Herero language

See also:Otjiherero grammar

Herero
Otjiherero
Native to	Namibia,Botswana,Angola
Region	Kunene,Omaheke RegionandOtjozondjupa Regionin Namibia;Ghanziin Botswana;Namibe,HuílaandCunenein Angola
Ethnicity	Herero,Himba,Mbanderu,Tjimba,Kwisi,Twa
Native speakers	250,000 (2015–2018)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Kavango – Southwest Bantu Southwest Bantu Herero (R.30) Herero
Dialects	Himba Kuvale Zemba(Thimba,Otjizemba) Hakawona(Otjihakawona) Botswana Herero
Writing system	Latin(Herero alphabet) Herero Braille
Language codes
ISO 639-1	hzHerero
ISO 639-2	herHerero
ISO 639-3	herHerero
Glottolog	here1253Herero
Guthrie code	R.30 (R31,311,312);R.101 (Kuvale)
ELP	Herero
The disparate distribution of the Herero language inNamibia,showing the concentration of Herero speakers on the Kalahari boundary in the east, as well as the outlying Herero-speakingHimba peopleof theKaokoveldin the far north-west.

Person	Omu- OmuHerero,OmuHimba,OmuMbanderu
People	Ova- OvaHerero,OvaHimba,OvaMbanderu
Language	Otji- OtjiHerero,OtjiHimba,OtjiMbanderu

A Herero speaker, recorded inNamibia.

Herero(Otjiherero) is aBantu languagespoken by theHereroandMbanderu peoplesinNamibiaandBotswana,as well as by small communities of people in southwesternAngola.There were 250,000 speakers in these countries between 2015 and 2018.

Distribution

Its linguistic distribution covers a zone calledHereroland,which is constituted of the region ofOmahekealong with theOtjozondjupaandKunene Regions.TheHimba people,who are related to the Herero and Mbanderu, speak a dialect very close to Otjiherero. Many Herero-speakers live inWindhoek,the capital of Namibia.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n̪	n	ɲ
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	p	t̪	t	tʃ	k
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd̪	ⁿd	ⁿdʒ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	θ	(s)			h
	voiced	v	ð
Trill				r
Approximant		w		(l)	j

The sounds /f s l/ are found in loanwords.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː
Open		ɑ ɑː

Script

Because of the translation of missionary Gottlieb Viehe (1839–1901) of the Bible into Herero, at the end of the 19th century, the spoken language was transcribed to an alphabet based on the Latin script. Father Peter Heinrich Brincker (1836–1904) translated several theological works and songs.

Orthography

• a - [ɑ]
• b - [b]
• d - [d]
• ḓ - [d̪]
• e - [ɛ]
• f - [f]
• g - [g]
• h - [h]
• i - [i]
• j - [j]
• k - [k]
• l - [l]
• m - [m]
• mb - [ᵐb]
• mw - [mʷ]
• n - [n]
• ndj - [ⁿdʒ]
• ng - [ᵑɡ]
• ngw - [ᵑɡʷ]
• nj - [ɲ]
• ṋ - [n̪]
• o - [ɔ]
• p - [p]
• r - [r]
• s - [s]
• t - [t]
• tj - [t͡ʃ]
• ṱ - [t̪]
• u - [u/w]
• v - [v]
• w - [w]
• y - [j]
• z - [z]

Long vowels are doubled.

f and l are only used in loanwords.

Grammar

Main article:Otjiherero grammar

Education

Otjiherero is taught in Namibian schools both as a native tongue and as a secondary language. It is included as a principal material at theUniversity of Namibia.Otjiherero is also one of the six minority languages that are used by the Namibian State Radio (NBC). Gamsberg Macmillan, as of 2008,has published the only dictionary in Otjiherero.

Varieties

TheHakaonavariety is now considered a separate Bantu language, as sometimes isZemba(Otjizemba).Maho (200) also removesKuvaleto Bantu Zone R.10, while differentiating North-West Herero (Kaokoland Herero, including Zemba and presumably Himba and Hakaona), R.311, and Botswana Herero (including Mahalapye Herero), R.312, as distinct from but closely related to Herero proper. Within Herero proper, he recognizes two dialects: Central Herero and Mbandero (East Herero).

Northwest/Zemba is found on either side of the Namibian–Angolan border. Central Herero covers a large area in central Namibia, with East Herero and a few islands to the east but still in Namibia. Botswana Herero consists of a few scattered islands in Botswana, with about 15% of the population of Herero proper.

Ethnologueseparates Zimba as a distinct language but retains Himba, East Herero, and Botswana Herero within the Herero language. However, it no longer recognizesKuvaleas a dialect but as a separate language.

Sources

• Brincker, Peter Heinrich (1886, 1964).Wörterbuch und kurzgefasste Grammatik des Otji-Herero.Leipzig (reprint 1964 Ridgwood, NJ: The Gregg Press).
• Hahn, C. Hugo (1857).Grundzüge einer Grammatik des Hereró.Berlin: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz.
• Lutz, Marten (2006). "Locative inversion in Otjiherero: more on morpho-syntactic variation in Bantu." In: Laura Downing, Lutz Marten & Sabine Zerbian (eds.),Papers in Bantu Grammar, ZAS Papers in Linguistics43, 97–122.
• Marten, Lutz & Nancy C. Kula (2007). "Morphosyntactic co-variation in Bantu: two case studies." SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics 15.227-238.
• Möhlig, Wilhelm, Lutz Marten & Jekura U. Kavari (2002).A Grammatical Sketch of Herero (Otjiherero).Köln: Köppe (Grammatische Analysen afrikanischer Sprachen; v.19).