Chapter 9 A Multi-purpose Orthography for Kxoe: Development and Challenges* Mathias Schladt University ofCologne, Germany 1. Introduction The Kxoe language (Kxdedam, 'Kxoe-tongue' in their own words) is classi- fied as a member of the NON-KHOEKHOE-subgroup of the Khoe lan- guages. The total number ofKxoe - according to the census carried out by Brenzinger in 1996 and additional estimates - is approximately 8,000. Roughly 4,000 ofthem live more or less permanently in Namibia, 400 in East Caprivi and 3,600 in West Caprivi (Brenzinger 1998). While most of the major settlements of the Kxoe are in Namibia, Kxoe is also a Botswanan language, with approximately 2,000 Kxoe living there. In 1989 about 1,600 Kxoe left the then Southwest Africa together with the South African army to the Republic ofSouth Africa and became citizens ofthat country. Only small pockets ofKxoe still exist in Angola and Zambia. The Kxoe language seems to be made up of the following dialects: Bumakxoe, llXonikxoe, llXokxoe, and Biigakxoe. Whereas the first three dialects are spoken in the Caprivi, and language data is available, this is not the case with Bugakxoe, the dialect spoken in Botswana. The ofKhoesan State Printed by Printingand Publishing Company, Botswana Cover design byTasails Graphics from apainting Torcupine' byThamae Setshogo Languages in Botswana Formattec by Birgit Smieja Edited byH.M Batibo and J. Tsonope First Published 2000 TasailsPublishing and Books Private Bag 0041 Mogoditsh^ane Botswana Copyright: Basarwa Languages Project © 2000 All rights reserveu. Nupan ufih'ib publication may be produced, stored in aretrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission ot the copyright owner. Edited by H.M. Batibo and Tsonope J. The formatting and binding ot"this book has been generouslysupported by the Universityof Botswana/University otTromswCollaborative Programme on Basarwa Research. Thamae Setshogo is one ofthe participants ofthe KuruArt Project. Publication of the Basarwa Languages Project University of Botswana/University of Troms0 ISBN: 99912-952-0-8 Collaborative Programme on Basarwa Research