Nama is a Khoisan language whose subclassification is widely contested; Greenberg lists it as Central South African Khoisan; Westphal considers it Khoikhoi. Nama is spoken from the Kaukau Veld in northern southwestern Africa (Namibia) to Cape Province in South Africa.
UBS (1982) notes 98,000 speakers of Nama and Grimes (1996) estimates 146,500. Haacke, citing the 1981 census reports, gives 48,539 Nama along with 76,169 Domara speakers in Namibia.
Nama is a regional language. It is currently being introduced as a university subject at The Academy (Windhoek).
An authorized orthography for Nama exists.
It is not clear how many sets of learning materials would be required for Nama.
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