SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

In relation to religions affiliations, 71.7% indicated they were Muslims and the remaining
28.3% were Christians. The Christians break down into the following denominations:
Catholics 6.4%, CCAP 6.5%, Seventh Day Adventist 3.1%, Church of Christ 3.8%,
Angican 2.0%, Assemblies of God 1.0% and other minor denominations 1.9%. 3.5% of
the respondents had no identifiable religion.
3.5 LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND
Data showed that an overwhelming 93.4% of the respondents could speak Chiyao. It also
showed that Chiyao was the mother tongue or first language of 83.4% of the respondents.
Respondents were also asked to indicate whether they spoke other languages. An
overwhelming 94.7% said they spoke Chichewa and 5.3% did not speak any other
language. As to what language they frequently used, 66.2% indicated Chiyao, 30.2%
said Chichewa, 0.7% Chitumbuka, 0.1% Chilomwe, 0.1% Chisena, 0.1% Chitonga, 0.1%
Chinkhonde, 0.1% Chindali, 0.2% Chingoni, and 2.1% were unrecorded.
It may be noted from the above figures that the most generally used language, apart from
Chiyao is Chichewa. This pattern has been to a considerable extent determined by
political factors. Since Chichewa is the lingua franca in Malawi (although not
necessarily a first language for everyone) it enjoys the status of “national language”
which every individual needs to know in order to survive in the wider political and social
circles.
Interestingly, the data show that although Chiyao is the mother tongue of most
respondents, an overwhelming 94.7% also speak Chichewa, which leads to the
conclusion that since its declaration in 1968 as a national language, Chichewa is gaining
ground. This becomes even clearer if the results of this survey are compared with those
of the 1966 Population Cencus.
3.6 VARIETIES OR DIALECTS OF CHIYAO
Subjects were also asked to name the variety of Chiyao they spoke. 75.4% claimed that
they did not know that the variety of Chiyao they spoke had a name whereas 15.9%
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