Shona Sentential Names: A Brief Overview

Chapter II - Shona Names as Heritage and Cultural Expressions

33 Chapter II Shona Names as Heritage and Cultural Expressions Introduction Names fall under several categories. Linguistically they are parts of speech. As labels that help to identify objects or human beings they belong to the realm of language study. But besides that names also have another interesting dimension to them. It is important to realise that the practice of naming whether they be objects or human beings is something that has been with human generations since time immemorial. That means that the practice of naming is one that has been bequeathed to today’s people by past generations. It is not something that is peculiar to a particular ethnic group or race. It is universal. The fact that today’s generation have retained it means that it is part of the heritage they want to be perpetuated and sustained because of its value to humanity. While it is acknowledged that the practice of naming has been handed down to all humanity by past generations, some naming practices are dying due to external influences such as western cultural goods that come in the form of fiction works as well as films. They have also been affected by the Christian faith, especially main stream Christian denominations such as the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches that have tended to advise their converts and followers to assume new names, especially those of saints at baptism and confirmation. The effect of this has been the erosion of the Shona heritage of giving to children names that relate to the family and parents’ 34 immediate environment. It is important to note that Shona names just like any other, as well as the environment that informs their coming into being are part of the general heritage of the African people in as a broad-spectrum and the Shona, specifically the Manyika in particular. It is in the light of this that the word heritage as it relates to names needs to be unpacked because to some people, the term heritage means other things that are not names such as monuments that are part of the tangible cultural heritage and songs as well as some other practices that they accept and acknowledge to be intangible cultural heritage. Heritage Heritage is something that is passed down from one generation to another; a tradition, custom or customs that those who have received them consider to be important. It is a way of doing things. Heritage refers to practices such as naming that the present generations have inherited from the past. The United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is also very illuminating in this area and it thus defines heritage as: ... our legacy from the past, what we live with today and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.10 This definition is very broad. It encompasses a lot of things that include the tangible and the intangible. Although this definition does not make any reference to names or 10 http://www.whc.unesco.org/en/about 35 naming practices, the researcher would like to highlight its significance which is embraced in the words “our legacy from the past”. Each group of people or clan has practices either living or dead that that have been handed down through the generations that have been useful in informing parents in naming their children. These practices are therefore part of each people’s cultural heritage. They are also important because they give some insights into family and clan history. So to choose to name in a manner that is foreign is to throw away one’s history. It is equivalent to rejecting oneself and thus a failure on one’s part to acknowledge his or her existence as a human being. The University of Massachusetts website also gives more insights into what heritage is. According to this website, heritage is a full range of a people’s inherited traditions, monuments, objects and culture, with the most important part of the heritage being meanings and behaviours that contemporary society derives from them. This same website adds on that heritage includes among other things, the following: preserving, excavating, displaying or restoring a collection of old things or artefacts. It is important to note that heritage is however, not limited to these things. It is in two categories, and these are tangible and intangible heritage. Intangible heritage is fully manifested...