Yeyi New Testament — Mayi nga Maqa nga Mareko (YEYBSB)

Overview

The Yeyi New Testament, titled Mayi nga Maqa nga Mareko, is a translation of Scripture portions into Shiyeyi (Yeyi), an endangered Khoisan-influenced Bantu language spoken along the Okavango River in Botswana and Namibia. The translation was produced under the Wayeyi Bible Translation Project — a project of the Bible Society of Botswana. A selection of New Testament verses titled Ni Totuzane Sha Mayi Nganii ("Comfort One Another With These Words") was published in 2017 as an early Scripture portion. [1] The YEYBSB edition represents the ongoing BSB effort to provide audio and text Scripture in the Yeyi language.

Language and People

Yeyi (ISO 639-3: yey), also known as Shiyeyi or Wayeyi, is spoken by approximately 55,000 people (2001 estimate) along the Okavango River, primarily in the Ngamiland and Chobe districts of Botswana, and in the Caprivi Strip of northeastern Namibia. [2] The language is notable for having click consonants borrowed from neighboring Khoisan languages, making it typologically unusual among Bantu languages. Despite the size of the speaker community, Yeyi faces significant endangerment: in Botswana particularly, a majority of Yeyi people have shifted toward Tswana as their primary language, and younger generations increasingly adopt regional languages over Shiyeyi.

Translation and Publisher

The Bible Society of Botswana initiated the Wayeyi Bible Translation Project to address the lack of any Scripture in Shiyeyi. Translation work began around 2013. The project has received support from the Global Recordings Network, which has produced audio evangelism materials in the language alongside the Bible Society's text translation efforts.

References