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The Khoe or Khoi (Menan du Plessis (2019) The Khoisan Languages of Southern Africa ) languages are the largest of the non-Bantu languages language family indigenous to Southern Africa. They were once considered to be a branch of a Khoisan 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 Khoe language is Khoekhoe (Nama/Damara) of Namibia. The rest of the family is found predominantly in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. The languages are similar enough that a fair degree of communication is possible between Khoekhoe and the languages of Botswana.
The Khoe languages were the first Khoisan languages known to European colonists and are famous for their click consonant, though these are not as extensive as in other Khoisan language families. There are two primary branches of the family, Khoekhoe of Namibia and South Africa, and Tshu–Khwe of Botswana and Zimbabwe. Except for Nama, they are under pressure from national or regional languages such as Tswana language.
Later desiccation of the Kalahari led to the adoption of a hunter-gatherer economy and preserved the Kalahari peoples from absorption by the agricultural Bantu when they spread south.
Those Khoe who continued southwestwards retained pastoralism and became the Khoekhoe people. They mixed extensively with speakers of Tuu languages, absorbing features of their languages. This has resulted in Tuu and Kx'a substrata in the Khoekhoe languages. The expansion of the Nama people into Namibia and their absorption of client peoples such as the Damara and Haiǁom took place in the 16th century and later, at about the time of European contact and colonization.
Language classifications may list one or two dozen Khoe languages. Because many are , there is a level of subjectivity involved in separating them. Counting each dialect cluster as a unit results in nine Khoe languages:
Dozens of names are associated with the Tshu–Khwe languages, especially with the Eastern cluster. These may be place, clan or totem names, often without any linguistically identifiable data. Examples include Masasi, Badza, Didi, and Dzhiki.E. O. J. Westphal, "The Linguistic Prehistory of Southern Africa: Bush, Kwadi, Hottentot, and Bantu Linguistic Relationships", Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 33, no. 3 (Jul. 1963), pp. 237–265. It is not presently possible to say which languages correspond to which names mentioned in the anthropological literature, though the majority will likely turn out to be Shua or Tshua.Yvonne Treis, "Names of Khoisan Languages and their Variants"
In most of the Eastern Kalahari Khoe languages, the alveolar and palatal clicks have been lost, or are in the process of being lost. For example, the northern dialect of Kua language has lost palatal clicks, but the southern dialect retains them. In Tsʼixa, the change has created doublets with palatal clicks vs palatal plosives.
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