The Endangered San Language N|uu Featuring 45 Clicks

With its remarkable 45 click sounds, the San language N|uu serves as an extraordinary example of cultural variety.

On the fringe of Upington in the Northern Cape of South Africa resides a queen. Her passing could signify not just her loss, but the disappearance of a significant linguistic heritage.

Katrina Esau is 88 years old. Crowned queen of the western Nǁnǂe (ǂKhomani) San in 2015, she received the National Baobab Order in Silver from Jacob Zuma a year earlier.

For decades, Esau remained hidden from view. Her people, the San, learned to survive unnoticed. From hunting and gathering to the remarkable ability to live in the shadows.

Born on a farm where her parents worked, the owner labeled her “Geelmeid” – “meid” means maid, while “geel” (yellow) carried a derogatory connotation regarding her skin tone. Many still call her Ouma Geelmeid today. For many, she is Queen Katrina.

The owner barred her from speaking her mother tongue N|uu – she had to use Afrikaans as a lifelong disguise.

N|uu represents one of the final linguistic connections to the earliest humans – the hunters and gatherers of southern Africa.

Isolated, Esau began to speak Afrikaans, choosing to “bury” her own language. This burial was one of many.

The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park was opened in 1931, now part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The ǂKhomani were evicted, their community dispersed, leading to the collapse of the last linguistic area of N|uu.

Children were born into a world of Afrikaans thereafter.

Besides !Xun (Namibia) and Taa (Botswana), N|uu is recognized as one of the last click languages directly connected to the early peoples of Africa. All are at risk of extinction, with N|uu having only two remaining speakers: Esau and her brother Simon Sauls.

The N|uu language is ancient, and we cannot ascertain precisely when it developed. Its disappearance would cost more than a historical relic.

While English comprises about 44 phonemes, N|uu boasts 114.

The click sounds are particularly remarkable. The symbol “|” represents a dental click arising from swiftly releasing the tongue from the upper teeth.

In the past, it is estimated that over 100 indigenous click languages were spoken in southern Africa. N|uu features an incredible 45 clicks, echoing a linguistic celebration.

Among its distinct sounds is the rare bilabial “kiss-click,” which exists in only two languages globally – including Taa.

As Esau aged, her desire to preserve N|uu blossomed. In the early 2000s, she began teaching a small group in her front yard in Rosedale – incorporating songs and dance into her lessons.

The students, aged between three and 19, are the sole N|uu learners in the world.

Insights from linguists assisted her in developing educational materials and orthographies. Her granddaughter Claudia Snyman now teaches the written form, while Esau herself is illiterate.

The children's book “Turtle and Ostrich” has been published in N|uu, Afrikaans, and English.

Nonetheless, the beauty of the language should not be romanticized. The San’s history is fraught with dispossession.

The !Khwa ttu Heritage Centre near Cape Town seeks to shatter stereotypes surrounding the “last bushman,” embodying the authentic tale of the San.

“Our land was taken from us. Our history is harsh,” representatives of the centre convey.

The term bushman is derived from the Dutch “Boesman.” “San” is also an external term, originally attributed by the Khoikhoi.

Today, between 120,000 and 140,000 San inhabit southern Africa: around 60,000 in Botswana, 40,000 in Namibia, and smaller groups in South Africa, Angola, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Many no longer possess land. Traditional knowledge is offered mainly through eco-tourism.

Visitors encounter San as guides, employees, or cultural ambassadors.

However, many hesitate to publicly assert their identity. The history of marginalization is deeply embedded.

Even though South Africa recognizes eleven official languages, none of these belong to the country's original inhabitants. Land rights are scarce, and resources are limited.

A hopeful development is the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act, which seeks to provide political representation to the San.

One individual firmly declares: “I am a San.”

Katrina Esau – the queen of a language she hopes will not die with her.