ǃXóõ language
| Taa | |
|---|---|
| ǃXóõ | |
| Taa ǂaan | |
| Native to | Botswana, Namibia |
| Region | Southern Ghanzi, northern Kgalagadi, western Southern and western Kweneng districts in Botswana; southern Omaheke and northeastern Hardap regions in Namibia. |
|
Native speakers
|
2,600 (2011) |
|
Tuu
|
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | taaa1242 |
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Taa /ˈtɑː/, also known as ǃXóõ (ǃKhong, ǃXoon – pronounced /ǃ͡χɔ̃ː˦/,English: /ˈkoʊ/), is a Tuu language notable for its large number of phonemes, perhaps the largest in the world. 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.
Taa is the word for 'human being'; the local name of the language is Taa ǂaan, from ǂaan 'language'. ǃXoon (ǃXóõ) is an ethnonym used at opposite ends of the Taa-speaking area, but not by Taa speakers in between. Most living Taa speakers are ethnic ǃXoon (plural ǃXooŋake) or 'Nǀohan (plural Nǀumde).
Taa shares a number of characteristic features with West ǂ’Amkoe and Gǀui, which together are considered part of the Kalahari Basin sprachbund.
Until the rediscovery of a few elderly speakers of Nǁng in the 1990s, Taa was thought to be the last surviving member of the Tuu language family.
There is sufficient dialectal variation in Taa that it might be better described as a dialect continuum than as a single language. Taa dialects fall into two groups, suggesting a historical spread from west to east:
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Wikipedia