Island survey

 Thank you for praying for our recent language survey! We got back to Dar es Salaam safely last Friday. It went very well and we now have a much clearer picture about the language situation in the two areas we were surveying. I want to share with you some of what we learned and some pictures from survey.

Ukerewe Island, from the ferry.

In those two weeks I traveled by airplane, by bus, by Land Cruiser, by ferry (two different ones) and by a smaller boat. This is our vehicle, traveling from one island to another:

We interviewed six different groups from the two language areas. In the first couple days we had to do a lot of waiting because all of the government officials we needed to see, and get permission from, were preparing for a festival, but we were able to get good information from a group of Kerewe and Kara speakers about where to go to start our research.

Part of the survey team with some islanders.

Our research: In each village, our research consisted of several parts. We interviewed village leaders to learn about the area, languages, religions, and so on. We would also do a group interview with a number of villagers to get their perceptions about the area, language varieties, and understanding of them. We asked the group to listen to stories in nearby languages and answer questions about them to give us an idea of their level of understanding. We would also ask a few speakers to help with eliciting a word and phrase list to help define the similarities and differences.

Group interview.

Taking word lists.

Our findings: We learned that both languages are still important and thriving. It looks as if Kerewe, the larger language, is different enough from the languages around it to merit starting a language project for Kerewe. The Kara group was a bit more complicated. Although they live on a smaller island with just eight villages, each village has its own distinguishable dialect. Kara is also quite similar to a nearby language as well, so it’s still uncertain what the best language variety is for the Kara to use. 

We were even able to find an old Kerewe New Testament; it was published in the 1940s and is almost unavailable, but could be a good starting point for a new translation. God was very present in this survey, clearing the way before us and bringing us into contact with the right people.

Near one village, they showed us the area's open-air museum and explained its historical and cultural significance.

For me it was really exciting to get to see that the Kara and Kerewe people, whom I spent so much time researching for my survey class last summer, are actually real people and their language is really being spoken.  Since my Swahili skills are only three weeks along, my participation was somewhat limited, but it was a good experience to get to practice with the language a little and to watch how survey works and learn more about it. I also loved the chance to get out and see more of the country, which is beautiful and diverse.