Hilde Gunnink
Biographic Data
| ID | 3530761 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hilde Gunnink |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hilde |
| FAMILY NAME | Gunnink |
| SIGNATURE | GUNNINK H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ghent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5508-8156 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Yeyi: A Phylogenetic Loner in Eastern Bantu
While major advances in the subclassification of Bantu languages have been made thanks to comprehensive, lexicon-based classifications, there are still several important uncertainties obscuring not only the diachronic linguistic processes that gave rise to Bantu diversification, but also the population dynamics of ancestral Bantu speakers underlying them. In this paper, we address one of these persisting mysteries of Bantu genealogy, i.e., the un…
Inheritance and Contact in the Development of Lateral Obstruents in Nguni Languages (S40)
This study investigates the development of the lateral fricatives and affricates, to which we jointly refer as 'lateral obstruents', in Nguni (S40) languages of Southern Africa. These lateral obstruents, which include /ɬ, nɬ, ɮ, nɮ, k͡ʟ̝̊/, are rare in the Bantu language family, and are not reconstructed for Proto-Bantu. Lateral obstruents are also rare cross-linguistically. They do occur, however, in four sub-branches of Southern Bantu: Shona, S…
The adoption and proliferation of clicks in Bantu languages: The role of hlonipha revisited
While the use of clicks in certain Southern Bantu languages is recognisable as the result of contact with speakers of Khoisan languages, the occurrence of clicks in inherited Bantu lexemes defies a contact explanation. In this article, I review earlier proposals that link click insertion to the practice of hlonipha, which forbids married women from pronouncing the names of their male in-laws, as well as words comprising similar syllables. Making …
Vowel harmony in Yeyi
Yeyi (Bantu, R41) is an endangered language spoken in northwestern Botswana and northeastern Namibia. Yeyi exhibits two peculiar processes of regressive vowel harmony. The first changes a high front vowel /i/ to a back vowel /u/ when followed by a syllable containing a back vowel /u/, as in ʃi-púndi > [ʃùpúndì] ‘brat’, or /o/, as in ʃi-bowuma > [ʃu-bowuma] ‘kind of snake’, or the glide /w/, as in ʃi-hweta > [ʃuhweta] ‘conversation’. This paper an…
Morphological Khoisan influence in the Southern African Bantu language Yeyi
Language contact with Khoisan languages has resulted in the adoption of click phonemes in certain southern African Bantu languages. Contact-induced changes outside the phonological domain, however, are less commonly recognized. This paper provides a first ever analysis of morphological influence from Khoisan languages in Yeyi, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana and Namibia. Firstly, Yeyi has a set of lexical verbs that take an obligatory prefix …
The early history of clicks in Nguni
Language contact between migrating Bantu speakers and resident Khoisan speakers has resulted in the adoption of clicks in various southern African Bantu languages. This paper uses the comparative method to show that for one particular cluster of Bantu click languages, the Nguni languages, a large number of phonemic clicks can be reconstructed to its putative ancestor Proto-Nguni, including a palatal click rarely found in Bantu languages and no lo…
Divergence and contact in Southern Bantu language and population history: A new phylogeny in cross-disciplinary perspective
In this paper we present a new, lexicon-based phylogeny of 34 Southern Bantu languages, and combine it with previous insights from linguistics, archaeology, and genetics to study the history of Southern Bantu languages and their speakers. Our phylogeny shows all Southern Bantu languages to derive from a single, direct ancestor, which contrasts with archaeological evidence indicating separate migrations of Bantu speakers into southern Africa. This…
A grammar sketch of the Shetjhauba variety of Shekgalagadi
Shekgalagadi is an endangered Bantu language of the Sotho cluster spoken in Botswana. While it is known that the language shows extensive regional variation, very little documentation exists of smaller, more remote varieties. This paper provides a first ever description of the northern-most Shekgalagadi variety known as Shetjhauba, spoken along the Okavango panhandle close to the Namibian border. Using original field data, I provide a grammatical…
Language contact between Khoisan and Bantu languages: The case of Setswana
In southern Africa, contact with the typologically and genealogically diverse Khoisan languages has resulted in various changes in Bantu languages. The most salient and well-studied change is the acquisition of clicks, cross-linguistically uncommon phonemes that are a strong indicator of Khoisan influence. However, not all southern African Bantu languages make use of clicks, and contact-induced changes other than the adoption of clicks have rarel…
Prehistoric Bantu-Khoisan language contact: A cross-disciplinary approach
Click consonants are one of the hallmarks of “Khoisan” languages of southern Africa. They are also found in some Bantu languages, where they are usually assumed to have been copied from Khoisan languages. We review the southern African Bantu languages with clicks and discuss in what way they may have obtained these unusual consonants. We draw on both linguistic data and genetic results to gain insights into the sociocultural processes that may ha…
Yeyi: A Phylogenetic Loner in Eastern Bantu
While major advances in the subclassification of Bantu languages have been made thanks to comprehensive, lexicon-based classifications, there are still several important uncertainties obscuring not only the diachronic linguistic processes that gave rise to Bantu diversification, but also the population dynamics of ancestral Bantu speakers underlying them. In this paper, we address one of these persisting mysteries of Bantu genealogy, i.e., the un…
Inheritance and Contact in the Development of Lateral Obstruents in Nguni Languages (S40)
This study investigates the development of the lateral fricatives and affricates, to which we jointly refer as 'lateral obstruents', in Nguni (S40) languages of Southern Africa. These lateral obstruents, which include /ɬ, nɬ, ɮ, nɮ, k͡ʟ̝̊/, are rare in the Bantu language family, and are not reconstructed for Proto-Bantu. Lateral obstruents are also rare cross-linguistically. They do occur, however, in four sub-branches of Southern Bantu: Shona, S…
Prehistoric Bantu-Khoisan language contact: A cross-disciplinary approach
Click consonants are one of the hallmarks of “Khoisan” languages of southern Africa. They are also found in some Bantu languages, where they are usually assumed to have been copied from Khoisan languages. We review the southern African Bantu languages with clicks and discuss in what way they may have obtained these unusual consonants. We draw on both linguistic data and genetic results to gain insights into the sociocultural processes that may ha…
Language contact between Khoisan and Bantu languages: The case of Setswana
In southern Africa, contact with the typologically and genealogically diverse Khoisan languages has resulted in various changes in Bantu languages. The most salient and well-studied change is the acquisition of clicks, cross-linguistically uncommon phonemes that are a strong indicator of Khoisan influence. However, not all southern African Bantu languages make use of clicks, and contact-induced changes other than the adoption of clicks have rarel…
Morphological Khoisan influence in the Southern African Bantu language Yeyi
Language contact with Khoisan languages has resulted in the adoption of click phonemes in certain southern African Bantu languages. Contact-induced changes outside the phonological domain, however, are less commonly recognized. This paper provides a first ever analysis of morphological influence from Khoisan languages in Yeyi, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana and Namibia. Firstly, Yeyi has a set of lexical verbs that take an obligatory prefix …
The early history of clicks in Nguni
Language contact between migrating Bantu speakers and resident Khoisan speakers has resulted in the adoption of clicks in various southern African Bantu languages. This paper uses the comparative method to show that for one particular cluster of Bantu click languages, the Nguni languages, a large number of phonemic clicks can be reconstructed to its putative ancestor Proto-Nguni, including a palatal click rarely found in Bantu languages and no lo…
Divergence and contact in Southern Bantu language and population history: A new phylogeny in cross-disciplinary perspective
In this paper we present a new, lexicon-based phylogeny of 34 Southern Bantu languages, and combine it with previous insights from linguistics, archaeology, and genetics to study the history of Southern Bantu languages and their speakers. Our phylogeny shows all Southern Bantu languages to derive from a single, direct ancestor, which contrasts with archaeological evidence indicating separate migrations of Bantu speakers into southern Africa. This…
A grammar sketch of the Shetjhauba variety of Shekgalagadi
Shekgalagadi is an endangered Bantu language of the Sotho cluster spoken in Botswana. While it is known that the language shows extensive regional variation, very little documentation exists of smaller, more remote varieties. This paper provides a first ever description of the northern-most Shekgalagadi variety known as Shetjhauba, spoken along the Okavango panhandle close to the Namibian border. Using original field data, I provide a grammatical…
The adoption and proliferation of clicks in Bantu languages: The role of hlonipha revisited
While the use of clicks in certain Southern Bantu languages is recognisable as the result of contact with speakers of Khoisan languages, the occurrence of clicks in inherited Bantu lexemes defies a contact explanation. In this article, I review earlier proposals that link click insertion to the practice of hlonipha, which forbids married women from pronouncing the names of their male in-laws, as well as words comprising similar syllables. Making …
Vowel harmony in Yeyi
Yeyi (Bantu, R41) is an endangered language spoken in northwestern Botswana and northeastern Namibia. Yeyi exhibits two peculiar processes of regressive vowel harmony. The first changes a high front vowel /i/ to a back vowel /u/ when followed by a syllable containing a back vowel /u/, as in ʃi-púndi > [ʃùpúndì] ‘brat’, or /o/, as in ʃi-bowuma > [ʃu-bowuma] ‘kind of snake’, or the glide /w/, as in ʃi-hweta > [ʃuhweta] ‘conversation’. This paper an…
Yeyi: A Phylogenetic Loner in Eastern Bantu
While major advances in the subclassification of Bantu languages have been made thanks to comprehensive, lexicon-based classifications, there are still several important uncertainties obscuring not only the diachronic linguistic processes that gave rise to Bantu diversification, but also the population dynamics of ancestral Bantu speakers underlying them. In this paper, we address one of these persisting mysteries of Bantu genealogy, i.e., the un…
Inheritance and Contact in the Development of Lateral Obstruents in Nguni Languages (S40)
This study investigates the development of the lateral fricatives and affricates, to which we jointly refer as 'lateral obstruents', in Nguni (S40) languages of Southern Africa. These lateral obstruents, which include /ɬ, nɬ, ɮ, nɮ, k͡ʟ̝̊/, are rare in the Bantu language family, and are not reconstructed for Proto-Bantu. Lateral obstruents are also rare cross-linguistically. They do occur, however, in four sub-branches of Southern Bantu: Shona, S…
Linguistics (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Bantu languages (7 works) · History (7 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (6 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (5 works) · Language contact (4 works) · Languages of Africa (4 works) · Geography (3 works) · Language and cultural evolution (3 works)