FROM DIALECT TO ‘OFFICIAL’ LANGUAGE: TOWARDS THE INTELLECTUALISATION OF NDAU IN ZIMBABWE A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RHODES UNIVERSITY EMMANUEL SITHOLE (614S0005) JANUARY 2017 SUPERVISORS: PROF DION NKOMO MS BULELWA NOSILELA Abstract Ndau’s 82-year-old status as a dialect of Shona was legally transformed into an officially recognised language following the adoption of the current Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013). Pursuant to this constitutional recognition, the language must officially function in high order domains such as government, education, media, judiciary, and technology among others in tandem with its new official and powerful status. However, this is not theoretically and pragmatically possible in view of the daunting internal and external challenges it confronts. To mitigate negative effects derailing Ndau’s use in the indicated domains, this study’s main purpose is therefore to devise innovative success strategies involving status, corpus, acquisition and opportunity planning. Such factors are instrumental in promoting the intellectualisation of Ndau across all domains in society. As a study that was informed and guided by Mwaniki’s (2004) Language Management Approach and Kaplan and Baldaufs (1997) five steps for successful implementation of language policies in education, a consultative qualitative research was carried out. It involved the political leadership, civil society, government officials, mother-tongue speakers and other stakeholders where data from questionnaires, semi-structured face-to-face interviews, lexicostatistics wordlists, observations and documentary sources were triangulated. Data gathered covered linguistic variation between Ndau and Shona; geographical variation among Ndau varieties and linguistic change in Ndau, speaker attitudes as well as intervention strategies required to revalorize Ndau. The data were interpreted and analysed through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), content analysis and thematic analysis approaches. Against Ndau’s marginalised background in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, the study proposes interventionist mechanisms and strategies for corpus, acquisition planning, opportunity planning and status planning. Corpus planning activities such as orthography, lexicography, terminology, standard grammar, translation, textbooks, newspaper and creative literature development work are examined to assist in solving existing technical deficits in Ndau. These corpus intervention strategies are summarized in the Ndau corpus planning model that is proposed. Against the finding that there is widespread antipathy against Ndau, innovative awareness campaigns and advocacy and promotional measures like tangible or intangible incentives are suggested. In addition, a hierarchical implementation structure is proposed to monitor and coordinate the implementation of Ndau by removing technical, structural and infrastructural bottlenecks. Lastly, the importance of realigning, reforming and harmonizing existing policies in key domains such as the education sector and the media in line with Article 6 of the Constitution is underscored. It is accordingly proposed a policy that promotes and entrenches the use of Ndau and other languages in education and other domains be crafted. To lead and guide opinion on such a debate an Inclusive Multilingual Language-in-Education Model (IMEM) is proposed. In view of the foregoing, it is hoped that the study could be taken as a foundation for the intellectualisation of Ndau in Zimbabwe. It is recommended that corpus, acquisition and opportunity planning should be prioritized. This implies that there is need for: materials development; policy reform in the media and education; staff development training; provision of incentives; funding; and the establishment a language management center to support the implementation and acquisition of Ndau. This would resonate with the expectations of the i Constitution and the new curriculum in education. Lastly, it is also recommended that future studies on Ndau could focus on technical linguistic aspects such as grammar, phonology, terminology and lexicography to expedite plans to develop and intellectualise Ndau in Zimbabwe. However, the prolonged dire economic crisis gripping the country present a hazardous environment for language development and intellectualisation such that a vast majority of the present study’s proposals and recommendations are intended to be futuristic, visionary and long­ term measures. ii Muguriro ChiNdau chakaqaya chiri nthai inthani yeChiShona kwemwaka inogume makumi masere nemairi (82 years). Nthai iyi yakaphazurwa kuita mureketero wakazviemera wega ngebumbiro remuthetho wenyika wa2013 (Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013). Kuphazurwa uku kunoronze kuti ChiNdau chinosise kuzviemera chega semureketero une shwiro kuti unoreketwa nekusevenza muchikora, muhurumende, mumithetho, mubandhla rephalamende kudhibanisa nedzimweni ndawu. Kunyazwi hakwo ChiNdau chakahlonipwa ngemuthetho, ibaari diko remene kuti pachiri nemagwiti akakonza maningi kuti chisevenze zvakaseja mundawu dzabhuyiwa. Ndaa yakhona ngeyekuti achisati chanasa kubharwa nekuqhaswa zvakati njosoo. Chibharwa chinechi chakakhaimwa nekuqondedzwa ngemazano nemiqabango yakabva kuna Mwaniki (2004) naKaplan naBaldauf (1997) vaiqasa manthantho anoteedzerwa kuti mitauro ibharwe nekusebenziswa muchikora, mumizi, mumakanyi nemuntharaunda, nendawu dzinthani dzinohlonipika. Mazano nenqgondo dzakakwashwa kubva kune vabereki, vana vechikora, vaemeri vekundhla dzekudetsera vanthu, vezvematongere endawu nevanongena mubandhla rephalamende akadhibaniswa pamwepo. Mazano evabereki nevana vechikora akazohloyiwa zvakagwinya kwechishandiswa muqabango wakati mphoryoo wekututshira (Statistical Package for Social Sciences), kwechizotiwo mazano akabozwa kuvaemeri vekundhla dzakasiyana siyana akadhibaniswa pamwepo ozotororoswa zvemenemene nekuiswa muzvituka zvituka zvahambirana nezvaironzwa (content and thematic analyses). Izvi zvakadetshera kuti mibvunzo yaibvunzwa ngendaa yeukama hweChiNdau neChiShona, ukama hwenthai dzakasiyana dzeChiNdau, mazano ekubhara nekuphahlangura ChiNdau nezvinthani zvakawandawanda dzipingurike zvinogutsha. Mukuzama kuti mutauro uwu ubharwe pakabudiswa bumbiro remabharirwe akanaka, mifungo yekunyorwa kwemabhuku emuchikora, matandara emazwi, mathwaranthau nemagadziramazwi. Izvi zvakaoneka sezvaisundira kubharwa nekusevenzeswa kwechiNdau ngemwazvo mundawu dzakasiyana siyana. Pakatsvakwazve njira dzekuti kune vaNdau vozonda mureketero vazwe kusunthurika nekudakarira kureketa ndicho pamikuwo nendawu dzese. Ngekudaro kwakasvuzwe njira dzakangwizira dzekuparadzira, kuirikidza nekuumba maonero akanaka anoitwa mutauro uyu. Njira idzi dzaidhibanisa kuchhumaera, kuhina mukana kuvana vezvikora wekufunda mahala, kuhina vabereki mithuso yekukona mutauro nekuisa mishando inoda vanthu vakaphasa ChiNdau muchikora. Shwiro yekuti kuve nekundhla inoningirana nekubharwa nekusevenzeswa kwakanaka kweChiNdau kwakaonekwa. Kudhla iyi yakazwi ndiyo ingazoruka mazano ekuti vanthu vasahlupheka kushandisa mutauro mundawu dzakasiyana siyana. Pakupeisira kwakazokhungwa kundhla dzakasiyana siyana kuti dzibatane nyara kuumba nekuaka ChiNdau kuti chipunde semutauro dzinthani muZimbabwe. Zvakaronzwa nekukukhungwa zvaiti: zvibharwa ngazviwande; mithetho yemuchikora nemunthauranda idzikwe; vasevenzi vafundiswe; zvekushandisa kudai ngemare nezvintani zvibekwepo nekundhla yekuningira ngezveChiNdau ivepo. Kuteedzerwa kwemazano nenjira dziri muchibharwa chinechi kungadetsera kuti mutauro uwu ushandiswe mundawu dzakakosha muZimbabwe kuzwazwi hazvo zvimweni zvibharwa zvinodiwa mumatai nekundhla dzakawandawanda. iii Dedication I dedicate this study to “Her” who acted as “him” when “him” was not always there with “Her” iv Acknowledgements As I traversed through the often murky academic waters, I found excellent intellectual guidance and exhortation from scores of people within the Rhodes University environment and beyond. First and foremost, I could not have attained this feat without the critical nudging and insights from my supervisors, Prof. Dion Nkomo and Ms. Bulelwa Nosilela; for their immense input in this study, I am eternally indebted. Secondly, my sponsor the National Research Foundation SARChI chaired by Prof. Russell Kaschula at Rhodes University deserves especial mention; without the monthly stipends, obviously the going could have been deleterious. For this, the Prof. Kaschula personally deserves special appreciation for ensuring that most of my financial needs were adequately taken care of. Equally outstanding was Prof. Pamela Maseko’s moral and intellectual support throughout my eternity at Rhodes. Thirdly, I am humbled by the support that I got from my family. The following deserve my special words of gratitude: my father Sir Ronny Mashapa Sithole - for asking me the “2-less-1” question; my mother Mrs Joyce Makwarakwashe-Sithole - for the 9 months-and-beyond protective care; my uncle Mr Clifford Mashapa - for walking me to school one day; my paternal grandmother Mbuya Gogomudikani Mashapa - for the “One-day-Lakayami-found-a-big-worm-near-his-house story”; and my maternal grandmother Mbuya Mothase Madhuku - for graciously putting up with my stubborn infantile tricks when I was barely a toddler. For inducting and traversing with me through this maze of exciting but formulae-less; interesting but demanding; unpredictable though funny networks of life; I salute you all. It was the bumpiest of roads