Clement Martyn Doke
Encyclopedia
Clement Martyn Doke was a South African linguist working mainly on African languages. Realizing that the grammatical structures of Bantu languages
are quite different from those of European languages, he was one of the first African linguists of his time to abandon the Euro-centric approach to language description for a more locally grounded one. A most prolific writer, he published a string of grammars
, several dictionaries, comparative
work, and a history of Bantu linguistics.
.
At the age of 18, Clement received a bachelor's degree from Transvaal University College
in Pretoria
(now the University of Pretoria
). He decided to devote his life to missionary activity. In 1913, he accompanied his father on a tour of north-western Rhodesia
, to an area called Lambaland, now known as Ilamba. It is situated at the watershed of the Congo
and Zambesi rivers, part of the district lay in Northern Rhodesia and part in the Belgian Congo State. The Cape-Cairo Railway
threaded through its eastern portion; otherwise, travelling mostly had to be done on foot.
The Reverend William Arthur Phillips of the Nyasa Industrial Mission in Blantyre
had established a Baptist mission there in 1905, serving an area of 25000 square miles (64,749.7 km²) and 50,000 souls. The Dokes were supposed to investigate, whether the mission in Lambaland could be taken over by the Baptist Union of South Africa. It was on this trip that Doke's father contracted enteric fever and died soon afterwards (Gandhi
attended the memorial service and addressed the congregation). Clement assumed his father's role.
The South African Baptists decided to take over Kafulafuta Mission, while its founder Reverend Phillips remained as superintendent. Clement Doke returned to Kafulafuta as missionary in 1914, followed by his sister Olive two years later.
. The only written material available at the time was a translation of Jonah and a collection of 47 hymns. Soon he mastered the language and published his first book Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa (The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge) in 1917. He enrolled in Johannesburg as the extension of Transvaal University College for an MA degree. His thesis was published as The Grammar of the Lamba language
. The book is couched in traditional grammatical terms as Doke had not yet established his innovative method of analysis and description for the Bantu languages. His later Textbook of Lamba Grammar is far superior in this respect.
Clement Doke was also interested in ethnology
. In 1931 he compiled The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia, which remains one of the outstanding ethnographic descriptions of the peoples of Central Africa. For Doke, literacy was part of the evangelisation since people had to able to read to appreciate the message of the Bible, but it was only after his retirement that he completed the translation of the Bible into Lamba. It was published under the title of Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God) in 1959.
. In order to secure a qualification as a lecturer, the family moved to England, where he registered at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His major languages were Lamba
and Luba
, but as no suitable examiner was available, he eventually had to change his language to Zulu.
Doke took up his appointment in the new Department of Bantu Studies at the University of Witwatersrand in 1923. In 1925 he received his D. Litt. for his doctoral thesis The Phonetics of the Zulu Language and was promoted to Senior Lecturer. In 1931 he was appointed to the Chair of Bantu Studies and thus headed the Department of Bantu Studies. The Department acted as a catalyst for the admission of Africans to the University: as early as 1925 a limited number were admitted to the vacation course in African Studies. Doke supported the appointment of Benedict Wallet Vilakazi
as member of the staff, as he believed a native speaker was essential for acquiring a language. This provoked a storm of criticism and controversy from the public. They both collaborated on the Zulu-English Dictionary, first published in 1948. It is still one of the best examples of lexicography for any of the Bantu languages.
At the request of the government of Southern Rhodesia, Doke investigated the range of dialect diversity among the languages of the country and made recommendations for Unified Shona
. This formed the basis for Standard Shona. He devised a unified orthography
based on the Zezuru, Karanga
and Manyika
dialects. However, Doke's orthography was never fully accepted and the South African government introduced an alternative, leaving Shona with two competing orthographies between 1935 and 1955.
During his tenure Doke developed and promoted a method of linguistic analysis and description
of the Bantu languages that was based upon the structure of these languages. The "Dokean model" continues to be one of the dominant models of linguistic description in Southern and Central Africa. His classification of the Bantu languages was for many years the dominant view of the interrelations among the African languages. He was also an early describer of Khoisan and Bantu click consonants, devising phonetic symbols for a number of them.
Doke served the University of the Witwatersrand until his retirement in 1953. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of letters by Rhodes University
and the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of the Witwatersrand in 1972.
The former missionary always remained devoted to the Baptist Church. He was elected President of the South African Baptist Union in 1949 and spent a year visiting churches and mission stations. He used his presidential address in condemning the recently established apartheid policy: I solemnly warn the Government that the spirit behind their apartheid legislation, and the way in which they are introducing discriminatory measures of all types today, will bring disaster upon this fair land of ours.
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
are quite different from those of European languages, he was one of the first African linguists of his time to abandon the Euro-centric approach to language description for a more locally grounded one. A most prolific writer, he published a string of grammars
Grammars
Grammars: A Journal of Mathematical Research on Formal and Natural Languages is an academic journal devoted to the mathematical linguistics of formal and natural languages, published by Springer-Verlag.ISSN 1386-7393...
, several dictionaries, comparative
Comparative linguistics
Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness....
work, and a history of Bantu linguistics.
Missionary in Lambaland
The Doke family had been engaged in missionary activity for the Baptist Church for some generations. His father Reverend Joseph J. Doke left England and travelled to South Africa in 1882, where he met and married Agnes Biggs. They returned to England, where Clement was born as the third of four children. The family moved to New Zealand and eventually returned to South Africa in 1903, where they later on settled in JohannesburgJohannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
.
At the age of 18, Clement received a bachelor's degree from Transvaal University College
Transvaal University College
Transvaal University College is a former name of two universities in South Africa:* The University of the Witwatersrand was named the Transvaal University College from 1906 to 1910....
in Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
(now the University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
). He decided to devote his life to missionary activity. In 1913, he accompanied his father on a tour of north-western Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
, to an area called Lambaland, now known as Ilamba. It is situated at the watershed of the Congo
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
and Zambesi rivers, part of the district lay in Northern Rhodesia and part in the Belgian Congo State. The Cape-Cairo Railway
Cape-Cairo railway
The Cape to Cairo Railway is an uncompleted project to cross Africa from south to north by rail. This plan was initiated at the end of the 18th century, during the time of colonial rule, largely under the vision of Cecil Rhodes, in the attempt to connect adjacent African possessions of the British...
threaded through its eastern portion; otherwise, travelling mostly had to be done on foot.
The Reverend William Arthur Phillips of the Nyasa Industrial Mission in Blantyre
Blantyre, Malawi
Blantyre or Mandala is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, the largest city with an estimated 732,518 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, Lilongwe...
had established a Baptist mission there in 1905, serving an area of 25000 square miles (64,749.7 km²) and 50,000 souls. The Dokes were supposed to investigate, whether the mission in Lambaland could be taken over by the Baptist Union of South Africa. It was on this trip that Doke's father contracted enteric fever and died soon afterwards (Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
attended the memorial service and addressed the congregation). Clement assumed his father's role.
The South African Baptists decided to take over Kafulafuta Mission, while its founder Reverend Phillips remained as superintendent. Clement Doke returned to Kafulafuta as missionary in 1914, followed by his sister Olive two years later.
The Lamba language
At first, Clement Doke was frustrated by his inability to communicate with the LambaLamba
Lamba may refer to:* Lamba , Punjabi Khatris or Sanatan Khatris ,or Jat and Yaduvanshi Ahirs surname or linage.* Lamba , a Baloch tribe living in Balochistan* Lamba , an uninhabited island in the Shetland Islands...
. The only written material available at the time was a translation of Jonah and a collection of 47 hymns. Soon he mastered the language and published his first book Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa (The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge) in 1917. He enrolled in Johannesburg as the extension of Transvaal University College for an MA degree. His thesis was published as The Grammar of the Lamba language
Lamba language
Lamba is a language found in Zambia. It is related to Bemba and is commonly spoken in the Copperbelt. There are about 210,000 native speakers in the northern parts of Zambia and southern fringes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lamba is also spoken in Lusaka, mainly because many speakers...
. The book is couched in traditional grammatical terms as Doke had not yet established his innovative method of analysis and description for the Bantu languages. His later Textbook of Lamba Grammar is far superior in this respect.
Clement Doke was also interested in ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
. In 1931 he compiled The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia, which remains one of the outstanding ethnographic descriptions of the peoples of Central Africa. For Doke, literacy was part of the evangelisation since people had to able to read to appreciate the message of the Bible, but it was only after his retirement that he completed the translation of the Bible into Lamba. It was published under the title of Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God) in 1959.
University of the Witwatersrand
In 1919 Doke married Hilda Lehmann, who accompanied him back to Lambaland. They both contracted malaria during their work and she was forbidden to return to Lambaland. Clement Doke also realised that his field work couldn't continue much longer and left in 1921. He was recruited by the newly-founded University of the WitwatersrandUniversity of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
. In order to secure a qualification as a lecturer, the family moved to England, where he registered at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His major languages were Lamba
Lamba language
Lamba is a language found in Zambia. It is related to Bemba and is commonly spoken in the Copperbelt. There are about 210,000 native speakers in the northern parts of Zambia and southern fringes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lamba is also spoken in Lusaka, mainly because many speakers...
and Luba
Tshiluba language
Luba-Kasai is a Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it is a national language, along with Lingala, Swahili, and Kikongo. It is one of two major Congolese languages called "Luba"...
, but as no suitable examiner was available, he eventually had to change his language to Zulu.
Doke took up his appointment in the new Department of Bantu Studies at the University of Witwatersrand in 1923. In 1925 he received his D. Litt. for his doctoral thesis The Phonetics of the Zulu Language and was promoted to Senior Lecturer. In 1931 he was appointed to the Chair of Bantu Studies and thus headed the Department of Bantu Studies. The Department acted as a catalyst for the admission of Africans to the University: as early as 1925 a limited number were admitted to the vacation course in African Studies. Doke supported the appointment of Benedict Wallet Vilakazi
Benedict Wallet Vilakazi
Benedict Wallet Vilakazi was a South African Zulu poet, novelist, and educator. In 1946, he became the first black South African to receive a Ph.D...
as member of the staff, as he believed a native speaker was essential for acquiring a language. This provoked a storm of criticism and controversy from the public. They both collaborated on the Zulu-English Dictionary, first published in 1948. It is still one of the best examples of lexicography for any of the Bantu languages.
At the request of the government of Southern Rhodesia, Doke investigated the range of dialect diversity among the languages of the country and made recommendations for Unified Shona
Shona language
Shona is a Bantu language, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify peoples who speak one of the Shona language dialects: Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika, Ndau and Korekore...
. This formed the basis for Standard Shona. He devised a unified orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
based on the Zezuru, Karanga
Karanga
Karanga may refer to:* Karanga , Mangaia, Cook Islands* Karanga , an element of Māori cultural protocol, the calling of visitors onto a marae.* Ikalanga language* "Te Karanga", a song by Rhian Sheehan* a clan of the Shona people...
and Manyika
Manyika
The Manyika are a Shona tribe with their own dialect, Manyika. The majority of Manyika come from the eastern region of Zimbabwe. The language is widely spoken in Manicaland Province and in certain areas of Manica Province in neighbouring Mozambique. The Manica dialect somewhat varies from region to...
dialects. However, Doke's orthography was never fully accepted and the South African government introduced an alternative, leaving Shona with two competing orthographies between 1935 and 1955.
During his tenure Doke developed and promoted a method of linguistic analysis and description
Descriptive linguistics
In the study of language, description, or descriptive linguistics, is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is spoken by a group of people in a speech community...
of the Bantu languages that was based upon the structure of these languages. The "Dokean model" continues to be one of the dominant models of linguistic description in Southern and Central Africa. His classification of the Bantu languages was for many years the dominant view of the interrelations among the African languages. He was also an early describer of Khoisan and Bantu click consonants, devising phonetic symbols for a number of them.
Doke served the University of the Witwatersrand until his retirement in 1953. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of letters by Rhodes University
Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public research university located in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, established in 1904. It is the province’s oldest university, and is one of the four universities in the province...
and the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of the Witwatersrand in 1972.
The former missionary always remained devoted to the Baptist Church. He was elected President of the South African Baptist Union in 1949 and spent a year visiting churches and mission stations. He used his presidential address in condemning the recently established apartheid policy: I solemnly warn the Government that the spirit behind their apartheid legislation, and the way in which they are introducing discriminatory measures of all types today, will bring disaster upon this fair land of ours.
Selected publications
- Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa (The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge in Lamba), 1917.
- The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia: A Study of their Customs and Beliefs. London: George G. Harrap, 1931.
- Report on the Unification of the Shona Dialects. Government of Southern Rhodesia: Government Blue Book, 1931.
- Bantu linguistic terminology. London; New York Longmans, Green, 1935.
- Textbook of Lamba Grammar. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1938.
- Outline grammar of Bantu. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, 1943.
- Zulu-English Dictionary. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1948. (with Benedict Wallet Vilakazi)
- The Southern Bantu languages. London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1954.
- Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God in Lamba), 1959.
- Contributions to the history of Bantu linguistics. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1961 (with D. T. Cole).
- Trekking in South Central Africa 1913-1919. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1993.