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The compound term Khoisan / Khoesān is a modern anthropological convention in use since the early-to-mid 20th century. Khoisan is a coinage by Leonhard Schulze in the 1920s and popularised by Isaac Schapera. [6] It entered wider usage from the 1960s based on the proposal of a "Khoisan" language family by Joseph Greenberg.
Khoisan was proposed as one of the four families of 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" and "Australian" are.
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The accepted term for the two people being Khoisan. [2] The designation "Khoekhoe" is actually a kare or praise address, not an ethnic endonym, but it has been used in the literature as an ethnic term for Khoe-speaking peoples of Southern Africa, particularly pastoralist groups, such as the Griqua, Gona, Nama, Khoemana and Damara nations.
The Khoi languages were the first Khoisan languages known to European colonists and are famous for their clicks, though these are not as extensive as in other Khoisan language families. There are two primary branches of the family, Khoikhoi of Namibia and South Africa , and Tshu–Khwe of Botswana and Zimbabwe .
The growth of the Khoisan revival has been fueled by contemporary political discussions in South Africa about the potential of pre-1913 land claims and the recognition of Khoisan traditional authority. [3] [4] In order to support their pursuit of land claims, Khoisan revivalists emphasise ancestral kinship and question "coloured" identity. [4]
English: Genetic relationships of the Khoisan (click consonant-using) languages. Solid lines indicate well attested relationships, dashed and dotted lines are conjectural and contested. Based on Tishkoff, S. A. et al. (2007). "History of Click-Speaking Populations of Africa Inferred from mtDNA and Y Chromosome Genetic Variation".
It is the only Khoisan language in Zimbabwe, where "Koisan" is an officially recognised language in the constitution. Tjwao belongs to the Tshwa (Tsoa-Kua) cluster of East Kalahari Khoe languages. It is very similar to the varieties of Ganade noted by Westphal and Traill. Although mentioned by scholars for several decades, documentation of the ...