Njerep: An African Language on the Edge of Extinction

In the vast linguistic landscape of Africa, where thousands of languages have thrived for centuries, some are now reduced to mere whispers—languages that represented cultures and people. Among them is Njerep, a language now so rare that it teeters on the brink of extinction.

Njerep is a Mambiloid language in the Niger-Congo language family. It was traditionally spoken by a small group of people in the Somié village in Cameroon, near the border with Nigeria. It was one of the languages of the Mambila people, an ethnic group that primarily speaks Mambila but historically had linguistic diversity within their communities.

Unlike widely spoken African languages such as Swahili, Yoruba, or Hausa, Njerep never had a large speaker base. It existed as a minority tongue even within its own community, gradually giving way to dominant languages. Over time, as younger generations favored more widely spoken languages for economic and social reasons, Njerep slowly faded from everyday life.

By the early 21st century, Njerep had only a handful of speakers left—most of them elderly. Researchers who studied the language in the 2000s found that even among the remaining speakers, fluency had deteriorated. It is believed that, as of 2018, there are only four native Njerep speakers left.

The language was considered related to the Kasabe language, which went extinct when its last speaker (a man named Bogon) died in 1995.

Several factors contributed to Njerep’s decline:

1. Language Shift – The younger generations shifted to languages that provided greater economic and social opportunities, particularly French and Fulfulde.
2. Lack of Institutional Support – Unlike national or regional languages, Njerep had no official status, educational resources, or written tradition.
3. Small Speaker Population – Even at its peak, Njerep was spoken by very few people, making it vulnerable to extinction.
4. Lack of Preservation – Though efforts to record the language started in 2000, by then there were already very few speakers left.

Linguists and anthropologists have attempted to document Njerep before it disappears completely. Even though it is no longer actively spoken, preserving its vocabulary, grammar, and cultural context is crucial. Each language holds unique knowledge about the worldview, traditions, and history of the people who spoke it. The loss of Njerep is not just the loss of words, but also a loss of cultural identity.

One available resource is the 2001 academic article from Connell and Zeitlyn, titled “Njerep: a postcard from the edge.” The PDF is available for a free download from the linked site. The article includes a fascinating look at how words in Njerep compare with other closely related languages.

While it may be too late to revive Njerep as a spoken language, efforts to record and analyze its linguistic features can still be valuable. Language preservation initiatives, digital archives, and academic research can ensure that Njerep is remembered, even if it is no longer spoken in daily life.

The fate of Njerep serves as a poignant reminder of the fragile nature of linguistic diversity. As globalization and modernization continue to reshape societies, countless other minority languages face similar threats. The story of Njerep is a call to action to preserve the voices of endangered languages before they are silenced forever.