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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Language in military history: command and communication in East Africa |
Author: | Mazrui, Ali A. |
Year: | 1974 |
Periodical: | Mawazo |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 19-35 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | East Africa |
Subjects: | defence Swahili language |
Abstract: | There are two broad categories of language usage from the point of military performance: the inspirational usage and the organizational usage. A particularly impressive example of inspirational utilization of the English language are Churchill's speeches during the World War II. Concurrently with Churchill's utilisation of English for inspirational purposes was the initiation of a new phase for Swahili in the armed forces. East African soldiers who has learned Swahili later became sources of power and initiative, especially in Uganda, where at that time the utility of Swahili was still basically organisational rather than inspirational. Swahili in Uganda has not as yet acquired the sophistication accessary for effective inspirational utilization. The missing factor concerns the educational system. In Kenya, Kenyatta with his impressive mastery of the language, has given it an inspirational role even in political mobilization Tanzania has attained the most elaborate forms of inspirational usage of Swahili. Notes. |