User:Mh1224/Vidunda language

Vidunda (Chividunda) is a Bantu language that belongs to the Ruvu branch of Northeast Coast Bantu. It is spoken in a remote area, known as the Vidunda Ward of the Kilosa District (Legére, 2009), located along the north bank of the Ruaha River in Tanzania. As of 2002, there was around less than 10,000 native speakers remaining. Most Vidunda people are bilingual, speaking Vidunda as their first language (L1) and Swahili, the official national language of Tanzania, as their second language (L2) (Legére, 2007). Vidunda is currently an endangered language, mainly due to the spread of Swahili in the formal education system (Legére, 2007). Although the language is still being transmitted to the Vidunda youth, they are becoming less proficient.

History
Vidunda is the native language of the Vidunda people and it is not typically spoken outside of this particular ethnic group. Native (L1) speakers are located in a remote area in Central Tanzania, known as the Vidunda Ward. The Vidunda Ward is located in the mountains and can only be accessed by one steep and narrow road. Only very small cars can travel on this road, so the main form of transportation is typically walking and climbing. Despite the limited access to and from the Ward, most Vidunda people are very mobile and maintain regular contact with people of other ethnic groups outside of their village. Many of them take seasonal work and visit relatives in other places. They also regularly travel outside of the village to visit health centers, churches and other institutions. Life in the Vidunda village is heavily dependent on agriculture. They grow crops like maize, beans, bananas, coffee, etc. and either sell the surplus at local markets or ship it to more populated areas like Morogoro or Dar es Salaam. Swahili, the Lingua Franca of Tanzania, is the language that is typically used during interactions with people outside of the Vidunda village. Due to these informal factors facilitating regular contact with people outside of the Vidunda Ward, most Vidunda people are bilingual and able to remain proficient in Swahili (L2).

Both Swahili (L2) and Vidunda (L1) competence and proficiency are also influenced by more formal factors like the formal education system. Swahili is the only Tanzanian language that the Tanzanian government accepts in any formal setting. According to a 2003 survey, Vidunda youth, between grades one through seven, primarily speak Vidunda at home as their first language. This suggests that intergenerational language transmission is still taking place, however, its usage has been restricted to informal settings like at home and within the village. Swahili, on the other hand, is the language taught and spoken in more formal settings, like school. Not only is Swahili spoken in school, but children often use it to communicate with their peers outside of the classroom. As the children move through primary school, their proficiency shifts from L1 to L2. Because L1 is only spoken in the village, the Vidunda youth have become less proficient. They are also much less competent because the formal education system prevents them from further developing their L1 skills. In school, they don't learn about things like grammatical structures and the vocabulary of their native language.

All of these formal and informal factors have contributed to the endangerment of the Vidunda language. Vidunda is has been undergoing a language shift, as the younger generations develop a preference for L2 over L1. While nearly all Vidunda youth still speak Vidunda at home and grow up with it as their mother tongue, Swahili is the language that they are most consistently exposed to in school and outside of their village. Studies of Vidunda youth in grades one, five and seven have indicated that Swahili becomes the most frequently spoken and preferred language among the upper grade levels. The strong L2 support in formal settings coupled with the casual, yet almost regular, use of L2 in informal settings, decreases the likelihood that the Vidunda youth will reinforce their L1 proficiency after finishing school. Even though inter-generational L1 transmission is still occurring, L1 competence, proficiency and overall total number of speakers are declining.

Geographic distribution
Tanzania is a multi-lingual country. As of 2006, there were over 128 different languages spoken in Tanzania. Vidunda is only spoken by approximately 10,000 people in a remote area in Central Tanzania. This remote area has nearly 100 percent ethnic homogeneity, and it is known as the Vidunda Ward of the Kilosa District. The Vidunda Ward consists of three different villages where Vidunda is spoken (Vidunda, Chonwe and Udunghu). Vidunda remains the dominant language (L1) spoken by the Vidunda ethnic group. Vidunda is not typically spoken outside of the Vidunda ethnic group.

Official status
Swahili and English are the only languages in the country with any official status and they are considered to be the only official languages of Tanzania. Vidunda has no official status as the Tanzanian government does not tolerate the use of any Tanzanian language, other than Swahili, in formal settings.

Dialects/Varieties
It was found that the Vidunda people frequently engage in code-switching between L1 and L2. Code-switching is not only done by the younger generations, who are consistently exposed to L2 in the formal education system, but also the adults and elders. This factor contributes to issues regarding the maintenance of the Vidunda language.

Sounds/Phonology
There isn't much information about Vidunda phonology other than what was revealed when looking at the final vowel of derived (complex) noun stems (NS). It was discovered that four open vowels, [a], [ɛ], [i] and [ɔ], all have some kind of derivative function.

Morphology
The Vidunda nouns classes have differing singular and plural markers. Here is an example of some: Table 1: Sample of Vidunda noun classes obtained from Joseph Thomas Last's list of nouns

Most of what is known about Vidunda grammar comes from studying Vidunda plant names. Vidunda plant names as nouns have the following characteristic structure:


 * 1) Noun class prefix (NCP) + Noun stem (NS)

This structure (NCP + NS) is typical of most Bantu languages. Vidunda plant names can be broken down into simple lexemes (non derived) or complex lexemes (derived). Simple lexemes can have either an original Vidunda stem or a stem shared with Swahili. More complex plant names may result from either compounding or nouns that have been modified by an adnominal. These are some examples of identified simple Vidunda plant names:


 * 1)  i -dzoba (Acacia robusta) – simple lexeme singular, non-derived;
 * 2)  mi -kangadzi (Khaya anthotheca) – complex lexeme plural, derived from the verb stem - kangadza 'be strong'

The NCP allocates the noun class and can be either singular or plural, but there are some exceptions. The highest frequency of NCPs in Vidunda plant names come from the class 5:


 * 1) Class 5 – i-, e.g. itotoka (Monechma debile)

The following is an example of a class 5/4 singular-plural pair:


 * 1) 5/4  i tagata -  mi tagata (Psorospermum febrifugum)

The NS in Vidunda plant names can be either authentic Vidunda or shared with Swahili. Authentic NSs can be derived or non-derived. Many of them are derived from verbs and/or reduplicated. More than one hundred NSs have been found to be shared with Swahili. Below are some examples of NSs that VIdunda shares with Swahili:


 * 1) i-fenesi (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Swahili: m-fenesi;
 * 2) i-gimbi (Colocasia antiquorum), Swahili: m-jimbi

Vocabulary/Lexis
Most of what has been documented on the Vidunda vocabulary comes from the missionary work of Joseph Thomas Last (1850-1933). Here is a list of some of the Vidunda vocabulary from Last :


 * 1) "One" – imwe
 * 2) "Two" – keli (when counting)
 * 3) "Six" – sita
 * 4) "Seven" – saba
 * 5) "Ear" – isichiyo, pl. ma-
 * 6) "Wife" – mdala, pl. wa-
 * 7) "Water" – madzi
 * 8) "Bird" – chideje
 * 9) "No" – hebu
 * 10) "If" – wone