Editing Herero language

{{Short description|Bantu language of Namibia and Botswana}}
{{See also|Otjiherero grammar}}
{{Infobox language
| name = OvaHerero
| nativename = ''Otjiherero''
| states = [[Namibia]], [[Botswana]], [[Angola]]
| region = [[Kunene Region|Kunene]], [[Omaheke Region]] and [[Otjozondjupa Region]] in Namibia; [[Ghanzi District|Ghanzi]] in Botswana; [[Namibe Province|Namibe]], [[Huíla Province|Huíla]] and [[Cunene Province|Cunene]] in Angola
| ethnicity = [[OvaHerero people|OshiHerero]], [[OvaHimba people|Himba]], [[OvaMbanderu people|Mbanderu]], [[OvaTjimba people|Tjimba]], [[Kwisi people|Kwisi]], [[Twa#Angola and Namibia|Twa]]
| speakers = {{sigfig|248,700|2}}
| date = 2015–2018
| ref = e25
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
|fam3=[[Volta-Congo]]
|fam4=[[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
|fam5=[[Bantoid]]
|fam6=[[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
|fam7=[[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
|fam8=[[Kavango – Southwest Bantu languages|Kavango – Southwest Bantu]]
|fam9=[[Southwest Bantu]]
|fam10=Herero (R.30)
| script = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[OshiHerero alphabet]])<br />[[Herero Braille]]
| dia1 = [[Himba dialect|Himba]]
| dia2 = [[Kuvale language|Kuvale]]
| dia3 = [[Zemba language|Zemba]] (Thimba, ''Otjizemba'')
| dia4 = [[Hakaona language|Hakawona]] (''Otjihakawona'')
| dia5 = [[Botswana Herero]]
| iso1 = hz
| iso1comment = Herero
| iso2 = her
| iso2comment = Herero
| iso3 = her
| iso3comment = Herero
| glotto = here1253
| glottoname = Herero
| guthrie = R.30 (R31,311,312); {{nowrap|R.101 (Kuvale)}}
| map = Distribution of Otjiherero in Namibia.png
| mapcaption = The disparate distribution of the Herero language in [[Namibia]], showing the concentration of Herero speakers on the Kalahari boundary in the east, as well as the outlying Herero-speaking [[Himba people]] of the [[Kaokoveld]] in the far north-west.
|notice=IPA
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym
|root=
|person='''Omu'''-<br/>
[[Herero people|OmuHerero]], [[Himba people|OmuHimba]], [[Mbanderu people|OmuMbanderu]]
|people='''Ova'''-<br/>
[[Herero people|OvaHerero]], [[Himba people|OvaHimba]], [[Mbanderu people|OvaMbanderu]]
|language='''Otji'''-<br/>
[[Herero people|OtjiHerero]], [[Himba people|OtjiHimba]], [[Mbanderu people|OtjiMbanderu]]
|country=
}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Pamela speaking Herero.webm|thumb|A Herero speaker, recorded in [[Namibia]].]]
'''Herero''' (Otjiherero) is a [[Bantu language]] spoken by the [[Herero people|Herero]] and [[Mbanderu people]]s in [[Namibia]] and [[Botswana]], as well as by small communities of people in southwestern [[Angola]]. There were {{sigfig|248,700|2}} 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 Region|Otjozondjupa]] and [[Kunene Region]]s. 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 ===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n̪}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Plosive]]/<br>[[Affricate]]
!<small>plain</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t̪}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
!<small>prenasal</small>
|{{IPA link|ᵐb}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿd̪}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿdʒ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|({{IPA link|f}})
|{{IPA link|θ}}
|({{IPA link|s}})
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|v}}
|{{IPA link|ð}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|({{IPA link|l}})
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}
The sounds /f s l/ are found in loanwords.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Grammatical Sketch of Herero (Otjiherero)|last=Möhlig, Marten, Kavari|first=Wilhelm J. G., Lutz, Jekura|publisher=Rüdiger Köppe Verlag|year=2002|location=Köln, Germany}}</ref>

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|iː}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|uː}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|ɛː}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɔ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|ɔː}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|ɑ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|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]<ref>{{cite web |title=Herero alphabet, pronunciation, and language |url=https://omniglot.com/writing/herero.php |website=Omniglot |access-date=31 August 2021}}</ref>

Long vowels are doubled.

f and l are only used in loanwords.

== Grammar ==
{{Main|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 the [[University 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|lc=on}}, has published the only dictionary in Otjiherero.

==Varieties==
The [[Hakaona language|Hakaona]] variety is now considered a separate Bantu language, as sometimes is [[Zemba language|Zemba]] (''Otjizemba'').<ref>[http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/ehret/kinship/BantuClassification%204-09.pdf ''Bantu Classification''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624221430/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/ehret/kinship/BantuClassification%204-09.pdf |date=2012-06-24 }}, Ehret, 2009.</ref> Maho (200) also removes [[Kuvale language|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 language|Kuvale]] as a dialect but as a separate language.<ref>{{e25|olu|Kuvale}}</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).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Languages of Botswana}}
{{Languages of Namibia}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S)}}

{{Authority control}}

==External links==
{{Incubator|code=hz}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herero Language}}
[[Category:Herero language| ]]
[[Category:Languages of Namibia]]
[[Category:Languages of Botswana]]