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Names as pointers: Zulu personal naming practices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

Susan M. Suzman
Susan M. Suzman
Affiliation:
Linguistics Department, University of the Witwatersrand, P.O. Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Abstract

Children in many African societies have meaningful names – unlike their Western counterparts, whose names are primarily labels. In Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, and many other cultures, namegivers traditionally chose personal names that pointed to a range of people and circumstances that were relevant at the time of the child's birth. These highly individual or unique names were part of particular social frameworks that have long been evolving with Western acculturation. Like the social frameworks within which they are embedded, naming practices are in the process of change.

This article investigates change in Zulu naming practices as a reflection of wider social changes. Taking historical accounts as the source of traditional namegiving, an analysis of rural, farm, and urban names shows quantitative and qualitative differences in naming practices. Contemporarynames differ significantly from traditional ones, and provide evidence that the world view within which names are given is in the process of redefinition. (Anthropological linguistics, naming, South Africa, Zulu)

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 253 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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