Reference code
ZA UCT BC1143
Title
EOJ Westphal Papers
Date(s)
- 1953-1980 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
9 archival boxes of textual material; 3 trays of vocabulary index cards; 7 trays of tapes of sound recordings and a few additional tapes
Name of creator
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
After Prof. Westphal's death in 1990, Mr D Gowlett, also of the African Languages Department, collected up the papers of Professor Westphal that remained there, and with Mrs Westphal’s permission donated them to UCT Libraries.
Scope and content
An incomplete set of Professor Westphal’s papers. It is a collection of lexical and grammatical evidence for the classification of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa.
Professor Westphal’s conference papers and notes; as well as previously published material, explore factors which affected the historic migration lines of Bantu and Bushmen peoples in Southern Africa; inter-tribal relationships; and resulting influences on language. Professor Westphal and others spent many hours interviewing “Bushmen”, in various parts of Southern Africa; recording their languages on tape recorders, and in writing, during several research trips from 1953-1971. The writings have been used to form a card index dictionary, which was originally built up in the field, starting in 1953.
‘The index has not been updated from the tapes recordings I have subsequently made”. The collection deals with around 15 different Bushmen languages, but there is most material on the !xu language. Professor Westphal noted “the lexical evidence upon which my grouping of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa based has never been published.” Professor Westphal’s order has been retained in the sorting of these papers.
Professor Westphal’s conference papers and notes; as well as previously published material, explore factors which affected the historic migration lines of Bantu and Bushmen peoples in Southern Africa; inter-tribal relationships; and resulting influences on language. Professor Westphal and others spent many hours interviewing “Bushmen”, in various parts of Southern Africa; recording their languages on tape recorders, and in writing, during several research trips from 1953-1971. The writings have been used to form a card index dictionary, which was originally built up in the field, starting in 1953.
‘The index has not been updated from the tapes recordings I have subsequently made”. The collection deals with around 15 different Bushmen languages, but there is most material on the !xu language. Professor Westphal noted “the lexical evidence upon which my grouping of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa based has never been published.” Professor Westphal’s order has been retained in the sorting of these papers.
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions governing access
No restrictions apply
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
The collection comprising both the manuscripts and the sound recordings has been fully digitised and is accessible on-line in UCT Libraries' Digital Collections website. The digital files may browsed, searched and accessed at http://www.digitalcollections.lib.uct.ac.za/ernst-westphal-san-languages
Related units of description
Alternative identifier(s)
Place access points
Name access points
- Heikkinen, Terttu, 1934-1988 (Subject)
Genre access points
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
2013
Language(s)
- English