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Language Family

Tuu

African Language Families

Tuu, also called Taa-Kwi, is a language family of Botswana, South Africa and Namibia comprising two branches, and is counted among the world's primary language families. The Taa branch survives as a single language, Xoo, with about 2,500 speakers, while the Kwi, or Ui, branch survives only as Nlng, which as of the source consulted had a single elderly speaker remaining. Tuu languages were once classified as the Southern Khoisan branch of a broader Khoisan family, a grouping now considered obsolete and abandoned by mainstream classification.

Facts
Region
Botswana, South Africa and Namibia 1
Speaker Count
2500 1
Figure is for ǃXóõ, the sole surviving language of the more robust Taa branch; the other branch's sole survivor, Nǁng, has only one elderly speaker left.
Proto-Language Status
Consists of two language clusters whose relationship is not doubted but is distant; the family is not demonstrably related to any other language family, though it shares many similarities with the Kx'a family, generally attributed to a sprachbund of thousands of years of contact rather than genetic relationship, though some scholars believe the two may eventually prove related. 1
In the Other Atlases
  • Also in Geography Atlas: Africa, found in there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Tuu Languages
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Introduction, first sentence
    The Tuu languages, or Taa-ǃKwi (Taa-ǃUi, ǃUi-Taa, Kwi) languages, are a language family consisting of two language clusters spoken in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia.
  • Classification section, first sentence
    The Tuu languages are not demonstrably related to any other language family, though they do share many similarities to the languages of the Kxʼa family.
  • Languages section
    The Taa branch of Botswana is more robust, though it also has only one surviving language, ǃXóõ, with 2,500 speakers.
View the Source
Wikidata: Tuu
Wikidata Q631046, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source
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