developed their language, culture, as well as political and economic struggles with the Ngoni.
(Mchombo, forthcoming:09)
3.7 The concepts of national identity and national integration
Chichewa and its culture to develop at the expense of all other languages, particularly in mass media and other publications. The other eight languages became village or community languages for the upkeep of ethnic identity only. They had no official recognition as languages of functional value even at regional level. Chichewa thus came to be employed as a tool for 'transforming'allother cultures into a single national identity through a process of political mobilisation by a repressive one-party government.
Foster (1991:23) notes that in exalting one language and one ethnic group above all others it becomes easy for cultural nationalism to degenerate into tribal particularism;
this is what happened in Malawi under Banda's rule. Vail and White (1989) similarly argue that what Banda really emphasised in language use were Chewa values. Thus in emphasising his own Chichewa identity he always denounced tribalism in others, as his speeches were frequently concerned to depict a glorious Chewa past. Furthermore, they argue that the Chewa-oriented policy of Banda equated Malawian-ness with Chichewa, often going as far as claiming that many Yao and Lomwe were actually Chewa people who did not realise it (Vail and White 1989:182). Through this Chewa imperialistic manouvering, Banda embarked on a social engineering policy transforming tribes which had their own distinct identity, such as Lomwe and Nyanja, to identify themselves as Chewa.
The modernisation theory based on the exaltation of only one culture rested on these strategies of the theory which are essentially egoistic, ethnocentric and imperialistic in nature. These are the values of the state that Banda set and those who questioned or dissented them were marginalised socially, economically and politically.
The other form of social engineering was Banda's constant reference to figures, stating that the Chewa constituted the majority in Malawi. While this fact could be true, the figures seem to have been somewhat exaggerated. Wardaugh (1992) has observed that the notion of making a nation synonymous with a language is a fairly common trend in language planning progranunes that are aimed at projects of nation-building and national integration, but the boosting or exaggeration of figures to achieve the same is a little out
of procedural practice. During Banda's rule the government made numerous attempts to encourage people as much as possible to understand both Chichewa and English through formal education and broadcasting services (Matiki 1998:13)
The following figures are quoted by various scholars for Malawians who understood, but could not necessarily speak. Chichewa.
Figure 3.
ESTIMATES ON THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND
CmCHEWA IN MALAWI
Author
Knappert (1989) Morrison et al (1989) FCatzer (1986) In Tadadjen (1977)
Speakers of Chichewa 83%
60%
> 36%
77%
adaptedfrom Matiki (1998)
If we consider the statistics above there does not seem to be any agreement among scholarsin the cited" figures as to the number of people who understand Chichewa. The differences are wide, and despite the differences in the approaches and in the dates of their research, they appear obviously skewed, with no pattern appearing. Given all the political support in terms of language engineering, Knappert's (1989) figures and Morrison et al's (1989) both carried out in the same year show a difference of 23%
(83%-60%). Those of Morrison et al also ignore the dynamics of language change and shift that could have occurred.
While exaggerating the Chichewa speaking figure to boost its image and therefore its role, Banda's denunciation of 'tribalismin his speeches among Malawians, as Vail and White (1989) note, in fact promoted tribalism and a Chewa imperialism. This typefied the president's contradictory statements in policy matters on political platforms while
concealing his ulterior motives of Chewa imperialism. Significantly, his pronouncements on language matters were either in English or in Chichewa, but as we have observed, he hardly spoke the latter language himself with any respectable degree of fluency. In one of his speeches he claimed that the word for 'son in-law' in standard Chichewa was 'mkhwenyana', which is now a word nativised in Chitumbuka in the entire northern region. Through contact with the Ngoni or Zulu, the Tumbuka as a subjugated group borrowedthis word from their Zulu masters where the actual word is 'umkhwenyana.' While borrowing is a free phenomenon in all living languages, Chichewa, also a Bantu language with common lexical items, still has its variants within its different dialects. In central Malawi the word for 'son in-law' is 'mkomwini' and 'mkamwini' as in all southern region dialects.
With regard to the use of English in other aspects of national life, Banda argued that 'our missionaries spoke English. Our colonial administrators spoke English' (1968 closing address of the MCP Convention in Lilongwe, Zomba, Ministry of Education). He did not refer to the international value of English but purely to his adoration of its culture and values. For him the adoption of English would entrench its culture locally and ensure an effective transition in government. English thus continued as the most powerful functional language in high domains, with a prestigious position that was not rivalled by any other indigenous language, while Chichewa played the symbolic national language role, even though some ethnic groups' neither comprehend nor have a smattering of the language. The tolerance of other languages referred to in Malawi Congress Party's resolution of 1968 was a mere lip service. Hardly was any tolerance made of Chiyao, Chilomwe, Chitumbuka and other languages in public life. It was pure ethnocentrism and linguacentrism. English was used in all high domains for documentation where no African language, not even Chichewa was considered suitable. Malawi has always made English the language of the legislature, the judiciary and diplomacy. In. parliament no African language is used in deliberations. The constitution clearly stipulates that candidates shall 'be able to speak and read the English language well enough to take an active part in the proceedings ofparliament'(Malawi Constitution, Chapter VI, Section 51).
The constitution also demands language proficiency for those aspiring to positions of deputy minister, minister, the vice presidency and the presidency.
3.8 Language-in-education policy: English-Chichewa diglossia