Linguistic and Social Outcomes of Interactions of Hadzabe and Sukuma in North-Western Tanzania

Abstract

Social and linguistic contacts of the Hadzabe speaking people with the Sukuma people in Maswa District (now Meatu District) in northern Tanzania have been under-reported in the existing literature, whereas the Hadzabe of eastern Tanzania have been researched in depth. Specialists have documented that in western Tanzania, the material culture of the Hadzabe differs significantly from what is found among their counterparts in the eastern region; so too the regional differences between their adaptations of kinship terms have been well documented. However, patterns of linguistic adaptation in the naming of plants and crops have yet to be analysed. Findings from Sungu Village in Meatu District reveal the significant influence of the Sukuma in the Hadzabe lexicon of plants and crops. It is understandable why the names of cultivated crops among the Hadzabe would demonstrate the Sukuma influence, since the Sukuma farmers introduced farming amongst the Hadzabe foragers. But it is unclear why the Hadzabe should have borrowed Sukuma names for wild plants as well, since the Hadzabe have depended upon their local biodiversity throughout their existence in the region, as has been documented for several decades now. We argue that despite their recency, communities which dominate through their sheer population density, such as the Sukuma, tend to influence the deeper lexicon of smaller communities like Hadzabe.