ǃKung languages
| ǃKung | |
|---|---|
| Ju | |
| ǃXun | |
| Native to | Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa |
| Ethnicity | ǃKung |
Native speakers | All varieties: 77,000 (2015) |
Kxʼa
| |
| Dialects | |
| Latin augmented with click letters | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:vaj – Northern ǃKungknw – Ekoka ǃKungktz – Southern ǃKung |
| Glottolog | juku1256 |
| ELP | !Xun |
| People | ǃKung |
|---|---|
| Language | ǃXun |
ǃKung /ˈkʊŋ/ KUUNG (ǃXun), also known as Ju (/ˈdʒuː/ JOO), is a dialect continuum (language complex) spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and Angola by the ǃKung people, constituting two or three languages. Together with the ǂʼAmkoe language, ǃKung forms the Kxʼa language family.
ǃKung is famous for its many clicks, such as the alveolar click ǃ in its name, and has some of the most complex inventories of both consonants and vowels in the world. It also has tone and nasalization. For a description, see Juǀʼhoan. To pronounce ǃXuun (pronounced [ǃ͡χũː˦˥] in Western ǃKung/ǃXuun) one makes an alveolar 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.