link | ǂKhomani | Hugh Brody Archive – Language transcription component

Language plays a vital role in the lives of the ǂKhomani people and is central to their unique identity. During a cultural heritage audit in the early 1990s, it became apparent just how important language is when it comes to establishing identity and proving the existence of a cultural heritage that has been almost entirely erased.

The ǂKhomani ǀ Hugh Brody Archive houses hundreds of meticulously transcribed and translated transcripts that feature Nǀuu (Nǀuuki), Nama (Khoekhoegowab), the western Kora (!Ora) variety of Griqua (Griekwa), and Onse Afrikaans. These transcripts have been transcribed verbatim from video and audio footage collected during the aforementioned audit, and translated into English. This detailed evidence of a unique cultural and linguistic identity played a central role in the ǂKhomani land claims that followed the audit, and in the subsequent resettlement of the ǂKhomani people onto their land.

Nǀuu was previously thought to have been extinct by the 1970s already. However, in the 1990s, it became clear that the language was still spoken by a handful of elderly ǂKhomani people, as documented by Nigel Crawhall. The language was verified by linguists Tony Traill and Levi Namaseb, whereafter in-depth documentation immediately began. Today, Nǀuu is the most critically endangered language in South Africa, with only one surviving fluent mother tongue speaker — Dr Katrina Esau.

Nǀuu is a member of the !Ui-Taa language family, with relatives such as ǀXam (the language on the South African coat of arms) and !Xoo (also a critically endangered language, spoken in Botswana). Community activists and Nǀuu speakers documented in this archive include ǀUna Rooi, Kheis Brou, Antjie Kassie, ǀAbaka Fytjie Koper, Andries Olyn, Johanna Koper, Hannah Koerant, and Katrina Esau (as mentioned above). In the recordings, these collaborators also mention a language called “Kliptaal” (“Stone Language”), which was reportedly spoken by their elders but has since been lost.

Nama is another language spoken by the ǂKhomani people. It is a member of the Khoe language family and has approximately 3 000 to 5 000 fluent mother tongue speakers left in South Africa. Many families in the Kalahari region of the country, notably the Kruiper and the Swartz families, speak this language. Dawid Kruiper, the previous traditional leader of the ǂKhomani people, was a mother tongue Nama speaker. Many traditional stories told in Nama by Anna Swartz can be found in the archive.

The Khoe language Griqua is moribund today. Apart from his first language, Nǀuu, Andries Olyn also spoke the western Kora variety of Griqua, of which examples can be found in the transcripts of this archive.

Lastly, Onse Afrikaans is a regional variety of Afrikaans spoken in the Northern Cape’s Kalahari region and its surrounds. This variety initially came into existence as a second or additional language to mother tongue speakers of languages such as Nǀuu, Nama, Griqua, and ǀ’Auni. Over time, due to political, social, and economic pressures, speakers of these languages underwent language shift from their mother tongue to Onse Afrikaans. The latter contains borrowings from Nǀuu and Nama and is therefore considered a Germanic language that contains clicks. This archive offers the most detailed documentation of Onse Afrikaans to date, and abounds with examples of natural language use.

Overall, the ǂKhomani ǀ Hugh Brody Archive is a linguistic treasure trove, containing some of the world’s most rare and under-documented languages.