Fwe
cìfwè
RegionZambezi region, Namibia and Western Province, Zambia
Native speakers
10,200 (2006)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3fwe
Glottologfwee1238
K.402[2]
Personmàfwè
Peoplecìfwè

Fwe, or Chifwe, is a Bantu language spoken by 10,000 people along the Okavango River in the Zambezi region of Namibia and in the Western Province in Zambia. It is closely related to Kuhane, and is one of several Bantu languages of the Okavango which have click consonants.

Although under the pressure of Lozi and Kuhane (Subiya), Fwe speakers tend to have a positive attitude towards Fwe, and speaking Fwe is often considered an important part of one's identity,[3] and thus underscores the vitality of the language.[4]

Regional variation

Main phonological differences between Zambian and Namibian Fwe, as noted by both the speakers and seen in the data:[5]

Zambian Fwe Namibian Fwe
loss of clicks maintenance of clicks
overgeneralization of /l/ [l] only as conditioned allophone of /r/
epenthetic [h] frequently used epenthetic [h] rarely used

Morphological differences between Zambian and Namibian Fwe:

Zambian Fwe Namibian Fwe
past na- a-
reflexive kí- rí-
remote past na- ni-
remote future na- (á)rá-
inceptive sha- shi-
connective PP - o PP - a
persistive shí- shí-/-sí-
negative imperative ásha- ásha-/-ása-
negative infinitive shá- shá-/-sá-
negative subjunctive sha sha-/-sa-
near future mbo-/mba- mbo

Phonology

Fwe syllables consist, at most, of a consonant, a glide, and a vowel.

Consonants

Consonant inventory of Fwe[6]
Bilabial Dental/
Labiodental		 Alveolar Postalveolar/
Palatal		 Velar Glottal
Click plain ᵏǀ ᶢǀ
prenasalized ⁿ̥ǀ ⁿǀ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Stop voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
prenasalized ᵐp ᵐb ⁿt ⁿd ᵑk ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced β v z ʒ
prenasalized ᶬf ᶬv ⁿs ⁿz ⁿʃ
Affricate plain tʃ
prenasalized ⁿtʃ ⁿdʒ
Tap ɾ
Glide j w
  • The plosives /p b d g/ are considered peripheral phonemes, as they are relatively infrequent in the lexicon. They are not reflexes of *p, *b, *d and *g as reconstructed for Proto-Bantu, but mainly appear in loanwords.[7]
  • Though there are numerous cases where /h/ contrasts with zero, i.e. where /h/ can-not be omitted, [h] is also often used as an epenthetic consonant, in which case it freely commutes with [w], [j] and zero. Phonemic /h/, on the other hand, cannot commute with a glide nor can it be dropped.[8]

Vowels

Fwe has five contrastive vowel phonemes: /ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ a/. Vowels contrast in length, as seen in the minimal pairs below:[9]

ku-kúr-a

INF-grow-FV

ku-kúr-a

INF-grow-FV

to grow

ku-kúːr-a

INF-shift-FV

ku-kúːr-a

INF-shift-FV

to shift, move house

Tone

Fwe has two underlying tones, high and low. At the surface level, these tones may be articulated as high, low, falling, or downstepped high tone.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Fwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ↑ Gunnink 2018, p. 4
  4. ↑ Gunnink 2018, p. 5
  5. ↑ Gunnink 2018, p. 5, 6
  6. ↑ Gunnink 2018, p. 11, 12
  7. ↑ Gunnink 2018, p. 13
  8. ↑ Gunnink 2018, p. 19
  9. ↑ Gunnink 2022, p. 32
  10. ↑ Gunnink 2022, p. 74
  • Gunnink, Hilde (2018). A grammar of Fwe: a Bantu language of Zambia and Namibia (PhD thesis). Ghent University. hdl:1854/LU-8553074.
  • Gunnink, Hilde (2022). A grammar of Fwe (pdf). Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6669944. ISBN 9783961103881.


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