Khoe languages

The Khoe languages are the largest of the non-<a href="/facts/Bantu_languages/6xKvpQ1a">Bantu</a> <a href="/facts/Language_family/IpJv9o5S">language families</a> indigenous to Southern Africa. They were once considered to be a branch of a <a href="/facts/Khoisan_languages/2G4EF5vM">Khoisan</a> language family, and were known as Central Khoisan in that scenario. Though Khoisan is now rejected as a family, the name is retained as a term of convenience.
The most numerous and only well-known Khoi language is <a href="/facts/Khoekhoe_language/G5IggysC">Khoikhoi</a> (Nama/Damara) of <a href="/facts/Namibia/ahXuaypy">Namibia</a>. The rest of the family is found predominantly in the <a href="/facts/Kalahari_Desert/fEwF3sGL">Kalahari Desert</a> of <a href="/facts/Botswana/dGw6g94p">Botswana</a>. The languages are similar enough that a fair degree of communication is possible between Khoikhoi and the languages of Botswana.
The Khoi languages were the first Khoisan languages known to European colonists and are famous for their <a href="/facts/Click_consonant/qdv9xIKR">clicks</a>, though these are not as extensive as in other Khoisan language families. There are two primary branches of the family, Khoikhoi of Namibia and <a href="/facts/South_Africa/vvXQpLgq">South Africa</a>, and Tshu–Khwe of Botswana and <a href="/facts/Zimbabwe/8Yqt8490">Zimbabwe</a>. Except for Nama, they are under pressure from national or regional languages such as <a href="/facts/Tswana_language/W0bTgqBl">Tswana</a>.

Khoe languages open-in-new

Khoe languages