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{{Infobox Language
|name=Dahalo
|states=[[Kenya]]
|region=[[Coast Province, Kenya|Coast Province]]
|speakers=400
|date=1992
|familycolor=Negro-Egyptian
|fam2=[[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]]
|fam3=[[East Cushitic languages|East Cushitic]]<ref>Tosco 1991</ref>
|iso3=dal
|notice=IPA}}

'''Dahalo''' is an [[endangered language|endangered]] [[South Cushitic languages|South Cushitic]] language spoken by at most 400 Dahalo people on the coast of Kenya, near the mouth of the [[Tana River (Kenya)|Tana River]].

==Overview==
The Dahalo, former elephant hunters, are dispersed among [[Swahili people|Swahili]] and other Bantu peoples, with no villages of their own, and are bilingual in those languages. It may be that children are no longer learning the language.<ref>Raymond G. Gordon, Jr, ed. 2005. ''Ethnologue:  Languages of the World''. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.</ref>

Dahalo has a highly diverse sound system using all four [[airstream mechanism]]s found in human language: [[click consonant|clicks]], [[ejective consonant|ejectives]], and [[implosive consonant|implosives]], as well as the universal [[pulmonic egressive|pulmonic]] sounds.

In addition, Dahalo makes a number of uncommon distinctions. It contrasts [[laminal consonant|laminal]] and [[apical consonant|apical]] stops, as in [[Basque language|Basque]] and languages of Australia and California; [[epiglottal consonant|epiglottal]] and [[glottal consonant|glottal]] stops and fricatives, as in the Mideast, the Caucasus, and the American Pacific Northwest; and is perhaps the only language in the world to contrast [[voiceless alveolar lateral fricative|alveolar lateral]] and [[voiceless palatal lateral fricative|palatal lateral]] fricatives and affricates.

It is suspected that the Dahalo may have once spoken a [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]]- or [[Hadza language|Hadza]]-like language, and that they retained clicks in some words when they [[language shift|shifted]] to Cushitic, because many of the words with clicks are basic vocabulary. If so, the clicks represent a [[Stratum (linguistics)#Substratum|substratum]].

Dahalo is also called ''Sanye'', a name shared with neighboring [[Waata language|Waata]], also spoken by former hunter-gatherers.

The classification of Dahalo is obscure. Traditionally included in [[South Cushitic]], Tosco (1991) argues instead that it is [[East Cushitic]], and Kießling (2001) agrees that it has too many Eastern features to be South Cushitic.<ref>Roland Kießling, "South Cushitic links to East Cushitic", in Zaborski ed, 2001, ''New Data and New Methods in Afroasiatic Linguistics''</ref>

==Sounds==
===Consonants===
Dahalo has 62 consonants:<ref>Maddieson, Ian; Spajić, Siniša; Sands, Bonny; & Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). Phonetic structures of Dahalo. In I. Maddieson (Ed.), ''UCLA working papers in phonetics: Fieldwork studies of targeted languages'' (No. 84, pp. 25-65). Los Angeles: The UCLA Phonetics Laboratory Group.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|-
! colspan="3" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="3" | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Epiglottal consonant|Epiglottal]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- class=small
! [[Laminal consonant|laminal]]
! [[Apical consonant|apical]]
! [[Labialisation|labial]]
! plain
! [[Labialisation|labial]]
|-
! colspan="3" | [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPA|m}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|n}}
|
|
| {{IPA|ɲ}}
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Nasalized<br>[[Click consonant|click]] <sup>(1)</sup>
! <small>[[voiceless]]</small>
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵑ̊ʇˀ}}
|
| {{IPA|ᵑ̊ʇˀʷ}}
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
| {{IPAlink|ᵑʇ}}
|
| {{IPA|(ᵑʇʷ)}}
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! rowspan="5" | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! rowspan="2" | plain
! <small>[[voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPA|p}}
| {{IPA|t̪}}
| {{IPA|t̠}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|k}}
| {{IPA|kʷ}}
| {{IPAlink|ʡ}}
| {{IPA|ʔ}}
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA|b}}
| {{IPA|d̪}}
| {{IPA|d̠}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|ɡ}}
| {{IPA|ɡʷ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Pre-<br>nasalized
! <small>[[voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPA|ᵐp}}
| {{IPA|ⁿt̪}}
| {{IPA|ⁿt̠}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|ᵑk}}
| {{IPA|ᵑkʷ}}
|
|
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA|ᵐb}}
| {{IPA|ⁿd̪}}
| {{IPA|ⁿd̠}}
| {{IPA|ⁿd̠ʷ}}
|
|
| {{IPA|ᵑɡ}}
| {{IPA|ᵑɡʷ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[ejective consonant|Ejective]]
| {{IPA|pʼ}}
| {{IPA|t̪ʼ}}
| {{IPA|t̠ʼ}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA|kʼ}}
| {{IPA|kʷʼ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [[implosive consonant|Implosive]]
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA|ɓ}}
| colspan="3" | {{IPA|ɗ}}
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! rowspan="6" | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! rowspan="2" | plain
! <small>[[voiceless]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|ts}}
|
| {{IPA|tʃ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
|
| {{IPA|dz}}
| {{IPA|dzʷ}}
| {{IPA|dʒ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | pre-<br>nasalized
! <small>[[voiceless]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|ⁿts}}
|
| {{IPA|ᶮtʃ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|ⁿdz}}
|
| {{IPA|ᶮdʒ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[ejective consonant|Ejective]]
! <small> [[central consonant|central]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" |
|
| {{IPA|tʃʼ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! <small> [[lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|tɬʼ}}
|
|
| {{IPAlink|cʼ}} <sup>(2)</sup>
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small> [[central consonant|central]]</small>
| {{IPA|f}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|s}} &nbsp; {{IPA|(z)}}
|
| {{IPA|ʃ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPAlink|ʜ}}
| {{IPA|h}}
|-
! <small>[[lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|
|
| {{IPA|ɬ}}
| {{IPA|ɬʷ}}
|
| {{IPAlink|}} <sup>(2)</sup>
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
! <small> [[central consonant|central]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
| {{IPA|(j)}}
|
| {{IPA|w̜}}
|
|
|-
! <small> [[lateral consonant|lateral]]</small>
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|l}}
|
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="3" | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|r}}
|
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|}
:<sup>1</sup> The dental clicks are officially written {{IPA|[ǀ]}}. For legibility, the alternative letter {{IPA|[ʇ]}} is used here. 
:<sup>2</sup> If the palatals do not display properly, they can also be written {{IPA|[cʎ̥˔]}} and {{IPA|[ʎ̥˔]}}.

The laminal coronals are [[denti-alveolar]], while the apicals are alveolar tending toward [[post-alveolar]].

The prenasalized voiceless stops have been analysed as syllabic nasals plus stops by some researchers. However, one would expect this additional syllable to give Dahalo words additional [[tone (linguistics)|tonic]] possibilities, as Dahalo pitch accent is syllable-dependent (see below), and Ladefoged reports that this does not seem to be the case.

When geminate, the epiglottals are a voiceless stop and fricative. (Thus {{IPA|/ʡ/}} is not pharyngeal as sometimes reported, since pharyngeal stops are not believed to be possible.) In utterance-initial position they may be a partially voiced (negative [[voice onset time]]) stop and fricative. However, as singletons between vowels, {{IPA|/ʡ/}} is a [[flap consonant|flap]] or even an approximant with weak voicing, while {{IPA|/ʜ/}} is a fully voiced approximant. Other [[obstruent]]s are similarly affected intervocalically, though not to the same degree.

{{IPA|/b d̪ d̠/}} are often fricative {{IPA|[β ð̪ ð̠]}} between vowels. (The retraction diacritic in {{IPA|‹d̠›}} serves merely to emphasize that it is further back than {{IPA|/d̪/}}. Initially, they and {{IPA|/ɡ/}} are often voiceless, whereas {{IPA|/p t̪ t̠ k/}} are fortis (perhaps aspirated). Tosco reports a voiced lateral {{IPA|/dɮ/}}. {{IPA|/w̜/}} has little rounding. /j/ is only attested in a single root, {{IPA|/jáːjo/}} 'mother'.

There is a lot of variability in the voicing of clicks, so this distinction may be being lost. The nasal clicks are nasalized prior to the click release and are voiced throughout; the voiceless clicks usually have about 30ms of [[voice onset time]], but sometimes less. There is no voiceless nasal airflow, but following vowels may have a slightly nasalized onset. Thus these clicks are similar to glottalized nasal clicks in other languages. Voiceless clicks are much more common than voiced clicks.

===Vowels===
Dahalo has a symmetric 5-vowel system of pairs of short and long [[vowel]]s, totaling 10 vowels:

{| class="wikitable IPA" border="1"
|- align=center
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align=center
! [[Close vowel|High]]
| i / iː
| u / uː
|- align=center
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| e / eː
| o / oː
|- align=center
! [[Open vowel|Low]]
| colspan="2" | a / aː
|}

===Phonotactics===
Dahalo words are commonly 2–4 syllables long. Syllables are exclusively of the [[consonant|C]][[vowel|V]] pattern, except that consonants may be [[geminate]] between vowels. As with many other [[Afro-Asiatic languages]], gemination is grammatically productive. Voiced consonants partially devoice, and prenasalized stops denasalize when geminated as part of a grammitical function. However, lexical prenasalised geminate stops also occur.

(It is likely that the glottals and clicks do not occur as geminates, although only a few words with intervocalic clicks are known, such as {{IPA|<nowiki>/ʜáŋ̊|ana/</nowiki>}}.)

Dahalo has [[pitch accent]], normally with zero to one high-pitched syllables (rarely more) per root word. If there is a high pitch, it is most frequently on the first syllable; in the case of disyllabic words, this is the only possibility: e.g. {{IPA|/ʡani/}} ''head'', {{IPA|/pʼúʡʡu/}} ''pierce''.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Maddieson, Ian; Spajić, Siniša; Sands, Bonny; & Ladefoged, Peter. (1993). Phonetic structures of Dahalo. In [http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclaling/wpp/No84/ I. Maddieson (Ed.), ''UCLA working papers in phonetics: Fieldwork studies of targeted languages'' (No. 84, pp. 25-65)]. Los Angeles: The UCLA Phonetics Laboratory Group.
* {{cite book|last=Tosco|first=Mauro|title=A Grammatical Sketch of Dahalo (including texts and a glossary)|series=Kuschitische Sprachstudien|volume=8|year=1991|publisher=Helmut Buske Verlag|location=Hamburg, Germany}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=dal Ethnologue entry for Dahalo]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahalo Language}}
[[Category:South Cushitic languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Kenya]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of Africa]]
[[Category:Click languages]]