From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Khoisan languages (also Khoesaan languages) are the indigenous languages of southern Africa. Most are endangered, and several are moribund or extinct.

Each of the first five headings below is an established language family, as well as a branch of a putative Khoisan phylum. However, the Khoisan relationship is not supported by comparative linguistics, and the term is often used for convenience without any implication of linguistic validity, much as are Papuan and Australian. The inclusion of Hadza is especially doubtful, and it appears to be a language isolate.

Not all "click languages" are called Khoisan; some belong to other established families. For convenience, they are listed here:

• Bantu languages: Nguni languages (Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Phuthi, Ndebele); Sesotho; Yeyi (Botswana); Mbukushu, Kwangali, Gciriku (Caprivi Strip)
• Cushitic languages: Dahalo (Kenya)
• Ritual Tankic languages: Damin (northern Australia)

Contents 1 Hadza 2 Sandawe 3 Khoe-Kwadi (or Central Khoisan) 3.1 Kwadi 3.2 Khoe 3.2.1 Khoekhoe 3.2.1.1 North Khoekhoe 3.2.1.2 South Khoekhoe 3.2.2 Tshu-Khwe (or Kalahari) 3.2.2.1 East Tshu-Khwe (East Kalahari) 3.2.2.2 West Tshu-Khwe (West Kalahari) 4 Tuu (or Southern Khoisan) 4.1 Taʼa 4.2 ǃKwi 5 Juu (also ǃKung or Northern Khoisan) 6 ǂHoan 7 Other 7.1 Haiǁom 7.2 References

• Hadza (200-800 speakers in Tanzania)

Hadza appears to be unrelated to any other language.

• Sandawe (40,000 speakers in Tanzania)

There is some indication that Sandawe may be related to the Khoe-Kwadi family, but the relationship remains speculative.

Kwadi is widely thought to be related to the Khoe family, but it is quite distinct and little data is available.

• Kwadi (Extinct, Angola.)

The Khoe family is both the most numerous and diverse family of Khoisan languages, with seven living languages and over a quarter million speakers.

• Nama (250,000 speakers. Ethnonyms Khoekhoen, Nama, Damara. A dialect cluster including ǂAakhoe and Haiǁom)
• Eini (Extinct.)

• Korana (Extinct.)
• Xiri (90 speakers. Moribund. A dialect cluster.)

• Shua (6000 speakers. A dialect cluster including Deti, Tsʼixa, ǀXaise, and Ganádi)
• Tsoa (9300 speakers. A dialect cluster including Cire Cire and Kua)

• Kxoe (11,000 speakers. A dialect cluster including ǁAni and Buga)
• Naro (14,000 speakers. A dialect cluster.)
• Gǁana-Gǀwi (4500 speakers. A dialect cluster including Gǁana, Gǀwi, and ǂHaba)

There are two language clusters in the Tuu family which are clearly related to each other. They are typologically very similar to the Juu languages (below), but do not appear to be related to them genealogically.

• !Xóõ (4200 speakers. A dialect cluster.)
• ǀʼAuni-ǀHaasi (Extinct.)

• Nǀu (10 speakers. Moribund)
• ǀXam (Extinct)
• ǁXegwi (Extinct)
• Seroa (Extinct. Ethnonym is Gǃãŋǃe)

The Juu family consists of a single dialect cluster.

• Juu dialects (~45,000 speakers. Well known dialects are ǃKung (ǃXũũ), Juǀʼhoan, and ǂKxʼauǁʼein.)

It appears that ǂHoan may be related to the Juu family, but the relationship remains speculative.

• ǂHõã (200 speakers, Botswana. Moribund.)

A Haiǁom language is listed in most Khoisan references. A century ago the Haiǁom people spoke a Ju dialect, probably close to ǃKung, but they now speak a divergent dialect of Nama. Thus their language is variously said to be extinct or to have 16,000 speakers, to be Ju or to be Khoe. (Their numbers have been included under Nama above.) They are known as the Saa by the Nama, and this is the source of the word San.

• Güldemann, Tom and Rainer Vossen. 2000. Khoisan. In Heine, Bernd and Derek Nurse, eds., African languages: an introduction, 99-122. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.