Prof Ruge Publications

Prof ruge work
The documents available on this module reflect a substantial part of the work of Prof. Josephat Rugemalira as a linguist within the university setting. The intention is to provide access to those materials produced under the auspices of the Languages of Tanzania Project which are now largely out of print and have never been made available online. It is my hope that, with time, the University of Dar es Salaam will be able to make the large amount of material produced from that project available to the wider public via the internet.
 
Nyaraka zinazopatikana hapa zinawakilisha sehemu muhimu ya kazi ya Prof. Josephat Rugemalira kama mwanaisimu katika mazingira ya chuo kikuu. Nia ya kuziweka hapa ni kuwawezesha watu mbalimbali kupata nyaraka hizi ambazo zilitokana na kazi za Mradi wa Lugha za Tanzania na ambazo kwa kiasi kikubwa hazichapishwi tena, na hazijawahi kupatikana katika intaneti. Ni matumaini yangu kwamba, hatimaye, Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam kitaweza kuziweka kwenye intaneti nyaraka nyingine nyingi zilizotokana na mradi ule, kwa manufaa ya umma.

Emigration, on the other hand, was, oddly, spawned by the long history of exposure to Western schooling. The area is greatly influenced by the Lutheran Church, being a traditional German missionary sphere of influence with mission headquarters at Nkwarungo. The hallmarks are Machame Hospital and Machame Girls Secondary School. In addition, the population pressure on the small land area forced the people to venture out. This highly mobile population runs businesses in virtually all towns of Tanzania (cf. Atlasi ya Lugha za Tanzania 2009). Besides, predictably, there is heavy Swahili influence on the speakers of Kimashami.

The people, Wamashami, call their language Kimashami (E62a in the Guthrie classification), and their homeland Mashami, which includes the Masama area in the west. So the name “Machame” that appears in many contexts is really a corruption of the native term by outsiders. Being one of the languages spoken by the Chagga people, it shares several lexical and structural features with the immediate neighbours: Kimeru to the west, and Kivunjo and Kiwoso (Kibosho) to the east.

Download A Grammatical Sketch of Kimashami