In the margins of Upington, a small region in the Northern Cape of South Africa, resides queen Katrina Esau, a woman approaching 100 years of age, is one of the last remaining members of the Western Nǁnǂe (ǂKhomani) San community.

The language of her heritage, the the San language N|uu, has waned to near extinction, owing to several factors, one of which is the changing natural landscape, that is, from fertile, to dry and arid. In addition to this, the ǂKhomani, the last community of people to speak the language, was evicted in the early 20th century, during the creation of a national park. At this time, the ǂKhomani people also sustained new processes, such as socialization into the world of Afrikaans.

As is the case with !Xun (Namibia), ǂAmkoe, and Taa (Botswana), N|uu appears to be a final language juncture to the earliest humans, that is, hunter gatherers of southern and eastern Africa. Approximately, Amkoe has 1,000 speakers remaning; Taa has 3,000 speakers remaining, and !Xun has a maximum of 18,000 speakers.

The N|uu makes meaningful distinction between an 45 clicks. The bar in “N|uu” represents a dental click consonant, articulated with the tongue tip sucking quickly away from the upper teeth. A century ago, at least 100 indigenous click languages were likely spoken in the southern and eastern regions of Africa. 

In the early 2000s, Esau began teaching the language to her community from a schoolroom in her yard in Rosedale, a township near Upington, through song, dance, and play. In recent years, linguists have helped create an orthography and educational materials for N|uu, in addition to the efforts of Claudia Snyman, the graddaughter of Esau.

On 1 April, the ratifying of the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act facilitated the expression of voice by San and Khoikhoi representatives in South Africa’s National and Provincial Houses of Traditional Leaders.