Page 15 - 2020 SoMJ Vol 73 No 2_Neat

6 The Society of Malaŵi Journal

consequence, schoolchildren and young adults who had learned the language were
the sole beneficiaries of the mission. They were later sent out to preach in
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chiTonga to the older generations.
Laws continued to publish in Nyanja, and in 1881 he published the
Nyanja school primer for pupils and teachers. In 1882 he published the Tonga
school primer, followed in 1883 by a translation of the gospels of Mark and John
in Nyanja, and then the New Testament in Nyanja in 1885. More Nyanja
translation followed in 1888 (second Nyanja reader) and 1894 (English–Nyanja
dictionary). Collectively, Laws’, Riddel’s and Henry’s publications on Nyanja
show that for the first 20 years the LM was actively involved in Nyanja studies
and translation.
Following its relocation from Cape Maclear to the north, LM adopted
Tumbuka as opposed to its prior focus on Nyanja. Due to the number of languages
spoken in the northern province, missionaries were separated and encouraged to
specialize. W.P Livingstone reported that the northern province was ‘a perfect
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27
Babel’, with more than fifteen different languages spoken. Though the image of
Babel is invoked, I have not come across any records where missionaries made
links between the events at the Tower of Babel, as recorded in the Bible, with
vernacular languages. For the most part, LM concentrated on Tumbuka, Tonga,
Nyanja/Chewa and Ngoni languages. Alexander MacAlpine, Dr. Innes and
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George Prentice were assigned Tonga, Tumbuka and Chewa respectively.
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Walter Elmslie was tasked with unearthing the Ngoni language and culture. He
translated into Ngoni the Sermon on the Mount, the Book of Mark, the Decalogue,
the parables, hymns, and a grammar and structure of the Ngoni language.
30
Notwithstanding the different ventures in vernacular languages, LM used
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Ngoni as the ‘official’ language. In 1914, Fraser indicated that Chingoni was
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used ‘in speaking and teaching, and that was the language of the schools’.
Although religious texts and school materials were translated into Ngoni/Zulu, the
Ngoni lost their mother tongue and adopted Tumbuka, and the mission followed

25 Murray, 124.
26 See Macdonald, Africana; or, The Heart of Heathen Africa.
27 Livingstone, Laws of Livingstonia, 285.
28 Livingstonia Manuscripts, “Letters to the Sub-Committee (Printed). Minutes of
Mission Council.” (No 26, n.d.),
ACC 754871D National Library of Scotland, Livingstonia.
29 Livingstonia Manuscripts.
30 James Jack, Daybreak in Livingstonia: The Story of the Livingstonia Mission, British
Central Africa (Edinburgh; London: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, 1901), 328–29.
31 Donald Fraser, Winning a Primitive People: Sixteen Years’ Work among the Warlike
Tribe of the Ngoni and the Senga and Tumbuka Peoples of Central Africa (London:
Seeley, Service & Co, 1914), 195.
32 Fraser, 195.