Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		N\|uu, N\|u, N/u, Khomani, ǂKhomani, /Nusan, =\|Khomani
CLASSIFICATION		Tuu, Kwi
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		ngh
VARIANTS & DIALECTS		N\|uu \|\|'Au
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

Compare Sources (12)

Information from: “Personal Communication on N||ng” . Matthias Brenzinger (2013)

Critically endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
5
Native speakers worldwide
SEMI SPEAKERS
Few
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
The last male speaker of N||ng passed away in March 2013. There are now five elderly female speakers: three sisters in Upington and two women in Olifantshoek. There are a few semi-speakers who remember words.

DATE OF INFO: 2013

DOMAINS OF USE

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

All N||ng speakers use exclusively Afrikaans in their daily lives, and only speak N||ng a few times a year when brought together by linguists.

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Afrikaans

PLACES: South Africa

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: Three speakers live in Upington and two live in Olifantshoek.

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
Just a few elders
Native speakers worldwide
CHILDREN
0
YOUNG ADULTS
0
OLDER ADULTS
0

SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
TRANSMISSION
OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: "All N|uu speakers have shifted to a primary mode of communication of Afrikaans."

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
<20
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
600
CHILDREN
0
YOUNG ADULTS
0
OLDER ADULTS
0
ELDERS
Less than 20

TRANSMISSION

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
11
Native speakers worldwide

TRANSMISSION
SPEAKER ATTITUDE: Mixed
LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS: "Three N|u speaking elders confirmed that the primary perceived cause of language loss was ecological. The farmers, who controlled their lives and welfare, were hostile to them. Their language was stigmatised along with their identity. They were like immigrants suddenly surrounded by a foreign tongue and living amongst other people, even though they were still present on their ancestral lands... There was not a shift in values or identity for the old people. The world changed under their feet and there was no obvious reason to teach the language to their children. None of the elders ever confided to me that it was a strategy of theirs to hide their culture and language from the children. Nonetheless, this was the cumulative effect."

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Spoken by eleven elderly people in Siyanda district in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa and across the border in Kgalagadi District of Botswana."

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
8
Native speakers worldwide

0
Native speakers worldwide

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
<10
Native speakers worldwide

TRANSMISSION

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
<10
Native speakers worldwide
CHILDREN
0
YOUNG ADULTS
0
OLDER ADULTS
0
ELDERS
<10

TRANSMISSION

PLACES: South Africa

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
10
Native speakers worldwide

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
<20
Native speakers worldwide

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
12
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
500
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
12 (2005 Crawhall), decreasing. Ethnic population: 500 (1998 Nigel Crawhall, South African San Institute)

DATE OF INFO: 2005

PLACES: South Africa;

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available
7
Native speakers worldwide
SEMI SPEAKERS
3

DATE OF INFO: 2011

DOMAINS OF USE

TRANSMISSION

MORE ON VITALITY

"These speakers, who are all elderly people, no longer use N||ng in their daily lives. They communicate in N||ng, however, when brought together by linguists and activists, which happened quite often in the last couple of years. In addition, there are three semi-speakers of N||ng (one at each of the above mentioned places [Upington, Andriesvale, and Olifantshoek]), who are no longer fluent in the language, but still remember lexical items and a few phrases."

PLACES: South Africa

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Four [speakers] stay in the vicinity of Upington, two in the Andriesvale area and one in Olifantshoek."

		March		2013	Personal Communication on N\|\|ng										Matthias Brenzinger	Matthias Brenzinger. 2013. "Personal Communication On N\|\|ng."					5	2013	1-9	The last male speaker of N\|\|ng passed away in March 2013. There are now five elderly female speakers: three sisters in Upington and two women in Olifantshoek. There are a few semi-speakers who remember words.	Few		All	Afrikaans			All	Critically Endangered (100 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15	All N\|\|ng speakers use exclusively Afrikaans in their daily lives, and only speak N\|\|ng a few times a year when brought together by linguists.	15	15	South Africa	Three speakers live in Upington and two live in Olifantshoek.	-27.935574, 22.734146; -28.446959, 21.270905;
				2007	"A text documentation of N\|uu" HRELP Abstract									http://www.hrelp.org/grants/projects/index.php?projid=131	Güldemann, Tom	GÃ¼ldemann, Tom. 2007. ""A Text Documentation of N\|uu" HRELP Abstract." Online: http://www.hrelp.org/grants/projects/index.php?projid=131.		0		0	<10		1-9			<10						Critically Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15				South Africa
			3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing			Paris		http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub				8		1-9									Critically Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)							-26.0105,20.363
		August		2008	Peter K Austin's top 10 endangered languages					The Guardian				http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/27/endangered.languages	Peter Austin	Austin, Peter. 2008. "Peter K Austin's Top 10 Endangered Languages." In The Guardian, Online: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/27/endangered.languages.					<10		10-99									Critically Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15
			16	2009	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)			M. Paul Lewis	SIL International			Dallas, TX		http://www.ethnologue.com/		Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)	ll_pub		500		12	2005	10-99	12 (2005 Crawhall), decreasing. Ethnic population: 500 (1998 Nigel Crawhall, South African San Institute)								Severely Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)					South Africa;
				2011	The twelve modern Khoisan languages	Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Khoisan Languages and Linguistics									Matthias Brenzinger	Matthias Brenzinger. 2011. "The Twelve Modern Khoisan Languages." In Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Khoisan Languages and Linguistics,					7	2011	1-9		3							Critically Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15	"These speakers, who are all elderly people, no longer use N\|\|ng in their daily lives. They communicate in N\|\|ng, however, when brought together by linguists and activists, which happened quite often in the last couple of years. In addition, there are three semi-speakers of N\|\|ng (one at each of the above mentioned places [Upington, Andriesvale, and Olifantshoek]), who are no longer fluent in the language, but still remember lexical items and a few phrases."	15		South Africa	"Four [speakers] stay in the vicinity of Upington, two in the Andriesvale area and one in Olifantshoek."	-27.935574, 22.734146; -28.446959, 21.270905; -26.902936, 20.683308
9780520255609				2008	One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost				University of California						Peter Austin	Austin, Peter. 2008. "One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost." University of California.					<20		10-99									Severely Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
0-9538248-7-X				2005	The Story of !Ui: Causality and Language Shift in Africa	Creating Outsiders: Endangered Languages, Migration and Marginalisation: Proceedings of the Ninth FEL Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 18-20 November 2005		Nigel Crawhall and Nicholas Ostler	Foundation for Endangered Languages			Bath			Nigel Crawhall	Nigel Crawhall. 2005. "The Story of !Ui: Causality and Language Shift in Africa." In Creating Outsiders: Endangered Languages, Migration and Marginalisation: Proceedings of the Ninth FEL Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 18-20 November 2005, edited by Nigel Crawhall and Nicholas Ostler. Bath, Foundation for Endangered Languages.					11		10-99						Mixed	"Three N\|u speaking elders confirmed that the primary perceived cause of language loss was ecological. The farmers, who controlled their lives and welfare, were hostile to them. Their language was stigmatised along with their identity. They were like immigrants suddenly surrounded by a foreign tongue and living amongst other people, even though they were still present on their ancestral lands... There was not a shift in values or identity for the old people. The world changed under their feet and there was no obvious reason to teach the language to their children. None of the elders ever confided to me that it was a strategy of theirs to hide their culture and language from the children. Nonetheless, this was the cumulative effect."		Critically Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15					"Spoken by eleven elderly people in Siyanda district in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa and across the border in Kgalagadi District of Botswana."
				2007	The Lexicon in Language Attrition: The Case of N\|uu		55-65	Doris L. Payne and Jaime Peña	Cascadilla Press	Selected Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference on African Linguistics		Somerville		http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/37/paper1595.pdf	Bonny Sands and Amanda L. Miller and Johanna Brugman	Sands, Bonny, Amanda L. Miller and Johanna Brugman. 2007. "The Lexicon in Language Attrition: The Case of N\|uu." In Selected Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, edited by Doris L. Payne and Jaime Peña. Somerville, 55-65. Cascadilla Press. Online: http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/37/paper1595.pdf.		0		0	Just a few elders		10-99					Afrikaans, Khoekhoegowab, Setswana		"All N\|uu speakers have shifted to a primary mode of communication of Afrikaans."	All	Critically Endangered (80 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15			15
	Multilingual Matters			2005	Language decline and death in Africa: causes, consequences and challenges				Multilingual Matters		132	Buffalo			Herman M. Batibo	Herman M. Batibo. 2005. "Language Decline and Death in Africa: Causes, Consequences and Challenges." 132: Multilingual Matters.	HHOLD				0
					World Oral Literature Project									http://www.oralliterature.org		"World Oral Literature Project." Online: http://www.oralliterature.org.					10		10-99									Severely Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)
9783110170498	Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs			2007	Language Endangerment in Southern and Eastern Africa	Language Diversity Endangered	179-204	Matthias Brenzinger	Mouton de Gruyter			Berlin	9		Matthias Brenzinger	Brenzinger, Matthias. 2007. "Language Endangerment in Southern and Eastern Africa." In Language Diversity Endangered, edited by Matthias Brenzinger. 179-204. Mouton de Gruyter.		0	600	0	<20		10-99			Less than 20						Critically Endangered (60 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	15

N||ng

Language metadata

Language information by source

Critically endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Just a few elders

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<20

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

11

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

8

0

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<10

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<10

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<20

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

12

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

7

Discussion

N||ng

Language metadata

Language information by source

Critically endangered

100 percent certain, based on the evidence available

5

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

Just a few elders

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<20

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

11

Critically endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

8

0

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<10

Critically endangered

60 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<10

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

<20

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

12

Critically endangered

80 percent certain, based on the evidence available

7

Discussion

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