Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Week 4 Mesthrie & Surek-Clark 2013
Week 4 Mesthrie & Surek-Clark 2013
1.Introduction
Fanakalo
Other names:
Number of speakers:
Major lexifier:
Other contributing
languages:
Location:
TIT
EB
KAR
ER
Mozambique
Botswana
W
itw
a
South
Africa
at
Pretoria
ter
s
ROO
ng
ute
a
G -rant
Swaziland
Lesotho
R
er
Z
wa
ta
a
-N
ulu
iv
PE
NG
SouthZIMBABWE
Africa, also neighbouring
countries
Official languages of Afrikaans, English, Ndebele,
South Africa:
Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi,
Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa,
and Zulu
LA
Fanagalo, Chilapalapa
c.3 million, in decline
Zulu
Afrikaans, English
India n
Ocea n
2.Sociohistorical background
The first contacts between Europeans and indigenous peoples in South Africa took place in the Western Cape (1652 to
1800, which roughly marks the Dutch period), where the lingua franca Afrikaans arose out of the experience of colonization and slavery. As Afrikaners moved into the Eastern Cape
from c.1770 onwards, Afrikaans was no longer a viable means of
Map 1.
AFRIQUE DU SUD
34
3-04_fanakalo.indd 34
5/23/2012 9:31:00 AM
Fanakalo
the missionary John Read, at Kat River in 1816, who thought
he was speaking Xhosa). Fanakalo does not appear to have been
widespread in this period: it is but one of several strategies that
appear in the archival and travel literature of the times, and
judging from the sources it was not very frequently used. Only
one fragment was encountered in the period 18001850 in a detailed survey undertaken by Mesthrie for the Eastern Cape.
Of the many diffuse strategies of communication on the
Eastern Cape frontier, the one that won out later in the new colony of Natal (established 1843) further north along the coast
was the Fanakalo option. Initially known as Kitchen Kaffir, the
Pidgin was likely to have been brought over by people with the
experience of the frontier (Afrikaners moving away from the
British in the Cape Colony, their coloured servants, English
adventurers, and possibly some officials). No concrete evidence
of this link exists, however, and the accounts and examples of
Fanakalo give a picture of a pidgin being invented anew out of
the contacts between British settlers and the Zulu population
that outnumbered them. Two major crystallizing events for
Fanakalo took place in this period: (a) the arrival of indentured
Indians in large numbers to the coastal province of Natal (starting in 1860); and (b) the discovery of diamonds and gold in the
interior (starting in 1867).
Indians acquired Fanakalo rapidly as a means of communicating with English employers and local Zulus, and occasionally
amongst themselves when there was no other lingua franca between North and South Indians. They were probably the ones
to stabilize the Pidgin. The gold and diamond rush to the interior resulted in a new Babel containing a variety of European
and African languages and some Chinese (Indians were banned
from venturing into the interior from Natal). Fanakalo became
an important means for the mining bosses to communicate
withand controlthe labour force.
3.Sociolinguistic situation
For much of the twentieth century the Pidgin was closely connected with labour in the mining industry. Since the 1990s there
have been moves to phase out Fanakalo because of its negative
stereotypes and replace it with English. It is not clear whether
these efforts have been successful. Because the mining industry
attracted workers from other regions in the continent, Fanakalo
has been taken to many parts of Africa, where it often carries
positive overtonesrepresenting the sophistication of those
young men who have worked abroad in the cities. In South Africa it is frequently denigrated as a language of exploitation and
cheap labour. This contrasts with earlier optimisticif ignorantdescriptions hailing it as a future lingua franca of southern Africa (see e.g. Hopkin-Jenkins 1947).
Fanakalo is receding slightly insofar as English is spreading as a lingua franca. In our experience it is facing competition
4.Phonology
Fanakalo utilizes a basic five-vowel system, as shown in Table1.
This five-vowel pattern is typical of Nguni, where length is not
phonemic, and diphthongs are non-existent (vowel combinations either via morphological processes or from loanwords lead
to sandhi or glide insertion). Fanakalo does have sporadic diphthongs resulting from fast speech forms: ai ~ hayi no; aikhona
~ hayikhona no: daisa ~ dayisa sell; gwai ~ gwayi tobacco
etc. Penultimate vowelsas in Nguniare typically lengthened: thus [buga] see versus [bugile] saw. Tonal distinctions are not made, apart from the deictics: l this versus l
that (versus lo the); lpha here lpha there (versus lapha
in). Final voiceless vowels of Zulu are usually dropped in Fanakalo: thus az to know rather than -azi; hash horse rather
than ihashi.
The basic consonant system is given in Table2. This schema
is subject to much variation: foe example, aspiration, as in Zulu,
Table1.Vowels
Front
Close
Mid
Open
i
e
Central
Back
u
o
35
3-04_fanakalo.indd 35
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM
Nasal
Fricative
Lateral
Fricative/affricate
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
voiced
voiceless
voiced
Rhotic
Glide
Glottal
Velar
t
d
n
s
z
l
Alveolateral
p
b
m
f
v
Alveopalatal
Alveolar
Plosive
Bilabial
Table2.Consonants
k
g
(or l)
l
(or l)
handbooks also give zi- as a plural prefix for animals and -imi
for inanimates. In Farm Fanakalo, somewhat surprisingly, no
regular noun plural exists. If plurality needs to be clarified or
emphasized, speakers use the periphrastic zonke all. Jugmohans (1990) light subjects produce occasional plurals in (prefix) ma-. In addition they show an innovation not recorded in
any other database: the use of plural suffix -s from English. This
is an intriguing anglification of the morphology by urban Indian speakers. (We have no evidence of it, however, in our rural
database.)
The demonstratives in Fanakalo are the following:
(1) l
this vs. l
that
lpha here vs. lpha there
5.Noun phrase
Nouns do not generally have inflections, in contrast to the range
of noun class prefixes of Zulu. However, Mine Fanakalo has maas plural marker (usually for [+human] nouns), though some
It is the preponderance of lo as a definite article and demonstrative pronoun that gives Fanakalo one of its many disparaging
names (Isilolo the lo-lo language). Lo also occurs in the name
Fanakalo (like this, i.e. pertaining to instructions of employer
to employee). In ordinary usage as well as in handbook translations lo occurs as both definite and indefinite article. Thus
Mayne (1947) translates a in sentences like Use a dry cloth
(p.25) and Dig a trench here by lo (not munye one). Example
(2) is from Jugmohan (1990: 58), with his translation (as indefinite).
(2) Mina lo nurse gotwa yena lo tisha.
I
art nurse but (s)he art teacher
Iam a nurse, but she is a teacher.
Indeed, as Cole (1953: 6) remarked, speakers of Fanakalo acquired the habit of putting lo before every noun, and a personal
pronoun before every verb, even if the subject be expressed.
For lo this is certainly a matter for closer future investigation,
using categories such as specific, generic, and known to
hearer. Other determiners with a quantifier function in Fanakalo are zonke all, maningi many, ayi-maningi few (literally not many).
The pronouns of Farm Fanakalo are taken from Zulu:
mina I
wena you
yena he/she/it
thina we
nina you (pl.)
bona they
These are free morphemes which in Zulu are absolute pronouns, despite the regularity of the final na syllable which occurs in Nguni for reasons of stress. In Nguni, these free pronoun
forms are used only for emphasis or contrast; in other contexts
only the subject prefix is used. Handbooks of Mine Fanakalo do
not give the forms nina (you pl.) and bona (they), substituting
the periphrastic forms wena zonke you all and yena zonke he/
36
3-04_fanakalo.indd 36
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM
Fanakalo
she/it all. These are innovations of Fanakalo and are not possible in Zulu. In Farm Fanakalo the forms zonke wena and zonke
yena (with reversal of the order) are lesser used alternatives (and
not characteristic of deep speakers).
For possession, periphrasis occurs: ga X denotes of X
(where ga <ka, one of the possessive particles of Zulu). With
regard to the word order, Fanakalo follows the Nguni patterns:
(3) imoto ka Sipho(Zulu)
car gen Sipho
Siphos car
(4) lo moto ga lo Sipho(Fanakalo)
art car gen art Sipho
Siphos car
Thus, the possessor follows the possessed in Zulu and Fanakalo,
unlike the unmarked Afrikaans and English order (though English also has the of-construction, which resembles the Zulu and
Fanakalo pattern).
6.Adjectives
Concerning the comparison of adjectives, Jugmohans (1990:
75) speakers use the adjective in its invariant form followed by
ga than (literally of):
(5) Themba makhulu galo Tom.
Themba big
than Tom
Themba is bigger than Tom.
The fusion of the forms ga and lo seems premature to us: more
likely the morphology is ga of, pertaining to plus lo (art). In
other words, since with pronouns the form is ga and not galo, it
is clear that lo is a free form that precedes the full noun.
7.Verb phrase
Verbs are marked by the -a ending (as in Zulu). This form is
the default tense and aspect option signifying present tense,
imperative or infinitive. The past tense in Fanakalo is formed
by the suffix -ile, which is taken from the perfective in Zulu.
This suffix -ile covers the range perfectivesimple past in Fanakalo as well. The future in Fanakalo in our database is marked
by zo (discussed above). Bold (1977: 10) gives a combination
of zo+-ile as future perfect: Mina zo idl-ile Iwill have eaten.
Although this is rare in our conversational database, it is a possible combination given the right discourse context. Examples
are (6) and (7).
(6) Yena bon-ile mina.
he see-pst I
He saw me.
37
3-04_fanakalo.indd 37
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM
In combination with other particles (e.g. zo for future) the negator remains just before the main verb, in our database at least:
8.Simple sentences
9.Complex sentences
Relative clauses involve embedding either with a zero relative
marker or with lo. Lo has no tonal marking in this instance, unless a distinction between this one who (l) versus that one
who (l) is specifically intended. Sentence (25) is from Adendorff (1995b: 12).
(25) Lo (kuba) yena lo into lo
tina lima
ka
art (hoe) it art thing which we cultivate with
yena lapa kaya ka lo ma-sim.
it at home in art pl-field.
Ahoe is a thing with which we cultivate the fields at
home.
Noko is an important subordinator for clauses with if and
whether:
38
3-04_fanakalo.indd 38
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM
Fanakalo
Table3. Examples of Fanakalo words from different sources
Akha v.
Build
<Zulu -akha
phuza v.
vula n.
stelleg adv.
melek n.
senga v.
skaf n.
stimela n.
picannini n.
drink
rain
strongly, very, a lot
milk
to milk
food
train
child n.
<Zulu -phuza
<Zulu imvula
<Afrikaans sterk strong
<Afrikaans melk
<Zulu -senga
<English skoff
<English steam via Zulu
<Portuguese pequeninho small
child
10.Lexicon
Cole (1953) calculated that, on the basis of the dictionaries and
handbooks of the time, Fanakalo was comprised of about 70 per
cent Nguni (chiefly Zulu) lexis; 24 per cent English and 6 per
cent Afrikaans (see Table 3 for some examples).
Amore explicit count was done by Adendorff (1995a) for
Mine Fanakalo. He counted lexical items in terms of types (not
tokens) from three instructors on the mines whose home languages were Tsonga, Xhosa, and Zulu respectively. His results,
which we adapt into percentages, were very similar to Coles
(see Table4).
Adendorff (1995a: 181) remarks on the high typetoken
ratio in his sample (occurrences of separate lexical items compared to the total number of lexemes). He notes further (1995a:
1812) that lexical richness prevails over processes that entail
reconstituting lexical roots in order to yield new items. Such
a principle underlies compounding, reduplication (an instance
of compounding) and circumlocution. In the mine variety Fanakalo evidently possesses sufficient lexical primes without
having to resort to these means.
Neither Cole nor Adendorff report words specific to Xhosa
or Sotho in their sample; even though (a) Xhosa was the dominant language of the eastern Cape where Fanakalo probably originated and (b) Sotho is the majority indigenous language in
the mining region. Accordingly, regional variation in Fanakalos
lexicon is slight. Even in Zimbabwe only a few words specific to
the region occursee Ferraz (1980) for specific examples. In
Farm Fanakalo of KwaZulu-Natal some words from Indian languages pertaining to food and vegetables are used.
70.6 %
13.5 %
2.9 %
0.5 %
3.1 %
7.2 %
2.2 %
Glossed text
Excerpt from conversation between Mrs. M. Ramphal and Mrs.
L. Govender of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Recorded by R. Mesthrie in
1987.
A: Manje indaba wena ai hambile skul?
now why you not went school
Tell me, why have you never been to school?
B: Ai hambile skul, lo baba ena ai facile lapa
not went school the father he not put to
Why didnt I go to school? My father never put me
skul. Ai khona skul lapa. Muva ena buyile skul.
school not is
school there later it came school
in school. There was no school nearby. Later a school
Lo skati yena zonke gane mangane mangane
the time they all child small small
was built. When they were all youngvery small
mangane, sistela ga thina ai fundile, muva sistela ga
small
sister of we not studied later sister of
our sister hadnt gone to school; later the next sister
mina ai fundile, muye tombazana yena fundile.
I
not studied another girl
she studied
didnt go to school either; the next sister did go to school.
Lo mabili yena fundile lo English, nangu
the two they studied the English there.you.are
Two of them studied English; you know the
ena shatile lapa Stanger, muye ena shatile
they married in Stanger another she married
one got married in Stanger, and the other married
lapa Drift. Zonke thina hlangwile izolo... umshato.
in Drift all
we meet
yesterday wedding
in Drift. All of us gathered at yesterdays wedding.
A: Ubani ai hambile skul?
who not went school
Who didnt go to school?
B: Lapa khaya ga mina? Mina na muye sistela ga
in house of I
I
and another sister of
In my house? My sister and I,
1These are aina to iron; basopa to look after; mosha to spoil, waste, mess;
shova to push, shove; penta to paint; sheva to shave.
39
3-04_fanakalo.indd 39
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM
A: Wena az bichana?
you know a.little
You know a little, then?
B: Az je
bichana. Mina phendula, noko yena ai
know indeed a.bit
I
answer if he not
Ido know a bit. Ianswer sometimes. If he doesnt
B: Hakke. Nangu
lo Krish ena buya, ena khuluma
no
there.you.are the Krish he comes he speaks
No. You know Krish comes and speaks
az,
futhi... yena az
goto, lo fana
understand too
he knows but the boy
understand, Irepeat...the boy knows though,
yena az.
he understands
he understands.2
2She probably means Tamil here.
References
Adendorff, Ralph. 1993. Ethnographic evidence of the social meaning of Fanakalo in South Africa. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 8(1). 127.
1995a. Fanakalo in South Africa. In Mesthrie, Rajend (ed.), Language and social history: Studies in South African sociolinguistics,
176 192. Cape Town: David Philip.
1995b. Adescription of selected grammatical characteristics of
Mine Fanakalo. South African Journal of Linguistics Supplement 27.
318.
Aitken Cade, S. E. 1951. So! You want to learn the language! An amusing and instructive Kitchen Kafir dictionary. Salisbury: Centafrican
Press.
Aubry, Caroline. 2001. The origins of Fanagalo reconsidered through its
grammar and its lexicon. Paper presented at the SPCL (Society of
Pidgin and Creole Linguistics) meeting, Georgetown University,
Washington DC, January 2001.
Barter, Catherine. 1855. Alone among the lus: The narrative of a journey
through the Zulu country. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. (Reprint: 1995. Merrett, Patricia L. (ed.). Pieter
maritzburg: University of Natal Press).
Bold, J. D. 1977. Fanagalo: Phrase Book, Grammar and Dictionary, 10th
edn (1st publ. 1951). Johannesburg: Ernest Stanton.
Brooks, Edgar H. & de B. Webb, Colin. 1965. Ahistory of Natal. Pie
termaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
Brown, David. 1988. The basements of Babylon: English literacy and
the division of labour on the South African gold mines. Social Dynamics 14. 46 56.
Cabral, Augusto. 1910. Raas, Usos e costumes dos Indgenas do districto
de Inhambane. Loureno Marques: Imprensa Nacional.
Callaway, Rev. Canon. 1868. Nursery tales, traditions, and histories of the
Zulus. London: Trbner and Co.
Canonici, Noverino N. 1996. Zulu grammatical structure. Durban:
Dept. of Zulu, University of Natal.
Cole, Desmond T. 1953. Fanagalo and the Bantu Languages in South
Africa. African Studies 12. 19.
Delegorgue, Adulphe. 1990. Travels in Southern Africa, Vol 1. (translated by Webb, F.; introduced by Alexander, S. J. & de B. Webb,
Colin). Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
1997. Travels in Southern Africa, Vol 2. (translated by Webb, F.;
introduced by Alexander, S. J. & Guest, B.). Pietermaritzburg:
University of Natal Press.
Doke, Clement M. [1927] 1981. Textbook of Zulu grammar. Johannesburg: Longman Southern Africa.
Du Plessis, Jacobus Albertus. & Visser, Marianna. 1992. Xhosa syntax.
Pretoria: Via Afrika.
Erasmus, J. S. & Baucom, Kenneth L. 1976. Fanakalo through the medium of English (a language laboratory course). Johannesburg:
Anglo-American Corporation.
Ferraz, Luis I. 1980. Notes on a pidgin dialect. African Studies 39. 209
220.
I. 1984. Fanakalo: Apidgin caught in a crisis. In Sebba, M. &
Todd, L. (eds.), York Papers in Linguistics 11. 107116.
Hanekom, Elma. 1988. Die funksionele waarde van Fanakalo. Pretoria:
Human Sciences Research Council.
Heine, Bernd. 1970. Status & use of African lingua francas. (AfrikaStudien Nr. 49). Mnchen: Weltforum Verlag.
Herbert, Robert K. (ed.). 1993. Foundations of Southern African linguistics. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.
Holliday, J. D. 1890. Dottings on Natal as published in 1865 and Sundry Tid-Bits of Colonial Experience. Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis and
Sons.
Hopkin-Jenkins, K. 1947. Basic Bantu. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter and
Shooter.
Hymes, Dell H. (ed.). 1964. Language in culture & society. New York:
Harper and Rouw.
(ed.). 1971. Pidginization & creolization of languages. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Jugmohan, P. 1990. Asocio-linguistic evaluation of IsiNdiya spoken by
Natal indians. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal, unpublished
MA Thesis.
40
3-04_fanakalo.indd 40
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM
Fanakalo
Kaltenbrunner, Stefan. 1996. Fanakalo: Dokumentation einer Pidgin
sprache. (Beitrge zur Afrikanistik Band 53). Wien: Verffent
lichungen der Institute fr Afrikanistik und gyptologie der
Universitt Wien.
Lister, William. c.1905. Recollections of a Natal colonist. Durban: Killie
Campbell Collections, University of Natal, Durban (MS).
Lloyd, B. G. n.d. (circa 1913). Kitchen Kafir grammar and vocabulary.
South Africa: Central News Agency.
Mason, George H. 1855. Life with the Zulus of Natal, South Africa.
London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans.
1862. Zululand: A mission tour in South Africa. London: James,
Nisbet and Co.
Mayne, Reg. 1947. Conversational Zulu for the home. Pietermaritzburg:
Shuter and Shooter.
Mesthrie, Rajend. 1989. The origins of Fanagalo. Journal of Pidgin and
Creole Languages 4(2). 211240.
1998. Words across worlds: Aspects of language contact and language learning in the Eastern Cape, 1800 1850. African Studies
57(1). 526.
2003. Is there reduplication in Fanakalo? In Kouwenberg, S. &
Baker, P. (eds.), Twice as Meaningful: Reduplication in Pidgins, Creoles and other contact languages, 301307. London: Westminister
Creole Series.
2007. Differentiating pidgin from early interlanguage: A comparison of Pidgin Nguni (Fanakalo) and interlanguage varieties of
Xhosa and Zulu. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language
Studies 25(1). 7589.
Miners Companion. 1920. Johannesburg: Chamber of Mines.
41
3-04_fanakalo.indd 41
5/23/2012 9:31:01 AM