Materials

This little booklet provides a list of basic vocabulary for the major languages spoken in and around the Okavango Delta in Ngamiland, Botswana. All words presented here were collected during a survey in August/September 2022 which aimed at documenting the history of six groups speaking languages of two African language families: Bantu (ThiMbukushu, RuGciriku, SiYeyi) and Khoe-Kwadi (ǁAnikhwedam, Bugakhwedam, Ts’ixadam).

This dictionary is the result of more than a decade of fieldwork (2010-2024) with speakers of Ts'ixadam residing in Mababe on the eastern fringe of the Okavango Delta. It is first and foremost designed as a resource for the speakers themselves, but also includes IPA transliterations and linguistic metadata of interest to linguists and other scholars in "Khoisan" studies.

The present dictionary is based on data collected with speakers of ǁAnikhwedam between 2022 and 2024 in different locations around the Okavango Panhandle in Northwestern Botswana. It aims to  provide a starting point for future research on the ǁAnikhwe’s language, history and culture, as well as a tool for language development and revitalization among members of the speech community.

This dictionary is based on fieldwork undertaken in Shua-speaking areas during 2024. It is meant to provide a starting point for future research on the Shua language, as well as a reference work for the Shua speech community.

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