Kiswahili Language

Hotuba hii inataka kuleta amani moyoni mwako, kati ya mtu na wengine na kati ya mtu na mazingira. Ina wataka watu wawe na jihusisha na yale hawanabudi kuyafanya, ikiwa inahusu watu ao mazingira. Chanzo ni poemu ambayo imetamkwa mbele ya jamii ya wakongomani, warundi, wanyarwanda wakimbizi na wazalendo watanzania waliokuwa kambini Nyarugusu, kichwa cha poemu ni: Mazingira ni Maisha (meaning nature is life). Imesemwa ili kuita amani duniani. Kiini ni ku sababisha uelewano wa ki utamaduni kwa kutumia lugha ya kIswahili kuwa lugha ya amani. Ina lengo mbili inayoitofautisha: kwanza, kutumia Kiswahili lugha nzuri kabisa ya kujenga amani kati watu na mataifa – tukijuwa kuna njia zingine kilugha za kuleta suluisho kimawasiliano, pia inazungumzia mambo ya siasa ya lugha nchini. Kila lugha inaweza kuunganisha watu na kusaidia kutatuwa matatizo ya mawasiliano. Inawasii watu kuchukuliana, kuwa na umoja, kuitikana, kutunzana na kutunza mazingira. Kwa misemo ya watu waliondelea kama Chinua Achebe na Chimamanda Adichie, tunatumaini hotuba hii itaanzisha majadiliano kuhusu haki ya kilugha na vipi Kiswahili kinaweza kufanya kazi muhimu Africa. The audio can be accessed via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/elisee-byelongo-isheloke/kiswahili-kama-lugha-ya-amani-ya-kutunza-mazingira-aud-20191222-wa0001

This volume corresponds to the section on metric analysis of classical Swahili poetry. A formal analysis tool is defined based on available data, aiming to address the extraordinary heterogeneity of data analyses. Some authors, primarily writing in Swahili, perceive a quantitative syllabic foundation for Swahili metrics called “vina na mizani,” while others view it as accentual (similar to English). Still, others associate it with syllable length (similar to Arabic classical poetry), allowing for the possibility of mixed metrical systems (accentual/quantitative syllabic). The goal is to bring order and identify the actual poetic creation principles used by Swahili authors, exploring how they manipulate these principles’ parameters to create new genres. We examined the theories and their data. Ultimately, we observe that Swahili poetry aligns with Bantu linguistics, relying on quantitative syllabic metrics (rhymes and syllable count) as asserted by Swahili poets themselves. Accents play a role at a low level (within the syllable-quantified line of a verse), but the theories about rhythmical feet do not align well with the raw data (i.e., the poems chanted, sung, or read in Swahili) when cross-checked and fact-checked using sound analysis software. However, a critical question arises: Why have these Swahili-speaking poets been marginalized or silenced when describing the rules of their art?

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Mathias Eugen Mnyampala (1917-1969) was a Tanzanian writer, lawyer and poet who wrote in Kiswahili. With Cigogo as a mother tongue, he learned to read and to write in Kiswahili at the age of fifteen in a local Roman Catholic Bible school. Since Independence of Tanganyika in 1961, he put his poetic art at the service of the development of Kiswahili, the language of the new nation. The issue of the Tanzanian nation building is reflected in this particular destiny of a young pastor from Ugogo in the center of Tanzania becoming a master of Kiswahili poetry recognized by his peers as well as a national artist. His ex materia creative processes, neither classical nor modern, are a third way of verse composition that the formal approach describe. Parallel to the nationalization of the meters of classical Kiswahili poetry in the 1960’s, it comes to the africanization of the national culture that this work analyzes. The two volumes of this doctoral thesis offer some extracts of Mathias E. Mnyampala's Digital Archives (MDA) including unpublished manuscripts like Azimio la Arusha na Maandiko Matakatifu "the Arusha Declaration and the Holy Scriptures" or Mashairi ya Vidato "Mashairi in Notchs" and other unpublished documents.

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French:

Mathias Eugen Mnyampala (1917-1969) est un écrivain, juriste et poète d’expression swahilie tanzanien. De langue maternelle cigogo, il apprend le kiswahili et l’écriture par les textes de la Bible à l’âge de quinze ans. A partir de l’Indépendance du Tanganyika en 1961, il engage son art poétique au service du développement du kiswahili, la langue de la nouvelle nation. Dans cette destinée particulière d’un jeune pasteur de l’Ugogo du centre de la Tanzanie, qui devient un maître reconnu par ses pairs de la poésie d’expression swahilie et un artiste national, se reflète la problématique de la construction d’une nation tanzanienne. Les processus créatifs ex materia de Mathias E. Mnyampala, ni classiques ni modernes, sont une troisième voie de la composition poétique qui est décrite par une approche métrique formelle. En parallèle d’une nationalisation des mètres classiques de la poésie d’expression swahilie dans les années 1960, il est question d’une africanisation de la culture nationale que ce travail analyse. Les deux volumes de cette thèse de doctorat offrent des extraits des Archives Numériques de Mathias E. Mnyampala (ANM). Dont des manuscrits inédits comme celui d'Azimio la Arusha na Maandiko Matakatifu « la déclaration d'Arusha et les saintes écritures » ou encore Mashairi ya Vidato « Mashairi en entailles » ainsi que d'autres documents inédits.

This is a call for peace with oneself, others and nature. It seeks to lead people to take  responsibilities vis-à-vis what they do around them,  be it other people or  nature. It stems from a poem that was sang before a community of Congolese, Burundian, Rwandan refugees as well as local Tanzanians in Nyarugusu Refugee Settlement in Tanzania, titled in Kiswahili: Mazingira ni Maisha (meaning nature is life). The context is used to appeal for peace in the world. The aim is to address cross-cultural understanding using Kiswahili as a language of peace. A particularity of this speech is its twofold focus.  It is firstly, to use a language of Africa par excellence  (Kiswahili) in building inter-sectorial peace among the people and the nations  – bearing in mind that alternatives means of communication are possible solutions, and secondly, it analyses language policy issues. Any language has the ability to unite the people and help solve communicational problems. It advocates for tolerance, equality, acceptance, care for people and the environment. Using statement by eloquent orators such as Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie, It is hoped that this talk will spark a dialogue about linguistic human rights and how  Kiswahili could play a positive role in Africa. The audio can be accessed via Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/elisee-byelongo-isheloke/aud-20191222-wa0000