Editing Taa language (section)

{{Short description|Tuu language of southwestern Botswana and eastern Namibia}}
{{redirect|Taa|other uses|TAA (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|text=Eastern ǂHoan, an outdated name for the [[ǂʼAmkoe language]]}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Taa
| altname = ǃKhong, ǃXóõ 
| nativename = {{lang|nmn|Taa ǂaan}} / {{lang|nmn|Tâa ǂâã}}
| states = [[Botswana]], [[Namibia]]
| region = Southern [[Ghanzi District|Ghanzi]], northern [[Kgalagadi District|Kgalagadi]], western [[Southern District (Botswana)|Southern]] and western [[Kweneng District|Kweneng]] districts in Botswana; southern [[Omaheke]] and northeastern [[Hardap Region|Hardap]] regions in Namibia.
| speakers = 2,500
| date = 2011
| ref = e19
| familycolor = Khoisan
| fam1 = [[Tuu languages|Tuu]]
| fam2 = Taa–[[Lower Nossob language|Lower Nossob]]
| dia1 = West ǃXoon (Nǀuǁʼen)
| dia2 = ǃAma
| dia3 = East ǃXoon
| dia4 = Tsaasi–ǂHuan
| iso3 = nmn
| glotto = taaa1242
| glottorefname = Taa
| notice = IPA
| map = Khoisan languages historical.svg
}}

'''Taa''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|ɑː}} {{respell|TAH}}), also known as '''ǃXóõ''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|oʊ}} {{respell|KOH}};<ref>Alan Barnard (…) ''Hunters and Herders of Southern Africa'', p.xxii.</ref> {{IPA|nmn|ǃ͡χɔ̃ː˦}}; also spelled '''ǃKhong''' and '''ǃXoon'''), formerly called by the dialect name '''ǂHoan''', thus also known as '''Western ǂHoan''', is a [[Tuu languages|Tuu language]] notable for its large [[List of languages by number of phonemes|number]] of [[phoneme]]s, perhaps the largest in the world.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rousseau |first=Bryant |date=25 November 2016 |title=Click languages |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/world/what-in-the-world/click-languages-taa-xoon-xoo-botswana.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=8&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F11%2F25%2Fworld%2Fwhat-in-the-world%2Fclick-languages-taa-xoon-xoo-botswana.html&eventName=Watching-article-click |access-date=November 11, 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> It is also notable for having perhaps the heaviest [[functional load]] of [[click consonant]]s, with one count finding that 82% of basic vocabulary items started with a click.<ref>See Sands & Gunnink (2019) "Clicks on the fringes of the Kalahari Basin Area." In Clem et al. (eds), ''Theory and Description in African Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 47th Annual Conference on African Linguistics.'' Language Science Press, Berlin, pp. 703–724.</ref> Most speakers live in [[Botswana]], but a few hundred live in [[Namibia]]. The people call themselves ǃXoon (pl. ǃXooŋake) or ʼNǀohan (pl. Nǀumde), depending on the dialect they speak. The Tuu languages are one of the three traditional language families that make up the [[Khoisan languages]]. In 2011, there were around 2,500 speakers of Taa.

{{lang|nmn|Taa}} is the word for 'human being'; the local name of the language is {{lang|nmn|Taa ǂaan (Tâa ǂâã)}}, from {{lang|nmn|ǂaan}} 'language'. {{lang|nmn|ǃXoon}} (ǃXóõ) is an [[ethnonym]] used at opposite ends of the Taa-speaking area, but not by Taa speakers in between.<ref>Gertrud Boden, 2007, ''ǃQamtee ǀaa ǂXanya: 'the Book of Traditions' : Histories, Texts and Illustrations from the ǃXoon and 'Nǀohan People of Namibia''</ref> Most living Taa speakers are ethnic ǃXoon (plural {{lang|nmn|ǃXooŋake}}) or 'Nǀohan (plural {{lang|nmn|Nǀumde}}).<ref>DoBeS, [http://www.mpi.nl/DOBES/projects/taa/people "Taa"].</ref>

Taa shares a number of characteristic features with [[ǂʼAmkoe language|West ǂʼAmkoe]] and [[Gǀui language|Gǀui]], which together are considered part of the [[Kalahari Basin]] [[sprachbund]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Güldemann |first=Tom |last2=Fehn |first2=Anne-Maria |year=2015 |title=The Kalahari Basin area as a "Sprachbund" before the Bantu expansion - an update |url=https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/afrika/linguistik-und-sprachen/mitarbeiter/1683070/dokumente/gueldemann-fehn-kalahari-basin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928163116/https://www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de/de/afrika/linguistik-und-sprachen/mitarbeiter/1683070/dokumente/gueldemann-fehn-kalahari-basin |archive-date=2015-09-28 |access-date=2016-04-05 |website=Instituts für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin}}</ref>