Otjiherero

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Otjiherero

Spoken in

Namibia , western Botswana
speaker 150,000 (native speakers)
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in -
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

hz

ISO 639 -2

here

ISO 639-3

here

Distribution of the Otjiherero as a mother tongue (2011)
  • <1%
  • 1-5.99%
  • 6-10.99%
  • 11-20.99%
  • 21-30.99%
  • 31-49.99%
  • 50-75.99%
  • 76-90%
  • > 90%

    • Otjiherero (also Herero or Ochiherero ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Herero people in large parts of Namibia as well as in parts of Botswana and occasionally in Angola . The total number of speakers is around 237,000 people.

    The language area includes the so-called Hereroland ; mostly the eastern Namibian region of Omaheke and parts of the Otjozondjupa and Kunene regions . The Himba tribe speaks a dialect with the OtjiHimba that is assigned to the Herero. Namibia's capital Windhoek has a not inconsiderable Herero language minority. According to Ohly (1999: 5), Otjiherero can be divided into three different dialects. These are Kaokoland-Herero, Central-Herero and Mahalapye-Herero (Botswana).

    Through the first translation of the Bible into Herero by the missionary Gottlieb Viehe (1839-1901) the language was the end of the 19th century written language based on the Latin alphabet. Father Peter Heinrich Brincker (1836–1904), who made great contributions to the study of the language, also made translations of theological writings and songs.

    Herero is taught as a mother tongue and foreign language at Namibian elementary schools and is a major subject at the University of Namibia . Herero is also one of six minority languages ​​on the Namibian National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The first dictionary was developed by Brincker (1886). The latest dictionary is by Vilijoen and Kamupingine , which appeared in 1983.

    literature

    • Gottlieb Viehe : Grammar of Otjiherero with dictionary , in: Textbooks of the Seminar for Oriental Languages ​​in Berlin , W. Spemann, Stuttgart / Berlin 1897, Volume 16. ( PDF )

    Web links

    Wiktionary: Herero  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
    Test Wikipedia on Herero