SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

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that the Yaos being Muslims avoided mission education during the colonial period because of its emphasis on proselytization. This trend continued well into the independence period. As a result, the lowest proportions of males attending school were recorded in parts of Dedza and Salima districts, and in Mangochi and Machinga in the 1996 Population Census. These are the same areas which had large concentrations of Yaos in 1928. In the current survey 25.9% were uneducated. This upward trend in the number of educated Yaos can be attributed to the fact mission schools do not insist on proselytization any more, and additionally, the general availability of primary education. It is hoped that this upward trend will continue with the free primary education programme now in place. The survey has also revealed an important correlation between age and the liking to speak Chichewa. This correlation is shown in Table 11 below: TABLE 11: AGE VS LIKING TO SPEAK CHICHEWA AGE YES NO % 515 119 13.8 1620 303 35.2 2135 165 19.1 3645 82 9.5 4655 66 7.7 5665 43 2 5.2 Above 65 36 1 4.3 Missing 45 5.2 Those between the age of 16 – 20 recorded the highest liking to speaking Chichewa (35.2%), followed by those between 21 – 35 (19.1%) and those between 5 15 (13.8%). The numbers begin to decrease as the age increases. Those respondents between 36 45, 9.5% liked to speak Chichewa, 46 55, 7.7% liked to speak Chichewa, 56 – 65 liked to speak Chichewa, only 4.3% of those above 65 liked Chichewa. These facts can be accounted by the observation that those who are between 16 20 are in the upper classes of primary shool, and those between 21 35 are those who are in the job market. In these domains then the knowledge of Chichewa is very important. Beyond the age of 36 people lead a more settled life where the knowledge of Chichewa is perhaps not necessary. An important observation that becomes very clear in the survey is the dominance of 26
Chichewa. This has arisen from the fact that there has been a lot of intermixing between the Achewas and Yaos. In fact, historically, the Yaos settled in what were previously Chewa/Nyanja areas. Furthermore, it is attributed to the breakdown of traditional society, the making of Chichewa the national language and the sole indigenous language taught at school and the policy of transferring government employees to any district regardless of their origin or language proficiency. The latter influence has had the effect of bringing together people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds who need a common language for easy communication. This dominance of Chichewa in Yao speaking is going to continue in the foreseeable future. In conlusion the data analysed in this report have established that the Yao have a very positive attitude towards their language. It is apparent that the introduction of Chiyao into the school curriculum and in the print and electronic media is likely to receive considerable level of acceptability among the Yao. It has also been observed that Chichewa had made indelible inroads into the Yao communities. As a result bilingualism in Chiyao and Chichewa appears to be a fact of life for most Yaos. 3.9 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE MNINSTRY OF EDUCATION 1) The Ministry of Education should seriously consider introducing Chiyao as the medium of instruction or school subject since the majority of the respondents favoured the idea. 2) If Chiyao is to be introduced in the schools then the Mangochi Chiyao should be adopted since it is felt to be the “purer” form of Chiyao than the others. 3) Efforts should be made to standardize the various Mangochi dialects so as to produce a standard orthography. 4) Encourage the Malawi Institute of Education to prodece grammars, readers, teachers’ guides and other teaching/learning materials in Chiyao. 5) The role of Chichewa as a lingua franca should still be recognised and maintained. It is recommended that Chichewa should continue to be studied as a subject. 3 CHITUMBUKA SURVEY BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY 27
Page 1 and 2: SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS OF FOUR M
Page 3 and 4: 4.5.1 TEACHER’S RESPONSES 23 4.5.
Page 5 and 6: A Note from the Director on Socioli
Page 7 and 8: 1 INTRODUCTION The availability of
Page 9 and 10: instance, a mother tongue literacy
Page 11 and 12: level of understanding, whether the
Page 13 and 14: In relation to religions affiliatio
Page 15 and 16: there is l and w are repalced by d
Page 17 and 18: the survey that people from outside
Page 19 and 20: Above form 4 1 3 0.5 Other 3 0.3 Th
Page 21 and 22: REASONS GIVEN Easy communication Mo
Page 23 and 24: Chilomwe Chisena Chinkhonde English
Page 25: 50. It has been observed that those
Page 29 and 30: the most crucial informants because
Page 31 and 32: and pressing issues to handle e.g.
Page 33 and 34: Table 13: District Acceptance Of Ch
Page 35 and 36: The figures above clearly indicate
Page 37 and 38: Teachers were also requested to ind
Page 39 and 40: Rumphi 75.0 25.0 Mzimba 84.7 11.1 N
Page 41 and 42: Bay Table 24 shows that English is
Page 43 and 44: preferred language is Chilambia (17
Page 45 and 46: Rumphi 17.3 Pure Tumbuka 6.7 Henga
Page 47 and 48: Pure 1.5 Mmbelwa 1.5 Euthini 1.5 Ka
Page 49 and 50: Chichewa is the most favoured langu
Page 51 and 52: Respondents were also requested to
Page 53 and 54: Table 43: Whether To Be Taught In C
Page 55 and 56: % Resdpondentys District Chichewa C
Page 57 and 58: N/A 19.5 On the corollary question
Page 59 and 60: Table 53 shows that most pupils pre
Page 61 and 62: TRA = Translation NMT = Not mother
Page 63 and 64: Table 60: Language To Be Used In Ne
Page 65 and 66: Rumphi 41. 4 Mzimba 23. 9 Nkhata Ba
Page 67 and 68: case for Nkhata Bay is that Chitong
Page 69 and 70: Table 68 reveals that there is an i
Page 71 and 72: Chitumbuka, the same cannot be said
Page 73 and 74: (vii) (viii) To establish whether t
Page 75 and 76: the villagers would also ask the re
Page 77 and 78:
Chiradzulu 1 0.3 Mozambique 22 6.2
Page 79 and 80:
Undecided 1 0.3 The results present
Page 81 and 82:
There were 19 cases of respondents
Page 83 and 84:
On the question of whether the resp
Page 85 and 86:
Chitakhwani 2 6.9 Chikokhola 2 6.9
Page 87 and 88:
5.5.4.1 SUMMARY Although this categ
Page 89 and 90:
6 CHISENA SURVEY 6.1 BACKGROUND TO
Page 91 and 92:
ii) proficiency in Chisena and othe
Page 93 and 94:
Table 80: Age Groups Age Group Freq
Page 95 and 96:
Age Group Frequency % 09 20 4.9 1
Page 97 and 98:
Tengani 11 2.7 Nsanje 35 8.6 Phodzo
Page 99 and 100:
The majority of the pupils have cle
Page 101 and 102:
6.5.2.3 VARIETIES Asked bout where
Page 103 and 104:
mentioned the Nsanje variety, anoth
Page 105 and 106:
6.5.4 “OTHER” RESPONDENTS’ RE
Page 107 and 108:
grammars and dictionaries. (iv) The
Page 109:
109
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