Hunting terminology in ǂHoan
This article forms part of the Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on the subject of Khoisan Languages and Linguistics held on July 11–13, 2011 at Riezlern/Kleinwalsertal. This paper describes the ǂHoan linguistic forms used while hunting, and for talking about hunting. Spoken language is avoided during hunting, but a set of conventionalised gestures is used. Thus, both oral and manual lexical forms are presented here. In addition to providing new data on ǂHoan, the authors hope to show how the use of a Kalahari-specific lexical elicitation guide can be an important aid in short-term fieldwork. Due to constraints of space and time, this paper does not discuss vocabulary related to plants and the gathering of plant and animal foods; the distinction between hunting and gathering implied here is an artificial one.
