‘I am an accomplished speaker of Chibrazi’

Chibrazi language and identity

BA Thesis

Supervisor: Jilke Ûltsje Huiskamp

Prof. Maarten Mous [email protected]
BA Afrikaanse Talen en Culturen
Leiden University
2016
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 1

Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................... 2

List of tables ..................................................................................................................................... 3

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Research topic and theoretical framework .................................................................... 4

1.2 Methodology .................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Chapter by chapter build-up of the essay....................................................................... 8

2 Chibrazi .................................................................................................................................... 9

2.1 The roots of Chibrazi ........................................................................................................ 9

2.2 The functions of Chibrazi ............................................................................................... 10

2.3 Chancellor college Chibrazi speakers ............................................................................ 11

2.4 Gender ............................................................................................................................ 14

3 Creating Chibrazi ................................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Morphological changes .................................................................................................. 15

3.2 Phono-tactics of Chibrazi ............................................................................................... 17

3.3 Semantics........................................................................................................................ 19

3.3.1 Metaphors............................................................................................................... 19

3.3.2 Antonyms ................................................................................................................ 22

3.3.3 Dysphemisms .......................................................................................................... 22

4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 25

References ..................................................................................................................................... 27

Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 29

Appendix 1. Ze kwaya songs ..................................................................................................... 29

Appendix 2. Chanco poem by Hardson Chamasowa Davie ..................................................... 30

1
Abbreviations
7C Noun class number
ASP Aspect
AUG Augmentative
EMPH Emphasis
EPEN Epenthesis
FUT Futurum
FV Final vowel
LOC Locative
NEG Negation
PERF Perfective
PL Plural
PST Past tense
RECIP Reciprocal
REDUP Reduplication
SG Singular
SM Subject marker

2
List of tables
Table (1) Phonological integration 18
Table (2) Metathesis of syllables 19
Table (3) Semantic manipulation of indigenous words: metaphor 19
Table (4) Semantic manipulation of words of non-African origin: metaphor 20
Table (5) Metaphoric extension by combining words of different origin 21
Table (6) Semantic manipulation: antonym 22

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1 Introduction
1.1 Research topic and theoretical framework
This bachelor’s dissertation deals with a new language spoken in Malawi. It is mainly
used by teenagers and twenty-somethings in the urban areas of Malawi. This urban language
is based on the national language which is Chichewa. The youths manipulate the language and
extensively borrow from other languages which results in what is now commonly known as
Chibrazi. This bachelor’s dissertation focuses on a particular variety of Chibrazi which is used at
one of the campuses of the University of Malawi, Chancellor College in Zomba.
While Chichewa is the national language in Malawi, English is the official language for
business and administration in the country (Simango 2000; 491). Simango lists more reasons
why English plays a large role in Malawi but the most striking is that English is the only
mandatory subject a candidate needs to pass to advance in any field of education, from getting
a Junior Certificate of Education which is needed to continue to senior secondary education, to
passing the final exams to gain a Malawi School Certificate of Education to admission into the
University of Malawi (Simango 2000). Another example pointed out to me while at Chancellor
College in Zomba is that at the university the African Languages Linguistics department still falls
under the umbrella of the English department. For these reasons English is a prestigious
language in Malawi and as shall be seen later in this dissertation, a lot of borrowings come from
English.
New languages in Africa such as Chibrazi are attracting more and more attention from
scholars. Sometimes called ‘urban languages’ (Kießling and Mous, 2004) or ‘urban vernaculars’
(McLaughlin 2009; Makoni et al. 2007, in Beck, 2010) or in the case of Chibrazi, at first, simply
‘the new language’ (Moto, 2001). The fact that Beck mentions Lilongwe as one of the cities
which has not yet developed an urban language of their own (Beck, 2010; 14), makes a short
detour to what constitutes an urban (youth) language useful. She might have overlooked
Chibrazi, or not considered it an urban language.
While insufficient to constitute an urban youth language alone, code-switching is
extensively used in these languages (Kießling and Mous, 2004; 2), this is the case for Chibrazi
as well. When talking about Town Bemba as an urban language Kießling and Mous (2004; 2) say
the following:

4
 The structural features of Town Bemba, as described by Spitulnik (1999), are
typical of code-switching: borrowing of conjunctions and evidentials, a “do”-
construction to introduce foreign verbs, and a general plural with class 6 ama-
in addition to plural-marked borrowed English nouns.

As this dissertation will show in the following chapters, all these strategies are employed by
speakers of Chibrazi. This, however, is not yet enough to make an urban language an urban
youth language. For Kießling and Mous, there are more criteria before a language can be
classified as an urban youth language. As strategies employed in urban youth languages they
name borrowing, reversal of syllables, semantic play with foreign words, the use of foreign
grammatical affixes, truncation and extensive use of hyperbole and dysphemisms.
Urban youth languages are different from creoles, pidgins, argots and slang as well as
urban languages. The way urban languages distinguish themselves from urban youth languages
is shown by the Town Bemba example. Pidgins are a result of language contact where there
was a need for a mutual language for two groups who do not share a mutual language. Creoles
are pidgins which developed into the first language of a speech community (Meshtrie et al.
2000; 273). This is clearly not applicable to Chibrazi as a language with its roots on a campus
where presumably everyone speaks at least English and Chichewa and/or Chitumbuka.
Argots are secret languages, invented and used to keep outsiders from understanding
what is talked about. Used mainly in criminal environments by grifters, thieves, heavy-men,
underworld narcotic addicts and homosexuals (Maurer, 1939; 546-547). Similar to argots, slang
is language particular to a group of people, setting themselves apart from regular speech.
Examples are IsiNgqumo in South Africa which is used by homosexuals and derived from Zulu.
Some of Kamanga’s (2014) findings seem to describe these characteristics of slang. Among
these are the existence of an old school and a contemporary variety which exists for Chibrazi.
This exemplifies the changing nature of Chibrazi, which is common for slang. Furthermore, as
none of the sources are in written form and its use is mainly colloquial, Chibrazi shows the
characteristics of slang.
So what is possible in Chibrazi in regards to Chichewa? As stated above, English carries
a high prestige in Malawi. In the later chapters, it will be seen that Chibrazi borrows heavily
from English. It follows that, besides the students, other people borrow from English too in
their daily communication. An overview of English borrowings in Chichewa is given here.

5
Simango (2000) reports of, sometimes clipped, English adjectival expressions whereby the
adjective is treated as a noun (2000; 496). Words as news(paper), dining (room), and ballpoint
(pen) are part of everyday vocabulary. He furthermore shows how Chichewa light verbs such
as -panga (make) and -chita (do) are used in conjunction with English verbs. Ndimupangire
decision for I made the decision for him. This, as Simango also points out, is a common strategy
which has already been reported in a multitude of previous literature on language contact1.
Batteen (n.d.; 3) too, observed that English verbs appear not to be integrated into Chichewa
morphology, instead they use light verbs as shown here.
A third strategy found in Simango is adapting an English word into Chichewa
morphology. The next example sentence comes from Simango (2000; 498).

(1) Nd-a-pez-a madala a-ta-via kale

1SG-PERF-find-FV old.man 3SG-ASP-go already
‘I found that the old man was gone already’

In this sentence -via, these days also spelled as -vaya, is inflected as a regular Chichewa
verb, originally a preposition in English, it is used as a verb meaning ‘go’ or ‘leave’ in Chichewa.
Simango claims this is sourced from the signs showing where buses go such as ‘Lilongwe
Blantyre via Zomba’ (2000; 498). It could also be from the Spanish word vaya which already
means ‘go’.
Simango further makes distinction between words that are complementing Chichewa
vocabulary and those that are replacing it. Numbers, especially above three are no longer said
in Chichewa, the English numbering system has taken over. The next example has to do with
phonological modification of borrowed words. It also comes from Simango (2000; 502).

(2) Eeh!, kunena kuti buledi! Ndiye za kumudzitu. Ife timati bredi
‘What? To say buledi sounds rural. We (urban dwellers) say bredi’

1
Muysken (2000) Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-Mixing includes many examples of how verbs are borrowed
in a variety of languages. Especially chapter 7 is of interest to those who want to read more about verb and
borrowed verbs constructions employed in many languages.

6
 Simango notes that urban speakers believe total phonological integration of the English
word is associated with rural, and possibly less prestigious speech (2000; 502).
Above examples show how Chichewa, which is the matrix language2 here, regularly
borrows English nouns and verbs and how they are integrated into the language. This leads me
to my research question, what are the methods employed by Chancellor College students to
create their new language Chibrazi?

1.2 Methodology
The first attempt at gathering material was done while writing a short paper for one of
my courses at Leiden University. I spread a wordlist around over WhatsApp through friends at
Chancellor College compiled of words picked up while at Chancellor College as well as from
written materials, mainly the list compiled by Moto (2001). That initial paper then focussed on
checking the relevance of the studies done in 2000 (Nawata) and 2004 (Tchesa). It found that
certain words had disappeared or changed meaning while others still remained in use. As the
topic had proven to be healthy and requiring more insight, I gathered more data through phone
calls and WhatsApp conversations with some friends who study at the university in Zomba. This
led to one of them mentioning a certain group called ‘ze kwaya’, or ‘the choir’ but in adapted
spelling. The ze kwaya group apparently sings incredibly vulgar songs at Chancellor College
while using some Chibrazi and employing various creative linguistic strategies in writing their
lyrics. Through contacts I managed to get my hands on some written lyrics of the group and
these are part of what I used as data for this essay. Another important contributor to this essay
is a poem by Hardson Chamasowa Davie. In the poem he talks about life at Chancellor College
and he explains various words of the student language. The songs by ze kwaya that are used in
this dissertation and the full poem, transcribed and translated, can be found in the appendix.
The last source of data was collected in conversations with various students who provided me
with a collection of words they consider to be part of the student language at Chancellor
College.

2
The Matrix Language Frame model says that in codeswitching there is a dominant language, called the matrix
language and an embedded language. Elements of the embedded language are inserted into the morphosyntactic
structure of the matrix language. This model is developed by Carol Myers-Scotton in her 1993 book Duelling
Languages, see that and her later publications for more on this.

7
1.3 Chapter by chapter build-up of the essay
The introduction above is meant to give a short introduction to Malawi, the general field
of urban languages, youth languages and the national language Chichewa. The second chapter
reviews the previous studies of the main topic of research in this dissertation, being Chibrazi. It
has been studied by a few other researchers in mainly unpublished material and was known
under different names such as Chirunga language (Lekera, 1994) Chancellor College Student
Sociolect (Nawata, 2000), the new language (Moto, 2001), Chancellor College Chichewa
(Tchesa, 2004) and finally Chibrazi (Kamanga, 2014), which is the term used in this essay.
Chapter two furthermore describes some functions of the language and gives an overview of
the people who use Chibrazi at Chancellor College then concluding with a short note on gender.
Chapter three analyses the different linguistic manipulations used to create Chibrazi. The
morphology, phono-tactics and semantics of Chibrazi are analysed and discussed. Finally,
chapter four summarises and concludes this dissertation and is followed by a list of references
and appendices.

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2 Chibrazi

2.1 The roots of Chibrazi

Chibrazi is a combination of the prefix chi-, which marks a language in Chichewa and
other Malawian languages, and brazi, which is an adaptation of the English word brother
(Kamanga, 2014: 2). It was Kamanga who stated that one of his goals of his 2014 paper was to
propose Chibrazi as the name of the new variety. He did this because brazi [braz:] is one of the
terms used by male speakers to refer to each other, and therefore the language name ‘implies,
the language of brothers’. He first presented the name Chibrazi in 2009 (in: Todeva and Cenoz,
2009: 116) discussing all the languages he speaks and included Chibrazi in this list.
Originally presented as a language of Chancellor College, as early as in 1994 by Lekera
who studied ‘Chirunga language: a preliminary discussion’ and Kamowa who wrote a
dissertation called ‘Language change: A case study of language change at Chancellor College’.
Chirunga, should be noted, is the name of the Zomba University campus, therefore the name
referencing to the language makes it seem unique to this location, and different from
Chichewa. According to Kamanga, Lekera studied some sociolinguistic aspects of the language
at Chancellor College and Kamowa ‘looks at the lexical changes that have taken place in the
Chichewa of Chancellor College’. These studies were followed by Jalasi in 1999, who examined
‘The semantic shift in Chichewa among Chancellor College students’. These three early studies
talk about the same phenomenon3 and all hint at the language as if it is unique to Chancellor
College and its students. However, Moto (2001: 322) observes that what he dubs ‘the new
language’ is not exclusive to Chancellor College students. Where Chancellor College is located
in the southern region of Malawi, recent research done on the language at a school in the
northern city of Mzuzu in Malawi called Viphya Schools by Kamanga (2014) shows it has spread
out across the country, and thereby he supports Moto’s observation.
While the earlier three studies superficially touch upon the new language, two later
studies delve in more deeply. Apart from identifying lexical items, explaining the meanings and
occasionally going into the phonological and morphological structures of what he calls the
Chancellor College Sociolect4 (hereafter C.S.S.) Nawata (2000) also looked at the language

3
These three studies are unpublished and not accessible by me.
4
A sociolect, or social dialect, is a dialect which describes speech characteristics of a group of people defined by
social or occupational characteristics as opposed to a regional dialect which would mean the speech characteristics
of a particular location.

9
where new words were sourced from in the C.S.S. Most lexical items he discusses come from
Chichewa and English. Other languages that contributed a little to his vocabulary are ciTumbuka
and ciTonga which are both Malawian languages. Zulu, Shona and Fanagalo which are spoken
in South Africa and a few words were originally from French. Given the prestigious status of
English in Malawi this language being one of the main contributors is along the lines of
expectation. Something Nawata does not discuss further but which I find interesting is how
words from South African languages made their way into the C.S.S. It is a known fact that many
less prosperous Malawians go and seek their fortune in South Africa but students are generally
not among them and since they live on or around the campus it seems an unlikely source
language to me.
The essay by Kamanga (2014) mainly focuses on his case study in which he tried to
identify who speaks Chibrazi. Included in his methods were a questionnaire, follow-up
interviews and participant and non-participant observation which conducted at a secondary
school in the northern region. From this case study he drew the following conclusions. Young
people tend to speak and understand Chibrazi better and use it more often than the older
participants. Males tend to know it better, speak it more often, and their Chibrazi is more
offensive. Concerning age, Kamanga found that different age groups have different varieties of
Chibrazi, which he calls ‘contemporary’ versus ‘old school’ Chibrazi. Furthermore, Chibrazi is
encountered in different contexts, used mainly among friends and is most often sourced from
friends, with music as the next most common source.
Taking into account other youth languages such as the ones discussed in Kiessling and
Mous (2004), of which some originate in the 1970’s, Chibrazi seems a relatively new language.
The earliest study being the previously discussed studies by Lekera and Kamowa done in 1994.
The fact that no studies have been undertaken before that date could be a result of former
president Kamuzu Banda’s strict language policies. Moto (2001) discusses meanings that were
around in the ‘70’s already.

2.2 The functions of Chibrazi

Using a youth language has effect on conversations that you can have. In her book Slang
and Sociability, Eble states that usage of slang has three general effects: (1) slang changes the
level of discourse in the direction of informality. (2) Slang identifies members of a group. (3)

10
Slang opposes established authority (Eble, 1996; 116). These three points are easily explained
with parts of a poem about life at Chancellor College, it can be found in appendix 2.
First of all, regarding the informality this is expressed in how Davie says students call
guards and cooks who work for the students. Alonda, amatchedwa achirunga ‘A guard is called
a Chirungian’ and acooki ndi amalume ‘Cooks are uncles’. A chirungian is made up by me, but
with a- prefix and the location Chirungu it means someone who comes from Chirunga. The
second line says that cooks are uncles, they call them uncles even though it is very likely that
those working for them are older than the students and therefore one could very well consider
to speak formally to them, the students deliberately choose informal address terms like
achirunga and amalume. Davie furthermore states: Chanco […] ndi Chichewa chomva yekha
which freely translates as ‘it's a Chichewa understood by Chanco alone’. By stating this, he
differentiates between the Chichewa regular people speak and a Chichewa which is understood
by Chanco students only. He creates groups, which is another part of Eble’s analysis of slang as
now, those who belong to the group of students are able to understand their language and this
way become a part of the group. Finally, there is opposition to authority. Akabwera a police
amanyadira ati ndiabale awo, ‘If the police come they say they are their relatives’. This is a nice
example again for the case of informality, but more interesting is the line that follows directly:
Akayamba kuthamangitsana ndiye kuti apeza choseweretsa ‘If they start chasing they have
found something to play with’. If the police start chasing the students, they treat this as a game,
and they enjoy being chased. The next lines read about how the students sing songs to the
police, making fun of their clothes, and Davie says in a sarcastic tone that others scream out
‘when I finish school I want to become a police officer too’, further distancing themselves from
authority.

2.3 Chancellor college Chibrazi speakers

Worth mentioning, I think, are the different ways students make reference to other
students and social groups present at Chancellor College. In his poem about Chancellor College,
Hardson Chamasowa Davie explains the different names for students according to what year
they are in. The full poem is found in appendix 2.

Ku Chancotu kangopite kumene ndiwe yaro

Chaka chachiwiri conti

11
 Chaka chachchitatu associate
Chotsiliza finale

If you go to Chanco for the first time you are a yaro

Second years are conti
Third years are associate
Those who are finishing are finale

Apart from the year you are in, your background is very important and can determine
which social group you become a part of. These social groups convey different status between
the students. Class can be defined as a large-scale grouping of people who share common
economic resources, which strongly influence the type of lifestyle they are able to lead.
Ownership of wealth and occupation, are the chief bases of class differences. (Giddens &
Sutton, 2009).
Nawata (2000) recognized five different social classes or groups present at Chancellor
College namely the Yo’s, the Rastafarians, the Heroes, the Born Again or BA and the in-
betweens. Tchesa (2004), on the other hand only named three social groups, them being the
yo’s, the heroes and the born again. Asking around about the social groups, some change has
taken place, including new classes coming into existence. The following information was
collected by myself on the basis of Tchesa and Nawata’s characterisations of social groups.
Apart from the groups that they found I come across some additional ones.

 Ma tradi
A new group exists now called ‘matradi’, derived from ‘traditional’. Described as wachimidzi
or ‘from the villages’, the matradi are ‘persons who are socially and economically backward’
(Tchesa, 2004). They are not named as a social group yet by Tchesa. He might have forgotten
or they might not have been prominent enough yet.

 aCDSS
CDSS is an acronym for Community Day Secondary School. People who go to CDSS are
usually less privileged. This group is not mentioned by any of the previous studies. The prefix a-

12
marks a group of people like aMaravi means ‘the Maravi people’. The aCDSS are those who
come from a lower class and are somewhat similar to matradi.

 The heroes
The heroes, who were named by both dissertations and therefore seemed a prominent
group, are now a minor group, but still exist. The origin of their name is unknown to me.
According to Nawata they generally advocate a peasant life, live carefree and dress shabbily
and unconventional (Nawata, 2000). The heroes too, are comparable to the matradi and the
aCDSS.

 The Rastafarians
The Rastafarians are the students who smoke a lot of weed, the name, which is fairly self-
explanatory, comes from the religion which advocates the use of marijuana.

 Mayo
Nawata describes the Yo’s, or the mayo [ma’jo:], as students who come from wealthy
families and attempt to imitate the lifestyle of African Americans in terms of dressing, walking
and accent. They also tend to like African American music and basketball. This is still the same
nowadays. The Yo’s name is likely sourced from the hip-hop or rap scene in the United States
who use the word ‘yo’ a lot in their songs.

 The HS or the high school people, wa ku ma ding dong

The HS are those who are high class people and come from a wealthy background and went
to private secondary schools. Some people indicated they are the opposite of the matradi and
aCDSS. Wa ku ma ding dong is another term referring to those who come from rich homes.

 The in-betweens
The in-betweens are literally in-between all groups. Nawata (2000; 16) says they are
students who have not made any commitment to ideologies of any specific group. What he
means with ideologies is not explained, I would describe them as people who might or might
not fit in one of the above categories but are not actively exhibiting characteristics of any of the
aforementioned groups.
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2.4 Gender
Malawian society is dominated by males (Moto, 2001; 325). He furthermore states that
swearing in Malawian culture is linked to being rough and tough. Chibrazi is a language
consisting of many swear words and should therefore be linked mostly to males. Nawata
noticed that in distributing his questionnaire to female students they insisted he should ask
male students as ‘they use the student vocabulary more frequently’ (Nawata, 2000; 50). This is
in line with what I experienced while collecting data too, where females were generally less
sure if what they told me was actually true and wanted to check with their fellow male students
for confirmation.
On the other hand, Moto did observe that females at Chancellor College do swear after
all. He credits this to Trudgil (1972, 1974 as cited in Aitchson 1995) who stated that ‘women
are more status conscious than males and as a consequence they are aware of the social
significance attached to particular linguistic forms’. So by swearing, females are perhaps
consciously or unconsciously attempting to step away from a position of subjectivity and
subservience (Moto, 2001; 338)

14
3 Creating Chibrazi
As said in the previous chapter, slang, while essentially adhering to proper grammatical
constructions, it is colloquial and therefore rarely written. This can explain why there are
different ways to the spelling of the words and phrases presented in this chapter.

3.1 Morphological changes

Often in Chibrazi, morphological elements from two languages are combined. This usually
is a Chichewa plurality prefix, class 6 ma-, followed by a lexeme from a different language.
Apparently this is a common procedure when borrowing English words into Bantu languages,
it was reported in Town Bemba (Spitulnik, 1998) which is referenced to by Kiessling & Mous
(2004). The first example comes from a song by Evanz Music titled Dear Mahopu pt. 4 (Music
from Malawi, 2016). The second example was provided by C. Both examples illustrate this
process.

(3) Mahopu anga ndi you

‘The one who I hope to fall in love’ with is you

(4) They are maconti

They are continuing students

Mahopu, in example (3), also spelled mahope, is borrowed from the English hope, which
got the aforementioned plurality prefix attached to it. Similarly, maconti from example (4) has
the same prefix and leads to a second morphological strategy employed by Chibrazi innovators;
clipping. Labelled as a sub-class of truncation by Plag (2003:154), clipping refers to the process
by which a word of two or more syllables (usually a noun) is shortened without a change in its
function taking place (Adams, 1973:135). Coming back to the previous example maconti, before
the prefix was added, continuing had undergone word-final clipping to form conti, after which
the prefix was added.

15
(5) Mumahopulana
mu-ma-hopu-l-an-a
2PL-PROG -hope-EPEN-RECIP-FV
You are eachothers mahope

Interestingly, mahopu is not only a noun. Example (5) shows it can be used as a verb
too if a reciprocal infix -an is added. Note too, the epenthesis of ‘l’ taking place before the
reciprocal morpheme. The reason this epenthetic ‘l’ is an ‘l’ and not a different consonant is
unclear.

(6) Ndipo switch sinalowebe, maluzi anditengetsa

The allowances are still not in, I am seriously broke

In example (6) initial clipping, or apheresis, occurred to the word switch. Sourced from
the company name malswitch. It was an account where people who received allowances from
the government, such as students and civil servants, would get their money deposited on.
Chancellor College students borrowed the latter half of the word which came to be another
word to refer to their allowances.
The previous examples showed truncation of English borrowings. The ze kwaya group
uses the technique productively on Chichewa words as well. The following examples have been
taken from ze kwaya lyrics provided by B. The full lyrics can be found in Appendix 1a.

(7a) Chindege chinatela kwatembo

chi-ndege chi-na-tel-a kwa-tembo
AUG-plane 7C.SM-PST-to land-FV LOC-Tembo

The large plane landed at Tembo’s house

b. Chinde chinde chindege

Fuck me, fuck me, the large plane

c. Kwate kwate kwatembo

Marry me, marry me, at Tembo’s house

16
 Being offensive is explicitly one of the goals of this group and they do so very much in
their songs. They make deliberate choices of words in their songs. Example (7a) is the first line
of the song, no morphological innovations have been applied yet. Note however that the
augmentative prefix chi- was added to the word ndege. By adding the augmentative it allowed
the writer to clip chindege to the imperative of the Chichewa word for having sex, chinde from
kuchinda, as in (7b). Similarly, any name could have been chosen for the location where the
plane would land. Locative prefix kwa- was purposefully followed by the name Tembo because
it could then be clipped to kwate, which is a disrespectful way to say marry me, demonstrated
in example (7c).

(8) Yaro
First year student

Yaro is actually a compound of two clipped English words, ‘year’ and ‘zero’. First
pronounced as ‘yearo’ [je’aro], which then saw y-epenthesis resulting in ‘yeyaro’ until the first
part ‘ye‘ was dropped and the current ‘yaro’ remained (Nawata, 2000; 42-43).

3.2 Phono-tactics of Chibrazi

The phono-tactics of Chibrazi have to do with changes in phonology. As said before, the
more a word is integrated into Chichewa phonology, the less prestigious it becomes. As its use
is mainly colloquial, spelling varies but below is shown how words were sent to me in written
form and how they are pronounced.

(9) Kufilana
To have feelings for each other

Kufilana is a borrowed word which underwent some phonological change. Moto (2001;
355) reported kufila as meaning ‘to feel on top of the world’. It comes from the English verb ‘to
feel’. Infinitive marker ku- precedes the new verb. The -ee- section did not undergo any sound
change, still being [i], but got Chichewa spelling -i-. As Chichewa words have to end in a vowel,
and all verbs end in an -a, a form of dummy affixation is what happened here too. Finally, the
17
reciprocal -an- infix brings the word to its current written form and adding the each other part
of the current meaning. This being a mainly spoken language, it is not always that spelling is as
much adapted as it is with kufilana. Table (1) below shows some more examples.

Table (1) Phonological integration

Kuriser /kuraisa/ > To upgrade in social status
Kuviber /kuvaiba/ > Chatting up a girl, asking a girl out
Kumajor /kumedʒa/ > Movie watching marathon

With the integration of English come English vowel combinations such as /ai/ which
Chichewa does not have. The final vowel -a which comes at the end of Chichewa verb infinitives
was not written but it is pronounced. One could say these words originally were already fairly
close to Chichewa phonology and therefore did not undergo much change.
More change, and also up to different degrees, happens in the name of the social clique
of the matradi. This word has been fully integrated into Chichewa phonology as reported by
Tchesa who said they are mathiradi. In my own research, all informants included this social
group but nobody wrote it the way Tchesa presented it. When proposed with this form they
would however recognise it but their preferred representation of the word is matradi.

(10) Kuyendetsa maso pa thupi la mkazi, amati kulada

Eyeing the body of a girl, they say kulada

The above example comes from Davie’s poem, found in Appendix 2. Kulada, according to
Tchesa (2004) originates from radar. The ku- prefix is used to make a verb from the noun. A
common mix-up of /l/ and /r/ has changed the ‘r’ from radar to an ‘l’ in Chibrazi. It is somewhat
unusual that instead of adding a vowel at the end of the word to fulfill the requirements of CV
syllabification, the final ‘r’ is truncated. Kuspota, which means the same as kulada, does employ
this strategy. Derived from ‘to spot’, it follows the ku- prefix step to make it a Chibrazi or
Chichewa verb, then a final vowel -a has been added to result in kuspota.

18
 Table (2) Metathesis of syllables
Baku, bakura ‘thefty, to steal’ < Kuba ‘to steal’
Wei ‘you’ < Iwe
Talabwe ‘come’ < Tabwera
Nopa ‘here’ < Pano

The examples in table (2) come from Nawata (baku, bakura, 2000; 22) and Moto (wei,
talabwe, nopa, 2001; 334). Metathesis, or reversal of syllables, is a lexical creation strategy
found in many urban youth languages (Kießling and Mous, 2004; 3, 22). According to the earlier
data it has happened in Chibrazi, none of my informants knew these examples and as one
informant said ‘I’m not even sure that it is Chichewa, it feels ancient’, I am fairly sure to say it
does not happen anymore.

3.3 Semantics
In the previous paragraphs, morphological play and the phono-tactics of Chibrazi have
been discussed. This paragraph deals with semantic play in Chibrazi, that is to make words
mean more than they ordinarily would in a given context (Skinner, 1986:48). Moto found that
‘words [are] coined by semantic extension of indigenous Malawian languages as well as foreign
languages such as English, Shona, French and sometimes Latin’ (Moto, 2001).
Chibrazi employs most strategies discussed by Mous and Kießling. Among these are
metaphorical extension, antonyms and dysphemisms. The sub-paragraphs are ordered by the
type of semantic play.

3.3.1 Metaphors
Table (3) deals with metaphoric play with words originating from Chichewa, the
language native to Malawi.

Table (3) Semantic manipulation of indigenous words: metaphor

Kulemera ‘to be heavy, rich’ > To become annoyed
Kuchekedwa ‘to be cut into’ > To have a tough exam
Kudya ‘to eat’ > To have sex

19
 Kumwa ‘to drink’ > An event or class being cancelled
Kumwetsa ‘to give drink, to make drink’ > Not to attend class or an event
Kutchula ‘to name, to pronounce’ > To propose to a girl

The metaphoric use of the verb ‘to eat’ to mean ‘to have sex’ is common in youth
languages. Sheng, an urban youth language in Kenya for example has the word manga which is
Sheng for ‘eating’, which is also slang for ‘sexual intercourse’ (Samper, 2002; 272). Chibrazi has
added kumwa ‘to drink’ to compliment it. The odd one out in this list is kumwetsa which is
kumwa with a causative suffix -ets. Adding the suffix itself is not strange but in the new meaning
the subject, ie. the person not attending, is the agent and not the causer of an event being
cancelled, which is what normally would normally follow from adding a causative suffix.
The following table contains words that are not of African origin. Mostly English, some
words that were already borrowed by English from other languages have made their way into
Chibrazi.

Table (4) Semantic manipulation of words of non-African origin: metaphor

High school > Coming from a rich home
Ekezailo, exile > To be kept out of ones own room
Ninja > A person who writes supplementary exams
Desperado > Someone who is desperate to get a boy or girlfriend
Four-zero > Being single for all four years at college

High school has been mentioned before as a social group. High school is the American
English term for the British English secondary school, the common term for secondary
educational institutions in Malawi. Therefore, the word being American, it could have gotten
the connection to those who come from richer homes. The source might be the mayo social
group who themselves tend to come from richer backgrounds and try to imitate African
Americans and their speech.
The origin story of ninja has to do with the characteristics of the Japanese covert agent
as they are known from television. In movies they are sneaky and always come earlier than
their opponents. The same happens to those who have to write supplementary exams, they

20
have to come to campus before those who passed on their first attempt. Hence, Chancellor
College students call them ninjas.

(11) Adha aja anamenya four-zero pa school pano

That guy did four-zero at school here

Four-zero, also written as 4-0, is one metaphor which actually has to apply to people
who are no longer students at Chancellor College. Most likely coming from the football scoring
system, the four stands for the years one usually spends at college while the zero refers to the
amount of boyfriends or girlfriends one has had during those years.

Table (5) Metaphoric extension by combining words of different origin

Kugwetsa truck ‘to knock down a truck’ > Vomit because of alcohol
Kuponda landmine ‘to step on a landmine’ > Being rejected by a girl
Kudyesa chibanzi ‘to feed big buns’ > To pay a bribe
Kuthira show ‘to pour a show’ > To shout aggressively at people
Kulowa jungle ‘to enter the jungle’ > To be baffled

All examples in table (5) show verbs originating from Chichewa and nouns borrowed
from English. It is a common strategy for urban languages to borrow nouns and combine them
with verbs from the matrix language as it is a fact nouns are borrowed more easily. Verbs are
borrowed too, examples in the previous paragraph show kulada, kuspota and kufilana are all
borrowed from English. The difference is that the combinations in table (5) do not work if the
noun is omitted as the verb then reverts back to its original meaning. It means that kugwetsa
without truck does not mean ‘to vomit’. And chibanzi, which is a combination of the
augmentative prefix chi- and borrowed word banzi from the English ‘buns’, does not mean
corruption. Only if the whole sentence is said, eg. kugwetsa truck or kudyesa chibanzi does it
get its new meaning in Chibrazi.

21
3.3.2 Antonyms
Table (6) Semantic manipulation: antonym
Njinga ‘bicycle’ > A girl who sleeps around a lot
Kukwera njinga ‘to get on the bicycle’ > Being rejected by a girl
Kudya ‘to eat’ > To have sex
Kudya njinga ‘to eat the bicycle’ > Being rejected by a girl
Kuthera ‘to finish, or be used up in relation > Having a mate of the opposite sex over to
to someone’ your room

Njinga means a girl who sleeps around. Creating a sentence like anakwera njinga which
in Chichewa translates as ‘he got on the bicycle’ one would expect that in Chibrazi it translates
as ‘he got on the girl who sleeps around a lot’ or ‘he slept with her’. Except that it does not, it
actually creates an antonym, and means that ‘he got rejected by a girl’. Something different
happens with the next example, kudya which means ‘to have sex’ in Chibrazi but ‘to eat’ in
Chichewa can be combined with njinga. In the combined meaning, the subject is passivized
while you expect the sentence to mean something like ‘to have sex with a girl who sleeps
around’, it actually means that the subject was rejected by a girl.

3.3.3 Dysphemisms
Dysphemisms are ‘rather harsh in expressing ideas about sensitive, sometimes taboo,
topics. […] and college students are constantly inventing new ways to talk about sex’ (Pfaff et
al.; 60). Dysphemisms are a strategy often employed by Ze Kwaya. In the paragraph about
morphological changes one example has been discussed already in regards to truncation,
kwate. This was translated to me as ‘not a nice way to tell someone to marry you’.
The following example comes from the ze kwaya song Tawonako which can be found in
Appendix 1b.

(12) Tawonako kwa akazako

We have seen your wife’s (private parts)

22
 Akazako is a contraction of akazi and ako, meaning ‘your wife’. While not literally
meaning ‘private parts’, with the choir and their well-known reputation one knows that the
meaning of private parts is what these guys were going for.
Whereas the previous example is indirectly offending some potential listeners, often ze
kwaya goes for a very direct way, as shows the following example where first of all, they sing
disrespectfully about a particular freshman girl who passed away, and then about desires to
have slept with her. Surprisingly, to say that the yaro has died, they actually employ a
euphemism, wapita ‘she has gone’, instead of a more direct wafa ‘she has died’. They openly
fantasise about her backside which supposedly was very large, besides reduplicating the word
‘large’ they also add an emphasising suffix. The third line is somewhat unclear to me but it
appears as if ‘to just die poop remains’ might be a metaphor for ‘being at a loss’, as that is how
it was translated to me. Concluding with the fact that nobody ever will have sex with her. The
complete song can be located in Appendix 1c.

(13a.) Ulimtumbo, ulimtumbo kwa yaro wapita

U-li-mtumbo u-li-mtumbo kwa yaro wa-pita
2SM.be-ass 2SM.be-ass by yaro 2SM.to go
This is the ass, the ass of the yaro who left

b. indemtumbo waukulukuludi
inde-mtumbo wa-ukulu-kulu-di
yes-ass 2SM-large-REDUP-EMPH
Yes, a very large ass

c. oladayo angofera nsetezo poti saza

o-lad-a-yo a-ngo-fer-a nsetezo poti s-a-za
2SM-admirer-FV 3SM-just-die-FV poop remains because NEG-3SM-FUT
Those who admire her are at a loss

d. poti sazachindana naye

poti s-a-za-chind-an-a naye
because NEG-3SM-FUT-have sex-RECIP-FV with her

23
For they will never have sex with her

24
4 Conclusion
In this essay I have tried to start with an introduction to Malawi and a short overview of
studies on Urban Youth Languages in general. The introduction closed with an overview of ways
of borrowing English words in Chichewa, which is the matrix language of Chibrazi and therefore
similar strategies could be expected. The next chapter tried to give an overview of the roots of
Chibrazi as I have called it. I did this by discussing the few previously written papers by various
Malawian researchers along the timeline of their publication or time of writing. The functions
of Chibrazi are discussed according to Eble’s criteria as to what constitutes slang, a famous
poem written about Chancellor College was especially helpful in this matter. An overview of
social classes and a note on gender then conclude chapter two. In chapter three I have gone
into more depth by analysing the strategies employed by these language innovators. Whereas
previous studies tended to superficially look at words, I tried to get these and new words in
sentences and also see how they are being used. This came up with some interesting new
findings such as a causative whereby the subject is not the causer but the agent is. Something
not mentioned in any of the previous studies on the language was the creations of antonyms
by combining two Chibrazi words. Examples from ze kwaya were used to sometimes show
attitudes of students towards various topics and also to introduce certain morphological
manipulation strategies employed. I found that borrowed words generally tend to be
incorporated into Chichewa morphology and phonology, and some words are even able to be
both a noun (mahope) and a verb (mumahopulana). While not exclusive, English nouns tend to
be borrowed more easily than English verbs. There are also examples where English nouns
became verbs in Chibrazi. I should note that while it seems from the example sentences in this
essay that Chibrazi words can be used both in English sentences and in Chichewa sentences,
this may be a result of me asking questions in English and then getting English replies. This
might be something for future research as I did not plan on re-examining the matrix language
of Chibrazi. I will note that the example sentence ‘they are maconti’ occurred naturally in a
story which was told to me in English. On the basis of that, I will also note that I have not set a
status of Chibrazi. While at times it might have characteristics of an Urban Youth Language, or
at least an urban language, to me it feels that it does not show that there is enough
manipulation going on to make the language not at least understandable to someone who is a
fluent Chichewa speaker. The title of this essay, however, shows a different perspective as it is
Kamanga’s claim that he is a fluent speaker of Chibrazi, which to me would mean that Chibrazi

25
is a language wholly different from Chichewa. Perhaps in the future someone can shed more
light on this.

26
References

Adams, V. (1973). An introduction to modern English word-formation. [London]: Longman.

Beck, R. (2010). Urban Languages in Africa. Africa Spectrum, 45(3), 11-41.

Batteen, C. (n.d.) Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English Code-Switching. University of

Minnesota, Department of Linguistics.

Eble, C. (1996). Slang & sociability. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. (2009). Sociology. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

Jalasi, E. M. (1999). Semantic shift in Chichewa among Chancellor College students. B.A.
Dissertation, University of Malawi

Kamanga, C. (2014). Who speaks Chibrazi, the urban contact vernacular of Malawi. Department
of Afrikaans, University of Pretoria.

Kamowa, O. M. (1994). Language change: A case study of language change at Chancellor

College. B.A. Dissertation, University of Malawi.

Kießling, R., & Mous, M. (2004). Urban Youth Languages in Africa. Anthropological Linguistics,
46(3), 303-341.

Lekera, C. F. (1994). Chirunga language: A preliminary description. B.A. Dissertation University

of Malawi.

Maurer, D. (1939). Prostitutes and Criminal Argots. American Journal Of Sociology, 44(4), 546-
550.

Mchombo, S. (2004). The syntax of Chichewa. Cambridge (England): Cambridge University

Press.

Mesthrie, R. (2009). Introducing sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Moto, F. (2001). Language and societal attitudes: A study of Malawi’s new language. Nordic
Journal of African Studies, 10(2): 320- 343.

Music from Malawi, (2016). Dear Mahopu pt4 - Evanz Muzik on Malawi-Music.com. Retrieved
4 March 2016, from http://www.malawi-music.com/E/318-evanz-muzik/1426-dear-
mahopu/3793-dear-mahopu-pt4

Nawata, C.A. (2000). An investigation of some possible sources of the lexical items of Malawian
youth sociolects: A case study of the lexical items of the Chancellor College student sociolect.
B.A. Dissertation, University of Malawi

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Pfaff, K., Gibbs, R. Jr., & Johnson, M. (1997). Metaphor in using and understanding euphemism
and dysphemism. Applied Psycholinguistics, 18(1), 59-83.

Plag, I. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Samper, D. (2002). Talking Sheng: The role of a hybrid language in the construction of identity
and youth culture in Nairobi, Kenya (Ph.D.). University of Pennsylvania.

Simango, S. (2000). 'My Madam is Fine': The Adaptation of English Loans in Chichewa. Journal
Of Multilingual And Multicultural Development, 21(6), 487-507.
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Spitulnik, D. (1998). The Language of the City: Town Bemba as Urban Hybridity. Journal Of
Linguistic Anthropology, 8(1), 30-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jlin.1998.8.1.30

Tchesa, G. (2004). A sociolinguistic study of lexical and semantic changes in Chichewa: A case
of Chancellor College. B.A. Dissertation. University of Malawi.

Todeva, E., & Cenoz, J. (2009). The multiple realities of multilingualism. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.

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Appendices

Appendix 1. Ze kwaya songs

a. Chindege
Chindege chinatela kwatembo
Chinde chinde ehhh
Chinde chinde chindege
Kwate kwate ehhh
Kwate kwate
Kwatembo

The large plane landed at Tembo’s house

Fuck me fuck me ehhh
Fuck me fuck me the large plane
Marry me marry me ehhh
Marry me marry me
At Tembo’s house

b. Tawonako
Tawonako
Tawonako lero
Tawonako kwa akazako
Tawonako lero

Wawonako
Wawanako lero
Wawonako kwa akazako
Wawonako lero

We have seen it
We have seen it today
We have seen your wife’s (private parts)
We have seen it today
29
He has seen it
He has seen it today
He has seen your wife’s (private parts)
He has seen it today

c. Ona
Ona ona ona ona
Iwe onatu
Onatu
Ulimtumbo, ulimtumbo kwa yaro wapita
Indemtumbo waukulukuludi
Oladayo angofera nsetezo
Poti tsaza, poti sazachindana naye
Ona ona

Look, look. Look, look,

Hey, you look over here
Look
Ass, this is the ass of the yaro who left (who died)
Yes, a very large ass
Those that admire her are at a loss
For they will never have sex with her
Look over her, look over here

Appendix 2. Chanco poem by Hardson Chamasowa Davie

1 Mukandiona sorry If you see me, sorry

2 Kufuchilira ndithu maganizo Clouded in thoughts (thick smoke)
3 Kuphwanyisa mutu ndi chilakolako My head hurts because of desire
Ndikukhumba ku chirunga
4 I am longing for Chirunga, the navel of Zomba
pamchombo pa zomba

30
 Ndikakhalakase mmacorridor asukulu
5 Digging up at the top school
pamwambayo
Ndikaonerera kwada olobwera When I see darkness come, people carry
6
kunyamula buku books
7 Kungocheza Just chatting, chilling
8 Chirunga mtima wanga Chirunga my heart
Chancellor college, kapena kuti
9 Chancellor college, or you can say Chanco
Chanco
Kumeneku aliyense amatchedwa
10 There everyone is said to be mesho
mesho
Ati mesho ndiye wokhala naye
11 They say mesho to those who share a room
m’chipinda chimodzi
12 Alonda, amatchedwa achirunga A guard is called a Chirungian
13 Acooki ndi amalume Cooks are uncles
Chanco rolling ndi Chichewa chomva Chanco rolling, it's a Chichewa understood by
14
yekha chanco alone
Chichewa chenicheni
15 The real Chichewa is spoken in English
chimayankhulidwa chingerezi
16 Kufunsira mkazi ati mkutchura Asking a girl out they say it is kutchura (to list)
Akakulola wagwira, akakukana If she agrees, you have touched, if she
17
waponda landmine refuses, you stepped on a landmine
Ukalephera mayenso amati wadya When you fail an exam they say you have
18
njinga eaten a bicycle
Osadziwa kucheza ndi mkazi If you cannot talk to a girl, they say you are
19
amatchedwa swazi swazi
Ukamufunitsitsa mkazi, kapena If you want a girlfriend or a boyfriend very
20
mamuma, ndiye kuti ndiwe desperado badly, then you are a desperado
Kuyendetsa maso pa thupi la mkazi,
21 Eyeing the body of a girl, they say kulada
amati kulada
22 Kujomba, amati kumwetsa If you are absent, they say kumwetsa

31
 When you do not do well (meaning: get poor
Ukapanda kukhonza bwino, ndiye kuti
23 marks), they say akutapa (lit. they scooped
akutapa
you)
Ukalephera mayeso kulemba ena When you fail exams and write
24
apadera, ndiye kutitu ndiwe ninja supplementary, they say you are a ninja
Chichewa choti kusoka, kulimba, ku
25 Chichewa to sow, to get hard, at Chanco
Chancotu m’kutukwana
Mkazi ukamwitana m’chipinda When you call a girl to your room it is called
26
chogona ndiye kuti watheretsa kutheretsa
27 Ukatsamba maoti kayende When u bath the words saying go walk
28 Kameneko ndi kademo It is a little demonstration
29 Ati dzina lina la chionetsero They say another name is chionetsera
30 posakhalitsa udzamva eeeh eeeh Soon you will hear eeeh eeeh
Ndiye kuti akutola masamba atsala It means they are picking up leafs lining up on
31
pang’ono kufola pamsewu the street
32 Kenako eeeh eeeh then eeeh eeeh
Akatero ulendo wayambika When they do that they started their journey
33
kuthamangira ku tawuni to town
34 Nyimbo zao simamvekera patali Their music is not heard very far
Uyo ali ndi grocery kuzatheka ndi Those who have a grocery do not close, it is
35
chibwana cha chombolende immaturity of the navel hanging out
36 Ali ndi … ophunzirawa They are.. these students
37 Haso, kapena kuhasula Hustle, or to hustle
38 Akangoti haso, mkuyamba eeeh If they say hustle, they start eeeh
Owners of groceries, tuckshops and shops
Eni magrocery, maokola ndi mashopu
39 they walk around with their hands in their
manja mayenda nkosi
necks
40 Pozindikira kuti katundu awabetsa Knowing their belongings will be stolen
41 Chancotu police sababayika nawo Chanco doesn’t stress over police
Akabwera a police amanyadira ati If the police come, they say they are their
42
ndiabale awo relatives

32
 Akayamba kuthamangitsana ndiye If they start chasing they have found
43
kuti apeza choseweretsa something to play with
44 Amawayimba nyimbo They sing songs to them
45 Atchena zolandila They have received nice clothes
46 Chipewa, cha Kamuzu Banda The hat, of Kamuzu Bandu
47 Suti, cha Kamuzu Banda The Suit, of Kamuzu Banda
48 Njongo, za Kamuzu Banda The power, of Kamuzu Banda
Ndodo, kapena mfuti, za Kamuzu
49 The stick, or the gun, of Kamuzu Banda
Banda
Kuyakhula monyogodola ena
50 Speaking derogatory, others scream out
amakuwa
Ine ndi [pause] ine ndikazamaliza When I, when I finish school I will be a
51
sukulu ndizakhala wa polisi policeman
Ku chancotu kangopite kumene ndiwe If you go to Chanco for the first time you are
52
yaro a yaro
53 Chaka chachiwiri conti Second years are conti
54 Chaka chachchitatu associate Third years are associate
55 Chotsiliza finale Those who are finishing are finale
56 Ati yaro simunthu They say yaro are not human
Yaro ndi chinyama chonyatsitsitsa
57 Yaro are the ugliest animals on this earth
chapadziko
58 Magetsi akathima, wathimitsa yaro If power fails, it failed because of the yaro
Chakudya chikachedwa, wachetedswa
59 If the food is late, it is late because of the yaro
yaro
Difficult exams, it is difficult because of the
60 Mayeso akavuta, wavutitsa yaro
yaro
61 Yaro sapeza mtendere kwenikweni Yaro do not get peace at all

33