THE REVITALISATION of ETHNIC MINORITY LANGUAGES in ZIMBABWE: the CASE of the TONGA LANGUAGE by Submitted in Accordance With
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THE REVITALISATION OF ETHNIC MINORITY LANGUAGES IN ZIMBABWE: THE CASE OF THE TONGA LANGUAGE by ISAAC MUMPANDE Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject SOCIOLINGUISTICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF L. A. BARNES FEBRUARY 2020 DECLARATION Student Number: 61101273 I declare that Revitalisation of ethnic minority languages in Zimbabwe. The case of the Tonga language is my own work. All the sources that have been used and quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. __________________ Isaac Mumpande Date: 03 February 2020 ii ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the revitalisation of Tonga, an endangered minority language in Zimbabwe. It seeks to establish why the Tonga people embarked on the revitalisation of their language, the strategies they used, the challenges they encountered and how they managed them. The Human Needs Theory propounded by Burton (1990) and Yamamoto’s (1998) Nine Factors Language Revitalisation Model formed the theoretical framework within which the data were analysed. This case-study identified various socio-cultural and historical factors that influenced the revitalisation of the Tonga language. Despite the socio-economic and political challenges from both within and outside the Tonga community, the Tonga revitalisation initiative was to a large extent a success, thanks to the speech community’s positive attitude and ownership of the language revitalisation process. It not only restored the use of Tonga in the home domain but also extended the language function into the domains of education, the media, and religion. Keywords Broad-focused language revitalisation models, Language ecology, Language endangerment, Language shift, Language revitalisation, Narrow-focused language revitalisation models, Tonga. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my loving wife Linda Mumpande and our children Maanu, Mumuni and Manguzu for their overwhelming support during the period of the studies. They remained a huge source of inspiration. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my promoter Prof. L.A. Barnes for his unwavering technical and supervisory support throughout the writing of this dissertation. His valuable comments, tolerance, guidance and encouragement strengthened me throughout my studies. I would also like to thank and appreciate Mr. Dawie Malan, the Departmental Librarian who was patient and helpful on all library related issues. I am also indebted to the University of South Africa that granted me two bursaries which enabled me to pursue these studies. I would also like to thank very much the stakeholders and respondents in the field that enabled me gather data for this research. The Binga District Administrators’ office and the Binga District Education Office for allowing me access into the District and the schools. I am indebted to the management of various Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that gave me permission to access and utilise their documents (Basilwizi Trust and Silveira House) and the Binga Roman Catholic Church for allowing me to access documents of the defunct Binga Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (BCCJP). I do not forget the various respondents for their cooperation and resourcefulness throughout the data gathering process, the traditional (Traditional Chiefs) and elected (Councillors) community leaders, church leaders /elders, members of the Tonga Language and Culture Committee (TOLACCO), the Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promotion Association chairpersons (ZILPA), Project Officers for NGOs and civil servants (officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education – district schools Inspectors, school heads and Tonga language teachers). v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BRDC…………….... Binga Rural District Council CCJP………………. Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace CDU………………. Curriculum Development Unit DA/DDC……………. District Administrator /District Development Coordinator DSI………………… District Schools Inspectors EGIDS…………….. Expanded Intergenerational Disruption Scale GIDS………………..Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale HNT………………...Human Needs Theory LHR…………………Linguistic Human Rights MDC………………..Movement for Democratic Change MTM………………. Mother Tongue Medium NGO………………...Non-Governmental Organisation RLS………………….Reversal Language Shift SDC………………….School Development Committee TOLACCO………….Tonga Language and Culture Committee UN………………….. United Nations UNICEF…………….. United Nations Children’s Education Fund UNESCO ……………United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UDLR………………. Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights UZ…………………...University of Zimbabwe ZANU PF……………Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front ZEPH………………. Zambia Education Publishing House ZILPA………………Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promotion Association ZIMSEC……………. Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council ZPH…………………Zimbabwe Publishing House ZTV…………………Zimbabwe Television vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... vii LIST OF MAPS ....................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 .............................................................................................................................. 1 THE BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY .................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.2 The aim of the study ................................................................................................. 3 1.1.3 The Research objectives ........................................................................................... 4 1.1.4 The Research questions............................................................................................. 4 1.1.5 Justification for the study .......................................................................................... 5 1.1.6 Limitations of the study ............................................................................................ 6 1.2 Global perception of minority languages ..................................................................... 6 1.2.1 Definition of ‘minority languages’ ........................................................................... 6 1.2.2 Importance of language as social ‘glue’ in communities .......................................... 9 1.2.3 The United Nations and Minority Languages ......................................................... 10 1.2.3 African governments and minority languages ........................................................ 11 1.3 Zimbabwe’s Linguistic Landscape and Language Policy ............................................. 13 1.3.1 Zimbabwe’s Linguistic Landscape ......................................................................... 13 vii 1.3.2 Controversy over Zimbabwe’s ethnic groups ......................................................... 17 1.3.3 Zimbabwe’s pre-2002 discriminatory language policy .......................................... 19 1.4 The Tonga people in Southern Africa ............................................................................ 22 1.4.1 The Tonga language in the Zambezi Valley ........................................................... 23 1.4.2 The socio-economic history of the Tonga people ................................................... 28 1.5 Overview of the dissertation .......................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 2 ............................................................................................................................ 30 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................... 30 2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 30 2.1 Language Revitalisation and Related Concepts ............................................................. 31 2.1.1 Language Ecology ...................................................................................................... 31 2.1.2 Language Endangerment ........................................................................................ 32 2.1.3 Language Shift and/or Extinction ........................................................................... 34 2.1.4 Language Revitalisation and Language Maintenance ............................................ 34 2.1.5 Language revitalisation as a topic of study ............................................................