Editing Juǀʼhoan language (section)

==Orthographic history==
Juǀʼhoan is the only variety of ǃKung to be written. Three orthographies have been used over the past half century, two based on pipe letters for clicks and one using only the basic Latin alphabet.

In the 1960s, the South African Department of Education set about establishing official orthographies for the languages of [[Southwest Africa]] (Namibia). Jan Snyman was selected to develop an orthography for the then-unwritten Juǀʼhoasi, which was accepted in 1969. In this orthography, the name of the language is spelled Žuǀʼhõasi. A slightly modified form (Snyman 1975) is shown below.<ref>{{cite book |last=Snyman |first=Jan W. |year=1975 |title=Zuǀʼhõasi Fonologie en Woordeboek |location=Cape Town |publisher=AA Balkema}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the [[Bible Society]] of South Africa requested a new orthography, one that used only letters of the Latin alphabet, avoided diacritics as much as possible, and conformed as much as possible to the conventions of [[Afrikaans language|Afrikaans]]. This second orthography was accepted in 1987, in which the language is spelled Zjuc'hôa.

A third orthography was developed by the Juǀwa Bushman Development Foundation in 1994. This is the orthography that is currently in use in Namibia; there does not seem to be any publication in Botswana.

The three orthographies, along with the IPA, are compared below. Tone is evidently unmarked.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Comparison of Juǀʼhoan orthographies
|-
! ||colspan=4|Labial plosives ||colspan=4|Alveolar plosives ||colspan=4|Velar plosives ||colspan=5|Alveolar affricates ||colspan=5|Postalveolar affricates ||
|-
! IPA 
| [b] || [p] || [b͡pʰ] || [pʰ] || [d] || [t] || [d͡tʰ] || [tʰ] || [ɡ] || [k] || [ɡ͡kʰ] || [kʰ] || [ts] || [d͡tsʰ] || [tsʰ] || [d͡tsʼ] || [tsʼ] || [tʃ] || [d͡tʃʰ] || [tʃʰ] || [d͡tʃʼ] || [tʃʼ] || [kxʼ]
|-
! 1994–present
|rowspan=3| b ||rowspan=3| p ||rowspan=3| bh ||rowspan=3| ph ||rowspan=3| d ||rowspan=3| t ||rowspan=3| dh ||rowspan=3| th ||rowspan=2| g ||rowspan=3| k ||rowspan=2| gh ||rowspan=3| kh ||rowspan=3| ts ||rowspan=3| dsh ||rowspan=3| tsh || ds || tz || tc || dch || tch || dc || tj || kx
|-
! 1975–1987
|rowspan=2| dsʼ || rowspan=2| tsʼ || tš || dšh || tšh || dšʼ || tšʼ || kxʼ
|-
! 1987–1994
| gh || ʼgh || tj || djh || tjh || djʼ || tjʼ || kg
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! ||colspan=7|Hetero-organic affricates ||colspan=6|Fricates || ||colspan=2|Nasals ||colspan=4|Syllabic<br/>Nasals ||colspan=2|Approximants
|- 
! IPA 
| [d͡tᵡ] || [tᵡ] || [tᵡʼ] || [d͡tsᵡ] || [tsᵡ] || [d͡tʃᵡ] || [tʃᵡ] || [z] || [s] || [ʒ] || [ʃ] || [χ] || [h] || [ɽ] || [m] || [n] || [m̩] || [ŋ̍] || [m̰] || [m̤] || [j] || [w]
|-
! 1994–present
|rowspan=2| dx ||rowspan=2| tx || tk ||rowspan=2| dzx ||rowspan=2| tsx || djx || tcx ||rowspan=3| z ||rowspan=3| s || j || c ||rowspan=2| x ||rowspan=3| h ||rowspan=3| r ||rowspan=3| m ||rowspan=3| n ||rowspan=3| m ||rowspan=3| ang || mq ||rowspan=3| mh ||rowspan=3| y ||rowspan=3| w
|-
! 1975–1987
| txʼ || dx || tx || ž || š || m̭
|-
! 1987–1994
| dg || tg || tgʼ || - || tsg || djg || tjg || zj || sj || g || m̹
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! ||colspan=12|Dental clicks ||colspan=12|Alveolar clicks 
|-
! IPA 
| [ᶢǀ] || [ᵏǀ] || [ᶢᵏǀʰ] || [ᵏǀʰ] || [ᵑǀˀ] || [ᵑ̊ǀʰ] || [ᵑǀ] ||[ᵑǀʱ] || [ᶢᵏǀᵡ] || [ᵏǀᵡ] || [ᶢᵏǀᵡʼ] || [ᵏǀᵡʼ] 
| [ᶢǃ] || [ᵏǃ] || [ᶢᵏǃʰ] || [ᵏǃʰ] || [ᵑǃˀ] || [ᵑ̊ǃʰ] || [ᵑǃ] ||[ᵑǃʱ] || [ᶢᵏǃᵡ] || [ᵏǃᵡ] || [ᶢᵏǃᵡʼ] || [ᵏǃᵡʼ]
|-
! 1994–present
|rowspan=2| gǀ ||rowspan=2| ǀ ||rowspan=2| gǀh ||rowspan=2| ǀh ||rowspan=2| ǀʼ ||rowspan=2| ǀʼh ||rowspan=2| nǀ || nǀh ||rowspan=2| gǀx ||rowspan=2| ǀx || gǀk || ǀk 
|rowspan=2| gǃ ||rowspan=2| ǃ ||rowspan=2| gǃh ||rowspan=2| ǃh ||rowspan=2| ǃʼ ||rowspan=2| ǃʼh ||rowspan=2| nǃ || nǃh ||rowspan=2| gǃx ||rowspan=2| ǃx || gǃk || ǃk
|-
! 1975–1987
| nǀʼh || gǀxʼ || ǀxʼ || nǃʼh || gǃxʼ || ǃxʼ
|-
! 1987–1994
| gc || c || dch || ch || cʼ || cʼh || nc || nch || dcg || cg || dcgʼ || cgʼ 
| gq || q || dqh || qh || qʼ || qʼh || nq || nqh || dqg || qg || dqgʼ || qgʼ
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! ||colspan=12|Palatal clicks ||colspan=12|Lateral clicks 
|-
! IPA 
| [ᶢǂ] || [ᵏǂ] || [ᶢᵏǂʰ] || [ᵏǂʰ] || [ᵑǂˀ] || [ᵑ̊ǂʰ] || [ᵑǂ] ||[ᵑǂʱ] || [ᶢᵏǂᵡ] || [ᵏǂᵡ] || [ᶢᵏǂᵡʼ] || [ᵏǂᵡʼ] 
| [ᶢǁ] || [ᵏǁ] || [ᶢᵏǁʰ] || [ᵏǁʰ] || [ᵑǁˀ] || [ᵑ̊ǁʰ] || [ᵑǁ] ||[ᵑǁʱ] || [ᶢᵏǁᵡ] || [ᵏǁᵡ] || [ᶢᵏǁᵡʼ] || [ᵏǁᵡʼ]
|-
! 1994–present
|rowspan=2| gǂ ||rowspan=2| ǂ ||rowspan=2| gǂh ||rowspan=2| ǂh ||rowspan=2| ǂʼ ||rowspan=2| ǂʼh ||rowspan=2| nǂ || nǂh ||rowspan=2| gǂx ||rowspan=2| ǂx || gǂk || ǂk 
|rowspan=2| gǁ ||rowspan=2| ǁ ||rowspan=2| gǁh ||rowspan=2| ǁh ||rowspan=2| ǁʼ ||rowspan=2| ǁʼh ||rowspan=2| nǁ || nǁh ||rowspan=2| gǁx ||rowspan=2| ǁx || gǁk || ǁk
|-
! 1975–1987
| nǂʼh || gǂxʼ || ǂxʼ || nǁʼh || gǁxʼ || ǁxʼ
|-
! 1987–1994
| gç || ç || dçh || çh || çʼ || çʼh || nç || nçh || dçg || çg || dçgʼ || çgʼ 
| gx || x || dxh || xh || xʼ || xʼh || nx || nxh || dxg || xg || dxgʼ || xgʼ
|}

{| class="wikitable"
! ||colspan=5|Plain vowels ||colspan=2|Pressed<br/>vowels ||colspan=4|Nasal vowels ||colspan=2|Pressed<br/>Nasal vowels
|-
! IPA 
| [i] || [e] || [a, ə] || [o] || [u] || [aˤ] || [oˤ] || [ĩ] || [ã] || [õ] || [ũ] || [ãˤ] || [õˤ]
|-
! 1994–present
|rowspan=3| i ||rowspan=3| e ||rowspan=2| a ||rowspan=3| o ||rowspan=3| u || aq || oq || in || an || on || un || aqn || oqn
|-
! 1975–1987
| a̭ || o̭ || ĩ || ã || õ || ũ || ã̭ || õ̭
|-
! 1987–1994
| a, e || a̦ || o̦ || î || â || ô || û || â̦ || ô̦
|}

The modern (1994) orthography also has ''ih, eh, ah, oh, uh'' for breathy (murmured) vowels, and ''ihn, ahn, ohn, uhn'' for breathy nasal vowels. However, Snyman maintains that these are positional variants of low-tone vowels, and not needed in an orthography (at least, not if tone were marked). Glottalized vowels are written with an apostrophe in all three orthographies.