| 1. |
- Mapunda, Gastor, et al.
(författare)
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Borrowing in Tanzanian Ngoni lexicon: Some semantic trends in a language contact situation.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Language Matters. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1022-8195 .- 1753-5395. ; 46:2, s. 180-194
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Tanzanian language Ngoni has interacted for long with Swahili, which is the more prestigious and dominant lingua franca in Tanzania. This language contact situation affects Ngoni, which frequently borrows terms from Swahili, both for concepts which are new to the Ngoni speakers, but also terms which replace existing Ngoni vocabulary. This paper investigates how borrowed words are integrated, based on a framework including semantic generalisation, specialisation and shift. The study is based on fieldwork conducted in the Songea District in the Ruvuma Region of Tanzania, in the three villages Peramiho, Kilagano and Mhepai. It was found that borrowing was most frequent in the semantic fields ‘modern world’, ‘food and drink’ and ‘clothing and grooming’. Additive borrowing was found to be more frequent than substitutive. Only semantic widening of borrowed terms was attested. However, combined with a tendency of replacement of old Ngoni terms with both Swahili and Ngoni hypernyms, it indicates that speakers’ competence of the language is waning. This loss of competence may additionally be linked to a more general attrition of Ngoni culture and traditions, which may affect language maintenance.
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| 2. |
- Mapunda, Gastor, et al.
(författare)
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Imagined Futures and NewTechnology: Youths’ Language Attitudes in Songea, Tanzania
- 2021
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Ingår i: Language Matters. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1022-8195 .- 1753-5395. ; 52:1, s. 92-112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Building on investment theory, thisstudy analyses the language attitudes of secondary school students in Songea, Tanzania, with a focus on identity and access to digital technology. The study involved 467 secondary school students aged 14–21 years. The data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. Less than half of the students had access to digital technology. Most of them lackedtherequiredlinguistic resources. English, a challenge to most students, and, to some extent, even Swahili, are seen as tools for future possibilities and success. Students invest in learning English and want to go abroad. Lack of resources notwithstanding, students’ decisions to invest in learning a particular language is mostly influenced by imagined possibilities. Structural inequalities and socioeconomic differences impact both language skills and the use of digital tools. Consequently, digital resources using mainly English and difficult Swahili terminology become an exclusion mechanism for many Tanzanian secondary school students.
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| 3. |
- Rosendal, Tove, 1957, et al.
(författare)
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Contact-induced language alternation in Tanzanian Ngoni – an empirical study of frequency and patterns
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Multilingualism. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1479-0718 .- 1747-7530. ; 14:4, s. 463-477
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The codeswitching pattern is different in rural Tanzania compared to urban agglomerations around the world. Even in very rural areas people in Tanzania are bilingual in Swahili, the national and local lingua franca, and their own fi rst language. The result of this language contact is understudied and has only recently been focused on. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative results of a study of the language Ngoni in contact with Swahili. The study is based on photo elicitations about traditional artefacts and their use in one semi-urban and one remote rural village in Songea District, Ruvuma Region. Codeswitching is the unmarked choice among the Ngoni subsistence farmers in the area, even for old persons living in remote villages. The quantitative results are summed in relation to socio-demographic factors. Additionally, possible social and psycholinguistic factors, such as triggering, are discussed. The results give reason to concern regarding the future of Ngoni.
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| 4. |
- Rosendal, Tove, 1957, et al.
(författare)
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Is the Tanzanian Ngoni language threatened? A survey of lexical borrowing from Swahili
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0143-4632 .- 1747-7557. ; 35:3, s. 271-288
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tanzania’s post-independence language policy has promoted Swahili as a means of achieving national and linguistic unity. This policy has affected the Ngoni language in south-western Tanzania. Today, Swahili has permeated communication all over Tanzania, even in rural and remote areas. This paper discusses lexical borrowing and especially borrowing in the basic vocabulary, which is considered less susceptible to borrowing, to establish the vitality of Ngoni in this bilingual setting. In using a new method where locally produced photos are used for elicitation, and mirroring the data with socio-demographic metadata, the results contribute to the understanding of what borrowing implies regarding the future of the language. Age-related differences were found amongst Ngoni speakers, but the differences in language use attributed to sociodemographic factors were far fewer than expected. Borrowing is solidly established not only among the young in the Ngoni community. Both borrowing and codeswitching (CS) were also frequent in typically rural settings, among subsistence farmers, where Swahili was found to be penetrating deeply into oral communication. Not only gap-filling concepts related to modern life were borrowed from Swahili; even terms used in traditional life, like farming, were borrowed, as well as basic concepts. This indicates that the Ngoni language may be threatened.
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