Language and Societal Attitudes: A Study of Malawi's 'New Language'

Abstract

Listening to modern Malawian popular music and listening to the speeches of boys and girls, young men and women and sometimes older men and women in Malawi today, one is soon struck by the fact that the speeches contain words, phrases and sometimes whole sentences which sound like a foreign language. Even going through the columns of some newspapers and magazines, one soon discovers that there is a new language that has gained currency. The new language has even broken into the creative arts such as poetry. The fact of the matter is that Malawi has a new speech community that uses what I am going to call in this paper Malawi's 'new language'. This 'new language' is made up of words that are newly coined from Malawi's indigenous languages and a vernacularization of the words of some foreign languages such as French and English as well as the dead language Latin. My concern in this paper is to demonstrate the following. First, that the said language is an instrument for establishing a social bond and identity. Second, perhaps more importantly, I observe that more than just being a system of communication the new language reflects deep-seated attitudes towards particular perceptions, and behavioural tendencies of the speech community that uses the 'new language'. In other words I wish to demonstrate that this 'new language' directly mirrors contemporary societal activities and the direction in which the society's values are gravitating. Through the study of the 'new language' one sees a Malawi in a clearly marked state of flux. I suggest for instance, that through the use of the 'new language' Malawian youth are interrogating, in very non-compromising ways sometimes, the perceived wisdom of the call for the youth to respect society's elders and recognising and accepting authority, i.e. the new language should also be seen as a form of protest against established societal norms. In addition, I show that the language records the society's reactions to corrupt practices, the infiltration of foreign ways of life and cultural values, sexual attitudes, sexual practices, and alcohol and drug abuse. I also observe that, in linguistic terms, the 'new language', is a manifestation of a linguistic phenomenon commonly known as language change. This may be seen by linguistic 'pursuits' as a form of societal decadence that needs protection. I conclude by observing that through knowledge of the 'new language' society may assist in devising mechanisms for the introduction of intervening programmes to arrest practices that are detrimental to the positive cultural attitudes, values and practice of the Malawian society as revealed in the 'new language'.