In the culture of the amaZulu, the umAlusi or Herding-person occupies a crucial position in the social hierarchy – he is responsible for all the family’s wealth, along with fellow herders (whether adults or boys), but is so much more than a simple guard or fender-off of wild animals. He knows the character of each of the beasts in his charge, and has a name specifically for each of them. He sends them out of the isibaya (the kraal at the centre of the umuzi) in a certain order, and they know their places. He sings their praises, and is proud of his herd.
What the umAlusi does is similar to what one does when speaking isiZulu – you know what parts of speech you have at your disposal, and you herd them into a sentence according to their roles and characteristics. Herding is also a daily process, over familiar territory, with known pitfalls and rewards – much like speaking isiZulu.
In this 3rd module of Mabhengwane’s Course, we’ll be doing the following things:
continuing the method of the 5 steps (iziNyathelo) of Linjani iZulu, in
order to practice sentence construction
reinforcing the Noun Classes (iziGaba zamaBizo) of Module 2 with added vocabulary and example sentences
learning about adjectives and other descriptive things
learning about verbal extensions
extending phrasebook vocabulary according to the choice of each group