Central ÃÂKung (Central ÃÂXun), or Central Ju, is a language of the ÃÂKung dialect cluster, spoken in a small area of northern Namibia: Neitsas, in Grootfontein district, and Gaub, in Tsumeb district. It is frequently identified as Grootfontein ÃÂXuun, as most research has been done in Grootfontein. An identifying feature of Central ÃÂKung is a fifth series of clicks that are often retroflex. While Northern (Northwestern) and Southern (Southeastern) ÃÂKung are not mutually intelligible, it is not yet clear to what extent Central ÃÂKung is intermediate between them or intelligible with either.
Two dialects are identified as being Central ÃÂKung based on grammatical features:
In addition, the ÃÂKung dialects of Tsintsabis, Leeunes and Mangetti (different from Mangetti Dune) have retroflex clicks and so may belong here, though no grammatical information is available to classify them.
In Grootfontein ÃÂKung words which Doke (1926) and others have described as having retroflex clicks, Vedder (1910/1911) described a second series of lateral clicks in Gaub ÃÂKung. The retroflex clicks have also been reported as having a lateral release.
Grootfontein ÃÂKung is unusual in having true retroflex clicks, which are subapical for some speakers and have lateral release, as in the word for 'water', (provisionally written gâ¼ú). There are thus five places of articulation in Grootfontein clicks, . These come in eight series, here represented with the retroflex articulation:
Otherwise, the Grootfontein inventory is similar to that of Ekoka ÃÂKung, except that it lacks the (pre)voiced affricates .
The Grootfontein ÃÂKung language has a relatively large phonological inventory:
Five vowel sounds in the ÃÂKung languages are realized as . The sounds may be articulated with nasalisation , breathy voice , or pharyngealisation . Some nasal vowels with diacritics may have combinations such as breathy + nasal , and pharyngeal + nasal .
Following are sample sentences in Central ÃÂKung.