Seroa, or ǃUi, is a ǃKwi language or dialect of South Africa that went extinct in the 19th century. It was spoken in the area of Bloemfontein. Seroa is the Sesotho name, literally "language of the Baroa (Bushmen)"; the people called themselves ǃUi (that is, ǃKwi), which just means 'people'. The language is labeled SIId in Dorothea Bleek's classification.

Seroa
ǃUi
RegionSouth Africa
ExtinctThe last speaker died in the 1870s (Traill 2002)[1]
Tuu
  • ǃKwi
    • Eastern
      • Seroa
Language codes
ISO 639-3kqu
Glottologsero1239

Doculects edit

Güldemann (2019) lists the following doculects.[2]

Label Researcher Date Origin Notes
ǃUi Wuras > 1836 Bethany Bleek label SIId.
ǃUi Arbousset 1836 Mokhasi/Puchane Bleek label SIId.

Seroa was closely related to ǁŨǁʼe and Boshof ǃUi, but analysis of the recorded data has not been enough to determine the boundary between language and dialect.

References edit

  1. ^ Seroa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)  
  2. ^ Tom Güldemann. 2019. Toward a subclassification of the ǃUi branch of Tuu. Paper presented at Afrikalinguistisches Forschungskolloquium at Humboldt Universiät zu Berlin, 8 January 2019. 10pp.