The struggle to save a South African language with 45 click sounds

TWO AND a half millennia ago the San had southern Africa to themselves, living lightly on the land as hunter-gatherers. Then came the Khoekhoen from the north-east to wrest some of the San’s hunting grounds for their cattle. The 17th-century Dutch incomers called the hunter-gatherers “Boesmans” (“Bushmen”) after their habitat, while the Khoekhoen were “Hottentots”.The word Hottentot may mimic the click sound of the Khoekhoen’s speech. Africa is the only continent where clicks act as a kind of consonant in basic word-building sounds.