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Nyamwezi, Xhosa has three basic clicks . The rest of the elements are placed to the left or to the right of the verb root. One puzzling feature of the Khoisan languages is that, despite some uniformity in their use of clicks, they differ considerably among themselves in aspects such as word formation, sentence structure, and vocabulary. Yao, Some scholars speculate that they might represent an earlier stage in the evolution of human language. The Khoisan languages ( / ksn /; also Khoesan or Khoesaan) are a number of African languages once classified together, originally by Joseph Greenberg. Those who speak this language typically form part of the ethnic group called the amaXhosa and refer to their language as isiXhosa. If a woman has children, whom she has raised to be adults, then it is usual to find her seated among her peers smoking a long-handled pipe. The /i/ vowel is long in the penultimate syllable and short in the last syllable.[16]. [4][5] It has been suggested that the similarities of the Tuu and Kxa families are due to a southern African Sprachbund rather than a genealogical relationship, whereas the Khoe (or perhaps KwadiKhoe) family is a more recent migrant to the area, and may be related to Sandawe in East Africa.[3]. http://www.freelang.net/dictionary/xhosa.php Literary works, including prose and poetry, are available in Xhosa, as are newspapers and magazines. The status of Xhosa, like all other African languages in the Republic of South Africa, is complex. 1998. Most of the languages are endangered, and several are moribund or extinct. The 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, however, have witnessed the death of many of the recorded languages and dialects, and their distribution is now largely confined to Botswana and Namibia. In, Honken, Henry. Thus, a more correct spelling isKhoesaan. After migrating to southern Africa, the Xhosa and Zulu adopted the click consonants unique to the Khoisan and loaned some words. Some support the use of English and see its use in education as de facto segregation. The local Khoisan children speak mainly Afrikaans but Katrina Esau hopes this will change over time .