Adoption and Adaptation in Shona

Description

Publisher: ALLEX Project, African Languages Research Institute, University of Zimbabwe Publication date: 2002 Number of pages: 542 ISBN: 82-90954-20-4In this book, Herbert Chimhundu examines how the Shona language adopts and adapts words and concepts from other languages in order to function in a changing society. This case study of Shona can be considered as an example of an African language which is heavily influenced by English during both the colonial and post-colonial periods, but nevertheless finds strategies to maintain its identity. One section of the book deals with the language in use. Word and concept borrowing, as well as code-switching and diglossia, are discussed in a familiar African context in which the colonial language still predominates in many domains. A critical review of the development of Shona as a standard written language is also provided, with a description of attitudes to the mother-tongue in both colonial and post-colonial settings when no formulated language policy was available. Written about the time that Zimbabwe gained its independence, and based on research from the late seventies, this book was originally presented as Herbert Chimhundu’s dissertation for the doctor of philology degree, which was awarded in 1983. A facsimile edition of the original manuscript is provided here, in response to demand from the tertiary education sector of Zimbabwe. This study, while defending its place as a work of linguistic scholarship in its own right,can also be regarded as a preliminary work to the two Shona monolingual dictionaries of which Herbert Chimhundu is editor in chief, namely Duramazwi reChiShona (1996) and Duramazwi Guru reChiShona (2001).