Khoe languages
| Khoe | |
|---|---|
| Central Khoisan (obsolete) | |
| Geographic distribution | Namibia and the Kalahari Desert |
| Linguistic classification | Khoe–Kwadi[1]
|
| Proto-language | Proto-Khoe |
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | khoe1241 |
The Khoe /ˈkweɪ/[2] KWAY languages are the largest of the non-Bantu language families indigenous to Southern Africa. They were once considered to be a branch of a Khoisan language family, and were known as Central Khoisan in that scenario. Though Khoisan is now rejected as a family, the name is retained as a term of convenience.
The most numerous and only well-known Khoi language is Khoikhoi (Nama/Damara) of Namibia. The rest of the family is found predominantly in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. The languages are similar enough that a fair degree of communication is possible between Khoikhoi and the languages of Botswana.
The Khoi languages were the first Khoisan languages known to European colonists and are famous for their clicks, though these are not as extensive as in other Khoisan language families. There are two primary branches of the family, Khoikhoi of Namibia and South Africa, and Tshu–Khwe of Botswana and Zimbabwe. Except for Nama, they are under pressure from national or regional languages such as Tswana.
History
Later desiccation of the Kalahari led to the adoption of a hunter-gatherer economy and preserved the Kalahari peoples from absorption by the agricultural Bantu when they spread south.
Those Khoe who continued southwestwards retained pastoralism and became the
Classification
The nearest relative of the Khoe family may be the extinct
Language classifications may list one or two dozen Khoe languages. Because many are
| Khoe | |
- Haiǁom
- Afrikaansspelling) or Cape Hottentot.
- Shua is a dialect cluster including Shwa, Deti, Tsʼixa, ǀXaise, and Ganádi
- Tsoais a dialect cluster including Cire Cire and Kua
- ǁAniand Buga
- Naro is a dialect cluster
- Gǀwi. ǂHabais often included here, but may be closer to Naro.
- Tsʼixa: it is not yet clear if Tsʼixa is closest to Shua or to Khoe.
Dozens of names are associated with the Tshu–Khwe languages, especially with the Eastern cluster. These may be place, clan or totem names, often without any linguistically identifiable data. Examples include Masasi, Badza, Didi, and Dzhiki.[4] It is not presently possible to say which languages correspond to which names mentioned in the anthropological literature, though the majority will likely turn out to be Shua or Tshua.[5]
In most of the Eastern Kalahari Khoe languages, the alveolar and palatal clicks have been lost, or are in the process of being lost. For example, the northern dialect of
See also
- List of Proto-Khoe reconstructions (Wiktionary)
- List of Proto-Central Khoisan reconstructions (Wiktionary)
Further reading
- Baucom, Kenneth L. 1974. Proto-Central-Khoisan. In Voeltz, Erhard Friedrich Karl (ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on African linguistics, 7–8 April 1972, 3-37. Bloomington: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University.
References
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Khoe–Kwadi". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
- Menan du Plessis(2019) The Khoisan Languages of Southern Africa
- S2CID 133888593.
- ^ E. O. J. Westphal, "The Linguistic Prehistory of Southern Africa: Bush, Kwadi, Hottentot, and Bantu Linguistic Relationships", Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 33, no. 3 (Jul. 1963), pp. 237–265.
- ^ Yvonne Treis, "Names of Khoisan Languages and their Variants"
- Güldemann, Tom and Edward D. Elderkin (2010) 'On External Genealogical Relationships of the Khoe Family.' in Brenzinger, Matthias and Christa König (eds.), Khoisan Languages and Linguistics: the Riezlern Symposium 2003. Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung 17. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
- Changing Profile when Encroaching on Hunter-gatherer Territory?: Towards a History of the Khoe–Kwadi Family in Southern Africa. Tom Güldemann, paper presented at the conference Historical Linguistics and Hunter-gatherer Populations in Global Perspective, at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Aug. 2006.