Africa contains more than 2,000 distinct languages, about one-third of all the languages in the world. Most of the African languages fall into four language groups: Niger-Kordofanian (spoken across a broad region of Africa); Afroasiatic (Saharan, northeastern and eastern Africa; Nilo-Saharan (Sudanic, Saharan and Eastern Africa); and Khoesan (languages containing click-consonants, spoken by San in southern Africa and Hadza and Sandawe in eastern Africa).
Tishkoff's DNA study showed that all modern hunter-gatherer groups in Africa—Khoesan, Hadza, SAK, Sandawe and Pygmy—are closely related, with shared ancestors 35,000 years ago, suggesting that these are remnants of a once more widely-spread population of hunter-gatherers. Their languages are similar click-speaking varieties, with the exception of Pygmies, who are believed to have lost their language.
