Doke left England and travelled to South Africa in 1882, where he met and married Agnes Biggs.
Clement Martyn Doke (16 May 1893 in Bristol, United Kingdom – 24 February 1980 in East London, South Africa) was a South African linguist working mainly on African languages.
The family moved to New Zealand and eventually returned to South Africa in 1903, where they later on settled in Johannesburg. At the age of 18, Clement received a bachelor's degree from Transvaal University College in Pretoria (now the University of Pretoria).
The Cape-Cairo Railway threaded through its eastern portion; otherwise, travelling mostly had to be done on foot. The Reverend William Arthur Phillips of the Nyasa Industrial Mission in Blantyre had established a Baptist mission there in 1905, serving an area of and 50,000 souls.
In 1913, he accompanied his father on a tour of north-western Rhodesia, to an area called Lambaland, now known as Ilamba.
Cole). Trekking in South Central Africa 1913–1919.
Clement Doke returned to Kafulafuta as missionary in 1914, followed by his sister Olive two years later. ==The Lamba language== At first, Clement Doke was frustrated by his inability to communicate with the Lamba.
Soon he mastered the language and published his first book Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa (The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge) in 1917.
He used his presidential address in condemning the recently established apartheid policy: I solemnly warn the Government that the spirit behind their apartheid legislation, and the way in which they are introducing discriminatory measures of all types today, will bring disaster upon this fair land of ours. ==Selected publications== Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa (The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge in Lamba), 1917. The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia: A Study of their Customs and Beliefs.
It was published under the title of Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God) in 1959. ==University of the Witwatersrand== In 1919 Doke married Hilda Lehmann, who accompanied him back to Lambaland.
Clement Doke also realised that his field work couldn't continue much longer and left in 1921.
His major languages were Lamba and Luba, but as no suitable examiner was available, he eventually had to change his language to Zulu. Doke took up his appointment in the new Department of Bantu Studies at the University of Witwatersrand in 1923.
In 1925 he received his D.
The Department acted as a catalyst for the admission of Africans to the university: as early as 1925 a limited number were admitted to the vacation course in African Studies.
In 1931 he compiled The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia, which remains one of the outstanding ethnographic descriptions of the peoples of Central Africa.
In 1931 he was appointed to the Chair of Bantu Studies and thus headed the Department of Bantu Studies.
Harrap, 1931. Report on the Unification of the Shona Dialects.
Government of Southern Rhodesia: Government Blue Book, 1931. Bantu linguistic terminology.
However, Doke's orthography was never fully accepted and the South African government introduced an alternative, leaving Shona with two competing orthographies between 1935 and 1955. During his tenure Doke developed and promoted a method of linguistic analysis and description of the Bantu languages that was based upon the structure of these languages.
London; New York Longmans, Green, 1935. Textbook of Lamba Grammar.
Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1938. Outline grammar of Bantu.
Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand, 1943. Zulu–English Dictionary.
They both collaborated on the Zulu-English Dictionary, first published in 1948.
Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1948.
He was elected President of the South African Baptist Union in 1949 and spent a year visiting churches and mission stations.
He was also an early describer of Khoisan and Bantu click consonants, devising phonetic symbols for a number of them. Doke served the University of the Witwatersrand until his retirement in 1953.
London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1954. Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God in Lamba), 1959. Contributions to the history of Bantu linguistics.
However, Doke's orthography was never fully accepted and the South African government introduced an alternative, leaving Shona with two competing orthographies between 1935 and 1955. During his tenure Doke developed and promoted a method of linguistic analysis and description of the Bantu languages that was based upon the structure of these languages.
It was published under the title of Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God) in 1959. ==University of the Witwatersrand== In 1919 Doke married Hilda Lehmann, who accompanied him back to Lambaland.
London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1954. Amasiwi AwaLesa (The Words of God in Lamba), 1959. Contributions to the history of Bantu linguistics.
Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1961 (with D.
He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by Rhodes University and the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of the Witwatersrand in 1972. The former missionary always remained devoted to the Baptist Church.
Clement Martyn Doke (16 May 1893 in Bristol, United Kingdom – 24 February 1980 in East London, South Africa) was a South African linguist working mainly on African languages.
Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, 1993. ==References== 1893 births 1980 deaths Linguists from South Africa University of Pretoria alumni University of the Witwatersrand academics 20th-century linguists
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