Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Tonga language (Tonga Islands)'

The southwest Pacific is one of the most tectonically dynamic regions on Earth. This research focused on crustal motion studies in three regions of active Pacific-Australia plate convergence in the southwest Pacific: Tonga, the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) and the Solomons Islands. In Tonga, new and refined velocity estimates based on more than a decade of Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements and advanced analysis techniques are much more accurate than previously reported values. Convergence rates of 80 to 165 mm/yr at the Tonga trench represent the fastest plate motions observed on Earth. For the first time, rotation of the Fiji platform relative to the Australian plate is observed, and anomalous deformation of the Tonga ridge was also detected. In the New Hebrides, a combined GPS dataset with a total time series of more than ten years led to new and refined velocity estimates throughout the island arc. Impingement of large bathymetric features has led to arc fragmentation, and four distinct tectonic segments are identified. The central New Hebrides arc segment is being shoved eastward relative to the rest of the arc as convergence is partitioned between the forearc (Australian plate) and the backarc (North Fiji Basin) boundaries due to impingement of the d'Entrecasteaux Ridge and associated Bougainville seamount. The southern New Hebrides arc converges with the Australian plate more rapidly than predicted due to backarc extension. The first measurements of convergence in the northern and southernmost arc segments were also made. In the Solomon Islands, a four-year GPS time series was used to generate the first geodetic estimates of crustal velocity in the New Georgia Group, with 57-84 mm/yr of Australia-Solomon motion and 19-39 mm/yr of Pacific-Solomon motion being observed. These velocities are 20-40% lower than predicted Australia-Pacific velocities. Two-dimensional dislocation models suggest that most of this discrepancy can be attributed to locking of the San Cristobal trench and elastic strain accumulation in the forearc. Anomalous motion at Simbo island is also observed.
xv, 135 leaves

From 1998 to 2003 Solomon Islands experienced a low intensity civil war that disrupted the state, resulting in a breakdown in law and order and the virtual collapse of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF). On the 16th of November 2006 a riot engulfed the capital of Tonga, Nuku’alofa, and for several hours Tongans engaged in looting and property destruction that the Tonga Police Force (TPF) was unable to prevent. In response to both of these crises, police-led interventions were deployed: the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), and Operation Tokoni and the Tonga Police Development Program (TPDP), respectively. These operations varied in their size, scope and responsibilities, yet they had a common aim of supporting the restoration of law and order, development and reform of the local police organisations. Understanding how to generate legitimacy for state institutions that have been reformed with external assistance remains one of the key challenges for state building and security sector reform (SSR). This thesis, through case analyses that drew on secondary and grey literature to highlight key contextual features of policing in Solomon Islands and Tonga, interviews conducted with community leaders at the two case study sites, and secondary focus group as well as survey data, examined perceptions of the legitimacy of local and external police and the factors that influenced participants’ views. It sought to investigate the application of three conceptual perspectives, defined in relation to ‘procedural justice’, ‘service delivery’ and ‘authority’, on the creation of police legitimacy in the contexts of regulatory pluralist post-conflict states that have hosted foreign police-led interventions. This thesis aimed to bring the voices of the research participants into the discussion of, and is the first to explore, police legitimacy in these settings. Findings indicate that individuals’ judgements of police legitimacy are complex and informed by their direct and vicarious experiences of policing across time. A range of considerations impacted participants’ legitimacy assessments, including perceptions of: agency-level and officer-level procedural justice, the capacity and willingness of police to provide service delivery, and authority and its associated relationship to the use of coercion. The influence of these factors on police legitimacy was affected by respondents’ expectations of policing, which were in turn informed by their accumulated experiences. These experiences occurred within, and were shaped by, the broader socio-political and policing environment. Significant shifts in environmental conditions exerted influence over what antecedents of police legitimacy were most impactful at different points in time. The crises experienced in each of the case study sites limited the impact procedural justice policing had on perceptions of local police, with the lack of service delivery and police authority undermining legitimacy at that time. In contrast, the deployment of external police missions was seen to restore service delivery and police authority, but the differing forms of regulatory pluralism in Solomon Islands and Tonga resulted in divergent perceptions of how local and external police were expected to act, particularly in relation to the use of coercion, respecting local culture, and local engagement in service delivery. The varied impacts of these key environmental changes illustrated the importance of both context and time in shaping individuals’ judgements of police legitimacy. Based on these findings this thesis proposed a new model that aims to provide a holistic representation of the occurrence of police legitimacy. It advances knowledge of legitimacy by integrating procedural justice, a conceptual revision of service delivery, and police authority together as antecedents to legitimacy, while accounting for the influences of individuals’ accumulated experiences of policing, and associated expectations. Further, it integrates context in a new way by focusing on broader socio-political and policing conditions. This enables recognition of the influence that environmental shifts, such as conflict, external policing interventions, or regulatory pluralism can have on individuals’ experiences and expectations of policing. Overall, the model broadens the antecedents of police legitimacy, and situates its incidence in context. Five considerations for future police building practice are highlighted, focused on mission design and officer conduct. First, where operationally feasible, external police should be deployed to positions within, or in support of, local police organisations to help boost their legitimacy through positive association. Second, mission planners should aim to recruit officers that have experience of policing in diverse communities or are from similar cultural backgrounds to avoid the possibility of cultural misunderstandings with the local population. Finally, to aid in the cultivation of legitimacy, this thesis suggests that local and external police take three actions: adopt a procedurally just approach to policing, build strong relationships with local communities to aid the delivery of services in line with local expectations, and engage in activities that positively reinforce police authority. The aim of these suggestions is to promote the design and deployment of police building missions that supports the development of locally legitimate and responsive policing institutions.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Crim & Crim Justice
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

This study aimed at determining factors which might have impact on the learning of English as a second language macroskills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) by Tongan secondary learners. The study was correlational in design and it worked from a synthetic perspective in that it looked at the way in which many aspects of language are interrelated to make the whole language system. The study looked at learning English language macroskills from a multiple interdisciplinary perspective taking into consideration linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic factors and classroom and bilingual education perspectives. The framework for language use required the learner to know the grammar (linguistic competence) of English and also to have the knowledge of how to use it appropriately in a variety of contexts. The subjects of the study were 100 Form 5 ESL Secondary students and 24 Form 5 ESL Secondary teachers. The three main instruments used were a test and a questionnaire for the students and a questionnaire for the teachers. Students' performance in the four English language macroskills were correlated with their perception of factors hypothesised to be associated with their learning of those English language macroskills at school (bivariate correlations). Standard multiple regressions were also performed (with only a few of the investigated factors selected as independent variables) to determine how much of the variance in the students' performance can be accounted for by the selected variables. Seven factors were shown to have significant correlations with the students' learning of English macroskills at secondary school. They were: the age of the students; their perceived ability in English; frequency of use of English with non-Tongan speakers; use of English to read for enjoyment; use of English for communication at home; integrative motivation; and career aspirations. The multiple regressions showed that 40% to 50% of the variances in reading, writing and listening could be accounted for by the same seven factors. All for speaking, 48.5% of the variance could be accounted for by five of these factors: age; perceived ability in English; frequency of use of English with non-Tongan speakers; use of English to read for enjoyment; and career aspirations. The findings of the study were accounted for in the light of appropriate and relevant linguistic theories.

Under traditional International relations theory, diplomacy relates to relations between sovereign nations. There have been two broad schools of thought on the dynamics behind these relations: the ‘realist’ school, which tends to consider power and conflict as the major lens through which such should be viewed, and the ‘idealist’ school which tended to focus on cooperation rather than conflict. Between these two extreme views, a third school, the English School of International Relations, also known as the British Institutionalists, provides somewhat of a compromise view, acknowledging the merit of both realism and idealism, by accepting that power remains an important element but also advocating that acceptance of common norms and institutions plays a significant role in determining relations, or the International Society between states. In 1977 Hedley Bull offered the following definition of International Society when he stated that International Society … exists when a group of states, conscious of certain common interests and common values, form a society in the sense that they conceive themselves to be bound by a common set of rules in their relations with one another, and share in the working of common institutions. This thesis is not specifically related to International Relations theory, which deals with inter-state relations. Whilst inter-state conflict and international relations remain important drivers of foreign and military policy, there is a growing recognition that it is intra-state conflict avoidance and post-conflict reconstruction which increasingly mitigate the risk to the safety, security, peace and prosperity of nations and regions. Much of this disquiet has its roots in maladministration, poor governance and a lack of justice. These are areas in which traditional approaches to foreign intervention via trade, aid and military force have limited effect, and in which effective consent-based policing and justice can play a significant part in building sustainable and peaceful outcomes. This thesis discusses the role played by a non-traditional actor in the international arena, the police, specifically the Australian Federal Police (AFP), in addressing some of these intra-state justice and governance issues in a constantly changing, unstable and unpredictable global and regional environment. The thesis is intended to outline the diversity and versatility of AFP activities and to contextualise them in terms of non-traditional New Diplomacy. The aspects of diplomacy of most significance relate to diplomatic qualities or traits of the individual police officer, diplomatic behaviours of these members, and diplomatic outcomes of their activities. As such the thesis does not relate directly to International Relations theory or to International Society, as espoused by Hedley Bull. There are, however, some interesting intersections which are worthy of note. There are some critics of the English School who argue that it is Eurocentric. Today’s International Relations originated in the 19th century when a number of European nations formed a club of ‘civilised’ states bound by international law, which expanded around the globe to involve all nations. This concept has been used to explain the lack of imperative for a supra-state or world government to maintain orderly inter-state relations, as the force which binds them is consent to agree to common interest and values within a global rules-based order. In terms of policing on an international scale, global government is simply too unwieldy. There are a number of global, consent-based institutions such as the United Nations and INTERPOL, which fulfil this requirement to a certain extent. The AFP has had long involvement with both of these global institutions, as well as several regional policing institutions. In terms of conflict-oriented ‘realism’ and cooperative ‘idealism’, policing walks both sides of the street. As this thesis will discuss, the whole posture of liberal-democratic policing is conflict prevention, and the means by which such police carry out their daily duties is by cooperation. This is the context in which replication or expansion of International Society should be considered in relation to the activities of the AFP internationally and regionally. This thesis is by definition Eurocentric, or more specifically Anglo-centric, due to the historical fact that the AFP draws all of its principles from Australia’s British antecedents and adheres to a largely ‘western’ or European notion of human rights values. This thesis explores the role of the AFP as an international actor. The thesis asserts that effective international policing has never been more important in linking the international with the domestic. The way the AFP operates in a landscape where traditional policing paradigms are rapidly changing, due to ever-changing, political, diplomatic, and transnational issues, is examined in the context of the ‘globalisation paradox’, of both needing and fearing, global governance simultaneously, as raised by Anne-Marie Slaughter in her book, A New World Order. The way the organisation has evolved from its origins, based on Western liberal-democratic policing values, approaches and skills, to an organisation involved in international policing and diplomacy at the highest levels, while still retaining its liberal-democratic credentials is explained. It is argued that in the contemporary international and Australian context, the AFP is an effective and experienced agency. It is further argued that this is a distinctive form of new diplomacy, appropriate to an increasingly globalised world. The AFP has established an extensive international network in more than 30 countries, has been a consistent contributor to national security, has participated in numerous international deployments over half a century, and continues to play a meaningful role in Australian foreign policy efforts. The thesis provides evidence to show how AFP officers exhibit diplomatic qualities similar to those listed by Daryl Copeland in his book Guerrilla Diplomacy , as well as those mentioned by Christopher Meyer in his book Getting Our Way. In all of its international endeavours, AFP members have demonstrated, in varying degrees, the three enduring elements of diplomacy as outlined by Jonsson and Hall in their book The Essence of Diplomacy. They have communicated and negotiated in some very challenging circumstances and they are representatives of the Australian Government and its humanitarian values. The AFP, as part of broader efforts with institutions such as the UN, have not so much sought a replication of international society, as mentioned by Jonsson and Hall, but have provided a supplement to international society, by effective networking, thereby addressing in large part, Slaughter’s ‘globalisation paradox’. It is not so much universal police homogeneity which is sought by such endeavours, as a balance between it, and the heterogeneity which is inevitably associated with cultures transitioning from custom and tradition, to 21st century expectations of nationhood. The way the AFP’s transnational operations, activities, and deployments, not only serve perceived national interests, but result in more effective regional governance, is identified as ‘diplomacy by default’, because formal Track I diplomacy is not their primary objective. It will be demonstrated how international diplomacy, while generally conducted with perceived national interests as its primary goal, has a secondary benefit, good international citizenship, and that the AFP has a credible history of serving both. It is argued that the AFP is well positioned within government, law and intelligence and security circles, in the Australian and international contexts, through an extensive liaison officer network in South-East Asia, the South-West Pacific as well as more broadly. It will be demonstrated how the AFP has shown itself as capable and ready to respond effectively to extant and emerging challenges, and as such, has earned a place in foreign policy discussions and considerations at the highest diplomatic levels, including the UN. The AFP provides a distinctive and direct link between the global, the regional, and the domestic, which matches the rapidly globalised community it represents. The thesis confirms that international policing acts as a distinctive aspect of Australian ‘firm’ diplomacy, and supplements the more traditional elements of international engagement, between the ‘soft’ or traditional diplomacy, and the ‘hard’ form of military intervention. The evidence provided shows how it is by this form of whole-of-government activity, inclusive of policing, that stability and security are enhanced, and peace and prosperity are encouraged. Overall, the thesis affirms the AFP as a transnational agency, which is well placed to link the international with the domestic, the contextual with the aspirational, and the theoretical with the practical, in a period of strategic uncertainty in international affairs at the dawn of the Third Millennium.

This thesis addresses the question of the transformation of the Lapita Culture established on Tongatapu over the period 1000 BC to AD 500 into the highly stratified society described by European observers of the late 18th century and reflected in a rich body of oral traditions and a conspicuous grouping of beachrock slab-faced monuments at a capital centre on the lagoon at Mu’a. It does so in the light of discussions of the nature and origins of chiefdoms in Polynesia, particularly the proposition that they arose in the context of increases in populations in circumscribed environments subject to fluctuations in horticultural production, where horticultural surplus could be appropriated, accumulated, stored and judiciously redistributed. The evidence, old and new, for Lapita society is assessed to identify more precisely the nature of the developments to be examined. Three research objectives are defined to which field research by survey and excavation was directed. These are the course and chronology of the settlement of the inland areas and the concomitant growth of an essentially horticulturally-based economy; the nature of the settlement and habitation pattern represented by earthen house- and burial mounds of post-Lapita, aceramic times; and the origins and development of slab-built structures as a mark of high status. The settlement of the inland was accomplished in Late Lapita times, by the 5th century AD, already in a non-nucleated pattern reminiscent of that described by the early Europeans, and the economy was horticulturally based. Mound-building, at least for habitation, proved to be equally old, while comparisons of mound numbers (based on sample surveys) against population estimates (using a variety of sources) suggest that not everyone could be accommodated on them, implying some level of social differentiation in their use. Excavations at house mounds adjacent to one of the quarries where the slabs for high-status structures were obtained indicate that this activity also goes back to the 5th century AD. The further development of these early signs of social differentiation cannot be traced, until the sudden and spectacular appearance of the monument group at Heketa, an early traditional political centre. This is interpreted as representing the establishment of a supreme chieftainship (symbolised in the Tongan term Tu' z) out of a number of earlier competing chieftainships. Analysis of various parameters of slab-faced monuments gives insight into the nature and development of the ruling dynasty and associated lineages. There is the appearance of a significant overseas involvement (the so-called Tongan Maritime Empire), symbolised by the shift of capital centre to Mu'a on the lagoon and its equipping with harbour and wharf facilities. There is also evidence of internal tension between the leading lineages, archaeologically best reflected in the large isolated slab-faced monument at Kanokupolu in the far west of Tongatapu, which by the time of European arrival had become a political centre apart from and competitive with Mu'a. The results of the research point to the possibility of bridging the gap between the first indications of social differentiation in the 5th century AD on the archaeological evidence and the appearance of supreme chieftainship at Heketa in the 12th century by genealogical reckoning through investigations in the Toloa area of southeastern Tongatapu, where the traditions locate the first, shadowy political centre.

This study presents an analysis of the interactions observed among the West Polynesia islands of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, using concepts of regional systems and trade networks. The connections between these island groups in the period between the 1770s and the 1870s are examined in extensive detail. In particular, this analysis takes the theoretical framework of the world-systems approach of Chase-Dunn and Hall and applies a method involving networks of exchange to this region. These networks include the information network, the bulk products network, the political/ military network and the network of prestige valuables. Archival data show the operation and content of these networks and demonstrate that with the influx of European products in the early colonial period, there was an efflorescence of long-distance exchange in this region. This analysis of networks linking the island groups suggest that Fiji, Tonga and Samoa should be viewed as a regional unit instead of three distinct societies for many subjects of investigation.

This thesis analyzes the phonological and morphological nativisation of English loans in the Tonga language. The contact situation between English and Tonga, in Zimbabwe, facilitates transference of lexical items between the two languages. From having been one of the most widely used languages of the world, English has developed into the most influential donor of words to other languages such as Tonga. The infiltration of English words into the Tonga lexical inventory led to the adoption and subsequent nativisation of English words by the native Tonga speakers. The main deposit of English words into Tonga is the direct interaction between English and Tonga speakers. However, it is sometimes via other languages like Shona, Ndebele, Venda and Shangani. In the 21st century, English’s contribution to the vocabulary of Tonga became more widely spread, now covering a large proportion of the Tonga language’s lexical inventory. The fact that English is the medium of instruction, in Zimbabwe, language of technology, education, media, new administration, health, music, new religion and economic transactions means that it is regarded as the high variety language with coercive loaning powers. Words from English are then adopted and nativised in the Tonga language, since Tonga asserts itself an independent language that can handle loans on its own. The main focus of this study therefore, is to try and account for the phonological and morphological behavior and changes that take place in English words that enter into Tonga. Analyzing phonological processes that are employed during nativisation of loan words entails analyzing how Tonga speakers handle aspects of English language such as diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, CVC syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable sequences in Tonga. The research also accounts for the handling of morphological differences between the two languages. This entails looking at how competence and ordered-rule framework are harmonized by Tonga speakers in repairing conflicting features at morphological level. Since the two languages have different morphological patterns, the research analyzes the repairing strategies to handle singular and plural noun prefixes, tenses and particles, which are morphological components of words. The researcher appreciates that the native Tonga speakers have robust intuitions on the proper way to nativise words.
African Languages
D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

The study interrogates the marginalisation of the Tonga language in the school curriculum of Zimbabwe. It explores the causes of marginalisation and what can be done by the Zimbabwean government to promote the Tonga language in the school curriculum at all levels in the education domain in Zimbabwe. In the study, the researcher uses a mixed method approach where qualitative and quantitative research techniques are used to corroborate data from different data gathering sources. The postmodernist theory is used in this research because of its encouragement of pluralism in society so as to enhance social cohesion. This is so because all languages are equal and they share the same functions and characteristics. There is no superior or inferior language in the eyes of the postmodernists. Participants for this study were drawn from district officials, selected primary and secondary school educators, primary and secondary school heads, all from Binga district of Zimbabwe and three university Tonga language lecturers, all purposefully selected. Focus group discussions, interviews, questionnaires, documents analysis and observations were used to collect data for this study. The data collected was then analysed using qualitative and quantitative analysis for triangulation purposes. The research established that the marginalisation of the Tonga language in Zimbabwe is caused by both exogenous and endogenous factors. The major factor is Zimbabwe‘s lack of a clear language policy exacerbated by attitudes of the different stakeholders which has also facilitated and enhanced the peripherisation of the Tonga language in Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe has a tendency of declaring policies and not implementing them. Consequently, the government reacts to language problems as they arise. The study also reveals the importance of the Tonga language in the school curriculum in Zimbabwe. It also establishes that, for the Tonga language to be promoted there is need for the expeditious training of educators by the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development. There is need for the government of Zimbabwe to strengthen their language policy so that the status of Tonga is enhanced and uplifted. A strong language policy will compel different stakeholders to stick to their mandate thereby improving the place of the Tonga language in the school curriculum at all levels of the curriculum in Zimbabwe.
African Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

In the South Pacific, an area prone to disasters of many kinds, tropical cyclones are predicted to increase in strength, track length and lifespan due to climate change. Small island developing states are going to need to adapt their disaster response accordingly. This is particularly the case for those communities on outer islands of these states, the remote islands within remote countries, where vulnerability is already especially high. These communities are out of reach of many aid organisations, and are required to be more selfreliant and resilient than most. This thesis investigates how the responses to disasters on remote islands need to change and the factors affecting the capacity for this to happen. The research focuses on remote islands in Fiji and Tonga, from the perspectives of the communities, aid organisations and governments. It examines issues of the growth of aid, the expectations it creates, the governance of the aid system, and how remoteness impacts on disaster planning and response. The research involved fieldwork in Fiji and Tonga, with stays on one remote island in each country. Both of these islands have a history of cyclones, including recent experience. This was followed by time in the regional and national capitals interviewing representatives of aid organisations and government. Included in the thesis is a reflection on the experience of doing cross-cultural research and the importance of giving voice to communities that are often left out of this kind of research. The research found that a number of variables – such as remoteness, the highly gendered structures of decision-making, differential use of traditional knowledge, and contradictory aid expectations – directly and indirectly affect the preparedness and adequacy of remote island responses to natural disasters such as cyclones. This has a number of significant ramifications in the light of predicted transformations associated with climate change.

This study explores the growth experience of the small-island economies of the South Pacific, using Fiji and Tonga as case studies. The starting point is the traditional neoclassical growth-accounting framework but this is extended to capture the contributions of increases in factor inputs and factor productivity to economic growth. The growth contribution of improvements in the quality of labour is quantified and the relative contribution of net national saving and net capital inflows to domestic capital accumulation and economic growth are estimated. Most of the time-series data required for a sources of growth study are unavailable so that appropriate methodologies had to be developed to estimate annual series for the relevant variables. The conventional 'perpetual inventory method' for capital stock estimates is modified into a methodology that is deemed appropriate, theoretically sound and reasonably practical for generating the required series of aggregate net capital stock and fixed capital consumption. Fiji and Tonga, typically of the islands, experienced moderate growth in domestic output but whereas Tonga's growth in total factor productivity was positive, Fiji's was negative. In Fiji, the growth contribution of increases in capital stock was smaller than the contribution of increased labour, whereas in Tonga, the growth contribution of increases in capital stock was larger than the labour contribution. Net national saving contributed relatively more than net capital inflow to net investment, and thus to economic growth in Fiji; in Tonga the opposite was the case. Tonga’s domestic saving has long been negative, but the inflow of current transfers, especially private remittances, contributed to high national saving. Improvements in the quality of the labour force in the two economies were small. Educational improvements contributed more to improvements in the quality of the labour force and thus economic growth than improvements in health. The marginal product of capital is higher in Fiji than in Tonga and so was the average product of labour until 1985. Tonga has been more capital-intensive than Fiji since the 1970s. The trend of capital-labour ratios in Fiji showed a change from capital-intensive towards more labour-intensive production in the 1980s. The low and even negative growth of total factor productivity in the two island economies may be partly explained by the failure of economic policy to create an environment for efficient production. The two island economies were highly protected and regulated with Fiji attempting to become a centrally planned economy with industrialization behind tariff and non tariff barriers as its main objective. Entrepreneurs thus could not operate effectively. The two island economies both have the problems of smallness including exposure to similar severe external shocks and constraints. Their different economic performances tend to support the view that domestic economic policies are the main determinant of economic development.

This dissertation investigates the revitalisation of Tonga, an endangered minority language in Zimbabwe. It seeks to establish why the Tonga people embarked on the revitalisation of their language, the strategies they used, the challenges they encountered and how they managed them. The Human Needs Theory propounded by Burton (1990) and Yamamoto’s (1998) Nine Factors Language Revitalisation Model formed the theoretical framework within which the data were analysed. This case-study identified various socio-cultural and historical factors that influenced the revitalisation of the Tonga language. Despite the socio-economic and political challenges from both within and outside the Tonga community, the Tonga revitalisation initiative was to a large extent a success, thanks to the speech community’s positive attitude and ownership of the language revitalisation process. It not only restored the use of Tonga in the home domain but also extended the language function into the domains of education, the media, and religion.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
M.A. (Sociolinguistics)

Ma'afu, born in Tonga about 1826, was a son of Aleamotu'a, Tu'i Kanokupolu and a cousin of Tupou I, king of Tonga. When aged about 21, he came to live in Fiji and within fifteen years established a power base to rival that of any indigenous chief. In 1865, a Wesleyan missionary visiting the island of Vanuabalavu paid a call on Ma'afu at his home in Lomaloma.

This study investigates the impact of Family Language Policy (FLP) on the conservation of minority languages in Zimbabwe. Family language policy is a newly emerging sub field of language planning and policy which focuses on the explicit and overt planning in relation to language use within the home among family members. The study is therefore predicated on the view that the conservation of any minority language largely depends on intergenerational transmission of the particular language. Intergenerational transmission is dependent in part, on the language practices in the home and therefore on family language policy. To understand the nature, practice and negotiation of family language policy in the context of minority language conservation, the study focuses on the perspectives of a sample of 34 L1 Kalanga parents and 28 L1 Tonga parents, who form the main target population. In this study, parents are considered to be the ‘authorities’ within the family, who have the capacity to articulate and influence language use and language practices. Also included in this study are the perspectives of language and culture associations representing minority languages regarding their role in the conservation of minority languages at the micro community level. Representatives of Kalanga Language and Cultural Development Association (KLCDA), Tonga Language and Culture Committee (TOLACCO) as well Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promotion Association (ZILPA) were targeted. This research takes on a qualitative approach. Methodologically, the study deployed the interview as the main data collection tool. Semi structured interviews were conducted with L1 Kalanga and L1 Tonga parents while unstructured interviews were conducted with the representatives of language and culture associations. This study deploys the language management theory and the reversing language shift theory as the analytical lenses that enable the study to understand the mechanics of family language policy and their impact on intergenerational transmission of minority languages in Zimbabwe. Language management theory allows for the extendibility of the tenets of language policy into the family domain and specifically affords the study to explore the dialectics of parental language ideologies and family language practices in the context of minority language conservation in Zimbabwe. The reversing language shift theory also emphasises the importance of the home domain in facilitating intergenerational transmission of minority languages. Findings of the study demonstrate that family language policy is an important aspect in intergenerational transmission of minority languages, itself a nuanced and muddled process. The research demonstrates that there is a correlation between parental language ideologies and parental disposition to articulate and persue a particular kind of family language policy. In particular, the study identified a pro-minority home language and pro- bilingual family language policies as the major parental language ideologies driving family language policies. However, the research reveals that parental language ideologies and parental explicitly articulated family language polices alone do not guarantee intergenerational transmission of minority languages, although they are very pertinent. This, as the study argues, is because family language policy is not immune to external language practices such as the school language policy or the wider language policy at the macro state level. Despite parents being the main articulators of family language policy, the study found out that in some instances, parental ideologies do not usually coincide with children’s practices. The mismatch between parental preferences and their children’s language practices at home are a reproduction, in the home, of extra familial language practices. This impacts family language practices by informing the child resistant agency to parental family language policy, leading to a renegotiation of family language policy. The research also demonstrates that parents, especially those with high impact beliefs are disposed to take active steps, or to employ language management strategies to realise their desired language practices in the home. The study demonstrates that these parental strategies may succeed in part, particularly when complemented by an enabling sociolinguistic environment beyond the home. The articulation of a pro-Tonga only family language policy was reproduced in the children’s language practices, while the preference for a pro- bilingual family language policy by the majority L1 Kalanga parents was snubbed for a predominantly Ndebele-only practice by their children. In most cases, the research found out that language use in formal domains impacted on the success of FLP. Tonga is widely taught in Schools within Binga districts while Kalanga is not as widespread in Bulilima and Mangwe schools. Ndebele is the most widespread language in Bulilima and Mangwe schools. As such; children of L1 Kalanga parents tend to evaluate Kalanga negatively while having positive associations with Ndebele. All these language practices are deemed to impact on family language policy and therefore on intergenerational transmission of minority languages in Zimbabwe. The desire by parents for the upward mobility of children results in them capitulating to the wider socio political reality and therefore to the demands of their children in terms of language use in the home. The study therefore concludes that family language policy is an important frontier in the fight against language shift and language endangerment, given the importance of the home in intergenerational transmission of minority languages. The study therefore implores future research to focus on this very important but largely unresearched sub field of language policy. The study observes that most researches have focused on the activities of larger state institutions and organisations and how they impact on minority language conservation, to the detriment of the uncontestable fact that the survival of any language depends on the active use of the language by the speakers. The research also recommends that future practice of language policy should not attempt to promote minority languages by discouraging the use of other majority languages, but rather, speakers should embrace bilingualism as a benefit and a resource and not as a liability. The interaction between the top down state language policy and the bottom up micro family language policy should be acknowledged and exploited, in such a way that the two can be deployed as complementary approaches in minority language conservation.
Linguistics and Modern Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)