Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Variation
Vol. 23:2 (2023) ► pp.318–342

Talking to animals in a moribund language

Pragma-semantics, phonetics, and morphology of conative animal calls in Tjwao

ORCID logo | Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages | University of Cape Town
ORCID logo | University of Free State
The present article is dedicated to conative animal calls (CACs) in a Kalahari Khoe language, Tjwao. By using a prototype approach to categorization, the authors test the Tjwao CACs for their compliance with the prototype of CACs posited recently in scholarly literature. The authors conclude that Tjwao CACs largely conform to the pragma-semantic, phonetic, and morphological properties associated with CACs across languages. In light of the Tjwao data, a few refinements are also proposed. These concern the potential prevalence of whistles as the most common sounds not included in the International Phonetic Alphabet, the correlation of summonses with replication and repetitions as well as front and/or close vowels, the higher frequency of summonses and dispersals among all semantic types of CACs, and the lesser extent of monosemy than previously claimed.
Keywords: Kalahari Khoe, Tjwao, interactives, conative animal calls, pragma-semantics, phonetics, morphology
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Framework
    • 2.2Fieldwork
  • 3.Evidence
    • 3.1Pragma-semantics
    • 3.2Phonetics
    • 3.3Morphology
  • 4.Results and discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.22008.and
References (37)
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra. 2010. Imperatives and commands. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ambrazas, Vytautas, Emma Geniušienė, Aleksas Girdenis, Nijolė Sližienė, Dalija Tekorienė, Adelė Valeckienė & Elena Valiulytė. 2006. Lithuanian grammar. Vilnius: Baltos Lankos.Google Scholar
Ameka, Felix. 1992a. Interjections: the universal yet neglected part of speech. Journal of Pragmatics 18(2/3). 101–118. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1992b. The meaning of phatic and conative interjections. Journal of Pragmatics 18(2/3). 245–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Amha, Azeb. 2013. Directives to humans and to domestic animals: The imperative and some interjections in Zargulla. In Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle & Martine Vanhove (eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Cushitic and Omotic languages, Paris, 16–18 April 2008, 211–229. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
Andrason, Alexander. forthcoming. Conative animal calls in Xhosa: Testing the prototype. Africana Linguistica 281. 1–30.
. under review. The non-arbitrariness of some conative calls used to chase animals.
Andrason, Alexander & Mawande Dlali. 2020. The (crucial yet neglected) category of interjections in Xhosa. STUF – Language Typology and Universals 73(2). 159–217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andrason, Alexander, Anna-Maria Fehn & Admire Phiri. 2020. Interjections in Tjwao. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 83(2). 293–319. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andrason, Alexander & Michael Karani. 2021. Conative calls to animals: From Arusa Maasai to a cross-linguistic prototype. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 17(1/2). 3–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andrason, Alexander & Admire Phiri. 2018. The hĩ and ha grams in Tjwao (Khoe) – The model of situated maps. Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis 1351. 269–290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andrason, Alexander, Admire Phiri & Anne-Maria Fehn. forthcoming. The meaning and form of onomatopoeias in Tjwao. Canadian Journal of Linguistics. DOI logo
Brenzinger, Matthias. 2013. San hunting gestures. A talk at the 14th Kyoto University African Study Seminar (KUASS), Center for African Area Studies. Kyoto University, Japan, 6. April 2013.
Bańko, Mirosław. 2008. Współczesny polski onomatopeikon: ikoniczność w języku, Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.Google Scholar
Bynon, James. 1976. Domestic animal calling in a Berber tribe. In William McCormack & Stephen Wurm (eds.), Language and man: Anthropological issues, 39–66. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Cornips, Leonie. 2022. The animal turn in postcolonial linguistics: The interspecies greeting of the dairy cow. Journal of Postcolonial Linguistics 61. 209–231.Google Scholar
Daković, Sybilla. 2006. Interiekcje w języku polskim, serbskim, chorwackim i rosyjskim. Opis i konfrontacja. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego.Google Scholar
Denisova, T. and L. Sergeev. 2015. О некоторых особенностях верхового диалекта в говорах чувашской диаспоры Ульяновской области. Вестник ЧГПУ им. И. Я. Яковлева 85(1). 32–37.Google Scholar
Evans, Vyyan & Melanie Green. 2006. Cognitive linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Fehn, Anne-Maria. 2021. Ts’ixa dictionary. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Fehn, Anne-Maria & Admire Phiri. 2017. Nominal marking in Northern Tshwa (Kalahari Khoe). Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 481. 105–122.Google Scholar
Fleck, David. (2003). 2003. A grammar of Matses. PhD dissertation, Rice University.
Heine, Bernd. forthcoming. The grammar of interactives.
Isačenko, Alexander. 1964. On the conative function of language. In Josef Vachek (ed.), A Prague School reader in linguistics, 88–97. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Janda, Laura. 2015. Cognitive linguistics in the year 2015. Cognitive Semantics 11. 131–154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kilian-Hatz, Christa. 2008. A grammar of Modern Khwe (Central Khoisan). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
Mohr, Susanne, Anne-Maria Fehn and Alex de Voogt. 2019. Hunting for signs: Exploring unspoken networks within the Kalahari Basin. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 40(1). 115–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nübling, Damaris. 2001. Von oh mein Jesus! zu oje! – Der Interjektionalisierungspfad von der sekundären zur primären Interjektion. Deutsche Sprache 29(1). 20–45.Google Scholar
. 2004. Die prototypische Interjektion: Ein Definitionsvorschlag. Zeitschrift für Semiotik 26(1/2). 11–46.Google Scholar
Phiri, Admire. 2021. The verbal and nominal morpho-syntax of Tjwao: A grammaticalisation approach. PhD dissertation, Stellenbosch University.
Sands, Bonnie, Andy Chebanne & Sheena Shah. 2017. Hunting terminology in ǂHoan. In Anne-Maria Fehn (ed.), Khoisan languages and linguistics. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium July 11- 13, 2011, Riezlern/Kleinwalsertal, 185–212. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
Siatkowska, Ewa. 1976. Zachodniosłowiańskie zawołania na zwierzęta: stan obecny, funkcje historyczne, stosunek do systemu językowego. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego.Google Scholar
Stange, Ulrike & Damaris Nübling. 2014. Interjections. In Cornelia Müller, Alan Cienki, Ellen Fricke, Silva Ladewig, David McNeill & Sedinha Tessendorf (eds.), Body – language – communication, 1982–1989. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Taylor, John. 1995. Linguistic categorization: Prototypes in linguistic theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna. 2003. Cross-cultural pragmatics: The semantics of human interaction. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Andrason, Alexander
2024. Conative “kisses” in human-to-animal communication. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 0:0 DOI logo
Andrason, Alexander, Onsho Mulugeta & Shimelis Mazengia
2024. Conative animal calls in Macha Oromo: function and form. Linguistics Vanguard 0:0 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.