TANZANIA

TANZANIA [A blend of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, with -ia. Usual stress: ‘Tan-zan-EE-a’]. A country of East Africa and member of the COMMONWEALTH. Languages: Swahili (official), English, and indigenous languages. The Germans colonized Tanganyika from the late 19c until in 1920 it became a League of Nations mandate and later a UNITED NATIONS trust territory administered by the British. Zanzibar was a British protectorate from 1890 to 1963. The territories united on independence in 1964. English was a joint official language with SWAHILI until 1967. This political empowerment of Swahili improved its prestige in relation to English and other indigenous languages. English continues to be important for higher education, media, and international relations, while Swahili has taken over roles in precollege-level education and internal government and business.

Tanzanian English shares many features with Zambian English. Devoicing of wordfinal /b, v/ is common (‘laf’ for love), and f/v may alternate (‘lavin’ for laughing). Mass or singular nouns may be construed as plurals (behaviours, breads). BORROWINGS from indigenous languages are frequent, and may become standardized as marking the Tanzanian variety: sufuria cook-pot, pole (an expression of sympathy), foforu car fancy car. Some typical local usages are: Thank you for your postcard extended to us recently; We were happy to learn (hear) from you; Please inquire if she had the mails (got the letters); I decided to mail (write) you. CODE-MIXING, particularly Swahili/English, is common: Ile accident ilitokea alipo-lose control na aka-overturn and landed in a ditch The accident occurred when he lost control and overturned and landed in a ditch. Here, mixing includes putting Swahili prefixes on English stems, as with alipo-lose. See EAST AFRICAN ENGLISH.