Book Review of Ernst Dammann, Afrikanische Handschriften, Teil 1 - Handschriften in Swahili und anderen Sprachen Afrikas

Lugha ni nyenzo muhimu katika mchakato wa mawasiliano, hali inayoifanya nyenzo hii kuweza kuchanganuliwa kwa njia mbalimbali. Katika jitihada za kuichunguza na kuichanganua lugha, imebainika kwamba kuna uhusiano wa ufaano kati ya miundo ya lugha na dhima yake. Huu ndio uhusiano ambao hutumiwa na wasanii kifasihi kuunganisha mifumo ya lugha inayotumika katika matini na kuafikia ruwaza zao. Hali hii inatokana na uwezo wa kufulikana kwa lugha kama chombo cha mawasiliano ambao pia unaipa lugha uwezo wa kusukwa tofauti kwa mujibu wa dhima tofauti na hivyo basi kuendeleza grafolojia. Grafolojia ni mojawapo ya viwango vya uchanganuzi wa kiisimu kimtindo. Hata hivyo, umuhimu na nafasi ya grafolojia kama kiwango cha uchanganuzi wa matini hudhihirika katika umitindo na mbinu mseto. Kwa hali hiyo, watalaam wengi wakiwemo Halliday, McIntosh na Strevens (1964) wamefanya utafiti kuhusu jinsi mchepuko wa kigrafolojia unavyoathiri ufasiri kimaana na kuzalisha athari zingine za kiujumi katika matini. Miongoni mwa vipengele vya kigrafolojia ambavyo wamevitaja kwamba vinaibua athari tofauti katika matini ni viakifishi. Ingawa uandishi wowote, uwe wa jadi au wa leo unahitaji kuzingatia matumizi mema ya viakifishi, hivi leo kumeshuhudiwa ukiukaji wa matumizi ya vipengele hivi katika shughuli za kijamii. Ni kwa ajili hii ndiposa makala haya yameandaliwa yakilenga kuchanganua aina mbalimbali za viakifishi, herufi kubwa na mchango wa alama hizi katika uimarishaji wa mawasiliano katika lugha ya Kiswahili. Aidha makala haya yametayarishwa kwa kuchanganua yaliyomo katika riwaya ya kisasa ya Mkamandume (2013) huku nadharia ya Sarufi Amilifu Mfumo (SAM) iliyoasisiwa na Halliday ikiongoza utafiti huu. / Language is an important tool in communication. In an effort to explore and analyze language, it has been observed that there is a correlation between language structures and stylistic choices. Also used by literary artists who integrate these principles of in their text, graphology is one of the standards of linguistic analysis in style. However, its importance and place as a standard for textual analysis is manifested in a variety of styles and techniques. In this context, many scholars including Halliday, McIntosh and Stevens (1964) have done research on how grammatical “abnormalities' affect interpretation and produce other metaphorical effects in texts. This article aims at analyzing the different types of signs and conventions, abbreviations, practices of capitalization and the contribution of these symbols in strengthening communication in Swahili. In addition, this article uses the content of the novel Mkamandume (2013) and refers back to the basics of 'Sarufi Amilifu Mfumo' (SAM) developed by Halliday.

This paper analyses signs of ill-omen in the selected literary Swahili prose of Euphrase Kezilahabi published between 1971-1991. We interrogate their indicative interpretation as foregrounded by the author. We shall specifically concentrate on how he artistically exploits the entrenched ill-omen belief system of his society to drive his themes and artistic techniques. Though critics have analysed some elements of literary symbolism in the works of Euphrase Kezilahabi, this paper, in particular, concentrates on the exploration of signs of ill-omen scattered in several of his prose works.

This paper considers some of the questions posed by literary translations both from and into Swahili. While the questions a translator might address as she proceeds with each translation may be the same, their differing answers often highlight the translator’s different position towards, and history with, each target language, as well as her aesthetic and political commitments in each. The projects discussed are Mlenge Fanuel Mgendi’s comic short story Starehe gharama (Comfort is Expensive) about a young schoolboy’s misadventure on a daladala bus in Dar es Salaam and Tope Folarin’s Caine Prize shortlisted story Genesis (Mwanzo), in which two Nigerian boys living in the American Midwest witness their mother’s struggle with her new surroundings.

Kuanzia mwaka 1964 hadi 1993, idara ya Kiswahili katika Shirika la Uchapishaji wa Lugha za Kigeni ilitafsiri na kuchapisha jumla ya vitabu 258 vya Kichina kwenda Kiswahili huku wasomi wa Kiswahili walitafsiri vitabu 26 vya Kiswahili kwa Kichina. Kwa kulinganisha idadi na maudhui ya vitabu hivyo katika enzi ya mapinduzi na ya mageuzi, makala hii inadhihirisha utegemezi wa tafsiri kwa sera ya serikali na mazingira ya jamii. Kwa hivyo, changamoto za kitaaluma na za kiuchumi zilizopo katika kutafsiri vitabu kwenda au kutoka Kiswahili nchini China zinakabili serikali, wachapishaji, waandishi, watafsiri na wasomaji kwa pamoja. / Between 1964 and 1993, the Kiswahili department of the Foreign Languages Press of China translated and published 258 books from Chinese into Swahili while 26 books were translated from Swahili into Chinese. This article highlights the dependency of translation processes on government policies as well as societal circumstances by comparing the number of books and their content during the periods of revolution and reform. Thus, the academic as well as economic challenges in the context of the translation of books from and into Kiswahili have to be addressed by the government, the publishers, authors, translators as well as readers.

In Egypt, Swahili has a prominent role as it is used in teaching, religious activities and journalism related with East African Countries. This is a sign of the good relations between Egypt and East African areas where Swahili is used. These relations are also based on the religion of Islam. Translations from Swahili into Arabic and vice versa play a special role in the cultural exchange between Egypt and Swahiliphone East Africa. Two Egyptian institutions are especially active in translation, the university of Al-Azhar and the National Centre for Translation. This article gives an overview of translation activities in Egypt and discusses their opportunities and challenges.

Lugha ya Kiswahili imeenea na kukua kiasi cha kuweza kupambana na zingine katika ngazi za kimataifa kwenye mfumo wa sasa wa utandawazi. Hata hivyo, Kiswahili hakiwezi kupata fanaka inayotarajiwa huko nje iwapo hakithaminiwi na kudhaminiwa nyumbani (Afrika Mashariki). Bado lugha ya Kiswahili inakumbana na pingamizi nyingi mno; na miongoni mwa vikwazo hivyo ni mielekeo ya lugha inayobainika katika jamii. Makala hii inajikita zaidi katika mielekeo ya viongozi wa Afrika Mashariki, na wasomi wa Kiswahili kuhusu nafasi na umuhimu wa Kiswahili. Viongozi na wasomi wana ushawishi mkubwa sana kutokana na nafasi yao katika jamii. Wote wanaheshimika na kuenziwa; viongozi kutokana na mamlaka waliyopewa, na wasomi kwa sababu ya maarifa waliyonayo. Kutokana na ukweli huo, tabia na mienendo yao, pamoja na matamko yao mbalimbali yana athari kubwa sana katika jamii. Mara nyingi, watu wengi hupenda kuiga wayafanyayo; hali inayobainika pia katika matumizi ya lugha. Kabla ya kuijadili mielekeo na matumizi yao ya lugha, maswala mawili muhimu yanayochangia ujenzi wa hiyo mielekeo katika jamii yatazungumziwa: thamani ya lugha, na zoezi la kujifunza lugha ya pili.

This paper discusses the problems caused by the linguistic features used by speakers as the basis of determining their social identity. The concept of identity is broad and closely related with socio-cultural and eco-spheres environment of the speakers. The speaker’s identity is determined by employing both social and linguistic features in the overall analysis. The linguistic features include the whole range of language use, from phonetic features to lexical units, syntactic structures and family names. This paper therefore argues that the speaker’s linguistic features pose some problems in determining the speaker’s identity. The first problem concerns the concepts of language and dialect which are defined differently by different scholars. The second problem refers to multilingual speakers with diversified linguistic competence, and lastly, it has been noted with concern that some speakers use artificial family names which are not from their ethnic origin, hence complicating the process of determining the identity of the speakers.

Swahili ist keineswegs eine besonders „exotische“ Sprache, aber dennoch fällt es schwer, eine gu-te moderne Grammatik des Standard-Swahili (Kiswahili sanifu) zu finden. Insbesondere die Inter-pretation der vorkommenden Tempora, Aspekte oder Modi des Verbs sind in den erhältlichen Grammatiken diskrepant bis widersprüchlich. Der Artikel versucht, einen systematischen Ansatz für eine strukturelle Matrix des TAM-Systems im Swahili herauszuarbeiten. Dabei beziehe ich mich auf die von Shankara Bhat in The Prominence of Tense, Aspect and Mood (1999) vorge-schlagene typologische Methode. Bhat legt dar, dass nicht jede Sprache jede Dimension von TAM gleich gewichtet, sondern dass jeweils eine davon vorherrscht. Eine Analyse von TAM in einer be-stimmten Sprache muss sich daher an der prominenten Dimension orientieren. Im Artikel wird herausgearbeitet, dass das Tempus die strukturierende Dimension im Swahili darstellt und dass im Gegensatz dazu der Aspekt nicht systematisch grammatikalisiert ist. Dabei war es nötig, die im Swahili vorkommenden TAM-Formen funktional zu interpretieren und zu benennen, da diese in der aktuellen Literatur teilweise sehr unterschiedlich analysiert werden.

This bibliography is an update of Thomas Geider’s comprehensive bibliography of 100 pages which he published in Swahili Forum 10 (2003). Thomas Geider had almost finished it when he fell ill in April 2010. He left the manuscript when he passed away on 15 October 2010. It has been completed and edited by the editors of Swahili Forum, and comprises mainly works published between 2003 and 2009. Also included are some works published in 2001 and 2002 which came to Thomas Geider’s attention after he had completed his 2003 bibliography.