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- 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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| 2. |
- Rosendal, Tove, 1957
(författare)
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Languages in competition in Rwanda: Who is winning on the linguistic market?
- 2010
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Ingår i: Language Matters. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1022-8195 .- 1753-5395. ; 41:2, s. 238-259
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, far-reaching language policy was introduced. Due to the return of many exiled English speakers, English was stipulated as the third official language alongside French and Rwanda (Ikinyarwanda), the latter being the national language, spoken as L1 by 99.4 per cent of the population. This article summarises the use of the three official languages, focusing on the role and position of languages in the current competitive situation which the post-1994 language dispensation has caused. The main issue dealt with here, is whether or not the Rwanda language is affected by the dispensation. The position of each language is analysed with regard to its institutionalised use or status in domains such as administration, education, and mass media. A quantitative method which accounts for percentage distribution (mostly of language use) has been developed and is applied to evaluate the position of the languages.
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| 3. |
- Rosendal, Tove, 1957
(författare)
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Linguistic Landshapes. A comparison of official and non-official language management in Rwanda and Uganda, focusing on the position of African languages
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis is a macro-sociolinguistic study and comparison of language status and use in Rwanda and Uganda. The data was collected in fieldwork. The study covers the main formal domains in society, both official and non-official. A model for analysis, inspired by Chaudenson, was created. Termed the Multilingual Management Model (MMM), it uses a quantitative method to investigate specific domains and units of analysis in the two African countries. The analysis provides a percentage measurement of the position of languages or language groups vis-à-vis other languages within the linguistic space of each domain, i.e. the analyses reveal how languages are stipulated to be used as well as the extent to which they actually are used within the specified domains of society. The MMM, which is also influenced by the work of Bourdieu, among others, is based on the assumption that languages compete on a linguistic market. The MMM can be used for similar work in other countries. The investigated domains are dichotomised into official multilingual management and non-official multilingual management. The MMM contrasts official language policy, institutionalised language use within official institutions, languages in education, and language use in state media, on the one hand, with language use in the domain of trade and commerce, language use on private shop signs and billboards, language use in the domain of religion, and language use in private media, on the other. The results of the study largely confirm the proposed working hypotheses. Simultaneously, trends contradictory to the expected results and hypotheses were identified. The national language Rwanda was found to be widely used in formal domains. However, such use was less significant in official settings compared with non-official ones. Rwanda is also not used to its full potential as a medium of communication in all domains, except in typically oral domains. Ugandan languages are stronger than expected in some domains, e.g. on private radio stations, at markets, and in state newspapers. This demonstrates the communicative value of African languages which, sadly, is not reflected in official language policy in either country. The allocation of status to European languages through legal stipulations and the prestige attributed to them have negatively influenced the use of African languages in both countries.
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