Culture of sensationalism and indigenous language press in Zimbabwe: implications on language development

Indigenous language media are active spaces for the development, maintenance and renewal of indigenous languages in Africa. Juxtaposing Kwayedza and uMthunywa tabloids, which publish in Shona and Ndebele languages, alongside mainstream English language press, The Herald and The Chronicle, this study...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:African identities 2018-07, Vol.16 (3), p.333-348
Main Authors: Mpofu, Phillip, Salawu, Abiodun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic staff
Conceptual development
Corruption
Decolonization
Diglossia
English language
Hegemony
Indigenous language press
Indigenous languages
Indigenous peoples
Journalists
Kwayedza
Language
Language acquisition
language development
Marginality
Mass media
Native languages
Native peoples
Renewal
School districts
tabloidisation
uMthunywa
Validity
White people
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Summary:Indigenous language media are active spaces for the development, maintenance and renewal of indigenous languages in Africa. Juxtaposing Kwayedza and uMthunywa tabloids, which publish in Shona and Ndebele languages, alongside mainstream English language press, The Herald and The Chronicle, this study interrogates the implications of sensationalism on the structural and functional development of indigenous languages and the indigenous language press in Zimbabwe. This article is framed within the concepts of language development, diglossia and decolonial theory. This is an evaluative and comparative qualitative inquiry of headlines in 30 issues of uMthunywa and Kwayedza. Using interviews, data was gathered from a conveniently and purposively selected sample comprising of journalists, language and media academics, as well as readers and non-readers of Kwayedza and uMthunywa. The study exposes nuances of the marginalisation, folklorisation and corruption of indigenous languages in the press; and the inadvertent validation of English as the language of the media. However, this study ultimately shows that tabloidisation has ensured the survival of indigenous languages and indigenous language press in the context of the hegemony of English and competition from the English language press in Zimbabwe.
ISSN:1472-5843
1472-5851
DOI:10.1080/14725843.2018.1473147