An investigation into the inter-relatedness of ila, kaonde, lenje, nyanja, sala, soli and tonga

Abstract

This study, “An Investigation into the Inter-relatedness among Ila, Kaonde, Lenje, Nyanja, Sala, Soli, and Tonga” involved a lexicostatistical survey on the inter-relatedness of the languages mentioned above. According to Doke (1954), Bantu Botatwe refers to the language group comprising the seven languages namely, Ila, Lenje, Lundwe, Sala, Soli, Tonga and Twa. While the affinity of these languages is generally accepted, no systematic studies of the lexicostatistical analysis have been made. The purpose of this study was to conduct a lexicostatistical survey on the degree of inter-relatedness of the languages investigated. The study included Kaonde and Nyanja due to their geographical proximity to two Bantu Botatwe languages, Tonga and Soli, respectively. The study focused on Sala, one of the least documented languages in the Bantu Botatwe Group, to establish its degree of relatedness with Tonga, the language used for literacy and as a school subject in Salaspeaking areas. The study also focused on Soli, to ascertain the degree of inter-relatedness between Soli and Nyanja. ‘The Swadesh List’ of two hundred (200) vocabulary items, was the data collection instrument used. Three informants (translators) of above forty-five (45) years of age were carefully chosen from each language using purposeful sampling. The data collected were analyzed using the lexicostatistical method whose results were presented in tables and graphs. Established cognates were coded: a plus (+) sign for cognates; a minus (-) sign for non-cognates; a hash (#) sign for the second set of cognates; a caret (^) sign for the third set of cognates where in a list of seven items three items were found to be cognates. Cognates were computed using a calculator to establish the percentage of inter-relatedness between the languages. The study established that Sala’s degree of inter-relatedness with the other seven languages studied ranges from 39.5 to 81.5 percent. The highest percentage is between Sala and Lenje at 81.5 percent. The lowest is between Sala and Nyanja at 39.5 percent. The study has also established that Soli and Nyanja are inter-related by 45 percent while Tonga and Kaonde are inter-related by 33 percent. The researcher recommends that: (1) A lexicostatistical survey be carried out in other Zambian languages. (2) A study be carried out to investigate the implications of the low percentages of inter-relatedness between Kaonde and Tonga in relation to the local language learners’ performance. (3) Curriculum Development Center needs to develop materials for languages used for initial literacy e.g. Kikaonde in Mumbwa and Soli in Chongwe. The researcher anticipates that the study will contribute to the existing comparative linguistic studies thereby enhancing knowledge and understanding by college or university lecturers as well as students. Key words: Bantu Botatwe, Bantu Languages, Classification, Cognates, Comparative Linguistics, Inter-relatedness, Lexicostatistics, Percentages, Proto Bantu and Swadesh List.