Namibian Black German
Namibian Black German, also NBG, is a pidgin language of Namibia that derives from standard German. It is nearly extinct. 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. 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.
Prepositions
English and Afrikaans have left an influence on the development of NBG, leading to three primary prepositional patterns:- 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