (glottalized), "simple" glottalized (without delay in voice onset, possibly not glottalized)
and glottalized with delayed release. These researchers fail to note that the
"glottalized", "pausal", or "glottalized click with delayed release" clicks are not
nasalized only when intervocalic, but in all environments. The nasal component
of this accompaniment is less auditorily salient when clicks of this type are postpausal but it is still present. It appears to us that when these clicks are in
utterance-initial position, they actually begin with voiceless nasal airflow. This
nasal airflow is, however, interrupted by a closure at the glottis that seems to be
timed to coincide approximately with the formation of the front closure of the
click. The initial nasal component is not at all auditorily salient, and this probably
accounts for the emphasis given to glottalization in other accounts of Hadza.
However, it is in intervocalic cases that the presence of the glottal closure is
particularly apparent as a sharp cut-off of the preceding voicing occurs. But since
some audible nasalization always occurs at the release of clicks with this
accompaniment, we believe that nasalization should be recognized as an inherent
property of the accompaniment.
188
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
7. Voice Onset Time
There is some disagreement in the literature as to the nature of the contrastive
laryngeal states that accompany the consonants of Hadza. As with all contrasts in
the language, there are few minimal pairs to serve as a guide. The distinctions, if
any, between aspiration and voicelessness have been particularly difficult for
researchers to untangle. Tucker, Bryan, and Woodburn [1977] transcribe an
aspirated/unaspirated constrast for both the pulmonic affricates and the clicks,
and de Voogt [1992] transcribes this contrast for the pulmonic affricates, but feels
it may be due to allophonic variation. In fact, simple pulmonic stops, clicks, and
affricates all appear to pattern differently with respect to phonation type.
In order to investigate these differences, measurements of Voice Onset Time
(VOT) were taken in a range of clicks, and pulmonic and ejective stops and
affricates. Each of these words were said twice by each of the 7 speakers on the
recording, providing usually 14 measureable tokens of any individual word.
Some lexical roots have additional repetitions on the tape. These additional
repetitions were made at a different place on the word list and are averaged
separately. Measurements were made by examining simultaneous displays of
spectrograms and waveforms on a Kay Elemetrics Computer Speech Lab, with
speech digitized at 10kHz. The duration measured was from the beginning of the
release burst of the consonant to the onset of voicing of the following vowel.
Simple plosives made at bilabial, alveolar, and velar places occur both
phonetically voiced and with voiceless closure. We are persuaded that there are
two series of voiceless stops, which are transcribed as aspirated [ph, th, kh] and
unaspirated [p, t, k], although both stop series are phonetically aspirated to some
degree, that is, they have some delay between the stop release and the onset of
voicing for a following vowel. Measurements of VOT for voiceless pulmonic
velar stops in 22 separate lexical items were taken. The means and standard
deviations of the VOTs for pulmonic velars by word is shown in Figure 11,
arranged in order from shortest to longest. The first 14 words from the left
clearly group together, separate from the 9 rightmost words. The mean VOT in
the word [IJkholo-wa-kho], the only prenasalized velar stop in the set, falls in
neither group. For the other words, the overall mean VOT's are 45.2 ms
(standard deviation 13.6) for 114 tokens of /kh/, and 23.6 ms (s.d. 7.9) for 142
tokens of /k/. This is a much smaller difference than is usually observed between
voiceless aspirated and unaspirated plosives, which probably accounts for the
uncertainties surrounding the phonological pertinence of this difference.
There does not seem to be a two-way contrast in aspiration for the prenasalized stops. The degree of aspiration for voiceless prenasalized stops does not
correspond to that of either the less aspirated or the more highly aspirated stops,
but falls in between. We have chosen to represent them as aspirated. Similar
results to those for the velars were found in measurements of bilabial and
alveolar stops, although smaller data sets were examined.
The phonetic structures of Hadza
189
70
,,-..
tI.l
E
.8
'-'
E-
0
:>
60
50
=
C'::!
V
~ 40
30
20
10
Word
Figure 11. Plot of the mean VOT of a velar Stop [kh, k) in 22 separate lexical TOOts.
VOT was measured for 7 speakers, producing each item twice. Each mean represents
no fewer than 9, and no more than 14, separate tokens.
The set of velar stops includes an ejective, !k' /, as well as the voiced, voiceless
aspirated and unaspirated stops /9/, /k.hJ, and !k/. The occurrence of ejective stops
is marginal at the bilabial place, and is not found at the alveolar place. The VOT
measurements for pulmonic velars shown in Figure 11 were compared with
measurements of ejective velars in 5 lexical items. An overall mean of VOT of
50.0 ms (s.d. 14.9) was found in 78 tokens of /k'/. In an analysis of variance with
speaker and phonation type as independent variables, VOT was found to be
significantly different for /k' / and /k/ (p<.OOOl). The mean VOT for the ejectives
is slightly longer than for the aspirated stops, but this difference was not
significant.
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
190
In contrast with the pUlmonic consonants, we have not observed a distinction
between aspirated and unaspirated affricates and clicks. The lack of a systematic
contrast between aspirated and unaspirated voiceless clicks can be seen in Figure
12, a plot of mean VOTs for words containing voiceless oral [k!] clicks. These
tend to show some aspiration, but of a variable extent. The variation between the
means of the three repetition sets of the word [k!e?e] 'to cut' (10, 196, 216) can
be seen to be quite large.
8
]'7
s:::
;:-6
o
:> 5
~
~ 4
3
2~---------------------
Word
Figure 12. Means and Standard Deviations of VOT of voiceless alveolar clicks for 7
Hadza speakers. Separate means are given for each click in words with more than one
click; the relevant click is underlined.
There is, however, a small but significant difference in mean VOT between
the voiceless oral clicks and voiceless nasalized clicks with glottalization. The
voiceless nasalized clicks tend to have longer VOTs. The mean VOT is 45.9 ms
(s.d. 16.7) for 182 tokens of /k.!/, and 51.0 ms (s.d. 18.6) for 220 tokens of /r;!'/.
These values are very similar to those found for /kN and /k.' /, respectively. In an
analysis of variance with speaker, syllable position, and accompaniment type as
independent variables, this difference was found to be significant (p=.0042).
Recall that these two click accompaniments are also distinguished by the presence
or absence of nasalization on any immediately preceding or following vowel and
by the glottalization feature, so that this small VOT difference is unlikely to be
itself an important cue to perceiving the contrast. Differences in VOT between
pulmonic and ejective affricates were also found, with the ejective affricates
having longer VOTs. These differences tended to be somewhat greater than the
difference between these clicks.
The phonetic structures of Hadza
191
Tucker, Bryan, and Woodburn [1977] note that an initial consonant has a very
short VOT in a word where the first and second syllables are otherwise the same.
During the course of our fieldwork, we noted that this generalization holds for
plosives, affricates and clicks. That is, these consonants have a shorter VOT if
they are the initial consonant in the first of two identical syllables than if they
occur in a non-identical sequence. The mean VOT for initial [k!] clicks in words
where the first two syllables are identical was found to be significantly different
(p<.OOOI) from the VOT of the second [k!] click in these words in a paired, twotailed T -test. The words used in this comparison are among those shown in
Figure 12. As can be seen in this figure, the mean VOTs for the initial clicks in
[k!ok!oloma] 'epiglottis' (129) and [k!ok!o-akho] 'back of head' (137) are shorter
than the VOT's for the second clicks in these words. Similar comparisons for jp/
and /phj showed the same effect.
The other systematic variation in VOT of clicks that we observed occurs when
the following syllable contains a nasal. In the data set shown in Figure 12, four
words have an initial click with a nasal in the following syllable: [k!uni-phe]
(144), [k!uma-kho] (145), [khuma-?e] (20) and [k!OIJ9a-a] (158). In an analysis of
variance with speaker as an independent variable, these clicks had significantly
lower VOTs (p<.OOOl) than the other clicks (excluding the initial clicks in
[k!ok!oloma] (129) and [k!ok!o-akho] (137» in this data set. Given that both
absence of nasalization of the following vowel and a shorter VOT are cues to the
voiceless oral click accompaniment as contrasted with the voiceless nasalized
accompaniment, we might expect some trade-off between these cues to be
possible. Where a vowel becomes partly nasalized due to a following nasal
consonant, it might be more difficult for the listener to determine whether a
preceding click is oral or nasal based on the cue of the nasalization of a following
vowel alone. The reason why voiceless oral clicks have shorter VOTs when a
nasal follows might therefore be that this enhances the VOT cue to their identity
in the context where the cues from vowel nasalization are more ambiguous.
8. Vowel Quality
The quality of the five vowels in Hadza was examined by making measurements
of the formant frequencies of each of these vowels in a similar environment. The
first five words in Table 3 were used for this purpose. These words were chosen
to measure because they represented the nearest to a full minimal set available for
the vowels, despite the fact that they contain nasalized clicks which could affect
the formant estimates. For each of the seven speakers, there were two utterances
of each word, and two identical vowels in each word. Formant frequencies were
measured in the midpoint of each voiced vowel, i.e., the final vowels were not
measured if devoiced. Figures 13 and 14 plot the first formant against the difference between the first and second formants for each token for the four female
and three male speakers, respectively. In these figures, the axes of the diagram
192
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
are scaled according to the Bark scale but labeled in Hz. The origin of both axes
is in the upper right corner, so that the vowels are arranged in the same orientation as in the traditional vowel plot used in Figure 1. The use of the formant
difference for the horizontal axis also assists in presenting the vowels in a
farnilar-Iooking spatial arrangement. The mean position for each vowel is shown
by a large dot and the ellipses enclose all data points for a given vowel that are
within two standard deviations of the first two principal components of the
distribution of that vowel. The third formant is not plotted or discussed due to the
large number of tokens in which it could not be reliably estimated.
2500
~
2000
1500
F2-Fl
500
1000
Hz
200
lUu
u
300
u
•
F1
u
u
400
u
500
600
700
800
1000
e.
e.
Figure 13. Frequencies of Fl and F2-Fl of the vowels [i, e, a,
speakers of Hadza.
1200
0,
u] for four female
The phonetic structures of Hadza
193
F2-FI
2000
1500
Hz
1000
500
~~~~~~~~--~~~--~~--~--~--~--~--~200
Fl
300
400
o
o
0
500
600
e.
700
800
Figure 14. Frequencies of Fl and F2-Fl of the vowels [i, e, a,
speakers of Hadza.
0,
ul for three male
The mean vowel positions are well separated in both Figures 13 and 14, but
the individual points show considerable scatter. This scatter is surely due in part
to speaker differences in vocal tract size and shape, but it is also our impression
that Hadza vowels are free to vary quite widely within given ranges of quality. It
is likely that the scatter of points in these figures also represents some of this
optional variability. Given the large number of distinct consonants and the rarity
of monosyllabic forms, lexical contrast rarely depends solely on vowel quality in
Hadza; this may encourage toleration of vowel variation. One notable feature of
the vowels is the relatively high mean second formant of the high back vowel [u],
reflected in the location of the mean position for this vowel to the left of that for
[0] in the figures. This property would correspond to a perceptual fronting of this
vowel relative to Cardinal Vowel 8, and might result either from a more fronted
tongue position or a less rounded lip position, or some combination of both.
8. Concluding comments
This paper has clarified some of the phonetic contrasts that underlie the phonological system of Hadza. In particular, it has presented a clear picture of the
system of click types and accompaniments, showing that it includes some features
that are unusual even when considered in relation to the much larger set of clicks
194
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
found in some of the Southern African Khoisan languages. Some documentation
of the similarities between lateral clicks and the lateral ejective affricate has been
provided. Such similarities suggest one possible avenue by which a language
could gain or lose clicks in its inventory. The presence of an aspiration contrast
in the plosives has been supported, and a number of other details of the consonant
and vowel systems have been noted in greater detail than in the previous
literature.
There are three languages spoken in East Africa whose phonetic inventories
include clicks. One of them, Sandawe, is spoken by several thousand people who
form a strong community with schools and local government bodies in which
they form the largest group. Another, Dahalo [Maddieson, Spajic, Sands, and
Ladefoged 1993], is clearly a language in retreat, spoken by only a few hundred
people scattered among other larger communities. The situation of Hadza is
harder to describe. It appears to have been spoken by a small group for a very
long time. Children today are learning the language, despite a high frequency of
contact with other languages. As linguists, we are glad that this language
continues to show this vitality.
The phonetic structures of Hadza
195
APPENDIX
The following appendix contains the word list recorded by four women and three
men in August, 1991. Words are cited as roots, with the endings placed in a
separate column. The different speakers varied in whether they gave a form with
or without an ending and often gave different endings. Variant transcriptions we
noted are given in the final coluIIUl.
(tape 1)
#
root
1
gloss
bO'tJ6-
'to come'
dza-
2
3
4
5
6
7
'khiku'tJite'I]!'e'p6tfo-we-
'to come'
'to jump', 'to spring up' (= 203)
'to jump over
'to run'
'to carry on shoulders'
'to break'
8
khafia-
'to climb'
kha'~II'e-
recorded observed
endings variants
-co
bytJo-?o,
bgtJo-?o,
butJo-70
-fa
d~-?a
-?e
-wa
-?e
-?e
-fa
te'IJ!'e'putfo,wekafia-?~,
kaa-?
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
~1I'uthi -je-
'k!afasemehakaklla'kI!atJets'afiatha-ija
tJeketfodzok!umak!o?atfa?atsija-
'to cook'
'to cut' (= 196 & 216)
'to drink'
'to eat'
'to go'
'to hunt' (= 202)
'to take'
'to know'
'to leave off', 'to stop doing sth.'
'to put'
'to say'
'to wrinkle'
'to scratch'
'to sing'
'to sneeze'
-?e
-?e
-fa
-?e
-fa
-fa
-7e
-?e
-?e
-?e
-70
-?e
-fa
-fa
-?a
~1I'uti-je-?e
'k!escme-?
kaklla-?a
ts'afietha-je-
196
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
ts'akeI)!eko
IJ! 'u?-ija-
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
-?e
-7e
-?a
ga'ga?enafiats'aphip hand3uphisets'itibone-
'to steal'
'to stir'
'to swell'
'below, bottom'
'to wash' (= 226)
' grasshopper'
'grass'
'leaves'
'sp. plant'
'thorn'
'tree'
'four'
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
7itJamesamakapijefiek'wajamu?atfahits'ok6ts'ik'6bada'sethats'ifintsaiJ6athJI) al) a
manakhalimo-
'one'
'three'
'two'
'bark, shell, rind, crust'
'country, land'
'dust'
'fire'
'smoke' (= 86)
'hole'
'moon'
'night'
'star'
'sun'
'water'
'sp. fruit'
'meat'
'animal'
-ja
_phi
_phe
_phe
-a
-a-kho
-wa
-wa
-a
-a
-ja
-a-kho
-wa-kho
_phi
53
54
55
56
57
fiats' enak'omatJatJaJlaukal)ga-
'hunger'
'buffalo'
'lesser bushbaby'
'cat'
'sp. mongoose'
-ja
-a
44
t~efiena
IJII'0-
I)!eket~e:na
-70
-a
_phi
_phi
_phe
-ja
-ja
_phe
ga:'ga-a
bone-phe ,
bole-phe
phije-phe
se:tha:
tsa-kho
-a-kho
khalimo,
-w~
-a
-wa-kho
-a
ka:l)ga:
The phonetic structures of Hadza
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
ts'aI]khats'dcwanats'iIJga?11
,?l1nda,?l1ndawets'aiwatJ'oI)! anatsipitij6ndolalakwa?imbugidad6I)go?olabawa'ieme?akhwitifi6ts' 0lo?ombo'g6Iindz6pakh6?6'kh6matiiuphakjJek/letI elOgokwat5amakhots'l'k'outhumefiek'wafiits' asemeba?ahimOJ16da-
'banded mongoose'
'giraffe'
'oryx, sable or roan antelope'
'hedgehog'
'hippo'
'sp. mongoose'
'kudu'
'porcupine'
'rat'
'gazelle'
'warthog'
'wild dog'
'zebra'
'child'
'father'
'man'
197
-a
-a
-wa
-ja-kho
-wa
-a
-ja
-wa
-a
-ja
-a
-wa-kho
-a
'woman'
'ashes'
'horn'
'bag'
-ja
-ja-kho
-wa-kho
_phe
-ja-kho
'bottle'
'bow'
'eland'
'foam'
'woman's loincloth'
'shield'
'shoe'
'clay pot'
'smoke' (= 43)
'spear'
'shell, bark, rind' (= 39)
'fat, oil'
'food'
'honey'
'salt'
-a
-wa
-ja
-a-kho
-ja
-wa
-a-kho
-wa
-wa
-ja
-a-kho
_phe
-ja
-ko
-a
la:la:kho
baw:;,
1eme-ja
bogoji-,
buguIinz6pa-
1)11' e1)II' etIe
kwat,fa-
semeba?ala-ko
mOJ1o:da:
198
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
'bee'
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
?awawa
tfafiilan6?ijatuIJ!'anda(u'khwa(u'khwapatakuJeguliIJgu'ri ?uphUkhwafiats'ats'et,):'61a?a'fiUts'a'fi6fiomphai?atha'maIJk6lopapasaho'tf6?atJu?akhwaIJkhathak'apaku'lawanika?afia'tfa-
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
wa?inli-ma
pakapa?lit1tfitS'utJiIJlla't5'athasepet,):'aik'alafiai
'all'
'big'
'black'
'wind'
'to be cold'
'tall, long'
'white'
93
94
95
96
97
98
'maggot'
'python'
'snake'
'agama lizard'
'ann'
'hand'
'palm of hand', 'sole of foot'
'kneecap'
'leg'
'lower leg bones'
'cloth tied around shoulder'
'skin'
'tail'
'wing'
'blood'
'heart'
'irmominate bone'
'lung'
'sinew'
'eye'
'strand of beads worn on head'
'mandible'
'mouth'
'tooth'
'guineafowl'
'sp_ fruit'
-a
_phi
-wa
_phi
-a
-ko
_phi
-ja
-ja-kho
-a
-ja
-a-kho
-wa
-wa
-ja-kho
-a
-wa-kho
-a
_phe
_phi
-a-kho
-a
_phi
-a
_phe
-a-kho
_phe
-rna
-a
-je-ja
_phi
-ne-ja
-ja
-ja
guluIJguri-
IJkatha
199
The phonetic structures of Hadza
(Tape 2)
126 ts'ula1127 ?i'klla128 hi'IJ!' e-
'firewood'
'to close'
'to come out of', 'to exude',
'to give out'
129 k!ok!610ma- 'epiglottis'
'ankle'
130 IJII'ekejo'anthill'
hUIJII'u131
'arrow, female'
132 kJlana'arrow, male'
133 kJlana134 'kllakha'arrowstand'
'baboon'
135 ne?e'red flesh which sticks out of the anus,
136 IJ!ale?aor red area on a baboon
'back of head'
137 k!ok!6'baobab'
138 IJ~oba'beeswax'
139 IJ!oje'belt, rope'
140 taIJI'e141 ,IJllawe'tfe-ne 'blue, green'
'bone'
142 mitfa'bushpig'
143 tfafia' calf muscle'
144 k!uni'club'
145 k!uma'forehead'
146 IJgets'ea'fontanelle' (same root as 'frog' 156)
147 kllatfo'dog'
148 k1ia?ano'dove', 'gull'
149 tfapo'dust'
150 ~'a'la'to pierce'
151 IJ!'oko
152 IJl'uku'maje- 'elbow'
'fang'
153 IJWin'tJino'fish'
154 IJI'ama'flat rock'
155 kla'kja'frog' (same root as 'fontanelle' 147)
156 kJlatfo'hair'
157 'fiatf e-
158 k!61)'ga-
'hare'
_phi
-?e
-?e
?i'klle-
-a, -a-kho
-wa
-wa
-a-kho
-a
-phi
-ja-kho
-a-kho
-a-kho
-ja
-ja
-a
-a
_phe
-a-kho
_phe
-wa-kho
-wa
-wa-kho
-a-kho
-?
-ja-kho
_phi
-a
-a
_phe
-a
IJ!'ukiIJII'ind3ino-
200
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
159 t}oma160 ?ets'a-,
IJl'ets'aIJ! 'Ul]guwet}aJo'IJ! 'ukun.d3UIJ!'ama-
'head'
'house'
-a-kho
-a-kho
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
1J! 'eled3and3ai
I]!eIJII'eIJI' a'mats 'ikllo3.?a'klla?ahUIJu'k'o-
'hundred'
'tree hyrax'
'kidney'
'klipspringer'
'knife'
'hartebeest'
'leopard'
'leopard'
'liver'
'louse'
'middle'
'molar tooth'
173
174
175
176
177
178
klluwiIJII'utfetOIJ!'okoIJ!'uJuklutiI]!o'mo-
'mosquito'
'mountain, hill'
'mud'
'navel'
'neck'
'half
-ja-kho
-ja
-wa-kho
-wa-kho
-ja
-ja
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
IJ! 'akila't~' oIJkhoklikiliIJlak!la,tak'a'no
'palate'
'tawny eagle'
'pinky fmger'
'rainbow'
'rhino'
'rock'
'short'
'small intestine'
-a
-wa
-a
'snail'
'sp. root'
'spleen'
'stump'
-a
-a
-ja
?it~a-
t~ako3.te-
fiaIJ! '03.IJI'its'ekllamba-
187 I]lo3.lo3.ka188 IJr ekwa 189 pU'kI'e190 ~a'pa-
-wa
-wa
-a-kho
-a-kho
-a-kho
?it,.('a0
-ja
-ja-kho
-ja-kho
-wa-kho
-ja
-a-kho
-ja
_phi
-a
haIJII'u'k' 0hUIJII'o'k'o[IJll'l1t}, e-]
tOIJ!' ok' 0-
IJ!umo-ja,
IJ!umo-ja
IJ! 'ak'iiaklikiI]latfakate
IJI'Its'eIJII'amba-phj
kllarnpa-phi
IJrapa-
201
The phonetic structures oj Hadza
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
kllats'i~~'u'k'wa~I'ets'e-
~1'6so-
ka'tfek!ata~lI'i-
IJ!6?o'IJI..tfia'IJlla?e~ll'aka-
ka'kllakha'IJll' e'klI6-wets'u?aIJle'fie'IJ!i-jeIJI'uts'u-weIJ~eIJ~e-
IJI'ats'a'maIJ!'i~aIJgala'I)~a?a-
kli-je'k!a'IJ!'6ko?ase'~upi-
220
'I)~u?u-
221
222
223
224
IJI'a'k'weutfu-we'IJ!,6-we'khwaklla'IJrtts'i-
225
'sweat'
'larynx'
'tick'
'to be full'
'to bite'
'to cut' (=10,216)
'to die'
'to enter'
'to forget'
'to hear'
'to hit with an arrow',
('to shoot at, to hit')
'to hunt' (=14)
'to jump', 'to spring up' (=3)
'to kill'
'to remove s.t.'
'to whistle' (=227)
'to push'
'to push'
'to put poison on a (male) arrow'
'to put poison on a (female) arrow'
'to reheat'
'to circle around'
'to pass legs under, to be lying down'
'to scavenge'
'to see'
'to cut' (=10,196)
'to slap'
'to sleep'
'to sleep'
'to snore'
'to swallow'
'to uproot (roots)'
'to uproot'
'to vomit'
'to wait for', 'wait!'
-ja
-a-kho
-ja
-?o
-?
-?e
-?j
-?
'k!e-
-7
-?
-?
IJII'ake-
-?~
-?e
-?
-?~
ts'u-we-
-?e
-?
IJlle-?e
IJlli-?i
IJI'ats'e-?e
-?i
-fii
-?
-?
'k!e-?e
'~! '6ke-?e
-?e
-?
-?
-?
-7
-?a
-?i
Studies in African Linguistics 25(2), 1996
202
226
227
228
229
230
1)11'0IJle'fie'ljlataI]1~m6-
IJ!'Olj90j6-
231 IJI'a'roe232 'tf6masa
'to wash', 'to bathe' (=28)
'to whistle' (=206)
'tongue'
'van der Decken' s horn bill ,
'area of body encompassing the
buttocks, hips, pelvis, and tail'
'white hair'
'pipe'
-70
-a
-a-kho
-kho
-ja-kho
-a
REFERENCES
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Heffer & Sons.
Berger, P. 1943. "Uberlieferungen der Kindiga." Afrika 2: 97-122.
Bleek, D. 1931. "The Hadzapi or Watindega of Tanganyika territory." Africa 4:
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Bleek, D. 1956. A Bushman Dictionary. New Haven: American Oriental Society.
Dempwolff, Otto. 1916-17. "Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Sprachen in deutschOstafrika. 12. Worter der Hatzasprache." ZeitschriJt fur Kolonialsprachen
7: 319-325.
Doke, C. M. 1923. "Notes on a problem in the mechanism of the Zulu clicks."
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Doke, C. M. 1925. "The phonetics of
ell Bushman." Bantu Studies 2(3): 129-165.
Doke, C. M. 1927. The Phonetics of the Zulu Language. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Ehret, Christopher. 1986. "Proposals on Khoisan reconstruction." Sprache und
Geschichte in Afrika 7(2): 105-130.
The phonetic structures of Hadza
203
Elderkin, E. D. 1982. "On the classification of Hadza." Sprache und Geschichte in
Afrika 4: 67-82.
Elderkin, E. D. 1983. "Tanzanian and Ugandan isolates." In M. Bechhaus-Gerst
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Afrikanistik.
Elderkin, E. D. 1992. "Predictable nasality before East African clicks."
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Greenberg, Joseph H. 1966. The Languages of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.
Ladefoged, Peter and Ian Maddieson. 1986. The Sounds of the World's
Languages. Oxford: Blackwells.
Ladefoged, Peter and A. TrailI. 1984. "Linguistic phonetic descriptions of
clicks." Language 60: 1-20.
Ladefoged, Peter and A. Traill. 1994. "Clicks and their accompaniments."
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Maddie son, Ian, Sinisa Spajic, Bonny Sands, and Peter Ladefoged. 1993.
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Obst, E. 1912. "Von Mkalama ins Land der Wakindiga." Mitteilungen der
Geographischen Gesellschaft 27: 1-45.
Sands, Bonny. To appear, 1997. Eastern and Southern African Khoisan:
Evaluating Claims of Distant Linguistic Relationships (Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung 12). Hamburg: Rudiger Koppe.
Sands, Bonny. 1992. Unpublished field notes. ms, UCLA.
Snyman, 1. W. 1978. "The clicks of Zhul'hOasi." Paper presented at the Second
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Traill, A. 1985. Phonetic and Phonological Studies of IX66 Bushman. (Quellen
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Traill, A. 1994. "The perception of clicks in !X60." Journal of African
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Tucker, A. N., Margaret Bryan, and J. Woodburn, 1977. "The East African click
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de Voogt, A. J. 1992. "Some Phonetic Aspects of Hatsa and Sandawe Clicks."
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Wagner, J. 1992. Unpublished fieldwork.
Woodburn, J. 1962. "The future of the Tindiga." Tanganyika Notes and Records.
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Wright, Richard, Ian Maddieson, Bonny Sands, and Peter Ladefoged. 1995. "A
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Department of Linguistics
UCLA
Los angeles, CA 90095
ian@humnet.ucla.edu (Ian Maddieson)
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[Received July 2,1996;
accepted August 16, 1996)