A Study of the level of endangerment of !Kung as spoken in Namibia.

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dc.contributor.authorWoldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-17T07:08:08Z
dc.date.available2025-09-17T07:08:08Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.descriptionPublished book chapter
dc.description.abstractThis study investigated the level of endangerment of !Kung (San language variant) as spoken in Corridor 17, Aranos and Amenuis localities of Namibia. The aim of the study was to protect, preserve and promote !Kung as an indigenous Namibian language and the cultural practices of its users. The study team conducted in-depth interviews, focus groups and distributed questionnaires and collected and later digitized 39 cultural expressions at the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) library. The study team managed to study 41 households in !Kung speaking settlement areas only. The study concluded that !Kung is vulnerable, meaning although most children speak the language, it has been restricted to home domains. Outside these localities, there are noticeable indicators that !Kung is endangered, meaning children no longer learn the language as a ‘mother tongue’ at school level and the number of its users has dwindled. In order to revitalise !Kung and the culture, this study recommends seven strategies: 1) revitalizing !Kung and the culture through teaching !Kung folklore, 2) training !Kung speaking research assistants and teachers to utilise the existing San research outcomes, 3) contextualising and teaching !Kung historical narratives in the context of primary instruction, 4) introducing and promoting !Kung indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and herbal life in !Kung classes; 5) organising !Kung story telling events at Chief Sofia Jakobs Primary School, 6) integrating !Kung folk art, folk songs, and traditional games in the !Kung instruction; 7) transforming !Kung endangered cultural practices into theatrical productions. In line with these linguistic and ethnographic strategies, the study also strongly recommends that the Namibian Ministry of Education introduce !Kung as a medium of primary instruction and as a subject in Corridor 17, 18, Amenues and Aranos localities of Namibia. The language can be accorded with the status of endangered Namibian language which can be preserved, protected, promoted and revitalized.
dc.identifier.citationWoldemariam, H. Z. (2025). A Study of the level of endangerment of !Kung as spoken in Namibia
dc.identifier.isbn978-3-8498-2087-9
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10628/1083
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAisthesis Verlag
dc.subjectlanguage endangerment
dc.subjectcultural subjugation
dc.subjectcultural expressions
dc.subjectpreserving
dc.subjectpromoting
dc.subjectand protecting endangered languages/cultures
dc.subject!Kung coming of age ritual
dc.titleA Study of the level of endangerment of !Kung as spoken in Namibia.

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