Lower Nossob language

Lower Nossob is an extinct Khoisan language once spoken along the Nossob River on the border of South Africa and Botswana, near Namibia. It was closely related to the Taa language.

Lower Nossob
ǀʼAuo
ǀHaasi
Native toSouth Africa, Botswana
RegionNossob River
Extinct2005[1]
Tuu
  • Taa–Lower Nossob
    • Lower Nossob
Dialects
  • ǀʼAuni
  • ǀHaasi
Language codes
ISO 639-3nsb
Glottologlowe1407
ǀʼAuni is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[2]

There are two attested dialects: ǀʼAuni (pronounced /ˈn/ OW-nee), or ǀʼAuo, recorded by Dorothea Bleek, and ǀHaasi, recorded by Robert Story. ǀʼAuni is the word they formerly used for themselves; ǀʼAuo (or ǀʼAu) is what they called their language. ǀauni, ǁauni, Auni are misspellings. Other renderings of the name ǀHaasi are Kʼuǀha꞉si, Kiǀhasi, and Kiǀhazi.[3]

Doculects

Güldemann (2017) lists the following doculects as being Lower Nossob.[4]

LabelResearcherDateNotes
ǀʼAuniD. Bleek1937Bleek label SIV.
KhatiaD. Bleek(notes)= ǂʼEinkusi? Bleek label SIVa.
KiǀhaziStory(notes)= ǀHaasi. Bleek label SIVb.

References