| Also Known As: Yeyi Language,Yei,Yeei,Shiyeyi,Ciyei,Koba,Kuba
Description:
Yeyi or ShiYeyi is a endangered Bantu language spoken by 45,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia and Botswana. Yeyi, influenced by Juu languages, is one of several Bantu languages along the Okavango with clicks. Indeed, it has the largest known inventory of clicks of any Bantu language, with dental, alveolar, palatal, and lateral articulations. Though most of its older speakers prefer Yeyi in normal conversation, it is being gradually phased out by a popular move towards Tswana, with Yeyi only being learned by children in a few villages.
Yeyi is a member of the R Bantu languages, and though it shares the main Bantu characteristics (classes etc.), it is not closely related to any other language within the Bantu languages. It has been phonetically influenced by the Ju languages, though it is no longer in contact with them. The main dialect is called Shirwanga. A slight majority of Botswana Yeyi are monolingual in the national language, Tswana, and most of the rest are bilingual.
Yeyi has four click releases, dental ǀ, alveolar ǃ, palatal ǂ, and lateral ǁ. However, the actual number of clicks is disputed, as researchers disagree on how many accompaniments the language..... full article at Wikipedia |
