Phonemes and Khoisan (koisän) languages
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The Khoisan languages are the smallest phylum of African languages. Historically, they were mainly
spoken by the Khoi and Bushmen people.
Today they are only spoken in the Kalahari Desert in south-western Africa, and a small area in
Tanzania. The languages are becoming increasingly rare; several are known to have become extinct.
Many of them have no written record.
The Hadza and Sandawe languages in Tanzania are generally classified as Khoisan, but are
extremely distant (linguistically and geographically) from the others. Many linguists regard the Khoisan
phylum as a yet unproved hypothesis.
They are notable for the use of click consonants as phonemes, including the Kung-ekoka
language, which has in excess of 50 click consonants and over 140 separate phonemes, and
the !Xóõ language with its giant phoneme inventory.
A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common ancestor,
which is called the proto-language of that family.
Review: phoneme
Phoneme is the smallest meaning-distinguishing unit
• Phonemes themselves do not carry meaning.
• They simply distinguish meaning.
Cats and Bats
C and B distinguish meaning
C and B do not carry meaning
Kung-ekoka language - excess of 50 click consonants and over 140 separate
phonemes
English language – approximately 45 phonemes
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Phonetic clues hint that language is Africa-born
(April 14,
2011 New York Times)
• Biologist Quentin Atkinson U of Auckland New Zealand
• Applied statistical methods developed for constructing genetic trees
based on DNA to historical linguistics
•Decreasing diversity of phonemes the further humans traveled
from Africa
•The most linguistic diversity of phonemes is in Africa, especially
Southern Africa, Kalahari Desert
• Each time a smaller group moves away from another group,
there is a reduction in its genetic diversity
• The reduction in phonemic diversity over increasing distances
from Africa parallels the reduction in genetic diversity already
recorded by biologists
• Implies, as with genetics, that modern humans and modern
human language originated in Africa
• The Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert belong to one of the earliest branches of the
genetic tree based on human mitochondrial DNA.
•Their
languages belong to the family Khoisan
•Includes many click sounds
•Clicks seem to be an ancient feature of language
•Khoisan speakers live in southern Africa.
•Dr. Atkinson’s calculations point to southern Africa as the
origin of language.
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The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most
areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland,
Botswana, Namibia and Angola, are referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho,
Barwa, Kung, or Khwe.
There is a significant linguistic difference between the northern Bushmen and the
southern group who live in the central Kalahari towards the Molopo.
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Click languages
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fYVPWjcvs&feature=related
Xhosa
• Xhosa (isiXhosa)
• Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa and is a member of
the Bantu/Nguni family of languages.
• It is spoken by about 7.9 million people mainly in Eastern Cape Province,
Orange Free State, Ciskei and Transkei in South Africa, and also spoken
in Botswana and Lesotho.
• Xhosa is closely related to Zulu, Swati and Ndebele and more or less
mutually intelligible with them.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31zzMb3U0iY&feature=related
Xhosa's click consonants were most likely borrowed from the Khoisan languages as
a result of long and extensive interaction between the Xhosa and Khoisan peoples.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fYVPWjcvs&feature=related
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