Fanagalo Totally Explained

Everything about Fanagalo totally explained

Fanagalo or Fanakalo is a pidgin based on the Zulu, English, and Afrikaans languages. It is used as a lingua franca, mainly in the gold, diamond, coal and copper mining industries in South Africa — and to a smaller extent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although it's used as a second language only, the number of speakers was estimated as "several hundred thousand" in 1975. Fanagalo is the only Zulu-based pidgin language, and is a rare example of a pidgin based on an indigenous language rather than on the language of a colonising or trading power.

Etymology

The name "Fanagalo" comes from strung-together Nguni forms meaning "liken + it + that" and has the meaning "do it like this", reflecting its use as a language of instruction.

History and usage

Fanagalo is one of a number of African pidgin languages that developed during the colonial period to promote ease of communication. suggests that it developed in the nineteenth century in KwaZulu-Natal Province as a way for English colonists to communicate with their servants and was also used as a lingua franca between English and Afrikaans-speaking colonists.
   Fanagalo was used extensively in gold and diamond mines because the South African mining industry employed on fixed contracts workers from across southern and central Africa: including Congo, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique. With workers originating from a range of countries and having a vast range of different mother tongues, Fanagalo provided a simple way to communicate and is still used as a training and operating medium.
   Adendorff describes two variants of the language, Mine Fanagalo and Garden Fanagalo. The latter name refers to its use with servants in households. It used to be known as Kitchen Kaffir; "Kaffir" being the South African term for black person (now highly offensive) and a 19th century term for the Nguni languages.
   In the mid-20th century there were white efforts in South Africa to promote and standardise Fanagalo as a universal second language, under the name of "Basic Bantu".
   Mining aside, Adendorff suggests that Fanagalo has unfavourable and negative connotations for many South Africans. However, he raises the point that Fanagalo is sometimes used between white South Africans, particularly expatriates, as a signal of South African origin and a way of conveying solidarity in an informal manner.

Language features and variants

Mine Fanagalo is based mostly on Zulu vocabulary (about 70%), with some words from English (about 25%), Afrikaans and Portuguese. It doesn't have the range of Zulu inflections, and it tends to follow English word order.
Adendorff describes Mine Fanagalo and Garden Fanagalo as being basically the same pidgin. He suggests that Garden Fanagalo should be seen as lying towards the English end of a continuum, and Mine Fanagalo closer to the Zulu end.

Similar languages

Other, similar colonial era pidgins include Chilapalapa (very similar to Fanakalo, with a largely Zulu/Ndebele vocabulary; used in colonial Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe) and ki-Settler (based on Swahili and used by European colonists in Kenya).

Further Information

Get more info on 'Fanagalo'.

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