SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies
SOCIOLOLINGUISTIC SURVEYS - Centre for Language Studies
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