Editing Khoisan languages

{{Short description|Group of African language families with click consonants}}
{{Redirect|San language|the Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso|Samo language (Burkina)}}
{{Infobox language family
| name = Khoisan
| altname = Khoesaan
| acceptance = obsolete
| region = [[Kalahari Desert]], central [[Tanzania]]
| familycolor = Khoisan
| family = (term of convenience)
| child1 = [[Khoe–Kwadi languages|Khoe–Kwadi]]
| child2 = [[Kxʼa languages|Kxʼa]]
| child3 = [[Tuu languages|Tuu]]
| child4 = ''[[Sandawe language|Sandawe]]''
| child5 = ''[[Hadza language|Hadza]]''
| iso2 = khi
| iso5 = khi
| glotto = none
| map = Khoi-San.png
| mapcaption = Map showing the ancestral distribution of the Khoisan languages (yellow)
}}

The '''Khoisan languages''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɔɪ|s|ɑː|n}} {{respelling|KOY|sahn}}; also '''Khoesan''' or '''Khoesaan''') are a number of [[Languages of Africa|African languages]] once classified together, originally by [[Joseph Greenberg]].<ref>Greenberg, Joseph H. 1955. <nowiki>''</nowiki>Studies in African Linguistic Classification.<nowiki>''</nowiki> New Haven: Compass Publishing Company. (Reprints, with minor corrections, a series of eight articles published in the <nowiki>''</nowiki>Southwestern Journal of Anthropology<nowiki>''</nowiki> from 1949 to 1954.)</ref><ref name=AB/> Khoisan is defined as those languages that have [[click languages|click consonants]] and do not belong to other African [[language families]]. For much of the 20th century, they were thought to be [[Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genealogically related]] to each other, but this is no longer accepted. They are now held to comprise three distinct [[language family|language families]] and two [[language isolate]]s.

All but two Khoisan languages are indigenous to southern Africa; these are classified into three language families. The [[Khoe languages|Khoe family]] appears to have migrated to southern Africa not long before the [[Bantu expansion]].<ref name=GE/> Ethnically, their speakers are the [[Khoekhoe]] and the [[San people|San]] (Bushmen). Two languages of eastern Africa, those of the [[Sandawe people|Sandawe]] and [[Hadza people|Hadza]], were originally also classified as Khoisan, although their speakers are ethnically neither Khoekhoe nor San.

Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan languages, or languages like them, were likely spread throughout southern and eastern Africa. They are currently restricted to the [[Kalahari Desert]], primarily in [[Namibia]] and [[Botswana]], and to the [[East African Rift|Rift Valley]] in central [[Tanzania]].<ref name=AB>{{cite journal | last1 = Barnard | first1 = A | year = 1988 | title = Kinship, language and production: a conjectural history of Khoisan social structure | journal = [[Africa: Journal of the International African Institute]] | volume = 58 | issue = 1| pages = 29–50 | doi = 10.2307/1159869 | jstor = 1159869 | s2cid = 131856340 }}</ref>

Most of the languages are [[endangered languages|endangered]], and several are [[moribund language|moribund]] or [[extinct languages|extinct]]. Most have no written record. The only widespread Khoisan language is [[Khoekhoe language|Khoekhoe]] (also known as Khoekhoegowab, Nàmá or Damara) of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, with a quarter of a million speakers; [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]] in Tanzania is second in number with some 40–80,000, some monolingual; and the [[ǃKung language]] of the northern Kalahari spoken by some 16,000 or so people. Language use is quite strong among the 20,000 speakers of [[Naro language|Naro]], half of whom speak it as a second language.

Khoisan languages are best known for their use of [[click consonant]]s as [[phoneme]]s. These are typically written with characters such as '''[[Postalveolar click|ǃ]]''' and '''[[Palatal click|ǂ]]'''. Clicks are quite versatile as consonants, as they involve two articulations of the tongue which can operate partially independently. Consequently, the languages with the greatest numbers of consonants in the world are Khoisan. The [[Juǀʼhoan language]] has 48 click consonants among nearly as many non-click consonants, [[strident vowel|strident]] and [[Pharyngealization|pharyngealized]] vowels, and four tones. The [[Taa language|ǃXóõ]] and [[ǂHõã language|ǂHõã]] languages are even more complex.

==Validity==
Khoisan was proposed as one of the four families of [[Languages of Africa|African languages]] in [[Joseph Greenberg]]'s classification (1949–1954, revised in 1963). However, linguists who study Khoisan languages reject their unity, and the name "Khoisan" is used by them as a term of convenience without any implication of linguistic validity, much as "[[Papuan languages|Papuan]]" and "[[Australian languages|Australian]]" are.<ref>Bonny Sands (1998) ''Eastern and Southern African Khoisan: Evaluating Claims of Distant Linguistic Relationships.'' Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Cologne</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Dimmendaal | first1 = Gerrit | year = 2008 | title = Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent | journal = [[Language and Linguistics Compass]] | volume = 2 | issue = 5 | pages = 840–858 | doi = 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00085.x }}</ref> It has been suggested that the similarities of the Tuu and Kxʼa families are due to a southern African [[Sprachbund]] rather than a genealogical relationship, whereas the Khoe (or perhaps Kwadi–Khoe) family is a more recent migrant to the area, and may be related to Sandawe in East Africa.<ref name=GE>Güldemann, Tom and Edward D. Elderkin (forthcoming) '[http://email.eva.mpg.de/~gueldema/pdf/Gueldemann_Elderkin.pdf On external genealogical relationships of the Khoe family.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325021922/http://email.eva.mpg.de/~gueldema/pdf/Gueldemann_Elderkin.pdf |date=2009-03-25 }}' In Brenzinger, Matthias and Christa König (eds.), ''Khoisan Languages and Linguistics: the Riezlern Symposium 2003.'' Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung 17. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.</ref>

[[Ernst Oswald Johannes Westphal]] is known for his early rejection of the Khoisan language family ([[Georgiy Starostin|Starostin]] 2003). Bonny Sands (1998) concluded that the family is not demonstrable with current evidence. [[Anthony Traill (linguist)|Anthony Traill]] at first accepted Khoisan (Traill 1986), but by 1998 concluded that it could not be demonstrated with current data and methods, rejecting it as based on a single typological criterion: the presence of clicks.<ref>Linguistics 112 lecture, Department of Linguistics, [[University of the Witwatersrand]], March 1998</ref> Dimmendaal (2008) summarized the general view thus: "[I]t has to be concluded that Greenberg's intuitions on the genetic unity of Khoisan could not be confirmed by subsequent research. Today, the few scholars working on these languages treat the three [southern groups] as independent language families that cannot or can no longer be shown to be genetically related" (p.&nbsp;841). Starostin (2013) accepts a relationship between Sandawe and Khoi is plausible, as is one between Tuu and Kxʼa, but sees no indication of a relationship between Sandawe and Khoi on the one hand and Tuu and Kxʼa on the other, or between any of them and Hadza.

Janina Brutt-Griffler writes: "Given that such colonial borders were generally arbitrarily drawn, they grouped large numbers of ethnic groups that spoke many languages." She hypothesizes that this took place within efforts to prevent the spread of English during European colonization and prevent the entrance of the majority into the middle class.<ref>{{Cite book|title='Along the Routes to Power' Explorations of Empowerment through Language|last=Brutt-Griffler|first=Janina|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|year=2006|editor-last=Fishman|editor-first=Joshua A.|chapter=Language endangerment, the construction of indigenous languages and world English}}</ref>

==Khoisan language variation==
[[Anthony Traill (linguist)|Anthony Traill]] noted the Khoisan languages' extreme variation.<ref name=AT/> Despite their shared clicks, the Khoisan languages diverge significantly from each other. [[Anthony Traill (linguist)|Traill]] demonstrated this linguistic diversity in the data presented in the below table. The first two columns include words from the two Khoisan [[language isolate]]s, [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]] and [[Hadza language|Hadza]]. The following three are languages from the [[Khoe languages|Khoe family]], the [[Kxʼa languages|Kxʼa family]], and the [[Tuu languages|Tuu family]], respectively.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ style="text-align: left;" | Khoisan language words, as reported in 2005 by Britannica
<ref name=AT>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Traill |first=Anthony |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Khoisan languages |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khoisan-languages |access-date=June 10, 2017  |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, inc.}}</ref>
|-
! !! Sandawe !! Hadza !! Khoe !! Ju !! ǃXóõ
|-
| 'person' || ǀnomese || ʼúnù || khoe || ʒú || tâa
|-
| 'man' || ǀnomese || ɬeme || kʼákhoe || ǃhõá || tâa á̰a
|-
| 'child' || ǁnoό || waʼa || ǀūá || dama || ʘàa
|-
| 'ear' || kéké || ɦatʃʼapitʃʼi || ǂée || ǀhúí || ǂnùhã
|-
| 'eye' || ǀgweé || ʼákhwa || ǂxái || ǀgàʼá || ǃʼûĩ
|-
| 'ostrich' || saʼútà || kénàngu || ǀgáro || dsùú || qûje
|-
| 'giraffe' || tsʼámasu || tsʼókwàna || ǃnábe || ǂoah || ǁqhūũ
|-
| 'buffalo' || ǀeu || nákʼóma || ǀâo || ǀàò ||  ǀqhái
|-
| 'to hear' || khéʼé || ǁnáʼe || kúm || tsʼàʼá || tá̰a
|-
| 'to drink' || tsʼee || fá || kxʼâa || tʃìi || kxʼāhã
|}

==Families==
[[File:KhoisanLanguagesModernDistribution.png|alt=Khoisan language map|thumb|upright=2|Present distribution of speakers of Khoisan languages]]

The branches that were once considered part of so-called Khoisan are now considered independent families, since it has not been demonstrated that they are related according to the [[comparative method|standard comparative method]].

See [[Khoe languages]] for speculations on the linguistic history of the region.

===Hadza===
{{Main|Hadza language}}
With about 800 speakers in Tanzania, Hadza is no longer seen as a Khoisan language and appears to be unrelated to any other language. Genetically, the Hadza people are unrelated to the Khoisan peoples of Southern Africa, and their closest relatives may be among the [[Pygmies]] of Central Africa.

===Sandawe===
{{Main|Sandawe language}}
There is some indication that Sandawe (about 40,000 speakers in Tanzania) may be related to the Khoe family, such as a congruent pronominal system and some good [[Swadesh list|Swadesh-list]] matches, but not enough to establish regular sound correspondences. Sandawe is not related to Hadza, despite their proximity.

===Khoe===
{{Main|Khoe–Kwadi languages}}
The Khoe family is both the most numerous and diverse family of Khoisan languages, with seven living languages and over a quarter million speakers. Although little Kwadi data is available, proto-Khoe–Kwadi reconstructions have been made for pronouns and some basic vocabulary.

{{tree list}}
*?'''[[Khoe–Kwadi languages|Khoe–Kwadi]]'''
**[[Kwadi language|Kwadi]] (extinct)
**[[Khoe languages|Khoe]]
***[[Khoekhoe language|Khoekhoe]] This branch appears to have been affected by the Kxʼa–Tuu ''[[sprachbund]]''.
****[[Nama language|Nama]] (ethnonyms Khoekhoen, Nama, Damara) (a dialect cluster including ǂAakhoe and Haiǁom)
****[[Eini dialect|Eini]] (extinct)
****South Khoekhoe
*****[[Korana language|Korana]] (moribund)
*****[[Xiri language|Xiri]] (moribund; a dialect cluster)
***[[Tshu–Khwe languages|Tshu–Khwe]] (or ''Kalahari)'' Many of these languages have undergone partial [[click loss]].
****East Tshu–Khwe (East Kalahari)
*****[[Shua language|Shua]] (a dialect cluster including Deti, Tsʼixa, ǀXaise, and Ganádi)
*****[[Tsoa language|Tsoa]] (a dialect cluster including Cire Cire and Kua)
****West Tshu–Khwe (West Kalahari)
*****[[Kxoe language|Kxoe]] (a dialect cluster including [[ǁAni language|ǁAni]] and Buga)
*****[[Naro language|Naro]] (a dialect cluster, including [[ǂHaba language|ǂHaba]])
*****Gǁana–Gǀwi (a dialect cluster including [[Gǁana language|Gǁana]] and [[Gǀwi language|Gǀwi]])
{{tree list/end}}

A [[Haiǁom people|Haiǁom]] language is listed in most Khoisan references. A century ago the Haiǁom people spoke a Ju dialect, probably close to ǃKung, but they now speak a divergent dialect of Nama. Thus their language is variously said to be extinct or to have 18,000 speakers, to be Ju or to be Khoe. (Their numbers have been included under Nama above.) They are known as the ''Saa'' by the Nama, and this is the source of the word ''[[San people|San]]''.

===Tuu===
{{Main|Tuu languages}}
The Tuu family consists of two language clusters, which are related to each other at about the distance of Khoekhoe and Tshukhwe within Khoe. They are typologically very similar to the Kxʼa languages (below), but have not been demonstrated to be related to them genealogically (the similarities may be an [[Sprachbund|areal]] feature).

{{tree list}}
*'''Tuu'''
**Taa
***[[ǃXoon language|ǃXoon]] (4200 speakers. A dialect cluster.)
***[[Lower Nossob language|Lower Nossob]] (Two dialects, ǀʼAuni and ǀHaasi. Extinct.)
**ǃKwi
***[[Nǁng language|Nǁng]] (1 speaker. A dialect cluster.)
***[[ǀXam language|ǀXam]] (A dialect cluster. Extinct.)
***[[ǂUngkue language|ǂUngkue]] (A dialect cluster. Extinct.)
***[[ǁXegwi language|ǁXegwi]] (Extinct.)
{{tree list/end}}

===Kxʼa===
{{Main|Kxʼa languages}}
The Kxʼa family is a relatively distant relationship formally demonstrated in 2010.<ref>Honken, H. and Heine, B. 2010. [http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/bitstream/10108/57434/1/jaas079001_ful.pdf "The Kxʼa Family: A New Khoisan Genealogy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102140038/http://repository.tufs.ac.jp/bitstream/10108/57434/1/jaas079001_ful.pdf |date=2018-11-02 }}. ''Journal of Asian and African Studies'' (Tokyo), 79, p. 5–36.</ref>

{{tree list}}
*'''Kxʼa'''
**[[ǂʼAmkoe language|ǂʼAmkoe]] (200 speakers, Botswana. Moribund. A dialect cluster of Nǃaqriaxe, (Eastern) ǂHoan, and Sasi).
**[[ǃKung languages|ǃKung]] (also ''ǃXun'' or ''Ju,'' formerly ''Northern Khoisan)'' is a dialect cluster. (~45,000 speakers.) [[Juǀʼhoan]] is the best-known dialect.
{{tree list/end}}

===Classification by Starostin (2013)===
Starostin (2013) gives the following classification of the Khoisan "[[macrofamily]]", which he considers to be a single coherent [[language family]].<ref>Starostin, Georgiy C. 2013. [https://www.academia.edu/5183285/%D0%AF%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%90%D1%84%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%9E%D0%BF%D1%8B%D1%82_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BC_I_%D0%9C%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_Languages_of_Africa_A_New_Lexicostatistical_Classification_Vol_I_Methodology_Khoisan_Languages_ Языки Африки. Опыт построения лексикостатистической классификации. Т. 1: Методология. Койсанские языки] / Languages of Africa: an attempt at a lexicostatistical classification. Volume 1: Methodology; Khoisan languages. Moscow: Языки славянской культуры / LRC Press. 510 p. {{ISBN|978-5-9551-0621-2}}</ref> However, this classification is not widely accepted.

{{tree list}}
* '''Khoisan'''
** [[Hadza language|Hadza]]
** Macro-Khoisan (excl. Hadza)
*** Sandawe–Khoe–Kwadi
**** [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]]
**** [[Khoe–Kwadi languages|Khoe–Kwadi]]
***** [[Kwadi language|Kwadi]]
***** [[Khoe languages|Central Khoisan]] (= Khoe)
****** [[Khoekhoe language|Khoekhoe]]
****** Kalahari Khoe
*** Peripheral Khoisan
**** [[Tuu languages|Southern Khoisan]] (= !Kwi–Taa ~ Tuu)
***** [[!Kwi language|!Kwi]]
***** [[Taa language|Taa]]
**** [[Kxʼa languages|Ju–ǂHoan]]
***** Western ǂHoan
***** [[!Kung languages|Northern Khoisan]] (= Ju)
{{tree list/end}}

In the tree on page 472, Starostin really writes "Western ǂHoan", which is a synonym for [[Taa language|Taa]], but evidently means Eastern ǂHoan, that is, [[ǂʼAmkoe language|ǂʼAmkoe]].

==Other "click languages"==
{{Further|Click consonant#Languages with clicks}}

Not all languages using clicks as phonemes are considered Khoisan. Most others are neighboring [[Bantu languages]] in southern Africa: the [[Nguni languages]] ([[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], [[Zulu language|Zulu]], [[Swazi language|Swazi]], [[Phuthi language|Phuthi]], and [[Northern Ndebele language|Northern Ndebele]]); [[Sotho language|Sotho]]; [[Yeyi language|Yeyi]] in [[Botswana]]; and [[Mbukushu language|Mbukushu]], [[Kwangali language|Kwangali]], and [[Gciriku language|Gciriku]] in the [[Caprivi Strip]]. Clicks are spreading to a few additional neighboring languages. Of these languages, Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele and Yeyi have intricate systems of click consonants; the others, despite the click in the name ''Gciriku,'' more rudimentary ones. There is also the [[South Cushitic languages|South Cushitic]] language [[Dahalo language|Dahalo]] in [[Kenya]], which has dental clicks in a few score words, and an extinct and presumably artificial [[Australian Aboriginal languages#Classification|Australian]] ritual language called [[Damin]], which had only nasal clicks.

The Bantu languages adopted the use of clicks from neighboring, displaced, or absorbed Khoisan populations (or from other Bantu languages), often through intermarriage, while the Dahalo are thought to have retained clicks from an earlier language when they [[language shift|shifted]] to speaking a Cushitic language; if so, the pre-Dahalo language may have been something like Hadza or Sandawe. Damin is an invented ritual language, and has nothing to do with Khoisan.

These are the only languages known to have clicks in normal vocabulary. Occasionally other languages are said by laypeople to have "click" sounds. This is usually a misnomer for [[ejective consonant]]s, which are found across much of the world, or is a reference to [[paralinguistic]] use of clicks such as English ''tsk! tsk!''

==Comparative vocabulary==
Sample basic vocabulary for Khoisan language families:

{| class="wikitable sortable"  style="font-size: 85%"
| 
! Language !! eye !! ear !! nose !! tooth !! tongue !! mouth !! blood !! bone !! tree !! water !! eat 
|-
| Proto-[[Khoe languages|Khoe]]<ref name="Vossen">Voßen, Rainer. 1997. ''Die Khoe-Sprachen: Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der Sprachgeschichte Afrikas'' (Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung 12). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.</ref> || *≠xai || *≠ai || *≠ui || *//ũ ||  || *kxʔam || */ʔao ||  ||  || *≠̃a || *≠ʔũ || */xʔon
|-
| Proto-[[Khoekhoe languages|Khoekhoe]]<ref name="Vossen"/> || *≠xai || *≠ai || *≠ui ||  ||  || *//kxʔam || */ʔau ||  ||  ||  || *≠ʔũ || */xʔon
|-
| Proto-[[Khoe languages|Central Khoisan]]<ref>Baucom, Kenneth L. 1974. Proto-Central-Khoisan. In Voeltz, Erhard Friedrich Karl (ed.), ''Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on African linguistics'', 7–8 April 1972, 3-37. Bloomington: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, Indiana University.</ref> || *ǂxai || *ǂae || *ǂuii || *ǁõõ || *dham || *kx’am || *ǀ’ao ||  || *zei || *tsaa; *ǁami || *ǂ’ũ || *ǀkx’on
|-
| Proto-[[Tuu languages|Tuu]]<ref>Güldemann, Tom. 2005. ‘“Tuu”: A New Name for the Southern Khoisan Family’, in Tom Güldemann (ed.), ''Studies in Tuu (Southern Khoisan)''. University of Leipzig Papers on Africa, Languages and Literatures, 23 (Leipzig: Institut für Afrikanistik, University of Leipzig), pp. 2–9.</ref> || *tsʼaa || *nǂ(u)i || *nǀu, *nǀũ || *ǁkha(i) || *ǀʼãri > *ǀʼani || *thu ||  ||  || *ʘho, *nʘo, *nʘa || *!khaa || *ãa, *ãi || *ǀãe, *ǁae
|-
| [[Juǀʼhoan language|Žuǀʼhõansi]] ([[Tsumkwe language|Tsumkwe]])<ref>Snyman, Jan Winston. 1997. A preliminary classification of the ǃXũũ and Žuǀ'hõasi dialects. In Haacke, Wilfrid and Elderkin, Edward Derek (eds.), ''Namibian languages: reports and papers'', 21-106. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag; University of Namibia (UNAM).</ref> || gǀà’a̍ || ǀ’hū̍ || ts’ũ || ts’àu || dhārì || ts’i || ǀ’àng ||  ||  ||  ||  || 
|-
| [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]]<ref>[http://www.drhelenipresume.com/?papers-conferences,7 Eaton, Helen], Daniel Hunziker and Elisabeth Hunziker. 2007. ''[https://www.sil.org/resources/publications/entry/7875 A Sandawe dialect survey]''. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2007-014. [https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/72/23/137223930907147980961790077781008537281/silesr2007_014.pdf PDF].</ref> || ǀʷěː || kéké || ⁿǀáti̥ || !’àkʰã̌ː || !ʰẽ̂ː || ⁿ!ũ̂ː || ǁ’ék’â || !î || tʰěː || ts’â || mántʃʰâ || ǁʷâ
|-
| [[Hadza language|Hadza]]<ref>Miller, Kirk. 2019. [http://www.glottopedia.org/index.php/Hadza Hadza]. ''[[Glottopedia]]''.</ref> ||  || ʔakʷʰa || ɦat͜ʃ’apit͜ʃʰi || ʔiƞtʰawe || ʔaɦa || ⁿǀata || ʔawati || ʔatʰama || mic͜ʎ̥˔’a || t͜s’iti || ʔati || seme
|}

==See also==
* [[Wiktionary:Appendix:Khoisan word lists|Khoisan word lists]] (Wiktionary)
* [[Languages of Botswana]]
* [[Languages of Namibia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Barnard |first1=A |year=1988 |title=Kinship, Language and Production: a Conjectural History of Khoisan Social Structure |journal=[[Africa: Journal of the International African Institute]] |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=29–50 |doi=10.2307/1159869 |jstor=1159869 |s2cid=131856340}}
*{{cite journal |last=Ehret |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Ehret |year=1986 |title=Proposals on Khoisan Reconstruction |editor-first1=Franz |editor-last1=Rottland |editor-first2=Rainer |editor-last2=Vossen |pages=105–130 |journal=Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika |volume=7 |issue=2 |location=Hamburg |publisher=Helmut Buske Verlag}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ehret |first=Christopher |year=2003 |title=Toward reconstructing Proto-South Khoisan |journal=Mother Tongue: Journal of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory |volume=VIII |issue=Special Issue: Proceedings of the Linguistic Databases and Linguistic Taxonomy Workshop, Santa Fe Institute, January 6-10, 2003 |editor-last1=Bengtson |editor-first1=John D. |editor-last2=Starostin |editor-first2=George |pages=63–80 |url=https://archive.org/details/mother-tongue-viii-2003/page/65/mode/1up}}
* {{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Joseph H. |year=1955 |title=Studies in African Linguistic Classification |location=New Haven |publisher=Compass Publishing Company}} (Reprints, with minor corrections, a series of eight articles published in the ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology'' from 1949 to 1954.)
*{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=Joseph H. |title=[[The Languages of Africa]] |year=1970 |edition=3rd |orig-date=1st ed. 1963; 2nd revised ed.: 1966 |location=Bloomington |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]}} (Heavily revised version of Greenberg 1955.)  (All three editions simultaneously published at The Hague by [[Mouton Publishers]])
* {{cite book |last1=Güldemann |first1=Tom |last2=Vossen |first2=Rainer |year=2000 |chapter=Khoisan |title=African Languages: An Introduction |editor-last1=Heine |editor-first1=Bernd |editor-link1=Bernd Heine |editor-last2=Nurse |editor-first2=Derek |pages=99–122 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Hastings |first1=Rachel |year=2001 |title=Evidence for the Genetic Unity of Southern Khoesan |journal=Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=18 |pages=225–245}}
* {{cite book |last=Honken |first=Henry |year=1988 |chapter=Phonetic Correspondences among Khoisan Affricates |title=New Perspectives on the Study of Khoisan |editor-first=Rainer |editor-last=Vossen |pages=47–65 |series=Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung |volume=7 |location=Hamburg |publisher=Helmut Buske Verlag}}
* {{cite book |last=Honken |first=Henry |year=1998 |chapter=Types of sound correspondence patterns in Khoisan languages |title=Language, Identity and Conceptualization among the Khoisan |editor-first=Mathias |editor-last=Schladt |pages=171–193 |series=Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung |volume=15 |location=Köln |publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag}}
* {{cite book |last=Köhler |first=O. |year=1971 |chapter=Die Khoe-sprachigen Buschmänner der Kalahari |title=Forschungen zur allgemeinen und regionalen Geschichte (Festschrift Kurt Kayser) |pages=373–411 |location=Wiesbaden |publisher=F. Steiner}}
* {{cite book |last=Sands |first=Bonny |year=1998 |isbn=978-3-89645-142-2 |title=Eastern and Southern African Khoisan: Evaluating Claims of Distant Linguistic Relationships |location=Cologne |publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag}}
* {{cite book |last=Sands |first=Bonny |year=1998 |chapter=Comparison and Classification of Khoisan languages |title=Language History and Linguistic Description in Africa |editor-last1=Maddieson |editor-first1=Ian |editor-link1=Ian Maddieson |editor-first2=Thomas J. |editor-last2=Hinnebusch |pages=75–85 |location=Trenton |publisher=Africa World Press}}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Schladt |editor-first=Mathias |year=1998 |isbn=3-89645-143-X |title=Language, Identity, and Conceptualization among the Khoisan |location=Cologne |publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Starostin |first1=George |author-link=Georgiy Starostin |year=2003 |title=A Lexicostatistical Approach towards Reconstructing Proto-Khoisan |url=https://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/khoilex.pdf |journal=[[Mother Tongue (journal)|Mother Tongue]] |volume=8 |pages=81–126 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126024224/https://starlingdb.org/Texts/khoilex.pdf |archive-date=2021-11-26}}
* {{cite journal |last=Starostin |first=George |url=https://starling.rinet.ru/Texts/khoisan.pdf |title=From modern Khoisan languages to Proto-Khoisan: The Value of Intermediate Reconstructions |journal=Aspects of Comparative Linguistics |volume=3 |year=2008 |pages=337–470 |location=Moscow |publisher=RSUH Publishers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120205839/https://starlingdb.org/Texts/khoisan.pdf |archive-date=2021-11-20}}
* {{cite book |last=Starostin |first=George |year=2013 |title=Languages of Africa: An attempt at a lexicostatistical classification |volume=I: Methodology. Khoesan Languages. |location=Moscow |publisher=Jazyki slavyanskoj kul’tury}}
*[[Anthony Traill (linguist)|Traill, Anthony]]. 1986. "Do the Khoi have a place in the San? New data on Khoisan linguistic relationships." In ''African Hunter-gatherers'' (International Symposium), Franz Rottland and Rainer Vossen, 407–430. ''Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika'', special issue 7.1. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
*Treis, Yvonne. 1998. "Names of Khoisan languages and Their Variants." In ''Language, Identity, and Conceptualization Among the Khoisan'', edited by Matthias Schladt. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 463–503.
*Vossen, Rainer. 1997. ''Die Khoe-Sprachen. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der Sprachgeschichte Afrikas''. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
*Vossen, Rainer.  2013.  ''The Khoesan Languages''.  Oxon:  Routledge.
*[[Ernst Oswald Johannes Westphal|Westphal, E.O.J.]] 1971. "The Click Languages of Southern and Eastern Africa." In ''Current Trends in Linguistics'', Volume 7: ''Linguistics in Sub-Saharan Africa'', edited by [[T.A. Sebeok]]. Berlin: Mouton, 367–420.
*Winter, J.C. 1981. "Die Khoisan-Familie." In ''Die Sprachen Afrikas'', edited by Bernd Heine, [[Thilo C. Schadeberg]], and Ekkehard Wolff. Hamburg: Helmut Buske, 329–374.
{{refend}}

{{Khoisan}}
{{Languages of South Africa}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Khoisan languages| ]]
[[Category:Proposed language families]]