Admire Phiri
Biographic Data
| ID | 3662293 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Admire Phiri |
| GIVEN NAMES | Admire |
| FAMILY NAME | Phiri |
| SIGNATURE | PHIRI A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of the Free State |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8865-4548 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 6 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 4 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 6 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing
Lexical borrowing may provide valuable clues about the sociohistorical context of language contact. Here we explore patterns of vocabulary transfer between languages from three families (Kx’a, Tuu, Khoe-Kwadi) comprising the linguistic unit commonly referred to as Southern African Khoisan. In our data set, 20% of 1,706 roots are shared between at least two families. By applying a carefully chosen set of linguistic and extralinguistic criteria, we…
Hunting gestures in Tjwao
Hunting gestures, i.e., gestures used to avoid scaring away prey or raising the attention of predators, are a central part of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of many foragers. These gestures have been documented for several groups in Southern Africa. This article is dedicated to such gestures, specifically those used by the speakers of a moribund East Kalahari Khoe language – Tjwao. It documents the hunting gestures collected in the villages of San…
The meaning and form of onomatopoeias in Tjwao
The present article analyzes the meaning and form of onomatopoeias in Tjwao, a Khoe-Kwadi (Kalahari Khoe) language. Making use of a prototype approach to categorization, a corpus of 113 onomatopoeic lexemes were tested for their compliance with the semantic, phonetic, and morphological features associated with the prototype of onomatopoeias in scholarly literature. The evidence demonstrates that Tjwao onomatopoeias tend to instantiate the prototy…
Talking to animals in a moribund language: Pragma-semantics, phonetics, and morphology of conative animal calls in Tjwao
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 d…
Surviving on the margins: The Tjwa (San) food economies, politics and the environment in Zimbabwe
This article examines the history of the Tjwa (San) community of Zimbabwe from the prisms of food, marginality and Zimbabwean politics. It traces the marginal position of the Tjwa people to the Bantu migrations and the coming of the Ndebele state in the 1830s. These two migrations pushed the San people into the marginal and driest south-western parts of Zimbabwe. We examine how this affected the Tjwa people's choice of food as they responded to c…
Interjections in Tjwao
The present paper provides a systematic description of interjections in a moribund Eastern Kalahari Khoe language - Tjwao. After analysing original evidence within a prototype-driven approach, the authors conclude the following: (a) in Tjwao, the interjectional lexical class constitutes an internally diverse category confined between the canonical centre and a non-prototypical periphery; and (b) primary emotive interjections exhibit the highest d…
Interjections in Tjwao
The present paper provides a systematic description of interjections in a moribund Eastern Kalahari Khoe language - Tjwao. After analysing original evidence within a prototype-driven approach, the authors conclude the following: (a) in Tjwao, the interjectional lexical class constitutes an internally diverse category confined between the canonical centre and a non-prototypical periphery; and (b) primary emotive interjections exhibit the highest d…
Surviving on the margins: The Tjwa (San) food economies, politics and the environment in Zimbabwe
This article examines the history of the Tjwa (San) community of Zimbabwe from the prisms of food, marginality and Zimbabwean politics. It traces the marginal position of the Tjwa people to the Bantu migrations and the coming of the Ndebele state in the 1830s. These two migrations pushed the San people into the marginal and driest south-western parts of Zimbabwe. We examine how this affected the Tjwa people's choice of food as they responded to c…
Interjections in Tjwao
The present paper provides a systematic description of interjections in a moribund Eastern Kalahari Khoe language - Tjwao. After analysing original evidence within a prototype-driven approach, the authors conclude the following: (a) in Tjwao, the interjectional lexical class constitutes an internally diverse category confined between the canonical centre and a non-prototypical periphery; and (b) primary emotive interjections exhibit the highest d…
Surviving on the margins: The Tjwa (San) food economies, politics and the environment in Zimbabwe
This article examines the history of the Tjwa (San) community of Zimbabwe from the prisms of food, marginality and Zimbabwean politics. It traces the marginal position of the Tjwa people to the Bantu migrations and the coming of the Ndebele state in the 1830s. These two migrations pushed the San people into the marginal and driest south-western parts of Zimbabwe. We examine how this affected the Tjwa people's choice of food as they responded to c…
The meaning and form of onomatopoeias in Tjwao
The present article analyzes the meaning and form of onomatopoeias in Tjwao, a Khoe-Kwadi (Kalahari Khoe) language. Making use of a prototype approach to categorization, a corpus of 113 onomatopoeic lexemes were tested for their compliance with the semantic, phonetic, and morphological features associated with the prototype of onomatopoeias in scholarly literature. The evidence demonstrates that Tjwao onomatopoeias tend to instantiate the prototy…
Talking to animals in a moribund language: Pragma-semantics, phonetics, and morphology of conative animal calls in Tjwao
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 d…
Hunting gestures in Tjwao
Hunting gestures, i.e., gestures used to avoid scaring away prey or raising the attention of predators, are a central part of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of many foragers. These gestures have been documented for several groups in Southern Africa. This article is dedicated to such gestures, specifically those used by the speakers of a moribund East Kalahari Khoe language – Tjwao. It documents the hunting gestures collected in the villages of San…
Tracing contact and migration in pre-Bantu Southern Africa through lexical borrowing
Lexical borrowing may provide valuable clues about the sociohistorical context of language contact. Here we explore patterns of vocabulary transfer between languages from three families (Kx’a, Tuu, Khoe-Kwadi) comprising the linguistic unit commonly referred to as Southern African Khoisan. In our data set, 20% of 1,706 roots are shared between at least two families. By applying a carefully chosen set of linguistic and extralinguistic criteria, we…
Linguistics (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (4 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (3 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Psychology (3 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (2 works) · Artificial Intelligence (2 works) · Categorization (2 works)