Herero language

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File:WIKITONGUES- Pamela speaking Herero.webm

A Herero speaker, recorded in Namibia.

Herero (Otjiherero) is a Bantu language spoken by the Herero and Mbanderu peoples in Namibia and Botswana, as well as by small communities of people in southwestern Angola. There were Template:Sigfig speakers in these countries between 2015 and 2018.<ref name=e25/>

Distribution

Its linguistic distribution covers a zone called Hereroland, which is constituted of the region of Omaheke along with the Otjozondjupa and Kunene Regions. The Himba people, who are related to the Herero and Mbanderu, speak a dialect very close to Otjiherero. Many Herero-speakers live in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Plosive/ Affricate	plain	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	prenasal	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	voiceless	(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)			Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Trill				Template:IPA link
Approximant		Template:IPA link		(Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link

The sounds /f s l/ are found in loanwords.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link
Open		Template:IPA link   Template:IPA link

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]<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Long vowels are doubled.

f and l are only used in loanwords.

Grammar

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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 the University of Namibia. Otjiherero is also one of the six minority languages that are used by the Namibian State Radio (NBC). Gamsberg Macmillan, Template:As of, has published the only dictionary in Otjiherero.

Varieties

The Hakaona variety is now considered a separate Bantu language, as sometimes is Zemba (Otjizemba).<ref>Bantu Classification Template:Webarchive, Ehret, 2009.</ref> Maho (200) also removes Kuvale to 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.<ref name="Guthrie"/>

Ethnologue separates Zimba as a distinct language but retains Himba, East Herero, and Botswana Herero within the Herero language. However, it no longer recognizes Kuvale as a dialect but as a separate language.<ref>Template:E25</ref>

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 Linguistics 43, 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).