Khoekhoe (also known as Nama or Khoekhoegowab) is spoken by roughly 200,000 people in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, making it the most widely spoken language traditionally grouped as Khoisan. It belongs to the Khoe family; Khoisan itself is now recognized as an obsolete areal grouping rather than a genuine genetic family. The language is written in the Latin alphabet augmented with click letters for its distinctive click consonants.
Facts
Speaker CountEstimated 200,000 plus or minus 10,000 (2011); a lower estimate of around 167,000 remaining speakers also appears in the sourced literature. RegionNamibia, Botswana and South Africa 1 Connections
In Family
Khoisan is now recognized as an obsolete areal grouping rather than a genetic family; Khoekhoe own demonstrated affiliation is the Khoe language family. Recorded as associated with this atlas Khoisan entity for continuity with the traditional grouping, not as a claim of genetic unity.
Source Wikipedia: Khoekhoe Language
Written In
Latin augmented with click letters (the Lepsius letters later adopted as IPA symbols) for the language click consonants.
Source Wikipedia: Khoekhoe Language
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Khoekhoe Language
Wikimedia Foundation- Classification section, formerly classified as Khoisan, now obsolete statement
- Infobox, speaker count figure (200,000 +/- 10,000, 2011)
- Classification section, region field
- Infobox, current speaker figures
- In Family: Khoisan, Classification section, formerly classified as Khoisan, a grouping now recognized as obsolete
- Written In: Latin Script, Writing system section, Latin augmented with click letters statement
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