HOW WAS THE NGONI LANGUAGE LOST? MY PRESENT VIEW

Most scholars take the view that marrying wives from other tribes was a major factor. 

While I agree that Nyanja, Senga, etc speaking mothers played a role in the loss of the Ngoni language I have now come to a point where I believe that it is overplayed.  

If that was the major factor how do you explain the fact that the Ndebele who also had assimilated thousands of Karanga Shonas still maintained their language even though they intermarried with the locals?

In fact,  it is the locals who adopted the Ndebele language and not vice-versa. 

How about the Mbelwa Ngoni who also assimilated huge numbers of Chewa, Senga, Tumbukas among them but managed to maintain Ngoni languages well into the early 1900s. 

Even to this day, you will still find pockets of Ngoni speakers in a few villages. My own grandfather even though he spoke Tumbuka most of the time knew the Ngoni language. 

For example, when I asked him for Ngoni names he did not have to read a Zulu book to find names, he gave me unique Ngoni names based on his knowledge of the Ngoni language. (The Ngoni had a slightly different way of naming their children which is a bit different from modern Zulu). 

It would have been different had I contacted my Maseko Ngoni paternal grandfather who passed away some 40 years ago. He was a proud Ngoni who still lamented the loss of lobola system among them but I am sure knew very little if any Ngoni word even though I was too young to know then.

When I was young my mum used to tell me that when she was growing up the elders in her area in Endindeni, Mzimba, used to speak in Ngoni among themselves and as children felt out of place with this "strange" language. 

Having feet in both the Maseko Ngoni and the Zwangendaba Ngoni I can tell you for a fact that if the Ngoni had followed the regimental system of the Ndebele at least in Mzimba Malawi everyone would be speaking Ngoni today. 

The only weakness was that they still kept their language too. So they spoke Ngoni in the military and before the leaders but spoke Tumbuka at home. It was therefore a fight between two languages and identity and sadly Tumbuka prevailed. Actually, it was already winning already in the 1890s when the Scottish and Xhosa missionaries arrived. This was because as Ngoni power waned so did the influence of their language.  

The Ndebele military was however fashioned differently from the Ngoni. Even though Mzilikazi Mzilikazi was born of Nompethu "The maggot" the daughter of Chief Zwide of the Ndwandwe people (tribe) he abandoned Zwide and joined his archenemy Shaka Zulu as a general. 

Because of this, the Ndebele was structured in the style of Shaka Zulus regiments where young people were spread around in barracks away from home. It was a way to indoctrinate them with Shaka Zulu's doctrines and military-style. 

In the case of the Ngoni, barracks were area-based as a result the youth remained with their families. This made it easy for the children to maintain their mothers' language and culture and in some instances made it easy for people to rebel. 

A case in point is the Malawi Tonga and Tumbuka rebellions. These would not have been easy if the children had been spread around in barracks as they would have no time to plot such rebellions. 

Both the Ngoni and the Ndebele insisted on the use of the Ngoni language in the barracks. This worked better for the Shaka Zulu regimental system as the barracks were permanent keeping the children away from their parents. 

In the case of the Ngoni, these children were still in their areas and still were at home with their fathers and mothers. They were only called upon when needed by the indunas for military training and war.

You can imagine that if you are away from your parents and are only allowed one language you are bound to lose your mom's language. And over time even the mothers will be forced to learn the language of the new majority.

In the case of the Maseko Ngoni, it was a numbers game. The Maseko Ngoni returned to Domwe after the defeat and therefore must have been very few in number. They did not leave Songea in peace. In fact, I believe that there are more Maseko Ngoni in Songea now than in Malawi.

That group that came from Songea spoke pure Ngoni as testified by the Xhosa Presbyterian missionary William Koyi who spoke with Nkosini elders around the 1870s near Cape Maclear. Even then the language was confined to the elders as the children he met were speaking to each other in Nyanja according to Dr. Robert Laws. In fact, according to William Koyi, the Maseko elders still had maintained all the Zulu clicks in their language. 

This was not the case up north in Mzimba due to the adoption of the language by the natives who struggled with clicks. However, among the elders in Mzimba, all the Nguni clicks were still being used. 

By the time of the war of the 1890s, even the elders were all speaking in Nyanja among themselves. R. C. F.Maugham who participated in the war and was a Zulu linguist says he tried to speak Zulu to the captured leaders (Indunas) and no one could understand it. He also said he kept his ears open to hear any Zulu or Nguni words but heard none as all he could hear was Nyanja. At the same time, all the Europeans who passed through Mzimba noted that almost anyone including the Tumbuka you met in Mzimba that time knew Ngoni

The influence of Nyanja could be seen in the area names among the Southern Ngoni in Malawi. You will be hard placed to find Tumbuka area names in Mzimba, Malawi.

Even among the royal family, you will see Chewa names in the leaders such as Chidyaonga, Chathanthumba. In the case of the Northern Ngoni, most of the names are Ngoni except for nicknames in the case of Inkosi Chimtunga whose real name was Mbalekelwa. It is his Chewa subjects who gave him the name Chimtunga, the knobkerry.

I wish I could say something about the Mpezeni Ngoni but I have only managed to find very few historical documents about them. I however think that the departure of Mpherembe to join Mbelwa (M'mbelwa) weakened them in terms of Ngoni speakers. I, therefore, believe that it was because of this that the Ngoni language failed to take root in Mpezeni's area as it did in Mbelwa's. 

I could be wrong here and I hope people like Mr. Lastone Richard Tembo can shed more light on this. By the way, every time I hear the surname of Tembo I am always reminded of the most prolific Ngoni songwriter, Mawelera Tembo. My favorite song from him is Israel Buyela, buyela kuYehova. (Israel come back to Jehova).

I, therefore, submit that even though mothers played a role, the real reason for the loss of Ngoni among the Southern Ngoni was a question of numbers. Whereas in the case of the Zwangendaba Ngoni it was because of the way their military was structured. It was based on areas and therefore the captives still maintained links with their families. 

Once again I am not a scholar by any stretch of the imagination so I await your points of view on this.

SOME NOTES ON THE NGONI AND THE NDEBELE

 A few days ago, I came across an excellent article titled, “Markers of Ethnic Identity and Factors that Contributed to the Death of the Ngoni Language of Zambia”. You can find this article on https://www.rsisinternational.org/.../volume.../625-628.pdf. 

While reading the article I came across the following excerpt which reminded me of the differences between the Ndebele and the Ngoni. 

"It is clear that although the Ngoni dominated militarily, they did not have a policy regarding their own language like the Ndebele of Mzilikazi who changed the names and totems of the Karanga they defeated. Naturally, all the people the Ngoni captured learned to speak the Ngoni language….."

This excerpt shows something that I too have noticed as I have interacted with some Ndebeles here in the UK and also the writings of G. Liesegang.

The fact is that while the Shangaans, Ndebele, and Ngoni leaders were originally under Zwide and have family connections with Zwide’s family, Mzilikazi’s time with Shaka (Tshaka) changed the way he ruled his people. The Ndebele were structured along the lines of the Zulus while the Ngoni maintained the Ndwandwe structure of Zwide.

As I pointed out in an area article on the death of the Ngoni language except for a few villages in Mzimba and I am told in some few villages in Tanzania, the Ngoni military structure was different from the Ndebeles. The Ngoni had what may be called area armies and not purely military barracks villages like the Ndebele and the Zulus did, where children from different areas could form a barracks village so to say.

As a result of this children still lived with their parents in their own areas and therefore maintained their language besides the Ngoni language which was the language used in the military and during royal functions and in courts.

The article above about the Zambia Ngoni mentions the fact that the Ngoni had no language policy and the Ndebelerisation of the captured Karanga as the main difference. While that had some influence I honestly do not think it was the main reason for the demise of Ngoni. 

I now believe that it was the fact that there was no intermixing of the various groups among the Ngoni that led to the demise of the language. The Ngoni social structure had the abenzansi, the Ngoni aristocracy at the top, and the abenhla,  the "people from the upcountry" in the second position and the rest of the people derogaratively referred to as abafo, pronounced as "awafo" at the bottom. 

Abafo (singular, umfo or mufo as the Ngoni pronounce it) in Ngoni is not brothers or strangers as in Zulu but slaves. These are the people that replaced the izinceku (confidential servants of the king and royals while they were in South Africa). These would therefore be the people that cared for the abenzansi, and abenhla's cattle and farming besides taking care of their own farms.

This separation resulted in people living in separate villages with their own kin and people and this, therefore, meant they also kept their language. They were for all intents and purposes speaking two languages, Ngoni and their mother tongue, be it Senga, Chewa, Tumbuka, etc. And therefore, in the end, it is the mother languages that prevailed and eventually, even the people at the top ended up picking these languages.

Another interesting difference pointed out by the authors is the fact that the Ndebele forced the Karanga to change their totems and names to Ndebele names and totems.  That means for example that if your surname were Njobvu, the elephant in Chewa it would be changed to Ndlovu in Ngoni. Mzilikazi was following the example of Shaka Zulu who tried with some success to make his captives Zulu in language and culture with some huge success. He managed to make various clans start to see themselves as Zulus which was a small clan compared to many of the clans then. Though they maintained their totems and names, unlike the captured Karanga.

However, while I think that this had little effect on the language, it is something that the Ngoni should have embraced to make their captives feel part and parcel of the group.

Robert Moffat, a British missionary wrote the following about the Ndebele:

"The Matabele take from the conquered tribes boys and girls, the boys ofcourse acquire the language and the habits and customs of their captors and are reared for soldiers, so that by far the greatest majority of that people are composed of such tribes. At each town of any consequence of these people is generally a Matabele officer, and some soldiers to receive tribute, and to such natives, Mzilikazi, in general, gives over a number of cattle to be taken charge of. In conversing with such I have observed that there is nothing they deplore so much as their children being taken from them just at a time when they become useful to their parents. It is therefore quite common to see a soldier having a boy or youth, whom he calls his servant, whom he has taken int he above manner to rear up for war." - The Matabele Journals of Robert Moffat, 1829-1860 ed., J.P.R. Wallis (London, 1945), vol. 1. p. 319

Ngoni War Songs Plus Grammar

NGONI WAR SONG: UMNGONI UVELA ENZANSI

This is a war song where the Ngoni are boasting about their origins. Simple song. Unfortunately I only have the text and not the tune.

Uyezwa na? (Do your hear?)
Umngoni uvela enzansi. (The Ngoni comes from the south-east)
Uyezwa na? (Do you hear?)
Uyezwa na? zi (Do you hear zi)
Zi.

Alternative for line : Lo mngoni owaye enzansi. This Ngoni who was from south east

Grammar Notes:

Enzansi: can mean, downdward, on the lower side, down country, towards the coast but the Ngoni usually use it to mean Natal where they originally came from.

Uyezwa? : Do you hear, Ngoni Present continuous tense. From the root verb -zw-, hear/feel/smell/understand. This is part of the so called verbs "allergic" to -a- verbs because any "a" before them is replaced by "e". Therefore U+ya+zwa becomes uyezwa.

Lo : lo (this) is one of the ngoni demonstratives for class 1 nouns eg umfana, umuntu etc

Owaye: o (who) is the relative prefix for class 1 nouns but waye is one of the Ngoni verb auxiliaries from the verb ukuya, to go.

NGONI WAR SONG: ZEMUKA INKOMO MAGWALA-NDINI (There goes the Cattle you cowards)

This is a war song sung women, deriding the men to do great deeds. They would see herds of cattle being driven away hastily in villages passed on the march, and would sing this song to persuade the army to go after them.

I just found a 1911 Xhosa book with the same title as this song, Zemk'inkomo magwalandini Author: W B Rubusana; B B Mdledle Publisher: London : Butler & Tanner, 1911.

On the 1911 Xhosa book, I found the following on the internet: According to Satyo, based in the Department of Southern African Languages, the original Zemk' Inkomo magwalandini – its name means "There goes your heritage, you cowards" – signified the early start of an intellectual struggle against colonial authority.

Maybe it is high time we investigated the suggestion that Zwangendaba and his group were originally Xhosa before they moved to settle in Zululand. I suspect that the song below was originally Xhosa. I could be wrong. What do you our Nguni brothers from down south mzansi think?

Below is our Ngoni war song sang by Ngoni women. Enjoy!

Zemuka inkomo magwala-ndini (The cattle depart/leave/go away you cowards/ There goes the cattle, you cowards)

Naziya zemuka magwala-ndini (Those yonder; they depart, you cowards)

Inkomana zemuka na? zemuka magwala-ndini(small beasts go away? (they) go away you fools.)

Ubujaha buphelile na? zemuka hi ha o ho (Is your young manhood over)

Nihlala nemijingathi zemuka e he he (You are left with the carriers. They go away (depart))

Hayi nkomo zemuka na zemuka hi ho (No the cattle go away?, they go away hi ho)

Nilibele namabele, zemuka o ho ho5 ( "You are continually with african corn (Chewa, mawele). In other words "You have eyes only for the foodstuffs". Remember it is the ladies taunting the men for letting the cattle be taken away before their eyes.

Grammar Note

Zemuka : zi representing the inkomo (full form is izinkomo) plus ngoni verb emuka, depart, go away, desert, break allegiance; be absorbed ect. In this case the zemuka inkomo(izinkomo) is the cattle have run away/departed. Take note also of this phenomenon in bantu languages where the subject can follow the verb, so zemuka inkomo can also be inkomo zemuka with the same meaning.

Inkomo: This is one of the rare cases where the ngoni departs from using the full plural form izinkomo/zinkomo to shorten it to inkomo. The singular is inkomo but the plural even though it is spelt the same way is prounounced iinkomo with double i to differentiate from singular inkomo.

Naziya: Those yonder: For this and other ngoni pronouns please visit the link below.

Inkomana: small beast (cow, ox, bull). In this case it is not the singular inkomana but shortened form of izinkomana (small beasts).

Magwala-ndini: you are fools from amagwala, cowards and the singular is igwala.

ubujaha: young manhood, from the noun ijaha, young men.

buphelile: bu is the subject concord representing ubujaha and -phelile is a verb that stands for be completed, be done, be finished, have ended etc. Its present tense stem is phela, end, terminate, come to an end.

Nilibele: Ni (you plural) + libele (continually)

Namabele: na (with) (a)mabele african corn but amabele is also breasts depending on context.

History of the Ngoni People

by Walter Angus Elmslie of the Livingstonia Mission, 1891.

The history of the Ngoni people is full of interest. They are a branch of the Zulu race living in the far south. Various other branches are found scattered over the central lake districts, all of which have at one time of the other been connected with the Zulus, as their habits and language show.

The members of that branch, to which Mombera's people belong , were originally conquered by Shaka when living as an independent tribe on the banks of the Tugela and Umpisi rivers in what is now the colony of Natal. Their tribal name was Amahlongwa. They were allowed by Shaka to retain their own lands , and Zwangendaba, the chief, was placed over them under Shaka.

They united with a tribe living in Zululand whose name was Xumalo. The chief of this tribe was named Umkotshwa.(The Rev. G.A. Wilder, of the American Mission in Natal, in a letter to the author.) He had two sons named Manukusa and Umhlabawadabuka. The former is probably the person who appears as the leader of the migratory Zulus as "Manikusse" or "Manikoos", as the name is variously spelt.

Manukusa was the early name of Umzila, and as his people are called Nguni or Ngoni it is probably through the Hlongwa people's connection with them that they now call themselves Ngoni. Manukusa drove out and away to the north Umhlabawadabuka and his following, from among whom the Ngoni under Zwangendaba journeyed further north.

The Ngoni say that they revolted from the tyrannical rule of Shaka and were not sent north by him to fight the Portuguese as Sofala, and that rather than return after defeat chose a new home in the north, as has been by some considered to be the case. As they brought their wives, children, and cattle with them, ti is clear that they were not sent out to war and deserted. Besides, none of the Ngoni have ever seen the sea, which they must have done had they been at war on the Sofala coast. The Zulu warriors referred to are probably the Matabele.

The Ngoni crossed the Zambezi in 1825, led by Zwangendaba, the father of Mombera. They crossed near Zumbo, and moved northward on the high land between Lakes Nyasa and Bangweolo, crossed the Tshambeze, and entered Fipa country on the south east of Lake Tanganyika.

Note: When crossing the Zambezi there was an almost total eclipse of the sun. There was no eclipse near the point where the Ngoni crossed between December, 1759, and November, 1835, except one on 16th June,1825, so that we may safely infer the last mentioned is the eclipse to which the Ngoni refer, other circumstances corroborating it.

In the Fipa district they settled for a time, and enslaved part of a tribe there whose name was "Jeri." Their own clan name was "Phakati" and they impressed this name on the subjugated people and took their name of "Jeri", by which name the original Ngoni living in Mombera's are now known. As to this day the Ngoni do not care to speak of their history, fearing their former tyrannical master, Shaka, they changed their name with the desire of breaking off all trace of their former position.

The Ngoni must have been a numerous people when they came north. When living among the Fipa mountains they made raids into the countries lying north and north eastward, being at times successful and at other times defeated.

They have now become broken up into several sections. When Zwangendaba died in the Fipa country there was war over the appointment of a successor. One party put forward a chief whose policy was for a renewal of their northward journey. The sons of Zwangendaba, who were mere youths, joined together and advocated remaining where they were. Mthwalo (recently dead) was proclaimed chief, being the son named as his successor by Zwangendaba, but, unwilling to bear rule, he placed his brother Mombera in power. Two other sons of Zwangendaba (but not full brothers of Mombera and Mthwalo) disputed the chieftainship of Mombera, after that section which decided to move northward had broken off. The only way of settling the dispute was by a further disunion, and Mpherembe decided to remain behind while Mombera and his following proceeded eastward.

The party under Mombera reached the north end of Nyasa, where they had severe fighting with the natives of the district. They then proceeded southward and settled on the plateau where they now are. Sometime after settling in their present locality they were joined by Mpherembe and his people who came from the Fipa district, and they are again united in upholding the Ngoni kingdom.

After settling in their present locality there were several internal quarrels which on each occasion led to a separation of a section of the tribe. Though Mombera was, and still is, paramount chief, each district is ruled by a sub-chief. Mombera's brothers already referred to, and another named Mpezeni, acted as chiefs over certain districts. Mpezeni disagreed and led off a large section of the tribe, and is now settled between the south end of Nyasa and the Loangwa. Chiwere, a headman of a district, led off another section, and is now settled on the hills south west from Nkhotakota.

The so-called Ngoni under Chikuse at the south west of Lake Nyasa were not an offshoot from the party which migrated under Zwangendaba. There are now no Ngoni among them and their language is Nyanja. (Here Dr Elmslie is wrong as the Ngoni people under Chikusi are real Ngonis and their history is well documented. While Ngoni language died earlier among them they still have Ngoni language songs. For more about all the Ngoni groups please visit ngonipeople.com )

The Gwangwara on the east side of Lake Nyasa are evidently of an earlier disruption than we have referred to, and Mombera's Ngoni deny any knowledge of them.

The various names by which the Ngoni are known may be referred to. The Tumbuka called them Mazitu, with reference to their migratory habits. This name is not now in use. The Nyanja people called them Maviti, which name also probably refers to the same characteristic of the Ngoni.

The name by which they call themselves should be in all cases in English writing chosen, and a convenient method of such use of it is found in dropping the personal prefix (aba) and designating them Ngoni, just as we drop the ama, and write Zulu both for the Zulu nation and language.

The Ngoni tribe under Mombera, as now existing, is made up of people belonging to various tribes, which have been taken captive and incorporated with the original constituents.

When the tribe was on its march northwards they fought with the following tribes - Amatonga, Abakalanga (Abakalaka) and Abisenga (on the Zambezi). The principal men of these tribes were put into positions of trust by Zwangendaba, and afterwards mande councillors of state. In this way he tried to consolidate the tribe and unite their interests. Even at this date the chief's counsellors almost all belong to the Tonga, Kalanga, and Senga tribes who lived to the south. When any children were born to these incorporated peoples they were given free born rights and privileges equal to those of Ngoni children.

Dr Elmslie on a journey in Northern Nyasaland

Several of Zwangendaba's headmen, by attaining to considerable wealth and power as sub-chiefs in the tribe, were considered dangerous and put to death. In Mombera's reign such things have occurred also, but Mombera is a more merciful and righteous ruler, not delighting in wholesale murder as did his father.

Of tribes met with north of the Zambezi, there are representatives, such as Senga Bisa, and Rungu, while the inhabitants of the district in which the Ngoni now live are represented by the Tumbuka, Tonga, and Chewa.

The position of the slaves is not devoid of comfort. They have their wives and houses and gardens; are allowed to choose their own masters, and have security which their friends struggling for an independent position do not possess. They are well treated, and as no slaves are sold, they enjoy the fruit of their own labours and live in peace. It is only occasional service that their masters require of them, such as help in cultivating the ground, and gathering in the crops.

Walter Angus Elmslie, 1891