Academic literature on the topic 'Tonga language (Zambezi)'

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)

Abstract This chapter aims to give the reader an idea of the linguistic situation in Zambia, and how language relates to national identity in the Zambian context. Zambia lies in the heart of central Africa and shares borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the north, with Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique in the east, with Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia in the south, and with Angola in the west. Zambia has no direct access to the sea, but the Zambezi, one of Africa’s largest rivers, runs through Zambia for about 1,000 kilometres. Zambia also lies in the centre of the Bantu-speaking area. Historically, Bantu languages became widely spoken in sub-Saharan Africa from around 300 BC, and present-day Zambia’s Bantu languages are the result of several linguistic developments which introduced the languages spoken today through gradual processes of migration, language contact, and language shift over the last two millennia. From the late nineteenth century onwards, different European languages were introduced into what is now Zambia through missionary activities, in particular in education, and through colonial governance as a British colony. As a legacy of this period, English plays an important role in the current language situation, a role which was affirmed after independence in 1964, when English became the official language. After the change from a one-party system to multiparty democracy in 1991, emphasis has shifted towards the promotion of Zambia’s seven national languages, Bemba, Nyanja, Tonga, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, and Kaonde, and contemporary Zambia is an explicit example of a multilingual country.