Ju Languages

The better known Ju dialects are !’O!Kung , Ju/’hoan , and ‡Kx’au‖’ein . They are sometimes divided into four clusters:

Northern Ju (Angola, but with many refugees now in Namibia: !’O!Kung, Maligo),

Southeastern Ju (Botswana east of the Okavango Delta , and northeast Namibia from near Windhoek to Rundu , Gobabis , and the Caprivi Strip : Ju/’hoan, ‡Kx’au‖’ein),

Central Ju (area around Grootfontein , Namibia, west of the central Omatako River and south of the Ovambo River ), and

North-Central Ju, between the Ovambo River and the Angolan border, around the tributaries of the Okavango River east of Rundu to the Etosha Pan .

The Ju dialects are famous for having large numbers of , Alveolar , Palatal , and Lateral clicks of Southeastern dialects such as Ju/’hoan, Central Ju has a contrastive retroflex click, while the Northern and North-Central dialects contrast two lateral clicks. (See Click Consonant .)

Ju may be most closely related to the ‡Hõã Language . Such a connection was only recently proposed and is under investigation.

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Ju Languages