Khoisan languages are spoken by various culturally diverse communities of Southern Africa. These languages also present an important linguistic diversity. Some of Khoisan languages communities are generally under-researched, marginalized and experiencing sustained sociolinguistic forces that threaten them. For those that have been documented, researchers have come up with IPA writing systems that some users, especially missionaries and literacy materials developers, have deemed impractical. These writing conventions challenges have become challenges in Khoisan orthography development. For less documented languages this situation of illiteracy in their languages compounds the problem as speakers have no resources to develop and promote their languages. The question of harmonization is raised in this paper to create a common base for the development of orthography for less documented endangered languages that are in dialect continuum such as the Cua, Kua and the Cua. The paper will argue for these dialectal continuum harmonized orthography development as a resources that will benefit these endangered languages and facilitate their integration in educational and language use policies. Harmonization with Nguni and Yeyi languages will not be envisaged as they are not Khoisan, and may not provide typical phonetic inventories found in Khoisan. Also the extensive contrast in the sound system within Khoisan will not be tackled, but the general principles of community-based writing efforts. The point made is that the promotion and preservation Khoisan languages effectively happen when they feature in education and are written and passed from one generation to the other.
Eastern Kalahari languages are spoken in the eastern parts of Botswana along the eastern fringes of the Kalahari Desert. These languages are closely related to the well-known and documented languages G|ui and Gǁana which are spoken in the west. From a historical linguistic perspective, Eastern Kalahari Khoe languages form a dialectal continuum within themselves and within G|ui and Gǁana. In this continuum, several features in the domains of phonetics/phonology and morpho-syntax are reduced from west to east. Clicks are missing or modified in some cognates, and this variation is observed from the western dialects to the eastern ones:
Khoisan languages are spoken by tiny and remote-dwelling communities of Botswana, the members of which are characterised by socioeconomic hardships and illiteracy in their own languages and in general. Historically and socially, these people emerged from a life of hunting and gathering, and, in that lifestyle mode, they were easily subdued and exploited by other language communities for cheap and serf labour. Colonialism found them in this social state, and post-colonialism has left them in the same state. As poor and marginalised subalterns, they have not had any means to advocate for their language and culture, and are currently assimilated into other peoples' languages and cultures. Consequently, the remaining languages of these communities, spoken in remote areas by poor people, are threatened with extinction because they remain underdeveloped , under-documented, and are at best still at the stage of documentation by anthropologists and linguists. As illiterate people, the speakers of these Khoisan languages have no survival strategies for their languages in this ever-evolving, modern world. With their poverty and sociolinguistic marginalisation, they are devoid of any means of promoting their languages. This discussion focuses on the pitiful situation of the Khoisan languages of Botswana. Botswana's language-use policy will be critically examined and characterised as one factor in the marginalisation and disempowerment of minority groups, both of which lead to the languages' endangerment and death.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.