Ngugi observes that “language is a carrier of a people’s values and culture.” Mastery of a language, then, entails mastery of the way in which the speakers of that language view the world, their place in it, the place of the next person and what it means to be human

As we have grown to be proficient in English, we have also become eloquent in viewing the world from the frames of English. If we are also proficient in native languages, we also know the world from the value proposition of our native languages.

But how far has English gone to even penetrate our native languages? Say, for instance, has our common use of notions of “cousin and distant cousin”reconstructed how we also understand the relational meaning of “mzala, kabawo, kanina, bafo etc?”

Do we still retain the notions of “Makazi,” “Dadobawo,” ‘Tadomdala,’ “Tatomncinci” “Malume” in their culturally weighted sense or they are now all lumped together, value wise, under the ‘general categories’ of “Aunty and Uncle.”

In our native languages, there’s no universal title. Each relational title also brings with it different role signification. ‘Malume’ and ‘Tatomncinci’ don’t occupy the same signification role. Even how they discharge duty towards you is different. ‘Uncle’ conceals this dynamic.

‘Malume,’ being male, culturally carries ‘maternal duties’ towards you. The rough phrases “akukhona kubo kaMalume la” or “akukho kulo nyoko apha” when chastising a person proceed from this historical function that Malume is obliged to exercise towards a child.

‘Maternal’ and ‘paternal’ duty means something different in these languages than in English. In practice even. This also plays out in the titles of ‘Mafungwashe’ and ‘Dadobawo.’ Saying ‘first-born-daughter’ is meaningless as opposed to ‘Mafungwashe’ as signification.

A great deal of understanding of the family, duty and responsibility has been lost with the over time encroachment of English and its way of constructing social relations. Some of the headaches we have about family relationships are partly due to the loss of ‘linguistic insights’

The other thing is that the native working hours were from around 4 am to around 10 am. So, I now abandon this thread because I want to rest. Mazenethole kuni bantu bakuthi!