Language Maintenance and Shift in Ethiopia: the Case of Maale
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LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AND SHIFT IN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF MAALE by JACOBUS GERTHARDUS VAN ASWEGEN submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS WITH SPECIALISATION IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF L A BARNES JUNE 2008 Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge my supervisor, Professor L. A. Barnes, for his insightful suggestions, and his patience and encouragement, which made this research possible. I am also indebted to my wife, Janet, and my four sons, Jonathan, Ruben, Darius and Matthew, for their patience with the many hours spent in my study, as well as The Word for the World Bible Translators and the Kale Heywet Church of Ethiopia, for their assistance on the Maale Bible translation and mother-tongue literacy projects, which inspired this study. I also wish to acknowledge the support of family, friends and churches, which has enabled me to work among the Maale people. ii Abstract The focus of this study is on language maintenance and shift in Maale, a minority language spoken in Ethiopia. The main aims of the study are to give an account of the underlying social factors that have contributed to language maintenance in the Maale speech community, and to investigate whether the mother-tongue literacy programme in the Maale region is going to facilitate language maintenance or contribute to language shift. The findings suggest that regional nationalism, which corresponds to ethnic nationalism in Paulston’s theory of social mobilisation, is the reason why the Maale language has been maintained as a viable language in spite of centuries of political repression. The findings also indicate that the mother-tongue literacy programme currently contributes to language maintenance but it is a stepping stone to further education, which favours the learning of a second language, which could lead to possible attrition of the mother tongue. Key words: Amharic, Amhararization, bilingualism, Ethiopia, language maintenance, language shift, Maale, Maale nationalism, mother-tongue literacy, Omotic, theory of social mobilisation iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.1.1 The Maale people 1 1.1.2 The Maale language 5 Figure 1.1 Language map of Maale and its neighbouring languages 6 1.1.3 Previous studies on the Maale language and society 7 1.2 The problem 7 1.3 The Aim 8 1.4 Hypothesis 9 1.5 Context of the research problem 9 1.5.1 Historical context 9 1.5.1.1 Introduction 9 1.5.1.2 Amhararization 12 1.5.1.3 Incorporation of Maale into the Ethiopian Empire 13 1.5.1.4 The weakening of the authority of the Maale king and lords 14 1.5.1.5 The Italian occupation (1935-41) 15 1.5.1.6 Post-Italian and Pre-revolution period (1941-1974) 16 1.5.1.7 Revolution 1974 19 1.5.1.8 Post-Derg Period 22 1.5.2 Linguistic background 23 1.5.2.1 Languages in Ethiopia 23 Figure 1.2 Language map of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti 24 1.5.2.2 Language policy of Ethiopia 24 1.6 Structure of the dissertation 27 iv CHAPTER 2 THEORIES OF LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE AND SHIFT 2.0 Introduction 29 2.1 Theories, models and methods in the study of language maintenance and shift 31 2.1.1 Ethnolinguistic vitality 31 2.1.2 Theory of intergroup relations 32 2.1.3 Speech accommodation 33 2.1.4 Subjective or perceived vitality 33 2.1.5 Language ecology approach 34 2.1.6 Model of additive and subtractive bilingual development 37 2.1.7 Social mobilisation (Paulston) 38 2.1.7.1 The origin of the contact situation 38 2.1.7.2 Social factors in language shift 39 2.1.7.3 Social factors in language maintenance 39 2.1.7.4 Types of social mobilisation 40 2.1.8 Social network theory 44 2.1.9 Social reproduction theory 45 2.2 Overview and evaluation of theories 46 2.2.1 Theories overlap and relate to one another 46 2.2.2 An integration or extension of theories 47 2.2.3 Static vs. dynamic 48 2.2.4 Concluding remarks 48 2.3 Theoretical underpinnings of the study 49 Figure 2.1 Linguistic consequences of social mobilisation in multilingual settings (Paulston 1994:110) 49 2.4 Conclusion 52 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction 53 3.1 Background of the research 53 3.1.1 Working with the Word of Life Church (Kale Heywet Church) 53 v 3.1.2 Participant and observer 54 3.2 Reasons for qualitative research 55 3.3 Informants 55 3.4 Materials 57 3.5 Procedures 59 3.6 Data analysis 60 3.7 Conclusion 60 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS 4.0 Introduction 61 4.1 Factors underlying language maintenance in Maale 61 4.1.1 Broader social factors 62 4.1.1.1 Maale nationalism 62 4.1.1.2 Political organisation 64 4.1.1.3 Resisting Amhararization 69 4.1.1.4 Immigration, emigration and migration 71 4.1.1.5 Economic and developmental factors 74 4.1.1.6 Religion 78 4.1.2 Attitudes 81 4.1.2.1 Cultural superiority 81 4.1.2.2 Linguistic pride 82 4.1.3 Networks 84 4.1.3.1 Working together 85 4.1.3.2 Sport / playing together 87 4.1.3.3 Relationships with other ethnic groups 87 4.1.4 Mother-tongue literacy 89 4.1.4.1 Infrastructure of the mother-tongue literacy programme 89 4.1.4.2 Statistical data 90 Figure 4.1 Statistical data on literacy centres (2001-2007) 91 4.1.4.3 Educational background in Maale 93 4.1.4.4 The impact of the literacy programme on health-care and evangelization 95 4.1.4.5 Changing attitudes 97 vi 4.2 Conclusion 101 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 5.0 Introduction 103 5.1 Summary of the theoretical framework 103 5.2 Analysis and discussion of findings 105 5.2.1 Introduction 105 5.2.2 Social factors underlying language maintenance 107 5.2.2.1 Maale nationalism 107 5.2.2.2 Social factors that do not fit into Paulston’s (1994) theoretical framework 112 5.2.2.3 Other factors that influence language maintenance and shift in Maale 116 5.2.2.4 Concluding remarks 118 5.2.3 Mother-tongue literacy and language shift 118 5.2.3.1 The Maale evangelical Church and the mother-tongue literacy programme 118 5.2.3.2 Growth of mother-tongue literacy amongst the Maale people 119 5.2.3.3 Mother-tongue literacy and learning L2 120 5.2.3.4 Mother-tongue literacy and language revival 122 5.2.3.5 Concluding remarks 123 5.2.4 Conclusion 124 5.3 Contribution of dissertation 126 5.4 Limitations of the study 126 5.5 Suggestions for further research 127 5.6 Implications of the study 127 5.7 Final conclusion 128 BIBLIOGRAPHY 129 ADDENDUM 138 vii CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 1.0 Introduction In this chapter two questions are introduced, namely: what are the social factors that have contributed thus far to language maintenance in the Maale speech community; and will mother-tongue literacy in Maale lead to language shift? A further purpose of this chapter is to provide a context for the subject under investigation, that is, language maintenance and shift in the Maale community in Ethiopia. One cannot hope to fully understand language maintenance and shift in Maale without understanding the socio-cultural, historical and linguistic context of wider Ethiopia, of which the Maale people and their language are a part. This socio-cultural, historical and linguistic background information forms the context within which the questions can be legitimately analysed and interpreted. 1.1 Background 1.1.1 The Maale people The Maale region of Ethiopia consists of lowlands and highlands. The highland areas are used for cultivation and herds of cattle are kept in the lowlands. The Maale are internally divided into over 30 clans and each clan branches into different lineages (Amha 2000). The size of the group is approximately 63 000.1 Traditionally the Maale were ruled by a ‘divine’ king and 13 godas or lords. Each lord presided over his own chiefdom and below each lord were sub-lords or gatta. A very important aspect of the Maale economy was the belief that the king, lords, lineage elders, husbands and older brothers had the power to bless and curse. It was therefore very important for the Maale to pay tribute to rulers, such as the king, and lords to ensure fruitfulness and prosperity and also to defeat the power of their enemies (Donham 1990:135). 1 This figure is taken from the unpublished census by the regional government in Jinka 2005. 1 According to the Maale people, the kingship in Maale came into being when people learned how to control fire and cook food. A king lived to the east around Dawro and he had five sons, and when he died, all five wanted to be king and fought each other. The elders could not understand the fighting between them and asked them why they were fighting each other. They answered, “We all want to be king, how can only one of us be king?” The elders then decided that all five should take part in the inauguration ceremony for the new king. However, only the eldest brother decided to remain and he became the king of Dawro.