=Hoan
San Language

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Summary of =Hoan Syntax
=Hoan is a Khoisan language spoken in southeastern Botswana, just south of the Khutse game reserve (around Tswaane, Dutlwe, Tsia, Salajwe and Khudumelapye). The closely related language Sasi is spoken in Botswana around Lethajwe and Artesia (south of Shoshong). Sasi and =Hoan are mutually intelligible. Past work on =Hoan includes Traill (1973a,b, 1979) and the important work of Gruber (973, 1975a,b,c).

In general, =Hoan bears a strong relationship to Ju/'hoan in terms of syntax. It is SVO (distinguising it from all the central Khoisan languages), and it lacks the widespread agreement of !Xoo. Another way in which =Hoan and Ju'/hoan are similar is the way post-verbal dependents (arguments and adjuncts are realized).

Like southern Khoisan languages, =Hoan has a bilabial click (noted @). It also has four level tones and one rising contour tone. These have not been represented, although I plan to add them to this web page in the future.

1. Main Clause Word Order
The word order is SVO, with IO preceding DO. All postverbal constituents (except the DO) are immediately preceded by the preposition ki. =Hoan also has postpositions, which are nominal (in that they govern genitive case on the 1sg pronoun).
Adverbs may appear postverbally (preceded by ki) or postverbally (without ki).

2. Noun Phrase Word Order
Adjectives, numerals and demonstratives follow the noun. Genitives precede the noun. There is a distinction between alienable and inalienable possession. Within the class of inalienable possession, there are three subclasses.

3. Noun Classes and Agreement
There is a kind of noun class system within the class of inalieanble nouns. There is one case of agreement in =Hoan. The morpheme ki agrees with a following plural inalienable noun, and a following pluractional verb.

4. Tense, Aspect, Negation
=Hoan has a progressive and perfect aspect, a past tense and a future tense. Negation precedes the tense and aspect markers.

5. Verbal Compounds
=Hoan, like all Khoisan languages, has a productive system of verbal compounds.
Ma 'a- //qhu-/'o jo ki kx'u na
I prog pour-put.in water prep pot in
"I poured water in the pot"
Jeff tca //hai-!xao !gai ki tcena na
Jeff fut pull-remove snake prep hole in
"Jeff will pull the snake from the hole"

6. Valence
=Hoan has a benefactive morpheme, a passive morpheme, and a causative morpheme. The benefactive morpheme is the same as the verb "give", and so should really be considered a compound.

7. Relatives
Relative clauses involve a relative pronoun (//na), which is sometimes optional, and relative marking on the verb (m- when the verb is in the perfect and ma- when the verb is in the progressive). The relative clause follows the head noun.

8. Interrogatives
Interrogative pronouns can either appear clause intially or in-situ.

Selected Bibliography
Collins, Chris. 1998. Plurality in =Hoan. Khoisan Forum, Working Paper 9.
Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1973. Kinship Terms. Linguistic Inquiry 4: 427-449.
Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1975a. Plural Predicates in =Hòã. In Bushman and Hottentot Linguistic Studies, A.S.I. Communication 2, ed. Anthony Traill, 1-50. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg: African Studies Institute.
Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1975b. Busman Languages of the Kalahari: =Hòã - Vocabulary -Stems, =Hòã - Vocabulary - Recorded Utterances. Technical Project Report to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C.
Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1975c. Collected Field Notes.
Traill, Anthony. 1973a. N4 or S7: Another Bushman Language. African Studies 32: 25-32.
Traill, Anthony. 1973b. Westphal on "N4 or S7?": A Reply. African Studies 33: 249-255.
Traill, Anthony. 1979. Phonetic Diversity in the Khoisan Languages. In Bushman and Hottentot Linguistic Studies, ed. J.W. Snyman, 167-189. University of South Africa, Pretoria.