The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town A Critical Analysis of the Linguistic and Educational Challenges facing Border-Straddling Speech Communities, . with Special Reference to the Nyanja-Chewa-Mang'anja Cluster of Southeastern Africa by Agnes Georgina che-Jika Nkhoma-Darch Town Cape of University , A minor dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Education Department of Education University of Cape Town 2003 Declaration: This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in, this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Aft, f) ,~vtiY;>r4-eL-~ b SIGNATURE 30 March 2003 University of Cape Town WRITTEN BY: AGNES NKHOMA·DARCH SUPERVISED BY: MR JAN ESTERHUYSE DUE DATE: MARCH 2002 Contents Abstract v Acknowledgements VI Abbreviations and Acronyms Vlll 1. The statement of the problem I The core question 1 Border Straddling Speech Communities: clarifying the concept 1 BSSCs and language codification in Africa 6 Concepts of territoriality in Africa 7 BSSCs, education and language 8 2. Towards a typology of the BSSC: some partially and fully codified 10 European languages Introduction 10 The elusive idea of the 'speech community' 11 The European case studies 14 Karelian in decline: a history of war and emigration 15 Irish and Irish English: a patchwork linguistic borderlandTown 19 Flemish in France: gradual elimination of an anomaly 23 3. The case for African exceptionalism: colonial borders and African 28 ethnicity Cape Introduction: border studies in Africa 28 The Bemba-Lamba cluster: splittingof the difference 31 The Kongo speech community: strong on tradition 35 Somali: the five-pointed star 38 4. The NCM cluster: a divided speech community 44 Introduction 44 My childhood experience of linguistic identity 45 The NCM cluster: a divided speech community 47 The origins of the Maravi people 49 Varieties withinUniversity the NCM cluster 51 Chewa in southern Malawi: a language imposed 55 Nyanja in Zambia: the eastern lingua franca 60 Nyanja in Tete and Niassa: belated recognition 63 Nyanja in southwest Tanzania: a peripheral minority 65 The diaspora: the Malawian ulendo in Zimbabwe 66 Conclusion 68 5. Language planning, Education and Publishing for the BSSCs in 72 Africa Status planning and corpus planning for the BSSCs 72 African language death-or linguicide? 74 Mother Tongue Education for African Children 78 Publishing in African Languages 80 New thinking on BSSCs: crisis or opportunity? 82 6. Conclusion: on borders, languages, and political courage 86 The intellectual journey 86 Political borders and their impact 87 African multilingualism as norm 88 Minority languages and their struggle to survive 88 Language, identity and politics 89 Inherited political borders 90 Language survival 92 Orthography and codification 93 Codifying the BSSCs 94 Publishing in African languages 96 Language rights as human rights 97 Recommendations 98 By way of conclusion 99 References 100 List of Maps Karelian BSSC in the Russian Federation and Finland 17 Map of Irish-speaking communities ty of Cape Town 22 Flemish in the Westhoek area of Northerni France 24 Languages of Zambia, showing Bemba and Lamba 32 Map of Angola ers 36 The Somali-speaking area of the Horn of Africa (in colour) 40 The NCM cluster as a BSSC (in colour) 45 The Maravi Empire, 1700-ca.1850 50 Distribution ofNyanja-ChewaUniv speakers in Malawi, 1998 (in colour) 57 Most common language, Malawi 1998 70 Map of Malawi and its neighbours (in colour) 71 Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park (in colour) 85 Abstract The dissertation argues for the adoption of a new socio-linguistic concept, the "Bor­ der-Straddling Speech Community" in place of the more commonly used 'cross-bor­ der' or 'trans-border languages'. The concept is to be understood to refer to socially­ defined speech communities divided by political borders, and implicitly in Africa al­ most always applies to perceived 'minority' languages. Such African languages are partially invisible, disguised or hidden by the arbitrary nature of the colonial borders of African states. The dissertation examines some European and some African exam­ ples of border-straddling speech communities and identifiesTown some of their typical characteristics. The fractured Nyanja-Chewa-Mang'anja speech community of Ma­ lawi, Zambia and Mozambique is examined in detail, in terms of its history and its present educational potential. The languageCape is also spoken in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In this case, the total number of speakers, although spread across five countries, would justify the wider use ofof the language in education if meaningful inter-state co-operation could be achieved. Finally the dissertation discusses the possible application in Africa of an educational policy favouring mother tongue edu­ cation across state borders. The importance of mother tongue education has been rec­ ognised for over a decade, but little has been achieved in terms of implementation. Such a policy wouldUniversity require effective status planning as well as corpus planning. The dissertation refers to such framework discussions as those developed in 1996 between South Africa, Namibia and Botswana as possible models. Keywords: Border-straddling speech communities; Cross-border languages; Trans-border languages; Nyanja language; Chewa language; Mother tongue education - Africa; Language planning - Africa; Publishing - African languages. " ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS lowe intellectual and emotional debts to many people who have supported me in various ways during the time it has taken to complete this dissertation. My most heartfelt thanks go to my supervisor, Mr. Jan Esterhuyse, for his guidance, his wisdom, his patience and his generosity. His commitment to the project and his interest as it progressed have been an invaluable source of support and inspiration. I want to thank my husband, Colin Darch, who helped me to track down a range of sources, to prepare and digitise the maps, and who critically read my text several times. My gratitude also to my older sister, Dr. Alice Nkhoma-Wamunza,Town affectionately known in our family as 'Mama Degree', for all her help, for introducing me to the academic lifestyle, for facilitating contacts with Tanzanian intellectuals and fundis to talk to about Mrican language development in Tanzania, as well as her knowledge of our family traditions as proud Wanyanja from Tanzania. Cape lowe a huge debt of gratitude to my father,of Mr. Wilfred Nkhoma Kambonapani, whose rich store of memories of colonial times in south-east Africa has scarcely yet been tapped by his children. To my close friends, Dr. Barbara Nurse and Ms. Rosie Campbell, my thanks for their unflinching moral support and encouragement. Last, but not least, to my children Makanjila Macdaniel Ngoma, Ajira Eugenia Rosemary, Emma Julliet Tayamikila and Nicholas Amani Major, who remained true to themselves throughoutUniversity this long journey. This research was undertaken with generous financial assistance from the Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Studies and Services in Africa at the University of Cape Town, to whom I am very grateful. Agnes Nkhoma-Darch Wednesday, March 26,2003 vi Dedication Town Cape To the memory ofof my late mother Sawiche Binti Abdullah Nkhoma, whose story has never been told University vii Abbreviations and Acronyms BSSC Border straddling speech community FRELIMO Frente de Libertay8.o de Moyambique (Mozambique Liberation Front) INDE Instituto Nacional de Desenvolvimento da Educay8.o (National Institute for Educational Development) ITLC Inter-Territorial Language Committee MTE Mother tongue education Town NELIMO Nucleo de Estudo de Linguas Moyambicanas (Nucleus for the Study of Mozambican Languages) NCM Nyanja-Chewa-Mang' anja cluster PEBIMO Projecto de Escolarizay8.o Bilingue em MOyambique (Project for Bilingual Teaching in Mozambique)Cape UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientificof and Cultural Orgamization University viii Chapter 1 The Statement of the Problem The Core Question This dissertation is centred on an attempt to discover to what extent it is possible to reconstitute the fractured Nyanja-Chewa-Mang'anja (hereafter NCM) speech com­ munity in terms of the educational needs of fragmented language groups. This lan­ guage cluster can be described theoretically as a 'border-straddling speech commu­ nity', a co~cept that is first examined and theorised in various European and African political contexts. Finally the dissertation discusses the possible application of a hypo­ thetical inter-state educational policy, using such framework Towndiscussions as those de­ veloped in 1996 between South Africa, Namibia and Botswana as a possible model.) As the author was born in Tanzania and is a motherCape tongue speaker of Nyanja, she draws on personal experience in support ofof some of the arguments in the dissertation. This also explains her special interest in this particular problem. Border Straddling Speech Communities: Clarifying the Concept The concept of the 'Border Straddling Speech Community' (hereafter BSSC) is usu­ ally understood to refer to speech communities that are divided by political borders. However, implicit Universityin the concept are certain other characteristics. The most important of these is that BSSC languages are almost always minority languages on at least one side of the common border. Sometimes the same language is known by different names on different sides of the border. In other cases the language is, often for politi- 1 The recommendations of the Regional Workshop on Cross-Border Languages held in Okahandja, Namibia, on 23-27 September 1996, discuss possible measures for Kwanyama, Lozi and Tswana.