The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: NGH
ISO 639-2: khi
| Population | 20 mother tongue speakers out of 500 in the ethnic group (1998 Nigel Crawhall, South African San Institute). |
| Region | 3 in Swartkop, a township outside Upington, 1 in Sesbrugge outside Upington, 1 in Keimoes, 3 in Rosedale township in Upington, 1 in Raaswater outside Upington (!Kabee), 1 in Rietfontein (/'Auni), 1 partial speaker in Welkom (village in Kalahari, not Free State). Possibly 5 in Botswana. All varieties were spoken in the southern Kalahari before the speakers were displaced in the 1930s, whereupon most moved to urban townships. |
| Alternate names | =KHOMANI, NG'UKI, |
| Dialects | N/U, !KABEE, /'AUNI, //KXAU, //NG!KE (NG//-/E, //NG, /ING/KE). |
| Classification | Khoisan, Southern Africa, Southern, !Kwi. |
| Comments | Closely related to /Xam. Speakers use Afrikaans and Nama (Khoekhoegowab) fluently. N/u is used with other N/u speakers, Nama with Nama friends and children, Afrikaans with adults and outsiders, sometimes with children, and for church. 60 to 96. Speakers are very upset that N/u is dying out. Younger people have a strong loyalty to Nama, not shared by N/u speakers. '=Khomani' is the name for the ethnic group. 'Ng'uki' is an incorrect name. Literacy is in Afrikaans. Nearly extinct. |
