Why Shona Dialects Are Disappearing (And Why It Matters)

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Shona is one of the 16 official languages of Zimbabwe—and as my mother tongue, it holds a deeply special place in my heart. Growing up speaking Shona, I’ve learned firsthand the profound beauty and complexity of this language.

But there is a hidden crisis happening right under our noses: our diverse Shona dialects are slowly disappearing. Today, approximately 75% of the Zimbabwean population speaks Shona, a prominent member of the vast Bantu language family (Mutasa, 1996). However, the Shona taught in schools and broadcast on the news isn’t the whole story. To understand why our rich, localized ways of speaking are fading, we have to look back at history.

The Elephant in the Room: How Standardisation Almost Killed the Shona Language

Historically, the Shona language wasn’t a single, rigid block of vocabulary. It was a beautiful tapestry of interconnected dialects. So, who introduced the “Standard Shona” we see in textbooks today?

During the colonial administration (1890–1980), missionaries struggled to communicate with the local population across different regions. To make their work easier, they decided it was necessary to create a single, unified language.

To solve this “problem,” the Rhodesian administration invited South African linguist Clement Doke in the early 1930s. Perceived as the ultimate expert, Doke was tasked with standardising the spelling, word division, and grammar. This administrative decision gave birth to Standard Shona, which rapidly became the sole official language for writing school books, newspapers, and official documents.

The Excluded Voices: Dialects Thrown Out of the Curricula

While standardisation made printing books easier, it was an enormous blunder for indigenous linguistic diversity. The policy heavily watered down the language, effectively sidelining the immense richness of traditional Shona.

By making Standard Shona the official benchmark, the system forced indigenous people to read and write a very specific version of the language. In the process, several rich dialects and sub-dialects were excluded from formal education and official use, including:

• Zezuru
• Korekore
• Ndau
• Kalanga (historically grouped with Shona, though often recognized as distinct today)
• Venda (similarly affected by regional standardisation policies)
• Manyika and Karanga

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Was Standardising the Shona Language a Mistake?

According to linguistic researcher Mhute (2016), standardisation under normal circumstances shouldn’t force a population to abandon more than half of their natural way of speaking. Yet, in Zimbabwe, that is exactly what happened.

The Shona people had been speaking diverse varieties that were robust enough to be considered independent languages. The new language policy forced generations of Zimbabweans “to speak in a prescribed way, in spite of whether they really speak the same language or not.”

The Domino Effect: From Language Shift to Language Death

When a nation’s official policy excludes regional dialects from schools, media, and government, a dangerous psychological shift occurs. Speakers lose the motivation to continue using their ancestral, localized ways of speaking.

If children aren’t taught their specific dialect in school, and if it isn’t viewed as “professional” or “standard,” they slowly stop using it. This lack of daily use leads directly to language shift, and eventually, the irreversible death of that particular dialect.

Instead of promoting multilingualism and preserving our heritage, the standardisation of the Shona language corrupted a once-vibrant, multi-faceted linguistic ecosystem.

Let’s Keep Our True Languages Alive

As a proud Shona speaker, I believe it is our responsibility to recognize the full spectrum of our language. By understanding the colonial history of Standard Shona, we can make a conscious effort to celebrate, speak, and pass down the unique dialects of our ancestors.

Over to you! Did you find this deep dive into Zimbabwe’s languages informative? Have you noticed the loss of your own local dialect over the years?

I would love to hear all about your personal experiences. Please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below! Let’s keep the conversation—and our dialects—alive.