Plant Naming Strategies and Plant Utility Among the Datooga Community of Tanzania.

Due to the centrality of plants in the life of the Datooga, this study specifically focuses on two aspects: the linguistics of plant naming, and plant utility; using an ethnolinguistic approach. Plants and their names were identified through the junglewalk- and-identify method, while plant utility was identified through interviews. The data was collected in Chaggana village of Igunga district, Tabora region; and Gheetanyamba village of Mbulu district, Manyara region. The first village had the Buraediga Datooga speakers; and the second village had both the Barabaiga and Gisamjanga Datooga speakers. Morphologically, the study found that, unlike Bantu family plant names, which show a variation in their integration into the Bantu grammar, Datooga plant names are in harmony with the nominal grammar of the language. From an ethnolinguistic perspective, the morphological properties of the plant names provided various information about the plants; notably the size and growth pattern of the plant, which was manifested using the feminine gender prefix uda-. Information about the shape of a plant and its annular shape was manifested using the -oji- plural formative. Compounding morphology helped in delivering linguistic information related to plant texture and habitat, among others. Finally, various forms of plant utility were found in the community. Central was the cultural utility where plants were divided into the cold vs thorny categories. As the distinction was based on cultural significance, some plants were most significant compared to the others thus they classified them into the coldest vs colder categories. Other forms of utility included medicinal utility and economic utility. Thus, within plant names in the culture, various linguistic and extra-linguistic information is manifested in the language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]