‘Doing Things with Words’: Funeral performative utterances among the Tonga of Zimbabwe

This article explores the oral heritage of the Batonga people through performative utterances made by individuals with specific relational roles during adult funeral ceremonies, whether male or female. It focuses on the nature of these utterances, their categories, sociocultural meanings, and their functions within their context of use. The article applies Austin’s (1962) Speech Act theory to identify, classify, and interpret the utterances. Using a qualitative approach, the study examines speech acts employed in BaTonga funeral rites as expressions of emotions and feelings conveyed to the deceased, divine entities, family members, and those believed to have caused the death. Data collection involved three methods: observation, intuition, and interviews. The main argument is that, like other African communities, the BaTonga of Zimbabwe have, over time, developed culturally specific mechanisms to cope with death, bereavement, and grief. The research identified six performative utterances used during funeral rites: declaring death, rhetorical questions, describing events, offering condolences, and making promises or requests. This study contributes to the understanding of indigenous practices that involve linguistic and behavioural markers and demonstrate cultural competence. It highlights the linguistic heritage of the Tonga people and shows how the BaTonga communities ‘do things with words’ to fulfil their socio-cultural funeral rituals.