Documenting the =Khomani (ngh) and Ju/'hoan (ktz) Languages: Field Research and Digital Technology for Audio, Video, and Text Archives

每一种人类语言都编码了对世界的特定理解，这些理解与任何其他语言都不完全相同。这些谅解是我们作为世界公民所共有的共同遗产的一部分。当务之急是在世界上濒危语言消失之前，尽可能多地对它们进行专业记录。 在南非剩下的科伊桑语中，只有十个人说的=Khomani（N/u）是关键语言之一。最近的技术进步和不断提高的“最佳实践”标准，现在有可能帮助说霍马尼语的人保存他们过去的单词、习语和口头艺术。这种合作方法结合了人类学和语言学的专业知识与母语的专业知识，为学术和当地社区的目的。 在国家科学基金会的支持下，Marguerite Biesele博士将继续在南非阿平顿及其附近从事Khomani语的文本、音频和视频记录工作。Biesele博士将利用她多年与纳米比亚Ju/'hoan San点击扬声器打交道的经验，指导两位语言顾问Gueldemann和Namaseb的工作，他们已经熟悉Khomani语。通过数字现场文件收集的材料将通过转录、注释、翻译和分析语言数据进行归档。该项目将大大增加可用于科伊桑语语言研究的学术资料。这些材料将以电子方式提供给世界各地的研究人员，并将分发给原住民社区。该项目将有助于培训两名讲霍马尼语的年轻人编写具有社会意义的传统和当代知识和语言文本。

Each human language encodes particular understandings of the world that are not shared exactly with any other language. These understandings are part of the joint heritage we share as world citizens. It is imperative that as many as possible of the world's endangered languages be professionally documented before they disappear. Of the remaining Khoisan, or "click" languages of southern Africa, =Khomani (N/u), with only ten speakers, is high on the critical list. Recent technological advances and rising standards for "best practice" now make it possible to help =Khomani speakers preserve the words, idioms, and verbal art of their past. This collaborative approach combines anthropological and linguistic expertise with native speaker expertise for both scholarly and local community purposes. With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Marguerite Biesele will continue to undertake the textual, audio, and video documentation of the =Khomani language in and near Upington, South Africa. Drawing on her many years of experience with the Ju/'hoan San click-speakers of Namibia, Dr. Biesele will direct the work of two linguistic consultants, Gueldemann and Namaseb, who are already familiar with the =Khomani language. The materials collected through digital field documentation will be prepared for archiving by transcribing, annotating, translating, and analyzing the language data. This project will add substantially to the scholarly materials available for linguistic research on Khoisan. These materials will be made available electronically to researchers around the world, and will also be disseminated to the community of origin. The project will contribute to the training of the two young =Khomani speakers in the production of socially meaningful texts of traditional and contemporary lore and language.