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SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies

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Bay<br />

The results show that Chitumbuka is the most preferred language <strong>for</strong> use in government<br />

notices in three districts, namely, Karonga, Rumphi and Mzimba. This is followed by<br />

Chichewa. In Nkhata Bay, the same pattern observed above appears where Chichewa is<br />

the most preferred language followed by Chitonga and Chitumbuka each with 21.4%.<br />

Finally, guardians were requested to indicate what language(s) they would want social<br />

workers to use. Table 42 shows the results:<br />

Table 42:<br />

<strong>Language</strong> To Be Used By Social Workers<br />

% Respondents<br />

District Eglish Chichewa Tumbuka Nkhonde Tonga Swahili Lambia Yao Bandia<br />

Karonga 5.1 15.3 51.1 26.5 ­ ­ ­ ­ ­<br />

Chitipa ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­<br />

Rumphi ­ 21.3 73.3 ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­<br />

Mzimba 8.2 14.9 73.9 ­ ­ ­ ­­ ­ ­<br />

Nkhata<br />

Bay<br />

­ 46.0 24.6 ­ 26.2 ­ 0.8 0.8 ­<br />

The picture that emerges here shows that the preferred language <strong>for</strong> use by the social<br />

workers in Karonga, Rumphi and Mzimba is Chitumbuka. However, in Nkhata Bay the<br />

most favoured language is Chichewa followed by Chitonga and Chitumbuka respectively.<br />

A summary of the results given in the tables above show that in the Chitumbuka speaking<br />

areas of Rumphi and Mzimba, the language most preferred is Chitumbuka, followed by<br />

Chichewa and then English. In Karonga where only a part of the district speaks<br />

Chitumbuka, the preference <strong>for</strong> this language is not as overwhelming as in Rumphi and<br />

Mzimba. In Nkhata Bay, Chitumbuka is clearly not favoured. As stated above, this<br />

probably reflects the fact that this district does not linguistically accept domination in<br />

Chitumbuka.<br />

Parents/gaurdians were alos asked whether or not they would like their children to be<br />

taught in Chichewa, on the one hand, and Chitumbuka, on the othe hand. The results are<br />

tabulated below:<br />

52

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