Nuu cultural loss as ouma dies
Ouma /Hibi Griet Jantjies is gebore op 28/01/1941. Sy het op 30/12/2015 gesterwe. Sy is Ouma Katrina Esau se niggie en was een van die laaste vyf sprekers wat nog vlot N/uu taal kon praat. Daar is nou slegs vier taalsprekers oor. Kenners meen dat N/uu die oudste taal op die planeet kan wees. Dit is n erfenis van Suid Afrika wat op die rand van uitsterwing is en wat met alle dringendheid moet bewaar word vir die volgende generasie. Daar is sprake dat n chinese taal dalk by ons land se skole mag aangebied word maar min aandag word geskenk aan die inheemse khoi en san tale. Dus is my pleidooi vir ondersteuning aan die Staar na die sterre taalskool en N/uu Taalraad in pogings om die taal van uitstorwing te red. pic supplied Ouma /Hibi Griet Jantjies is gebore op 28/01/1941. Sy het op 30/12/2015 gesterwe. Sy is Ouma Katrina Esau se niggie en was een van die laaste vyf sprekers wat nog vlot N/uu taal kon praat. Daar is nou slegs vier taalsprekers oor. Kenners meen dat N/uu die oudste taal op die planeet kan wees. Dit is n erfenis van Suid Afrika wat op die rand van uitsterwing is en wat met alle dringendheid moet bewaar word vir die volgende generasie. Daar is sprake dat n chinese taal dalk by ons land se skole mag aangebied word maar min aandag word geskenk aan die inheemse khoi en san tale. Dus is my pleidooi vir ondersteuning aan die Staar na die sterre taalskool en N/uu Taalraad in pogings om die taal van uitstorwing te red. pic supplied
Nicolette Dirk
ONE of the country’s last five surviving Nuu language-speakers, Ouma Griet Jantjies, died in her shack in Rosedale, Upington last week.
Ouma Griet, as she was known, was Khoisan, and one of the last to speak the language fluently.
With her death a week ago, Jantjies took her language legacy with her.
Her youngest daughter Lena Oor said she did not have much interest in learning Nuu, but when her mother was ill recently, she told her she would have liked to teach her the language if she were healthier.
“My father, who passed away 18 years ago, spoke Xhosa, which I also cannot speak. The only language I can speak fluently is Afrikaans,” said Oor. Nuu has been displaced with Afrikaans and Nama by the current Khoisan generation.
When Jantjies had trouble breathing last week, Oor rushed her to the hospital. But it was too late for the 70-year-old when a lung infection took its toll. Described as a humble woman, Oor said her three children would especially miss their Ouma Griet.
Staar Na Die Sterre is a community-based organisation focused on preserving and revitalising the Nuu language and the tradition in Upington.
The organisation’s secretary, Dawid van Wyk, said Jantjies was the cousin of 82-year- old Katrina Esau. Last year, Esau received an award from President Jacob Zuma for the work she did in her community to preserve the Khoisan culture.
“Experts believe Nuu could be the oldest language on the planet. It is a South African heritage on the brink of extinction, and should earnestly be preserved for future generations,” said Van Wyk.
Calling for support, he added there are talks of Mandarin being introduced at schools, yet little attention is given to the indigenous Khoisan language.
Ouma Griet will be buried tomorrow in Rosedale.
nicolette.dirk@inl.co.za