KHOISAN LANGUAGES

also called click languages, family of languages spoken by Khoekhoe, San, and other non-Bantu peoples of southern Africa. The languages of the family are usually divided into three groups: North Khoisan (also called Northern San), which includes !Kung and //Kh'au-//'en; Central Khoisan (also called Khoe), which includes the Khoekhoe languages, among which are Nama, !Ora, and Griqua, and also includes the Central San languages, among which are Naro, /Gui, and //Gana; and South Khoisan (also called Southern San), which includes /'Auni, //Ng-!Ke and Khomani. In addition to these languages, Sandawe and Hadza, spoken by small tribal groups in Tanzania, are usually included in the Khoisan language family. The languages of the group are now usually divided into three groupsNorth, Central, and South Khoisan. They are spoken by remnants of a pre-Bantu population, the so-called Bushmen, who are hunters and collectors living in and around the Kalahari. A Khoisan language also is used by the Khoikhoin, pastoralists of Namibia. The Bergdama, a non-Khoisanid people, and the Hai-'om San also have adopted the Nama language, a circumstance that brings the number of Nama speakers to a total of 146,000. The Khoisan family comprises about a dozen languages and dialect clusters such as Nama, !Kora, Naro, /Kham, !Khung, Kxoe, and others. (The unusual symbols in the names of the languages stand for clicks; they are listed in the table and are explained below in the section on phonology.) The assumption of a genetic relationship between all the languages of the Khoisanids and the application of the term Khoisan to this language family are problematic. Criteria brought forth against the point of view of a genetic relationship are the cleavage in morphology and vocabulary between sex-gender languages (Central Khoisan) and nongender languages (North Khoisan and South Khoisan), on the one hand, and a similar cleavage in morphology and vocabulary between North Khoisan and South Khoisan, on the other. These arguments are countered by the fact that there are a number of common words and a few particles, traceable by comparison of sound and meaning, in two or more of the three groups of Khoisan. These permit the establishment of a strong hypothesis for a genetic, though remote, relationship. Regular sound correspondence, however, has not been found in all common items; this is the most difficult part of the Khoisan problem. The Khoisan hypothesis is built on: (1) common special features of the phonological systeme.g., clicks are regarded as inherent to the languages; (2) widespread and common patterns of root formation, combined with special patterns of consonant distribution; (3) the occurrence of some probably related particles in more than one group; and (4) the occurrence of related words (sound-meaning units) in two of the groups, but more rarely in all three groups e.g., the terms for chin, lungs, throat, and wound. In addition to Khoisan proper, there are two click languages, Sandawe and Hadza (Hatsa), spoken by peoples in Tanzania; these languages possess a few words, affixes, and particles that justify the assumption of a distant relationship with Khoisan. The apparent link between Central Khoisan and Sandawe is supported by the racial affinities of the Sandawe and Khoikhoin peoples. The relations between Khoisan and Hadza are more remote. Studies on this subject are still in the initial stages. The American linguist William E. Welmers proposed the tentative extension of the Khoisan family into Macro-Khoisan, including Sandawe and Hadza. In 1962 Joseph Greenberg subsumed Khoisan proper and Sandawe and Hadza under the title Khoisan, but a few later linguists continue to challenge this grouping. Some Central Khoisan gender affixes were at one time considered as possibly related to the Hamitic languages. Today, the basis for the Nama-Hamitic hypothesis is generally regarded as too narrow for conclusiveness and the hypothesis has been given up for lack of evidence. Additional reading E.O.J. Westphal, A Re-classification of Southern African Non-Bantu Languages, J. Afr. Lang., 1:18 (1962), The Click Languages of Southern and Eastern Africa, in Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.), Current Trends in Linguistics, vol. 7 (1971), pp. 367420, and The Linguistic Prehistory of Southern Africa: Bush, Kwadi, Hottentot, and Bantu Linguistic Relationships, Africa, 33:237265 (1963), with maps; L.W. Lanham and D.P. Hallowes, Linguistic Relationships and Contacts Expressed in the Vocabulary of Eastern Bushman, Afr. Stud., 15:4548 (1956); for a comprehensive list of classified languages, see D.F. Bleek, A Bushman Dictionary (1956). (Distribution): Oswin Khler, Die Khoe-sprachigen Buschmnner der Kalahari: Ihre Verbreitung und Gliederung, Klner Geogr. Arbeiten. Festschrift Kurt Kayser, pp. 373411 (1971), with map. (Phonology): C.M. Doke, An Outline of the Phonetics of the Language of the Chu: Bushmen of North-West Kalahari, Bantu Stud., 2:129166 (1925); D.M. Beach, The Phonetics of the Hottentot Language (1938). (Grammar): Oswin Khler, Noun Classes and Grammatical Agreement in !Xu, Actes du VIIIe Congrs Intern. de Linguistique Africaine, pp. 489522 (1971); J.W. Snyman, An Introduction to the !Xu (!Kung) Language (1970); D.F. Bleek, Bushman Grammar: A Grammatical Sketch of the Language of the|xam-ka-!k'e', Zeitschrift fr Eingeborenen-Sprachen, vol. 1920 (192830); L.F. Maingard, The Khomani Dialect of Bushman, in J.D.R. Jones and C.M. Doke (eds.), Bushmen of the Southern Kalahari (1937); F. Rust, Praktische Namagrammatik (1965), based on material of H. Vedder and J. Olpp. (Comparative studies): Oswin Khler, Studien zum Genussystem und Verbalbau der zentralen Khoisan-Sprachen, Anthropos, 57:529546 (1962), deals with gender and verb system of Central Khoisan; D.F. Bleek, A Short Survey of Bushman Languages, Zeitschrift fr Eingeborenen-Sprachen, vol. 30 (193940). (Vocabulary): D.F. Bleek, A Bushman Dictionary (1956), a compilation of all language material available, except Khoikhoin; J.G. Krnlein, Wortschatz der Khoi-Khoin-Namaqua-Hottentoten (1889), on Nama. (Oral literature): W.H.I. Bleek and L.C. Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folklore (1911), texts in |Xam with translation and annotations. (General information): I. Schapera, The Khoisan Peoples of South Africa (1930), deals also with distribution and classification. (Eyasian languages): O. Dempwolff, Die Sandawe (1916), with a chapter on language and vocabulary; D.F. Bleek, Traces of Former Bushman Occupation in Tanganyika Territory, S. Afr. J. Sci., 28:423429 (1931). Oswin R.A. Khler