Encyclopedia > Khoisan languages

  Article Content

Khoisan languages

The Khoisan languages are the smallest phylum of African Languages. Historically, they were spoken by the Khoi and San people, the 5th and oldest human race. Today they are only spoken in the Kalahari Desert in south-western Africa. They are notable for the use of click consonants as phonemes, including the !Xu~ language, which has in excess of 50 click consonants and over 140 separate phonemes. Many Americans were exposed to this group of languages through the San language[?] used in the 1984 film The Gods Must Be Crazy.

The only other languages using clicks as phonemes are Nguni Bantu languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu in South Africa, and the Hadza and Sandawe languages in Kenya.

See also: Namibia, Botswana, South Africa.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Thomas a Kempis

... His paternal name was Hemerken or Hammerlein, "little hammer." In 1395 he was sent to the school at Deventer conducted by the Brethren of the Common Life[?]. H ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 25 ms