The Khoisan speakers are typically hunters and gatherers and have lighter, yellowish skin and narrow, slanted eyes and tend to be very short in stature compared to the African language families.
They are found in the Kalahari desert in southern Africa, except for the Hadza and Sandawe, whose speakers live in Tanzania.
There were about 30 languages classified under the Khoisan family,
but the family’s internal classification was contested, and some scholars do not even agree that all languages classified as Khoisan are indeed related.
Nowadays, Khoisan serves as a convenient term without implying genetic unity. Their most notable uniting feature is their click consonants.
Some of the Khoisan languages are:
✅ Nama has 250,000 speakers in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
✅ Ju|’hoan has 33,600 speakers in Namibia and Botswana.
✅ Vasekela Bushman has 61,300 speakers in the West Caprivi area of Namibia.
✅ Sandawe has 60,000 speakers in the Dodoma region of Tanzania.
✅ Hadza has less than 3,000 speakers near the shores of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania.
✅ Endangered (Xiri with 87 speakers and N|u with 12 speakers)
✅ Extinct (e.g. Kwadi, Korana, Seroa, |Xam and ǁXegwi)
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