Namibian Black German
German-based pidgin of Namibia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Namibian Black German, also NBG, (German: Küchendeutsch, lit. "kitchen German") is a pidgin language of Namibia that derives from standard German.[1] It is nearly extinct.[2] It was spoken mostly by Namibians who did not learn standard German during the German Empire's rule over German South West Africa from 1884 until 1915. It was never a first language. It is currently spoken as a second language by people generally over 50 years old, who today usually also speak Standard or Namibian German, Afrikaans, or English.[3] Along with general learning in the metropolitan environments of Southern Namibia where Namibian German is spoken, NBG may be preserved nominally through parent-to-child or in-house transmission.
History
Colonial acquisition of German in Namibia often took place outside of formal education and was primarily self-taught. Like many pidgin languages, Namibian Black German developed through limited access to the standard language and was restricted to the work environment.
Currently several thousand Namibians speak German as a second language – many, but not most of them Black, and while Namibian German often does not adhere to standard German, it is not pidgin.[4]
Prepositions
English and Afrikaans have left an influence on the development of NBG, leading to three primary prepositional patterns:[5]
- adding a preposition where Standard German would use the accusative
- dropping prepositions which are usually present in Standard German
- changing the preposition that is required by the verb
Examples
Examples of phrases with Standard German equivalents:
- Lange nicht sehen - long no see ("Lange nicht gesehen")
- Was Banane kosten? - How much does the banana cost? ("Was kostet die/eine Banane?")
- spät Uhr - 'late hour', meaning 'it's late' ("es ist spät")
- Herr fahren Jagd, nicht Haus - "Master went hunting and he's not at home" ("Der Herr ist zur Jagd gefahren und ist nicht zu Hause")
