Author: Felix Banda
ISBN No: 1-919799-64-8
Cost: 109.44
This book is the result of work being done by the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) based in Cape Town, South Africa. It is a remodelling of papers presented at a Workshop on Harmonization and Standardization of Orthographic Conventions of Zambian and Malawian Languages, held at the Lingadzi Inn, Lilongwe, Malawi, 23 - 24 November 2000. Although Zambia is said to have more than eighty languages, and Malawi more than ten, these languages share a similar structure (morphology and syntax) and sound system (phonological rules). However, they have diverse spelling systems because orthographic conventions are as numerous as the different missionary groups that came to this part of Africa. In some cases the same language has two or three different orthographies. The major advantages of harmonizing orthographic conventions across borders are that it will enable health, teaching and other material to be internationally available, and a vast number of languages/dialects will have an orthography, which will empower users to store knowledge for posterity in their own languages.
ISBN No: 1-919799-64-8
Cost: 109.44
This book is the result of work being done by the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) based in Cape Town, South Africa. It is a remodelling of papers presented at a Workshop on Harmonization and Standardization of Orthographic Conventions of Zambian and Malawian Languages, held at the Lingadzi Inn, Lilongwe, Malawi, 23 - 24 November 2000. Although Zambia is said to have more than eighty languages, and Malawi more than ten, these languages share a similar structure (morphology and syntax) and sound system (phonological rules). However, they have diverse spelling systems because orthographic conventions are as numerous as the different missionary groups that came to this part of Africa. In some cases the same language has two or three different orthographies. The major advantages of harmonizing orthographic conventions across borders are that it will enable health, teaching and other material to be internationally available, and a vast number of languages/dialects will have an orthography, which will empower users to store knowledge for posterity in their own languages.
