View source for Sekele language

{{short description|Language}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Sekele
|altname=Northern ǃKung
|nativename=
|pronunciation=
|states=[[Namibia]], [[Angola]]
|region=[[Okavango Region|Okavango]] and [[Ovamboland|Ovamboland Territory]]
|speakers={{sigfig|15,070|1}}
|date=2013–2019
|ref=e25
|familycolor=Khoisan
|fam1=[[Kxʼa languages|Kxʼa]]
|fam2=[[ǃKung language|ǃKung]]
|dia1=ǃʼOǃKung
|dia2=[[Ekoka ǃKung]]
|dia3=Kavango ǃKung
|iso3=vaj
|lc1= knw |ld1=[[Ekoka ǃKung]]
|glotto=vase1234
|glottorefname=Northern Ju
|glotto2=kung1261
|glottorefname2=North-Central Ju
}}

'''Sekele''' is the northern [[Spoken language|language]] of the [[ǃKung language|ǃKung]] [[dialect continuum]]. It was widespread in southern [[Angola]] before the [[Angolan Civil War]],<ref>{{harvnb|Gordon|Grimes|2005|p=151}}</ref> but those varieties are now spoken principally among a [[diaspora]] in northern [[Namibia]]. There are also a number of [[dialect]]s spoken in far northern Namibia.

Sekele is known by a number of names. "Sekele" itself derives from ''Vasekele'', the Angolan [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] name. It is also known as Northern ǃKung, Northern ǃXuun, and Northern Ju. Two of the Angolan varieties have gone by the outdated term ǃʼOǃKung (or ''ǃʼO ǃuŋ'' {{IPA|vaj|ǃˀoːǃʰũ|}}, "Forest ǃKung") and Maligo (short for "Sekele Maligo"). There are several Namibian dialects, of which the best-known is [[Ekoka ǃKung|Ekoka]].

== Dialects ==
There is a division between the northernmost dialects, formerly known as Angolan ǃKung or Northern ǃKung, and the more southern dialects of northernmost Namibia, which are known as Western ǃKung or North-Central ǃKung, as well as between them and the eastern dialect of Kavango ǃKung. These northern dialects include:

*Angolan (Northern) ǃKung, originally of Southern Angola, which is situated around the [[Cunene River|Cunene]], [[Cubango River|Cubango]], [[Cuito]], and [[Cuando River]]s;
::(N1) Maligo (''ǃxuun, kúándò ǃxuun'' "Kwando ǃXuun", southeast Angola);
::(N2) ǃʼOǃKung (''ǃʼo ǃuŋ'' "Forest ǃXuun"; east central Angola);
*[[Ekoka ǃKung|Western (North-Central) ǃKung]] (ǃKung-Ekoka), of northern Namibia, between the Ovambo River and the Angolan border, around the tributaries of the [[Okavango River]] east of [[Rundu]] to the [[Etosha pan|Etosha Pan]];
::(W1) — (''ǃxūún, ǃʼālè ǃxòān'' "Valley ǃXuun"; [[Eenhana Constituency|Eenhana district]], northern Namibia);
::(W2) ǀʼAkhwe (''ǃxūún, ǀʼākhòè ǃxòān'' "Kwanyama ǃXuun"; Eenhana, northern Namibia);
::(W3) Tsintsabis (''ǃxūún''; Tsintsabis, Tsumeb district, northern Namibia);
*(K) Kavango ǃKung (''ǃxūún'', known as ''dom ǃxūún'' "River ǃXuun" in Ekoka; Western Rundu district, northern Namibia, & Angola adjacent)

The Okongo, Ovambo, and Mpunguvlei dialects may duplicate (W1) and (K) or be additional forms.

A dialect of Angolan Sekele currently being investigated by [[linguist]]s has been labeled '''Mangetti Dune ǃKung''', and is spoken by a resettled diaspora community of 500–1000 in Namibia and [[South Africa]] in the settlements of Mangetti Dune and Omtaku, east of [[Grootfontein]], Namibia; and in Schmidtsdrif, west of [[Kimberley, South Africa]].

==Phonology==
;Angolan ǃKung
Mangetti Dune ǃKung has [[Click consonant|clicks]] with four places of [[Articulation (phonetics)|articulation]], {{IPA|/ǃ ǀ ǁ ǂ/}}. A reported distinction between [[Dental lateral click|dental lateral]] and [[postalveolar click|postalveolar lateral clicks]] has not been confirmed by further research. These clicks come in the same eight series as in Grootfontein ǃKung, represented with the palatal articulation:
:Lingual {{IPA|/ᵏǂ ᵏǂʰ ᶢǂ ᵑǂ ᵑ̊ǂʰ/}}
:[[Glottalized click|glottalized]] {{IPA|/ᵑ̊ǂˀ/}}
:[[linguo-pulmonic]] {{IPA|/ᵏǂχ/}}
:[[linguo-glottalic]] {{IPA|/ǂ͡kxʼ/}}

;Western (North-Central) ǃKung
{{main|Ekoka ǃKung}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Gordon |editor1-first=Raymond G. Jr. |editor2-last=Grimes |editor2-first=Barbara G. |title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World |date=2005 |edition=15th |location=Dallas, Texas |publisher=SIL International |isbn=155671159X |url=https://archive.org/details/ethnologuelangua0000unse_g7e1/ }}
* {{cite journal | last = Snyman | first = Jan Winston | year = 1980 | title = The Relationship Between Angolan ǃXu and Zuǀʼõasi | journal =  Bushman and Hottentot Linguistic Studies | pages = 1–58 | publisher = University of South Africa (UNISA) | location = Pretoria, South Africa }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Miller | first1 = A.L. | last2 = Holliday | first2 = J. | last3 = Howcroft | first3 = D.M. | last4 = Phillips | first4 = S. | last5 = Smith | first5 = B. | last6 = Tsz-Hum | first6 = T. | last7 = Scott | first7 = A. | title = The Phonetics of the Modern-Day Reflexes of the Proto-Palatal Click in Juu Languages | journal = Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Khoisan Languages and Linguistics | year = 2011 }}

==External links==
* [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\pkh\nkh&limit=-1 Comparative ǃKung basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]
* [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0286 ELAR archive of A Video and Text Documentation of Mangetti Dune ǃXung]

{{khoisan}}
{{Languages of Angola}}
{{Languages of Namibia}}

[[Category:Kx'a languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Angola]]
[[Category:Languages of Namibia]]