List of Khoisan languages

Categories: Khoisan languages | Lists of languages

Here are all recorded Khoisan languages (also Khoesaan languages), the indigenous languages of southern Africa. Most Khoisan languages 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 well supported by comparative linguistics, and the term is often used for convenience without any implication of linguistic validity, much as Papuan and Australian are. The inclusion of Hadza is especially doubtful, and it at least appears to be a language isolate.

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

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

Contents 1 Hadza 2 Sandawe 3 Khoe (or Central Khoisan) 3.1 Khoekhoe 3.1.1 North Khoekhoe 3.1.2 South Khoekhoe 3.2 Tshu-Khwe 3.2.1 East Tshu-Khwe 3.2.2 West Tshu-Khwe 4 Ta’a-!Kwi (or Southern Khoisan) 4.1 Ta’a 4.2 !Kwi 5 Ju (!Kung or Northern Khoisan) 6 Unclassified 6.1 ‡Hoan 6.2 Kwadi 7 Other 7.1 Hai‖’om

Hadza

• Hadza (200-800 speakers)

Sandawe

• Sandawe (40,000 speakers)

Khoe (or Central Khoisan)

Khoekhoe

North Khoekhoe

• Nama (250,000 speakers. Ethnonyms Khoekhoegowab, Damara. A dialect cluster including ‡Aakhoe and Hai‖’om)

South Khoekhoe

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

Tshu-Khwe

East Tshu-Khwe

• Shua (6000 speakers. A dialect cluster including Deti, Ts’ixa, /Xaise, and Ganádi)
• Tsoa (9300 speakers. A dialect cluster including Cire Cire and Kua)

West Tshu-Khwe

• Kxoe (11,000 speakers. A dialect cluster including ‖Ani and Buga)
• Naro (14,000 speakers. A dialect cluster.)
• G‖ana-G/wi (4500 speakers. A dialect cluster including G‖ana, G/wi, and ‡Haba)

Ta’a-!Kwi (or Southern Khoisan)

Ta’a

• !Xóõ (4200 speakers. A dialect cluster.)
• Kakia (Extinct.)

!Kwi

• N/u (10 speakers. Moribund)
• /Xam (Extinct)
• ‖Xegwi (Extinct)
• Seroa (Extinct. Ethnonym is G!ãŋ!e)

Ju (!Kung or Northern Khoisan)

• Ju languages (~45,000 speakers, all varieties. A dialect cluster including !Kung (!Xũũ), Ju/’hoan, and ‡Kx’au‖’ein.)

Unclassified

‡Hoan

• ‡Hõã (200 speakers. Moribund. Possibly related to the Ju languages)

Kwadi

• Kwadi (Extinct. Likely a distant member of the Khoe family)

Other

Hai‖’om

A Hai‖’om language is listed in most Khoisan references. A century ago the Hai‖’om spoke a Ju dialect, probably close to !Kung, 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.