{"title":"Language Preservation, Evolution, and Loss: The Case of the Shona Language Spoken in Kenya","authors":"Tambawoga Muchena, Ernest Jakaza","doi":"10.1080/10228195.2022.2089718","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The discussion on whether endangered languages should be preserved or not is still a contested one. Language nationalists have likened people losing their language to a people that have become unclothed, as they would have lost their culture, ubuntu, and identity. However, another group argues that language loss is not as catastrophic as linguistic nationalists would like people to believe; just like culture, it should be allowed to evolve naturally. The paper revisits the debate, focusing on the Shona-speaking people who arrived in Kenya in 1960. The paper uses secondary data to explore the sociolinguistic complexities of this Kenyan Shona language. Arguing within Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of linguistic capital, the paper contends that whilst there is no problem with documenting the language, attempting to preserve and maintain it is retrogressive and may result in disrupting the way of living of a people.","PeriodicalId":43882,"journal":{"name":"Language Matters","volume":"53 1","pages":"23 - 36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Language Matters","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2022.2089718","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract The discussion on whether endangered languages should be preserved or not is still a contested one. Language nationalists have likened people losing their language to a people that have become unclothed, as they would have lost their culture, ubuntu, and identity. However, another group argues that language loss is not as catastrophic as linguistic nationalists would like people to believe; just like culture, it should be allowed to evolve naturally. The paper revisits the debate, focusing on the Shona-speaking people who arrived in Kenya in 1960. The paper uses secondary data to explore the sociolinguistic complexities of this Kenyan Shona language. Arguing within Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of linguistic capital, the paper contends that whilst there is no problem with documenting the language, attempting to preserve and maintain it is retrogressive and may result in disrupting the way of living of a people.
期刊介绍：
The purpose of Language Matters is to provide a journal of international standing with a unique African flavour focusing on multilingualism in Africa. Although the journal contributes to the language debate on all African languages, sub-Saharan Africa and issues related to multilingualism in the southern African context are the journal’s specific domains. The journal seeks to promote the dissemination of ideas, points of view, teaching strategies and research on different aspects of African languages, providing a forum for discussion on the whole spectrum of language usage and debate in Africa. The journal endorses a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language and welcomes contributions not only from sociolinguists, psycholinguists and the like, but also from educationalists, language practitioners, computer analysts, engineers or scholars with a genuine interest in and contribution to the study of language. All contributions are critically reviewed by at least two referees. Although the general focus remains on multilingualism and related issues, one of the three issues of Language Matters published each year is a special thematic edition on Language Politics in Africa. These special issues embrace a wide spectrum of language matters of current relevance in Southern Africa.
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