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Khoisan languages

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	Khoisan languages
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	Topics Khoisan languages Topic Home The Khoisan languages (also Khoesaan languages) are the indigenous languages of southern and eastern AfricaAfrica Africa is one of the greatest sized continents of the Earth.... ; in southern Africa their speakers are the KhoiKhoi Summary The common name of Siamese Rough Bush. '... and BushmenBushmen The Bushmen* are an indigenous population of the Kalahari Desert, which spans South Africa and neighbouring Botswana and Nami... (Saan), in east Africa the Sandawe and Hadza. They are famous for their clicksClick consonant Clicks are stops produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity.... . Many people were exposed to this group of languages through N!xauN!xau N!xau, 1944- July 1, 2003) was a Namibian bush farmer who was made famous by his roles in the 1980 movie The Gods Must Be ... 's language in the 19801980 in film The year 1980 in film involved some significant events.... film The Gods Must Be CrazyThe Gods Must Be Crazy *The Gods Must Be Crazy* is a film released in 1980, written and directed by Jamie Uys.... . Khoisan is the smallest phylumPhylum (linguistics) A phylum is a term in linguistics used for language classification which denotes the highest recognized level of hierarchy.... of African languagesAfrican languages There are an estimated 1800 languages spoken in Africa.... in Greenberg'sJoseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial linguist, known for his work in both language classification and ... classification. However, the connection is not accepted by the linguists who study Khoisan languages, and the name "Khoisan" is used as a term of convenience without any implication of linguistic validity, much as "PapuanPapuan languages The term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian.... " and "Australian" are. It may be that the Tuu and Juu (or Juu-?Hoan) families are similar due to a southern African SprachbundSprachbund A Sprachbund is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity.... rather than a genealogical relationship, whereas the Khoe (or perhaps Kwadi-Khoe) family is a more recent migrant to the area, and may be related instead to Sandawe in East Africa. Prior to the BantuBantu Bantu is a general term for over 400 different ethnic groups in Africa, from Cameroon to South Africa, united by a common la... expansion, it is likely that Khoisan languages, or languages like them, were spread throughout southern and eastern Africa. Today they are restricted to the Kalahari DesertKalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Africa extending 900,000 km², covering much of ... , primarily in NamibiaNamibia Overview Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in southern Africa on the Atlantic coast.... and BotswanaBotswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked nation in Southern Africa.... , and to the Rift ValleyRift valley In geology, a rift valley is a valley created by the formation of a rift.... in central TanzaniaTanzania Tanzania , officially the United Republic of Tanzania , is a country on the east coast of Africa.... . Most Khoisan languages are endangered, and several are moribundMoribund language A language is usually considered moribund when it is no longer the language of the community, and is no longer learned by ch... or extinct. Most have no written record. The only widespread Khoisan language is NamaNama language Nm, previously called Hottentot, is the most populous and widespread of the Khoisan languages.... of Namibia, with a quarter of a million speakers; SandaweSandawe language Sandawe is a tonal language spoken by about 40,000 people in the Dodoma region of Tanzania.... in Tanzania is second in number with about 40,000, some monolingual; and the JuuJu languages The Ju or !Kung languages are a language family consisting of a single dialect continuum spoken in Botswana, Namibia, ... language cluster of the northern Kalahari is spoken by some 30,000 people. Khoisan languages are best known for their use of click consonantClick consonant Clicks are stops produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity.... s as phonemePhoneme In human language, a phoneme is a set of phones that are cognitively equivalent.... s. These are written with letters such as !Postalveolar click Summary The alveolar and postalveolar clicks are a family of click consonants found only in Africa and in the Damin ritual jar... and ?Palatal click The palato-alveolar clicks are a family of click consonants found only in Africa.... . The Ju\|'hoan language has some 30 click consonants, not counting clusters, among perhaps 90 phonemes, which include stridentStrident vowel Strident vowels are strongly pharyngealized vowels accompanied by epiglottal trill, where the larynx is raised and the phary... and pharyngealized vowels and four tones. The !Xóõ!Xóõ language Overview !X is a Khoisan language with a very large number of phonemes, the most of any known language.... and ?Hõã‡Hõã language Summary H or Hoan, more accurately Qh, is an unclassified Khoisan language of Botswana.... languages are similarly complex. Grammatically, the southern Khoisan languages are generally fairly isolating, with word order being more widely used to indicate grammatical relations than is inflection. The languages of Tanzania have large numbers of inflectional suffixes. Classification The putative branches of Khoisan are generally considered independent families, given the lack of evidence that they are related. See Khoe languagesKhoe languages The Khoe languages comprise the most diverse of the language families that existed in southern Africa prior to the Bantu exp... for speculations on the linguistic history of the region. Hadza HadzaHadza language Hadza is a language isolate along the southern shores of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania, with less than a thousand speakers.... (975 speakers in Tanzania) Hadza appears to be unrelated to any other language; genetically, the Hadza people are unrelated to the Khoisan peoples of Southern Africa, and their closest relatives may be among the Pygmies of Central Africa. Sandawe SandaweSandawe language Sandawe is a tonal language spoken by about 40,000 people in the Dodoma region of Tanzania.... (40,000 speakers in Tanzania) There is some indication that Sandawe may be related to the Khoe-Kwadi family, such as a congruent pronominal system and some good Swadesh-listFacts About Swadesh list A Swadesh list is a prescribed list of basic vocabulary developed by Morris Swadesh in the 1940-50s, which is used in glotto... matches, but not enough to establish regular sound correspondences. The Sandawe are not related to the Hadza, despite their proximity. Tuu The Tuu family consists of two language clusters, which are related to each other at about the distance of Khoekhoe and Tshukhwe within Khoe. They are typologically very similar to the Juu languages (below), but have not been demonstrated to be related to them genealogically. (The similarities may be an arealSprachbund A Sprachbund is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity.... feature.) TuuTuu languages The Tuu or Taa-!Kwi languages are a language family consisting of two transparently related language clusters sp... Taa !Xóõ!Xóõ language !X is a Khoisan language with a very large number of phonemes, the most of any known language.... (4200 speakers. A dialect cluster.) Lower Nossob (Two dialects, \|'Auni and \|Haasi. Extinct.) !Kwi N?ng (A dialect cluster. Moribund, with 8 N\|u speakers.) \|Xam\|Xam language \|Xam, or \|Xam Kak!'e, is an extinct Khoisan language of South Africa, part of the !Kwi language group.... (A dialect cluster. Extinct.) ?Ungkue (A dialect cluster. Extinct.) ?Xegwi?Xegwi language ?Xegwi is an extinct !Kwi language of South Africa, near the Swazi border.... (Extinct.) Juu-?Hoan The Juu-?Hoan family is a distant relationship, only recently proposed, that is being increasingly accepted. Juu-?HoanJuu-?Hoan languages The Juu-?Hoan languages form a recently proposed family linking the isolate with the Juu dialect cluster.... ?Hõã (200 speakers, Botswana. Moribund.) JuuJu languages Overview The Ju or !Kung languages are a language family consisting of a single dialect continuum spoken in Botswana, Namibia, ... (also !Kung, formerly Northern Khoisan) is a single dialect cluster. (~45,000 speakers.) Well known dialects are !Kung (!Xuu)!Kung language !Kung or !O!Kung is a group of northern dialects of the Ju dialect continuum, which is generally classified as part of... , Ju\|'hoan, and ?Kx'au?'ein. Other "Click Languages" Not all languages using clicks as phonemes are considered Khoisan. Most are neighboring Bantu languagesBantu languages Bantu is a major language family of Africa, belonging to the Niger-Congo group.... in southern Africa: the Nguni languages XhosaXhosa language Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa.... , ZuluZulu language Zulu , is a language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa.... , Swazi, PhuthiPhuthi language Phuthi is a Nguni Bantu language heavily influenced by the surrounding Sotho and Xhosa languages.... , and NdebeleNdebele language There are at least two languages commonly called Ndebele:... ; Sotho; YeyiYeyi language Yeyi is a moribund Bantu language with about 40,000 speakers in Northern Botswana and 5000 in the Caprivi Strip.... in BotswanaBotswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked nation in Southern Africa.... ; and Mbukushu, Kwangali, and Gciriku in the Caprivi StripCaprivi Strip Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip and formally known as Itenge, is a narrow protrusion of Namibia east... ; but there is also the South CushiticSouth Cushitic languages The South Cushitic languages belong to the Afro-Asiatic family and are spoken in Tanzania.... language DahaloDahalo language Dahalo is an endangered South Cushitic language spoken by about 400 people in Kenya.... in KenyaKenya The Republic of Kenya is a country in Eastern Africa.... , and an extinct northern AustralianAustralian Aboriginal languages The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to Australia and a few nearby isl... ritual language called DaminDamin Damin was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the Lardil and the Yangkaal tribes in A... . The Bantu languages adopted the use of clicks from neighboring, displaced, or absorbed Khoisan populations, often through intermarriage, while the Dahalo are thought to have retained clicks from an earlier language when they shiftedLanguage shift Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or rate of assimilation, is the process whereby a spe... to speaking a Cushitic language; if so, the pre-Dahalo language may have been something like Hadza or Sandawe. Damin is an invented ritual language, and has nothing to do with Khoisan. External links (considered unreliable by Khoisanists; see previous link)