Summary of deposit

This project is an ongoing documentation of Ju|’hoan language, begun by Biesele in 1970, that is now a community-based initiative: the Ju|’hoan Transcription Group (JTG). The project is sited in Namibia, with Ju|’hoan [ktz] at Tsumkwe (Otjozondjupa Region), and closely related =X’ao-||’aen [aue] at Epukiro/Gobabis (Omaheke Region). Estimated speaker numbers are 11,000 and 4000 respectively. The project goals were 1) to gather further recordings/ transcriptions/ translations to extend Ju|’hoan archives at ELAR; 2) to make JTG sustainable, involving younger Ju|’hoan-speakers and scholars; and 3) to carry out PhD research on dialect diversity in the Ju-=Hoan language family, extending understanding of the entire Ju language complex.

Group represented

Ju|'hoan San of NW Botswana and NE Namibia

Language information

Ju|'hoan is also known in the literature as !Kung. Ju|’hoan [ktz] is spoken at Tsumkwe (Otjozondjupa Region) and closely related =X’ao-||’aen [aue] is spoken at Epukiro/Gobabis (Omaheke Region). Estimated speaker populations are 11,000 and 4,000 respectively.

Deposit contents

• Transcriptions
• Lessons
• 27 video recordings
• 150 audio recordings
• Dictionary

Includes files of type EAF, BAK, DB, MP3, MP4, XLS, ORI, PDF, TXT, WAV, XML. For a full description please see the fully searchable spreadsheet "Biesele ELAR deposit metadata 3-11", which contains additional metadata.
Comments and translations in English.

Special Characteristics

Transcriptions in ELAN provided by native speakers in continuing project: Ju|'hoan Transcription Group (JTG)

Deposit history

Materials collected 1970 - 2010 and ongoing.

Other information

Funding/sponsoring Agencies: FTGO149; US National Endowment for Humanities; US National Science Foundation; Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research; Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research; Jutta Vogel Stiftung; Redbush Tea Co. of London; Kalahari Peoples Fund, USA.

Project host organization: Department of Linguistics, University of Texas.