Community-Based Digital Documentation of Ju|'hoan (ktz) and =X'ao-||'aen (aue):Audio, Video and Text Archives of Language and Culture Diversity

Megan Biesele, University of Texas at Austin

Project Details:

Major Documentation Project. Duration: 2011-2014. £103,055

Project Summary:

Project proposed is ongoing Ju|’hoan language documentation begun by Biesele in 1970 that is now a community-based initiative, the Ju|’hoan Transcription Group (JTG). 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 speakers are 11,000 and 4000 respectively. Project goals are 1) further recordings/ transcriptions/ translations to extend Ju|’hoan archives at ELAR; 2) JTG progress toward sustainability, involving younger Ju|’hoan-speakers and scholars; and 3) linguistics Ph.D. research on dialect diversity in Ju-=Hoan language family, to describe both Ju|’hoan and =X’ao-||’aen, extending understanding of entire Ju language complex.