Michel, Babette:
The Development of Swahili Terminology in the field of Literary Theory.

A dissertation submitted for a Master of Arts degree in interpreting at the Karl Marx University, Leipzig (Dept. Of African and Near Eastern Studies) 1987

90 Seiten

Supervised by Doz. Dr. sc. K. Legère

(excerpt)

The fast development of literature written in Swahili since the middle of the 20th century and the evolution of scholarly positions in Tanzania in literary theory, which, since the seventies, has been discussed mainly in Swahili, necessitated the creation of Swahili terminology in that field on a scholarly basis.

This dissertation analyzes for the first time how general concepts of literature als well as specific contributions in literary theory, which include the features of literature in Tanzania, have been reflected by terminology.

The study shows that this terminology is characterized by a great number of neologisms. These are formed by giving a new meaning (semantic change) to words used in everyday life, by coining new words by suffixation, prefixation, genitival word combination, compound formation, and, more rarely, loan translation, relative construction, word-group formation, duplication, construction with „-enye“, and verbal construction, and by taking over terms (foreign words or assimilated loans) from other languages.

More than 400 neologisms are analyzed. Among them there is a high percentage (about 50 %) of newly coined words as well as numerous terms formed by the semantic change of Swahili words. Considering these data, the dissertation concludes that there is no denying the efficiency of Swahili, which has so often been disputet in favour of the English language, in adequately expressing theoretical problems, above all by means of ist own linguistic devices.

Some 20 % of the neologisms analyzed are terms taken over from other languages, chiefly from Arabic. „Loans“ from English and other languages as well as international words hardly play any part in this respect. This dissertation emphasizes how Swahili literary terminology differs from those of other sciences and arts in that it is not surfeited with English vocabulary.

It also points out that the Swahili terminology which was analyzed, shows a high percentage of synonymy (about 40 %), homonymy and posysemy. The disseration attributes this to the vague an, to some extent, non-scholarly definition of literary concepts, idiosyncratic usage of technical terms, and tendencies of purism which all has to be considered in conjunction with the development of literary theory in Tanzania until now. Hence, according to the author, it is not yet possible to fully meet the increased demands of scholarly communication in Swahili in the field of literary theory.

The dissertation is complemented by a glossary of 445 Swahili terms (Swahili – German/English), as well as notes concerning their linguistic usage. Finally, the disseration draws the conclusion that the literary terms formed by the relevant institutions in Tanzania who deal with the standardization of the Swahili language, need intensified application to linguistic performance.In this way standard Swahili will be fully developed.