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Gender Construction and Stereotyping in Zanzibar Kiswahili Naming System: a Case Study of Zanzibar Swahili Community

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Gender Construction and Stereotyping in Zanzibar Kiswahili Naming System: a Case Study of Zanzibar Swahili Community The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz Humanities Master Dissertations 2015 Gender construction and stereotyping in Zanzibar kiswahili naming system: a case study of Zanzibar swahili community Hamad, Said Makame The University of Dodoma Hamad, S. M. (2015). Gender construction and stereotyping in Zanzibar kiswahili naming system: A case study of Zanzibar swahili community. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/709 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. GENDER CONSTRUCTION AND STEREOTYPING IN ZANZIBAR KISWAHILI NAMING SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY OF ZANZIBAR SWAHILI COMMUNITY By Said Makame Hamad A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics of the University of Dodoma The University of Dodoma October, 2015 CERTIFICATION The undersigned certifies that she has read and hereby recommends for acceptance by the University of Dodoma a dissertation entitled Gender Construction and Stereotyping in Zanzibar Kiswahili Naming System: A Case Study of Zanzibar Swahili Community in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistics of the University of Dodoma. Signature ………………….. Dr. R. Y. Sebonde Supervisor Date ………………… i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT I, Said Makame Hamad declare that this thesis is my own original work and that it has not been presented and will not be presented to any other University for similar or other degree award. Signature ………………….. No part of this thesis may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author or the University of Dodoma. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am highly indebted to the Almighty God for the better health and exposure to education opportunities. Without His love and blessings the completion of this task would not have been possible. A number of thanks are conveyed to several people who in one way or another made this work a success and their contributions are highly appreciated and acknowledged. In particular, I would like to extend my special thanks to Dr. Rafiki Y. Sebonde whose valuable heartfelt guidance, advice and suggestions, critical evaluation and comments, tolerance and immense inputs from the beginning of this work enabled me to strengthen my understanding in the area of the study and to build up my competence in research issues. I have to admit that without her support, this work would not have appeared the way it is now. I owe great debt of gratitude to my lovely mother and father, the late Mr. Makame who strictly took after my care during childhood and schooling process from standard one up to higher levels of achievement. I am truly gratified to my lovely wife and children for their undoubted confidence in me. Their frequent prayers, their comfort, their tender words, hilarious jokes, encouragement and tolerance are of great value and cannot be forgotten. My last thanks go to all my colleagues for their constructive criticism, advice, suggestions and inputs during the preparation of this work. Indeed, their support was utilized in a constructive way in preparing this work. iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my beloved father, the late Mzee Makame and mother who paid for my school fees and other expenses. This dissertation would not have been successful if it had not been supported by my older son, Salim, who supported me in my master journey. iv ABSTRACT This study is about gender construction and stereotyping in Zanzibar Kiswahili naming system. The study aimed at investigating the nature of naming system and how the community constructs and stereotypes gender through naming system in Zanzibar. The study was guided by three specific objectives which were to examine the nature of Zanzibar Swahili naming system, to investigate how the community constructs gender through naming system and to investigate how the community fosters gender stereotyping through naming system in Zanzibar Swahili community. This study was guided by the onomastic theory which deals with anthroponymy concerned with human names including personal names, surnames and sobriquet. The research used a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches in the collection and analysis of data. The instruments of data collection were questionnaires and interviews. The study revealed that Kiswahili naming system as one of the cultural social roles has direct relationship with gender in that there are specific personal names commonly used only for males and other personal names commonly used only for females. The study also revealed that there is direct relationship between naming system and gender construction because naming system in Kiswahili constructs personal names with language specific affixes that identify the gender of the bearer. Furthermore, the findings exposed that Zanzibar Swahili community fosters gender stereotyping through Kiswahili naming system by the common uses of personal names that indicate strength, perfectness and wisdom for males only while for females, personal names show poverty, weakness, cowardness, less wisdom and beauty. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATION .................................................................................................................... i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT .................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................ iv ABSTRACT ..............................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................x CHAPTER ONE .....................................................................................................................1 1.0 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background to the Problem .................................................................................................1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................2 1.3 Research Objectives ............................................................................................................4 1.3.1 General Objective ............................................................................................... 4 1.3.2 Specific Objectives ............................................................................................. 4 1.3.3 Research Questions ............................................................................................. 4 1.4 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................................5 1.5 Scope of the Study ..............................................................................................................5 1.6 Chapter Conclusion .............................................................................................................6 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .7 2.0 Introduction .........................................................................................................................7 2.1 Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................................7 2.2 Literature Review ..............................................................................................................11 2.2.1 Names and Naming System ...........................................................................................11 2.2.2 Naming System and Gender ............................................................................. 18 2.2.3 Naming System and Gender Construction ........................................................ 19 2.2.4 Naming System and Gender Stereotyping ........................................................ 24 2.3 The Research Gap .............................................................................................................27 2.4 Chapter Conclusion ...........................................................................................................27 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................28 3.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................28 3.1 Research Design ................................................................................................................28 vi 3.2 Area of the Study and Population .....................................................................................28 3.3 Sample Size and Sampling Techniques ............................................................................31 3.4 Techniques for Data Collection ........................................................................................32
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