!Kung language
| !Kung | |
|---|---|
| Ju | |
| Northern Khoisan (obsolete) | |
| Native to | Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa |
| Ethnicity | !Kung |
|
Native speakers
|
16,000 ± 2,000 (2011) |
|
Kx'a
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously: knw – Ekoka !Kung vaj – Sekela ktz – Juǀʼhoansi |
| Glottolog | juku1256 |
!Kung /ˈkʊŋ/ (!Xuun), also known as Ju, is a dialect continuum (language complex) spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and Angola by the ǃKung people. Together with the ǂHoan language, it forms the proposed Kx'a language family. !Kung constituted one of the branches of the putative Khoisan language family, and was called Northern Khoisan in that scenario, but the unity of Khoisan has never been demonstrated and is suspected to be spurious. Nonetheless, the term "Khoisan" has been retained as an umbrella term for click languages in general.
!Kung is famous for having a large number of clicks, such as the ǃ in its name, and has some of the most complex inventories of both consonants and vowels in the world. It also has tone. For a description, see Juǀʼhoansi. To pronounce !Xuun (pronounced [!͡χũː˦˥] in Western !Kung/!Xuun) one makes a click sound before the x sound (which is like a Scottish or German ch), followed by a long nasal u vowel with a high rising tone.
If the !Kung languages are counted together, they would make the third-most-populous click language after Khoekhoe and Sandawe. The most populous !Kung language, Juǀʼhoan, is perhaps tied for third place with Naro.
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