The Isizulu: A Grammar of the Zulu Language

Record summary

John William Colenso’s The Isizulu: A Grammar of the Zulu Language includes translated examples, vocabulary, and language material gathered in the missionary setting of nineteenth-century Natal. It is a useful lead because folklore may survive not only as titled tales but also in proverbial expressions, kinship terms, ritual vocabulary, and explanatory sentences embedded in language documentation. The work can therefore support comparison between narrative tradition and the categories used to describe it. Its examples are not necessarily full oral performances, and the circumstances of collection and translation must be reconstructed before use.