The Kubata Maoko Register and Its Social Context Among The Shona With Some Parallels From The Valley Tonga.
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article discusses the oral performance or linguistic behaviour (verbal and nonverbal) expected during a funeral when one goes to console the bereaved (kubata maoko, in Shona and kujuzya balila in Tonga cultures, respectively). It is a sociolinguistic study of the speech acts within the domain of funeral oral performances that are considered as appropriate when one consoles the bereaved. It focuses on the linguistic devices and resources that the speaker chooses to communicate the feelings that are deemed suitable for this register. It investigates the structure of language in a specific social context – funeral context and this enables us to make more discoveries about how language functions in communication. Data was collected by participant observation of funeral performances (linguistic behaviour) at various funeral occasions both among urban Shona communities and especially rural Valley Tonga communities of Binga and Sinazongwe Districts in Zimbabwe and Zambia, respectively.
Institutions: University of Zimbabwe, University of Zambia
Topic: Language and Culture
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415726195