The Khoesan and The Ovahimba Tribes: Language Preservation and Linguistic Nuances.

Lazarus Gawazah

The Khoesan Indigenous Group.

Linguistic Taxonomy within the Click Sounds Language Family.

 
           Source:  http://www.museums.com.na/museums/north/little-hunter-s-living-museum

The picture above shows a Khoesan man in a dug hole. Since the Khoesan people still exist in their natural desert habitat in groups of complete families, some researchers call them "a living museum".

• Introduction.

Most Indigenous Languages in the World are under threat of extinction. It is important for researchers to work on a mechanism that prevents the death of these Languages. As such, the Khoesan click Languages spoken in Africa face the same challenge due to increased modernisation and an override by dominant non-native Languages in the Likes of the English Language, Arabic or French. This means that the term, “Language is culture” will no longer identify with these cultural groups because the loss of Language also impacts on their cultural understanding and cultural practices. This blog will look at the Khoesan click Languages’ and it's five clicks in Linguistic etymological terms, literary contribution from the khoekhoegowab (Nama) speaking group and methods that can be used to prevent the loss of Indigenous languages. It will further briefly discuss about the Ovahimba tribe. (a sub-Herero tribe). Then finally, an interview with a Khoekhoegowab native speaker. Among all the khoesan click Languages, the Khoekhoegowab (Nama) Language is the only one which is written and spoken by a quarter of a million people, mainly spoken in Namibia. 

• Etymology and Linguistic Translation of the Five main Click Sounds.

Types of Clicks	Symbol	Description
Bilabial	ʘ	A bilabial click is a pop made by bringing the lips together and releasing them, just like the sound of a kiss.
Dental	ǀ	A dental click sounds like ‘tsk, tsk! ‘ and is made by putting the tongue just behind the front teeth.
(Post)alveolar	!	An alveolar click sounds like the popping of a cork made by putting the tongue just behind the ridge in back of the front teeth.
Lateral	ǁ	A lateral click sounds like the sound used in English to urge on a horse.
Palatal	ǂ	A palatal click is a sharp pop made by drawing the tongue down quickly from the roof of the mouth.

• Where are the Khoekhoe Language Speaking people found in the world?

Khoekhoe languages were once spoken across all of southern Africa. They are now limited to Namibia, Botswana and southern Angola with only a few speakers in South Africa and Tanzania.

• Linguistic affiliation of the Click Sound Languages.

 Source: http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Khoisan.html

The Diagram above shows the classification of the Khoekhoe Language speaking groups identified by the variety and geographical location where the Language is spoken. Among all the Khoekhoe Language speaking groups, only the Nama Language, also known as Khoekhoegowab, which is spoken in Namibia, has a literary contribution. Khoekhoegowab is taught in most Namibian schools and at University level for a Degree.

• Characteristics of the Khoesan Languages.

Khoesan languages (of which Khoekhoegowab is part) can be characterized by their tonal structure, vowel features, aspects of non-click consonants, click aspects and its constituent patterns.

Source: Niklaas J. Fredericks

•  Literary contribution- Khoekhoegowab speaking group (Nama Language).

The Khoekhoegowab Language(Nama)

Person         : Khoe-i
People         : KhoeKhoen
Language    : Khoekhoegowab

Folklore and Traditional Stories in Khoekhoegowab. 

Book Volume Title:  Tsî i ge ge hâhe...

Book volume from No. 1-10 IIi ǂKhanis

The folklore in this collection is a significant literary contribution towards preserving the Khoekhoegowab (Language) culture and traditions. Each volume contains three different stories which teach young people and children their ancient customs and traditional beliefs. These stories were told orally before the printed press came, this allowed for the same story to be told in a different way and theme each time it is told by different narrators. Themes also change depending on the occasion and the type of audience.

Below are some of the story titles (myths and legends) in the Khoekhoegowab translated into the English Language.

!Khoǂgas                                        :Titles

Khoekhoegowab                           :English Language translation

ǂHirasa ge !au aokha xa                :About two men who feared the hyena

Xammi tsî INērab tsîkha xa          :About the lion and the baboon

Anis tsî IAus tsîra xa                    :About the bird and the snake

Haiseb ge xamanina ra Iâxare       :About the witch doctor who curse animals

Khurutsikhūbeb ge ra ûiIIKhui     :Unforeseen future as the movement of a chameleon  

Source: Sigrid Schmidt  ge  /hao/haohe and Veronica  ǂEiases  ge  xoa//nā

An Interview with Marilyn Prescilla Muinjo

Marilyn is a Khoekhoegowab (Nama) native speaker who lives in Namibia. She explained to me the four click sounds that are used by the Nama language speakers. (ǀ, !  ǁ,  ǂ), her practical demonstration agrees with the correct phonetic (human speech sound production) place and manner of articulation in Linguistics. However she said the /ʘ/ bilabial sound is not used in the Khoekhoegowab. I asked her about any Literary works that she know in Khoekhoegowab. She replies, "Most of the stories that i know are told orally to children during an evening fire gathering. These stories have scary themes that teach children to observe certain traditional beliefs, like respect for adults, awareness of danger etc. Fear is also used to hook children's attention, they keep asking to hear more. A good story teller must be able to generate a new story with a different theme from other story tellers. In this way children can learn about their history, language and cultural practices"
Interview: Marilyn Prescilla Muinjo. 

Conclusion.

Languages of Indigenous people across the world are under threat of extinction just like the Khoesan languages. The teaching, writing and publishing works in these languages can help preserving them. Although oral literature is still relevant, translation of the Khoesan Languages into the English Language can help Language researchers to develop a proper orthography and to standardise the Khoesan Languages. This can pave a way for further development of teaching of the Indigenous Languages in schools and Universities. Linguists, Phoneticians, Lexicographers and other language experts need to be involved to preserve the khoesan Languages.  By so doing this prevents the extinction  of particularly the Khoesan Languages which are already under threat. When a lot of Literary works have been produced, digital publishing can promote the use of these Languages. They can now be stored in digital libraries for future reference by researchers and students.

The Ovahimba Indigenous Group.

Source: http://www.museums.com.na/museums/north/ovahimba-living-museum

The Ovahimba people are a sub-tribe which separated from the Herero group. At the end of the 19th century Namibia was plagued by a relentless bovine epidemic. Most of the cattle that the Herero depended on perished and the tribe faced a great crisis. Subsequently, the tribe moved south and started to explore different regions in order to enhance their chances of survival. Still, some members decided to stay and rather struggle for survival in familiar territories. Then and there the schism between the two tribes became a reality and the Ovahimba identity came into being.

When translated from the Otjiherero language, the word Himba means beggar. Why did they inherit this rather derogatory name? Well, after the schism, many of those that remained roamed the vast Kaokoland in search of cattle and crops asking fellow or other tribe members for help.

Source : Ruben Coussement