"

Prodding the tiger
Please sir, I didn't mean it. The smoking was one o' them joke-thingies (""Descartes? Whatever he was smoking, I want some...""). 

But the language thing wasn't (tho it probably wasn't v competent either). My understanding of language issues is nothing like yours. But I do feel that there is no difference between languages and dialects except the issue of power (interrelated with codifying the language). And the language politics in Zimbabwe are complicated, I think even more so than RSA. South Africa (as far as my puny knowledge goes) has gone from appalling but simple language values to a situation where the politics and importance of language are openly discussed and the horrors of the past give a very clear marker of what to avoid. Zimbabwe, on this as on so many things, Won't Talk about it: if you've ever doubted the value of the TRC, take a look what happens when you don't have one. 

Btw, going direct to Mark is the right thing: I've been trying to get my head round your language stuff with the intention of passing it to him, as there's no way I would trust myself to incorporate most of that without supervision from you both. But the older bits keep getting submerged by the new (and by trivial corrections to C11th philosophers which unaccountably go nuclear... but that wasn't you).

Talking of which (if I'm still on your Christmas card list), I got as far as Kgotla last night. Yeh, the entries would be pretty short to have separately, when the meaning is related. Was planning to check out the format for putting two distinct meanings on one page (horiz line?), but actually, now I think more, I realise they might both be dic-defs, rather than WP articles. Hmm. Watch that space...  "