"There are amaZulu on my stoep" – Did I understand correctly?

While the World Cup is in full swing, local football clubs like AmaZulu FC are not particularly present in the media. But over the past few days, another amaZulu has suddenly slipped into the newsletters of the SABC. Some unedited examples of their news web page:

• July 4, 2018: The King of AmaZulu Goodwill Zwelithini called his subjects to stand up and defend their land.
• 5 July 2018 (1): The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) defended amaZulu King Goodwill Zwelithini's comments on the land issue.
• July 5, 2018 (2): The African National Congress (ANC) says it will seek a meeting with the King of AmaZulu Goodwill Zwelithini … [19659003] July 6, 2018: Wednesday the King, at an address to AmaZulu warned that they would resist any attempt to dissolve the trust …

. but despite these few potholes, it is generally considered culturally sensitive and politically correct to use isiZulu instead of Zulu language ] I guess the same thing would apply to amaZulu instead of Zulus .

It is universal for languages ​​to borrow words and proper names from other languages. For example, the official Afrikaans spelling, the Afrikaanse woordelys in spelreëls (list of words and spelling rules in Afrikaans), contains an entire chapter on how to spell words borrowed from other languages ​​(South African). Should it be oeboentoe or ubuntu, or are both correct in Afrikaans? Do we write Shaka, Chaka or Tsjaka when speaking of the famous Zulu king?

Rajesh Jantilal / AFP / Getty Images

Borrowing words from your other languages ​​is a great benefit of living in South Africa. Afrikaans and Anglophones borrowed words like impala and impi from Zulu, and in return Zulu speakers borrowed itafula from Afrikaans tafel and imfologo from the English fork ; Venda loudspeakers made vhuthada from the word Sotho bothata ; The speakers of Xhosa created amaBhulu on the Afrikaans Boers ; we all use KwaZulu-Natal Bafana-Bafana and Amabhokobhoko .

Against this precedent, it seems quite natural to borrow amaZulu too. And besides, one might ask, why not also Batswana Vhavenda and Vatsonga ?

This brings us to the difficult side of this editorial practice

Twenty years ago, the well-known and respected linguist and former rector of the University of Zululand, Professor AC Nkabinde, wrote an article in the "South African Journal of African Languages" in which he made it clear that "the use of nominal prefixes in the names of African languages ​​occurring in Afrikaans or English is pedantic". To refer to the Zulu language as isiZulu in an English text is in his opinion nothing but the inkwell. From a linguistic point of view, he rightly notes that the prefixes of the ouni "[n] indicate singular and plural forms of nouns and generate concordances of sentences that are useless in one language … like Afrikaans or English. "Therefore, he argued, ilobolo becomes lobolo or lobola in English and Afrikaans; uphutu becomes poetoe in Afrikaans and putu in English, and abaMbo is presented in English as the Mbo people .

If Professor Nkabinde was still alive, he probably would have mocked at this new trend at SABC

His point is well illustrated by the inconsistencies in the SABC news texts.Sometimes he is referred to as AmaZulu sometimes also amaZulu – what is correct? Sometimes it is the king amaZulu sometimes king of amazulu sometimes king of amazulu . Which one should we use? Well, to be honest, if we really want to get on this slippery slope, I would ask why not use Goodwill Zwelethini kaBhekuzulu, iNkosi yamaZulu in English? Why embarrbad the British imperialist and colonialist title King ? It is rather iNkosi yamaZulu that the king of amaZulu is not it?

Call me a heretic because I can not pronounce Lancaster as a British Barcelona as a Spaniard, Nkandla as a Zulu, or Gouda as a Dutchman. But please, excommunicate also all English speakers, Spaniards, Zulus and even Dutch speakers who can not pronounce my name as would an Afrikaans speaker.

And why stop there?

iNkosi yamaZulu should not convene three imbizo s but rather three iz imbizo . The English press should not account for six indaba who were detained, but rather for six iz indaba. Because in Zulu the plural is indicated by a prefix, and not by a suffix as in English

If the SABC wants to be fair and consistent, then I guess the Zulu broadcaster will have to refer, by for example, Khama III, Kgosi ya Bagammangwato ba Botswana ? Would this broadcaster be happy to use the prefixes of Tswana instead of the more correct Zulu word form abeNgwato) ? And if it fits Setswana, will it also apply to English? No more isayensi and imfologo but henceforth only science and fork speaking Zulu. Would that be fair?

Let's get back on track …

If it is universal that languages ​​borrow words from each other, it is also universal for languages ​​to adapt (appropriate ?!) such borrowing (1) pronunciation; (2) the alphabet and spelling; and (3) the grammar of the language of borrowing. We do not see Moscow in the English press, but rather Moscow in English, Moskou in Afrikaans, and iMoskwa in Zulu; not 東京 but Tokyo Tokio and iTokyo respectively in the three languages; not Deutsch in these languages, but rather German Duits and isiJalimani .

First, how will the English broadcaster pronounce amaZulu ?

While Jacob Zuma will not agree, it is widely accepted in linguistic circles that it is almost impossible for a person who has not grown up in Zulu, or whose language Kindergarten is not tonal, pronounce Zulu words as a Zulu speaker. This is still an approximate pronunciation, just like the pronunciation of clicks, let's say that Khoekhoegowab remains an almost impossible task for any non-Khoekhoegowab speaker, even for Zulus or Xhosa who are used to click in their language

. your hand now if you can pronounce our national motto, "! ke e: | xarra ǁke", perfectly … Nobody … Nobody thought so …)

Call me a heretic because I can not not pronounce Lancaster as a British, Barcelona as a Spaniard, Nkandla as a Zulu, or Gouda as a Dutchman. But please, excommunicate also all English speakers, Spaniards, Zulus and even Dutch speakers who can not pronounce my name as would an Afrikaans speaker. And so, to avoid a mbad pyre in a prolonged Linguistic Inquisition, all speakers of the world come close to words and names of other languages ​​with the spoken word device at their disposal. It's quite simple, and we should all relax …

Rather than celebrate the fact that we lend, we borrow and adapt to each other as good neighbors do, some people want to be doctrinaire about the language of another group of people should work, and what words they can use or not. For me as a linguist, it is the worst form of linguistic colonialism.

Second, how should amaZulu be spelled and styled in another language?

Let's say that an Afrikaans journalist wants to borrow ] amaZulu . She will write it as Amazulu or Amazoeloe because in Afrikaans, the names are styled with capital letters, and the sound [u] can be represented by "u" or "u" oe ". The same type of adaptation occurred when the Zulu people borrowed English percent as iphesenti and Afrikaans dorp as idolobha. That's how languages ​​work, nothing special. The question is whether the Zulu people will be angry if someone wrote Amazulu or Amazoeloe in Afrikaans (just as Zuma was terribly upset by the way the non-Zulus pronounced Nkandla

And third, how should the word borrowing amazulu come into the grammar of English?

For the sake of Briefly, accept me that Zulu is grammatically very different from English.For example, Zulu has powerful grammatical prefixes that are lacking in English, while English has other syntactic and morphological constructs that are missing in Zulu Let us take the two words iNkosi yamaZulu : This can be translated as the king of the Zulu nation or the king of the Zulus or the Zulu King in English Two different languages ​​with d There are different expressive and grammatical mechanisms: this is how languages ​​work, nothing special.

But now, if I am using amaZulu in English, should I also borrow all the grammatical properties of ama- prefix? If so, then amaZulu is already plural, and I should not say * amaZulus . Therefore, if I want to refer to an individual from amaZulu he must act from a umZulu (which should then be written in English as Umzulu ). 19659019] In Zulu, these same prefixes are also used to indicate possessive relationships, among many other functions. So, to say the King of amaZulu is grammatically incorrect; it is the reason why we see in some of the texts SABC the king of amazulu (without on ). But even this possessive particle of is incorrect: Strictly speaking, it should only be King amaZulu . But this King still does not have his own grammatical prefix, and I'm back to my question: Why not use Goodwill Zwelethini kaBhekuzulu, iNkosi yamaZulu in English, finish in klaar?

The grammatical pitfalls and editorial implications of such a solution are far more important than the political gains of reverence in the direction of the king. Instead of celebrating the fact that we lend, borrow and adapt to each other as good neighbors do, some people want to be doctrinaire about how another group's language should work and what words they can use or not. For me as a linguist, it is the worst kind of linguistic colonialism.

I have to agree with Professor Nkabinde on this subject: each language has its own subtleties; Let's learn and respect that. And show respect for each other by our actions, not by grammar.

Gerhard van Huyssteen is Professor of Language Technology at Northwestern University.