Fanagalo and the Bantu languages in South Africa

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2138252
AutoresDesmond T Cole (University of the Witwatersrand, autor de correspondencia)
Año1953
Volumen12
Número1
Páginas1-9
Fecha de publicación1953-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAfrican Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-0184 • E-ISSN: 1469-2872
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00020185308706894
OpenAlexW2086055587
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas10

SYNOPSIS Extravagant claims have recently been made for Fanagalo as the “lingua franca of Southern Africa”. Attempts have been made to popularize it as “Basic Bantu”, and its introduction as a school subject has been advocated. This hybrid of Zulu, English and Afrikaans teas probably originated by the Indians in Natal during the latter half of the nineteenth century, and has since spread to the rest of the Union and to the Ehodesias. Its vocabulary is roughly 70 per cent Nguni (mainly Zulu), 24 per cent English, and 6 per cent Afrikaans, in origin, but it retains hardly any of the unique phonetical, morphological and syntactical characteristics of the Nguni and other Bantu languages. It therefore lacks the main features by which Bantu languages are identifiable as such. Furthermore, the Bantu themselves do not automatically understand Fanagalo, but must learn it just as the Europeans do. “Basic Bantu” is therefore a ridiculous and presumptuous misnomer. Fanagalo fulfils a real need on the mines and in certain other industries which employ large labour forces speaking a variety of languages. Otherwise, however, in the interests of improved race relations, its use should be avoided, whereas the study of Bantu languages by Europeans should be encouraged

Bantu languages · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Geography · Linguistics · Race (biology · Sociology · Zulu · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Second Language Learning and Teaching