Executive Summary - Centre for Language Studies

CHAPTER 5ATTITUDES AND LANGUAGE LOYALTYAmong the many objectives of the study, the survey also sought to find out peoples’attitudes towards the various languages spoken in the region in order to determine futuretendencies in terms of language loyalty.In general, respondents regarded their languages (i.e languages associated with theirethnic groups) highly than those of others. In all the FGDs and KIIs that were conducted,people tended to choose their own first languages against any other language in terms ofwhat languages they would prefer to use as the lingua franca for the district as well as ineducation. While in some districts, the choice of the lingua franca was based on thedominance of the language over other languages in the district, in some districts; thechoice was made even when the speakers acknowledged that their language was not thecommonly spoken language in the district. For instance, in Dedza, TA Tambala and in afew Ciyawo speaking villages under TA Kaphuka, Ciyawo was chosen to be the districtlingua franca as well as medium of instruction. This shows the strength of the people’sattitude towards their languages. Most of the speakers of the different languages indicatedthat language is a symbol of their identity and it embraces their culture. This is thelanguage they came into contact with when they were born and it would be unwise forthem, it was claimed, to promote another language other than their own as a linguafranca. They argued that one’s culture can best be expressed and preserved through one’sown language.A Citonga speaking group interviewed in Nkhotakota stated that it is not fair to onlyconsider Chichewa as the most common language spoken in the district because thereare also many Citonga speakers especially in the northern part of the district and alongLake Malawi. They pointed out that although Chichewa is spoken by a large population,there are speakers of other languages who neither speak nor understand the language andit would be unfair to ignore the minority voices. They, too, need to be given a chance to35