World’s Most Endangered Language Has Only One Speaker Left!

What would you do if you held a world record? You would feel amazing right? But, what if you were the only person left that speaks the most endangered language ever? Well, for one woman, this is reality.

An entire language teeters on the brink of extinction, with just one person left alive who can still speak it. Is it too late to save this fragile piece of cultural heritage before it disappears forever?

World’s Most Endangered Language

N|uu, pronounced with a click between the ‘N’ and ‘uu’, is the world’s most endangered language. It has only one fluent speaker remaining: Ouma Katrina Esau.

N|uu is a click language originating from the San people, specifically the ǂKhomani group, who are indigenous hunter-gatherers from the southern Kalahari region, now part of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

History Behind the Language

N|uu has little historical documentation due to its oral tradition and suppression by the British Empire during colonization in the 19th century, leading many to avoid speaking it publicly. In the 1990s, efforts by Dr. Nigel Crawhall and the United Nations aimed to revive the language, with 25 people initially claiming fluency. By December 2021, only Ouma Katrina Esau remained a fluent speaker.

What Do Experts Have to Say?

African Tongue is a linguistic consultancy that works with contemporary speakers of endangered Ju, Tuu, and Khoe languages in southern Africa to create educational resources. Dr. Kerry Jones, the organization’s director, noted that the 1990s marked a significant turning point, as people began to feel safer speaking their languages publicly.

Elderly folks began to reclaim their identity in the 1990s, stating, “I’m not ‘colored’, I’m San,” using their language as proof. Historically, these communities moved freely across South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, but colonial changes imposed restrictions on borders and identification requirements.

This marked the beginning of the decline of the community, as it led to the separation of families and individuals.

Can We Revive the Language?

To revive N|uu, Ouma Katrina Esau has been teaching her granddaughter and collaborating with Dr. Kerry Jones to create a digital dictionary. For the first time in decades, Esau has also been visiting local schools to teach the language to children. Her granddaughter, Claudia, speaks N|uu as a second language and is literate, while Ouma Katrina is not, making their partnership effective for preservation efforts.

What do you think? Will the most endangered language in the world be saved and revived soon?

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