Tuu languages

The Tuu or Taa–ǃKwi (Taa–ǃUi, ǃUi–Taa, Kwi) languages are a language family consisting of two language clusters spoken in Botswana and South Africa. The relationship between the two clusters is not doubted, but is not close. The name Tuu comes from a word for person common to both branches of the family. The Tuu languages once formed a branch of a proposed Khoisan language family, and were called Southern Khoisan in that scenario, but this classification is now obsolete.

Languages

• Taa
  • ǃXóõ (a dialect cluster)
  • Lower Nossob (two dialects, ǀʼAuni and Kuǀhaasi; extinct)
• ǃKwi (!Ui)
  • Nǁng (a dialect cluster; moribund)
  • ǀXam (a dialect cluster, including Nǀuusaa; extinct)
  • ǂUngkue (extinct)
  • ǁXegwi (extinct)
  • ǃGãǃne (extinct)

The ǃKwi (!Ui) branch of South Africa is moribund, with only one language remaining, Nǁng, and that with less than a dozen elderly speakers. ǃKwi languages were once widespread across South Africa; the most famous, ǀXam, was the source of the modern national motto of that nation, ǃke eː ǀxarra ǁke.

The Taa branch of Botswana is more robust, though it also has one surviving language, ǃXóõ, with 4200 speakers.

The family was once thought to include the (East) ǂHõã language, but this may instead be related to the Juu family and is best considered unclassified for now. There are great similarities between the Tuu and Juu families, which many put down to areal influence.

The Tuu languages, along with ǂHõã, are known for being the only languages in the world to have bilabial clicks as distinctive speech sounds, apart from the extinct ritual jargon Damin of northern Australia. They also have some of the most complex inventories of both consonants and vowels in the world, as well as tone.

Because many of the Tuu languages became extinct with little record, there is considerable confusion as to which of their many names represented separate languages or even dialects. See List of Khoisan languages for some possibilities.

References

Sources

• Güldemann, Tom. (2006). "The San languages of southern Namibia: Linguistic appraisal with special reference to J. G. Krönlein’s N|uusaa data." Anthropological Linguistics, 48(4): 369-395.
• Story, Robert. (1999). "K'u|ha:si Manuscript" (MS collections of the Ki|hazi dialect of Bushman, 1937). Khoisan Forum Working Paper 13. ed. Anthony Traill. Köln: University of Köln. 18-34.

External links

• Taa at DoBeS, Documentation of endangered languages