Elsie Vaalbooi
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Elsie Vaalbooi (born c. 1901, died 7 October 2002Tongue-tied: The imminent death of a rich African language
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Rietfontein Rietfontein is a town in ZF Mgcawu District Municipality located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It functions as the Rietfontein Borderpost with Namibia during the day hours of 08:00-16:30, that gives access to and from south-east ...
in the Northern Cape was a South African woman who was a member of the ǂKhomani (Nǁnǂe) San or Bushmen and one of the last speakers of the Nǁng language (better known by the name of the primary dialect, Nǀuu). In the 1990s there was concern amongst the ǂKhomani leadership about loss of the Nǁng language: many of those of the community who could speak a KhoeSan language actually spoke Nama. Linguist Anthony Traill interviewed Vaalbooi in 1997, when she was in her late nineties. The South African San Institute became involved in the pursuit of information on the language and, with the help of Vaalbooi, they were able to trace a further ten people who could speak the language. Elsie Vaalbooi's work on the preservation of the Nǀuu language has been carried forward through a Nǀuu language school, initiated by Katrina Esau (AKA "Ouma Geelmeid"), in
Upington Upington ( Nama: //Khara hais) is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of ...
.


Northern Cape Motto

In 1997 Elsie Vaalbooi assisted linguists and provincial officials in providing a motto for the
Northern Cape Province The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...
, Sa , , a !aĩsi 'uĩsi (“We go to a better life”), which is in the Nǀu dialect of the Nǁnǂe (ǂKhomani) people.


References

;Footnotes ;Sources * * 1900s births 2002 deaths People from Dawid Kruiper Local Municipality Cape Colony people San people {{SouthAfrica-bio-stub