Zimbabwe: Making sure our languages don't die

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Making sure our languages don't die

BY CHIKWAPURO

Can one have a scientific discourse in Shona? At the present time one
would have to say no. However, this need not be so. During the liberation
war a large social and political vocabulary developed to educate the
masses. At that time it was quite possible to hold forth on world politics
and political theory, in Shona at least. Much of the vocabulary persists
but it has not developed. The fact that Zimbabwe does not have a language
policy means that things have been left to drift and only the energy of
language enthusiasts leads the progress.

The study of Shona and Ndebele has progressed from being studied in
English to a position now when they can be studied [analysed and commented
upon] in their own languages. There is now a dictionary of literary and
linguistic terms in Shona in the making, to facilitate formal academic
discussion of the language. In science however, these developments are
still very far beyond the horizon.

In order to make some progress in this it is essential to develop a
significant amount of written material that discusses scientific ideas in
our languages. This will permit the development of the necessary
vocabulary and dexterity in handling the ideas in the vernacular. It is
not likely that Shona or Ndebele would supplant English [or whatever the
dominant language in the future might be], but they would survive and
carry the history and culture of the people into the 21st century and
beyond, the same way as German or Swedish.


Nyuteni anga agree zvake pasi pemuti wemuchero. Aiwanzo onekwa zvake ari
ega, ari kutsi kwe pfungwa dzake. Musi uyu paaive agere paka donha
muchero. Vamwe vanoti muchero uyu waive epuru, vamwe vachiti hapana
anoziva nekuti akangoreva kuti epuru semufananidzo. Zvimwe raive damba.
Zviripo ndezvekuti paka donha damba iri, akatarisa mumuti,
ndokucherechedza kuti pabva damba neparawira paka nangana. Izvi zvakamupa
pfungwa yekuti: madonhero aya anoita kunge zvinonzi damba iri raita
zvekukakatwa. Rarovera pasi zvine samba asi rambotanga rakamira paranga
rakarembera. Izvi zvinoreva kuti pane simba riri kushanda apa.

Izvi zvakaramba zvichimugegedura pfungwa, akati izvi zvinotoda kunyatso
tsanangurwa. Tsanangudzo yaakawana yakadai: munhu uka donhedza dombo rino
wira pasi pepawaridonhedzera. Ukaita rekukanda rakati tande nepasi,
rinomboenda kanhambwe, rotanga kudzika kusvika rabata pasi. Ukazorikanda
zvakasimba rino enda chinhambwe chirefu rotanga kudzika zve kudzamara
razobata pasi. Simba raunenge wapa kudombo rinoita kuti dombo rimboti
mberi tande, rozo donha. Izvi zvino reva kuti pane masimba kana kuti
mafosi mairi: fosi rekuti dombo riende mberi rakati tande, nefosi rino
kakatira dombo pasi. Pano tanga dombo kuenda, ese anenge aripo, asi
remberi rinoita richi shomeka, remakakatirwa richiramba riri rimwe chete.
Saka ndiro rinozo kurira, dombo rodonha.

Asika, dombo rika kandwa nesimba rakanyanya chaizvo rino svika kure
chaizvo risati ratanga kudonha. Saka munhu akatora nganunu woiisa pamusoro
pegomo, wochaya bara rayo rakatiwo tande nepasi, toti nesimba rakanyanya
zvekuti hari pimike, bara iri rinogona kuramba richingoenda nekuenda
pasina mugumo rakangoti tande nepasi nekuti ririkungo kakatirwa pasi
nesimba ratingati zvino gakato. Rikaramba richienda kudaro rino dzamara
radzoka paratangira, rapoterera. Paakaita pfungwa iyi abva angoona kuti
ndizvo zvinoita mwedzi.

Mwedzi une simba chairo rekuenda mberi uri mudenga asi uno gara waka
donzwa nepasi pano, saka uchingo gara uchi poterera. Mapoterero anoita
mwedzi ndiwo mapotererowo anoita pasiredu richi poterera zuva. Se munhu
aive neruzivo nezve nyenyedzi, akabva aona kuti gakato iri ringato


>>From the above we can harvest some words useful for a further discussion
about gravity [gakato, giravhiti, gravhiti], particularly defining
concepts and raising the level of discussion further, for example about
orbits [poterero, obhiti], forces [simba, fosi] etc.

In South Africa the apartheid establishment and government made a
deliberate effort to develop Afrikaans into a fully-fledged language able
to be used in politics, science and every walk of life. In East Africa
despite the fact that Swahili is spoken in at least three countries as a
language of communication and government, it is only Tanzania that has led
the way in the development of the language because it has organised
structures for the development of Kiswahili. There is a Swahili Language
Committee and the Institute of Swahili Research and other high and low
level organisations all dedicated to the development of the language. As a
result it flourishes. Microsoft brought out windows in Swahili. Many
universities across the world have Swahili programmes. Swahili novels are
translated into foreign languages and studied on language courses abroad.
Andre Brink describes how he writes English and Afrikaans versions of his
novel simultaneously. Whatever progress Shona or Ndebele will make will or
could also benefit the other languages in Zimbabwe and beyond. So everyone
can do a little to make a big difference!

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?id=1719