Orthographic Deviation of Relative Markers jhújho and jhίjho in Chindali Relative Clauses

Abstract

This paper analyses the orthographic deviation of relative markers jhújho ‘who’ and jhίjho ‘which’ in Chindali as spoken in Ileje District of Songwe Region in the southern highlands of Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative approach with a descriptive research design. Data were gathered through text collection. Twelve informants were sampled using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. The researchers also analysed three books written in Chindali from which sentences with relative clauses (RCs) were extracted, in which the relative markers jhújho ‘who’ and jhίjho ‘which’ were picked for analysis. The findings reveal that the orthographic deviation of relative markers jhújho ‘who’ and jhίjho ‘which’ in Chindali is necessitated by the deviant consonant /ʒ/ with grapheme <jh> in the Chindali orthography as suggested by Schroeder (2010). The analysis has exposed that the grapheme <j> was substituted with the grapheme <y> in all words with grapheme <j>. The findings reveal that the grapheme <j> is pronounced as /ʒ/ as evidenced in the spoken texts collected. Thus, it should be written as <jh> grapheme instead of the <y> grapheme as written in the literature. Thus, writers have to use the grapheme <jh> in writing, which is pronounced as /ʒ/, to mitigate troubles in reading. The article concludes that the consonant /j/ and the grapheme <y> are used in conventional orthography in nontraditional style, which deviates from the correct use, something that leads to the deviation of the Chindali orthography in general and the relative markers jhújho and jhίjho in particular.