CONTEMPORARY JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS AND LITERARY STUDIES

The Analysis of Politeness Strategies in Casual Conversations in Matengo

Ezekiel Kumburu, Shingwa Magashi — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Politeness has garnered the attention of many scholars worldwide, who have focused on the types of face-threatening acts and the strategies employed to mitigate them. Despite extensive theorisation of politeness, empirical studies in many African languages remain scarce. This study analyses the politeness strategies used by Matengo speakers to mitigate face-threatening acts (FTAs) in casual conversations. The research adopted a qualitative, descriptive design and was conducted in Mbinga District, Ruvuma Region, Tanzania. Data were collected through audio recording of naturally occurring conversations, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews with Matengo native speakers. The interviews were intended to confirm the information collected through participant observation. A total of ten conversational transcripts and interviews with fifteen informants were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that Matengo speakers employ a range of politeness strategies to mitigate FTAs. The strategies include the use of past tense forms when making requests, plural personal pronouns with singular reference, the politeness clitic oti/ote ‘please’, diminutive morphemes ka- and tu-, and traditional specific address names. These strategies function to minimise imposition, signal deference, and protect the negative face of interlocutors. The study further demonstrates that politeness in Matengo is strongly shaped by social variables, including age, kinship relations, marital status, and relative power, resulting in a predominance of vertical politeness over horizontal solidarity-based politeness. This study, therefore, provides insights into how Matengo speakers maintain respect, harmony and order within their community. Furthermore, the findings document linguistic practices that may be at risk of change due to language contact.

Analysing the Literary Representation of Women's Influence in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Caroline Nimehi Mugolozi, Yohana Makeja John — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Strategic Code-Switching in Digital Marketing: The Functions of Facebook Money-Lending Advertisements in Tanzania

Nicholaus Ngulo,, Ancyfrida Prosper, Elizabeth Kyara — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

While previous studies have explored code-switching in social, educational, and user-generated online contexts, little attention has been given to its strategic use in digital advertising, particularly within Tanzania’s financial sector. In this regard, this study investigated the sociolinguistic features of code-switching in Facebook money-lending advertisements in Tanzania, focusing on the types, influencing factors, and communicative functions of language alternation between Kiswahili and English. Guided by Myers-Scotton’s Matrix Language Frame model and the Pragmatic-Functional Perspective, the study employed an interpretivist approach, using netnography and thematic analysis, to examine 20 Facebook adverts and 100 user comments collected between 2023 and 2025. The study finds that code-switching in Tanzanian Facebook money-lending advertisements performs multiple interrelated functions that enhance communication effectiveness. Persuasively, English is often used in slogans and taglines to signal professionalism, credibility, and global standards, while Kiswahili maintains cultural accessibility. It also serves as an emphatic and attention-grabbing device by highlighting key actions and services, making messages more engaging in fast-paced digital contexts. Additionally, code-switching fulfils relational, identity, informative, and instructional functions by bridging local and urban identities, guiding users through digital processes, and building trust through clarity, modernity, and audience alignment. In conclusion, code-switching in Tanzanian Facebook money-lending advertisements functions as a strategic resource that combines Kiswahili’s cultural appeal with English’s professionalism to enhance persuasion and trust. Marketers should therefore use it purposefully, supported by training in Business Linguistics and Sociolinguistics and further research on audience perceptions and measurable impacts. More broadly, policymakers, educators, and consumers should recognise code-switching as a functional tool in effective and inclusive digital financial communication. The study is essential in business as it explores strategic language use in online financial marketing and its implications for marketers, policy, education, and consumer understanding.

Semantic Analysis of the Ndali Place Names: A Case of Bundali Division of Ileje District, Tanzania

Raytoni Brauni Songa, Chrispina Alphonce, Andwele Mwakasege — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Place names carry the memories, historical background, and dynamism of the respective communities and their environment. However, Ndali names have not been analysed, overshadowing their rich cultural and historical meanings. To address this lacuna, the paper analysed 148 Ndali place names in the Bundali Division, Songwe Region, to determine how they reflect cultural and environmental contexts. The study used qualitative and descriptive design to analyse data. Snowball and purposive sampling were used to collect data from 69 participants through focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews and introspection. The analysis reveals that the Ndali place names derive their meanings from water bodies, landscape features, flora, fauna, historical events, and prominent individuals. Consequently, paper analysis demonstrates that these place names are both linguistically and geographically specific, reflecting the pivotal role of language in documenting local environments, history and culture. Moreover, the findings emphasise the significance of place names in cultural and environmental preservation and historical documentation. Future research may focus on evaluating the impact of modernisation on the preservation of place names in other regions of Tanzania and globally.

Personality Traits in the Characterisation of the Main Characters in “Watoto wa Mamantilie” and “Daladala Kutoka Mbagala: A Psychoanalytic and Narrative Analysis”

Faustine Deogratius John, Zelda Elisifa — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines the representation of character traits through the fictionalisation of protagonists in Emmanuel Mbogo’s Watoto wa Mamant’ilie and Mussa Shakinyashi’s Daladala Kutoka Mbagala. By analysing how protagonists are constructed, the study provides insight into the cultural narratives and societal values reflected in contemporary Tanzanian literature. The research adopts a qualitative approach and employs a hybrid analytical framework that integrates Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory and Puckett’s Narrative Theory. These theoretical lenses enable a detailed examination of how characters’ personalities are expressed, narrated, and performed within the selected texts. The study is grounded in the Constructivist Paradigm, an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective widely recognised in education, psychology, sociology, and epistemology. This paradigm holds that individuals construct meaning and perceive reality through personal experiences, beliefs, interpretations, and social interactions. Guided by this framework, the study relies on close textual reading as its primary method of data analysis, focusing on narrative description, dialogue, behaviour, and social interaction to interpret the development of key characters. The analysis reveals that Peter is portrayed as a psychologically complex character whose personality is marked by sociability, empathy, analytical thinking, and creative adaptability, reflecting resilience shaped by social marginalisation and personal loss. In contrast, Fikara emerges as a more authoritative and force-driven figure, whose personality is defined by assertiveness and controlled emotional expression, suggesting a limited yet distinct rhetorical dominance within the narrative. Together, these portrayals demonstrate how characterisation functions as a critical literary device for revealing personality types, power relations, and social identity, thereby enriching the interpretative depth of African literary analysis.

Normative Gender Identities in Social Greetings across Ethnic Groups in Tanzania

Adronis Kanonko Selestino — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper addresses a critical gap in understanding how social greeting practices perpetuate gender inequalities in multicultural societies like Tanzania. This oversight limits insights into how routine interactions contribute to the broader reproduction of gendered power dynamics. To bridge this gap, the paper examines how social greeting practices function as a medium through which gendered norms are both reflected and reinforced across diverse cultural contexts. Based on qualitative data from ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews across ten ethnic groups in Tanzania, the study analyses social greetings categorised into three primary types: gender-specific greetings addressing both men and women, greetings reserved exclusively for men, and plain, gender-neutral greetings, revealing embedded gender expectations. Revealing these gendered voices is important because it sheds light on how language and interaction perpetuate normative gender identities, providing opportunities for challenging inequalities and promoting gender equity across diverse sociocultural contexts. Guided by Judith Butler’s performativity theory and Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis, the findings show that greetings are not just ritualised exchanges but also performative acts that subtly communicate and sustain culturally specific gender roles. Differences in greeting styles between men and women, as well as gendered expectations within greetings, demonstrate how daily communication rituals contribute to the maintenance of social hierarchies.