Namibian English (NamE) is frequently referred to as an offspring of (White) South African English (SAfrE), although more recently researchers have tried to describe it as a variety in its own right. In particular, Kautzsch and Schröder (2016) describe several phonetic features seemingly specific to NamE and unattested in other (South) African Englishes. This paper takes up some of their findings and provides further evidence for Namibian-specific realisations of vowels by investigating a supposedly NamE-specific nurse–work split and comparing realisations of the trap–dress merger attested in some varieties of SAfrE. The paper supports the claim that NamE should be considered a variety in its own right, further demonstrating that it should not be seen as a monolithic whole.

This chapter presents a close analysis of the Namibian linguistic ecology and the role of Namibian English (NamE) in the multilingual make-up of the country. This includes the discussion of the status of English in comparison to Afrikaans, the country’s primary lingua franca, and to minority languages, such as German, as well as majority languages, such as Oshiwambo. Taking up and elaborating on observations on Namibian-specific phonetic realizations of vowels, identifying linguistic identity constructions, ethnolinguistic variation and discussing in detail the (historical) relationship between South Africa (as an epicentre) and Namibia, it shows that NamE cannot be seen as a monolithic whole but should rather be considered a bundle of local sub-varieties. The chapter further discusses the applicability of the EIF Model to the Namibian case and makes some suggestions on how to include additional extra-territorial forces, discussions of heterogeneity, norm development as well as a different approach to developmental stages in model making.

Studies on the pronunciation of Namibian English (NamE) have shown strong evidence for ethnically conditioned variation within the NamE vowel system. Thus, NamE should not be seen as a monolithic entity but rather as a group of ethnically and/or socially conditioned varieties. In this paper, we undertake a first approach to Baster English, a potential ethnic variety of NamE. The Rehoboth Basters constitute a unique ethnically mixed Afrikaans-speaking group from South Africa, who settled in Namibia in the 19th century and are known for their strong sense of a separate local and ethnic identity. Triangulating the results of a quantitative questionnaire on language attitudes and acoustic analyses of vocalic features in informants’ pronunciation, we demonstrate how the Basters’ unique identity translates into linguistic practice in a multi-ethnic and multilingual environment.

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This chapter investigates the viability of YouTube data for the World Englishes research context by introducing a Namibian YouTuber community and presenting challenges and opportunities of this mostly uncharted medium. An acoustic phonetic case study of Namibian English is conducted with a small sample corpus of YouTube data from 2018, in which vowels relevant to the Southern African context (e.g. nurse, kit, dress, trap) of two groups of content creators are analyzed. While researchers face methodological challenges on YouTube during data collection and analysis, the results of the acoustic analyses presented show that the formal and informal speech styles found on YouTube constitute an accessible and rich type of data that can reaffirm and complement findings based on traditional approaches.