Researching and Documenting the Languages of Tanzania
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Date
2008
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawaii Press
Abstract
This paper describes the challenges that researchers have encountered during six years
of implementing a research and documentation project for the languages of Tanzania. It
discusses the methods evolved by the project researchers for the production of a language
atlas for Tanzania and presents preliminary results from the research. The results show
that the language with the most native speakers, Sukuma, has twice as many as its closest
rival, Kiswahili. The paper also presents an account of the research for documenting the
grammasr and vocabularies of the languages of Tanzania. The expected impact of this
particular form of documentation, as well as the limits, are discussed. It is argued that a
language needs to be unchained from politically imposed shackles in order for a society to
reap the full benefits of its cultural resources.
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Citation
Muzale, H.R. and Rugemalira, J.M., 2008. Researching and documenting the languages of Tanzania.