Languages in Zimbabwe – Why I love my Zimbabwe Accent

Did you know there are 16 official languages in Zimbabwe? English is one of the dominant languages spoken in the country. I’m going to reveal to you why I love my Zimbabwe accent.

Have you ever wondered why different people from all over the world speak English with different accents?

If you look closer at home, the fascinating thing about Zimbabweans is that they speak the Shona language with different dialects. What makes it more interesting is that the dialect one speaks somehow shapes how they will speak English.

I didn’t know accents reflect something fundamental about being Zimbabwean. Accents reflect Zimbabwean cultural history and that makes me appreciate my Zimbabwean accent even more.

The realisation that dialects help identify a speaker’s town or village and each Shona dialect is specific to a sub-group opened my eyes.

Shona dialects form a part of who we are as a people and make them unique. Behind every accent is a cultural history and a reflection of the language people spoke the first time they learned to converse. 

What is a Dialect?

The Cambridge dictionary defines a dialect as a term for describing the language spoken by a particular group of people. 

A form of a language that people speak in a particular part of a country, containing some different words and grammar, etc”.

Cambridge Dictionary Online

People use regional dialects in some areas, but social dialects are more important in certain settings, like schools or offices.

“A region’s geographic location also has a direct influence on the development of a local tongue.”

What makes dialects important?

Dialects are part of our identity and make us unique and give us a sense of belonging. Shona is one of the major languages spoken in Zimbabwe. In my previous post Check Out Here, I gave an insight into how the Shona language came to standardisation and who engineered it.

This set in motion a historical process that watered down a language that was once very rich. These changes, including other developments over a long period, contributed to the diversity that exists now. Also, groups of people who immigrated played a part.

What languages are now official in Zimbabwe?

Ndlovu (2013) says Zimbabwe’s government identified six minority languages as official languages for teaching. Also, as subjects in primary schools in areas where people speak those languages as mother tongues. These languages include Kalanga, Nambya, Shangani, Sotho, Tonga and Venda. 

The Shona Dialects: Zimbabwe Accent

The Korekore (or Northern Shona)
Taυara, Shangwe, Korekore, Goυa, Budya, the Korekore of Urungwe, the Korekore of Sipolilo, Tande, Nyongwe of “Darwin”, and Pfungwe of Mrewa.

The Karanga Group
Duma, Jena, Mari, Goυera, Nogoυa, and Nyubi.

The Ndau Group.
Ndau, Garwe, Danda, and Shang.  

The Zezuru Group
Shawasha, Haraυa, another Goυa, Nohwe, Hera, Njanja, Mbire, Nobvu, Vakwachikwakwa, Vakwazvimba, Tsunga.

The Manyika Group

Hungwe, Manyika themselves, Teυe, Unyama, Karombe, Nyamuka, Bunji, Domba, Nyatwe, Guta, Bvumba, Here, Jindwi, and Boca.

Why Speaking English in Zimbabwean accent is frowned upon?

Most Zimbabweans speak and write English fluently despite it being a second language. However, the younger generation frowns upon speaking English with a Zimbabwean accent.

For these speakers, Shona marks their ethnicity, while English identifies them as educated citizens of the world.

Bernsten, J. (1994)

English plays a central role in Zimbabwe’s education system as the language of instruction. Indigenous languages have not been taken seriously as subjects of study. Instead, there is a heavy emphasis on English proficiency, which jeopardizes proficiency in the mother tongue.

Thondhlana, Juliet (2002)

Why do people shy away from the way they speak? People don’t seem to realise that elsewhere in the world, including Britain, the English people themselves converse in many dialects.

Where did the English language come from? The English language came about because of the invasions of the island of Britain over many hundreds of years. 

It was only by 1400 AD that England started to write its documents officially in English. Before that, in the mid ages, Anglo-Saxon was the main language.

The point I am driving home is that dialects are not static but always evolve with time. The old English is extremely difficult to understand. So there is no shame in speaking English in Zimbabwean accent.

Zimbabweans would have developed their own English dialect like people in other English-speaking countries. I can testify that I grew up thinking that speaking in my Zimbabwean English accent was something we could not celebrate.

I remember in those days when I was in high school, fellow students who spoke English eloquently got nicknames “nose brigades”. Meaning they spoke English through the nose.

Zimbabwe’s English Language Usage

The English spoken in Zimbabwe has its roots in British English and it evolves continuously. The irony is that if the so called eloquent English speakers in Zimbabwe were to live in the UK, they would still come short of meeting the local standards. Perhaps they would need to polish up their accents to speak audible English.

The most widely spoken language in the United Kingdom is English, but it’s spoken in various dialects. For example, if you were to live in Leicester city, you would speak English with a Leicester accent.

The United Kingdom has the largest variation of accents of any country in the world, and therefore no single “British accent” exists.

Wikipedia

According to Mlambo’s 2009 survey, most Zimbabweans speak English, which reflects the linguistic traits of Shona. It makes sense why some people struggle to hear the words some of the Zimbabweans folks speak.

Chigwedere, S. (1989) traced the origin of the name Shona. The Shona people were an autonomous political grouping that existed in ancient times. In those days, it was one tribe with a common culture and language before they fragmented into various clans with different names.

Winds of change are shifting things back to normality. The Zimbabwe school curriculum will include literature that relates to its people and indigenous cultures, according to Tapureta, B (2016) in the Herald Newspaper.

Furthermore, Ndau or Chindau dialect is now one of Zimbabwe’s official languages. What I have written in this post is not an exhaustive list of the positive changes that are reshaping the Shona language, once very rich and flowery.

Hopefully, you find my post on Languages in Zimbabwe – Why I love my Zimbabwe Accent informative. You’re welcome to share any knowledge about your dialects so that we learn from each other.

References

Aeneas S Chigwedere, (1989) Article: How We Became Shona, Heritage of Zimbabwe, 107-115.

Mlambo, (2009) Paper: A Survey of the Language Situation in Zimbabwe, English Today, Volume 25, Issue 2, Cambridge University Press, pp 18-24.

Thondhlana J, (2002) Paper: Using Indigenous Languages for Teaching and Learning in Zimbabwe, ERIC.

The Herald Newspaper, Beaven Tapureta, Zimbabwe: Time to Stop the ‘Standard Shona’ Phenomenon, 22 June 206.