《以斯巴亚》中对姆卡巴以的
命名和塑造
邦盖皮威埃·德拉米尼 – 姆耶尼
隆基莱·西奈赫兰赫拉·姆科瓦纳兹
摘 要：本文聚焦于专有名词学。就本研究来说，作为专有名词学中研究人名的分支，人类行为学与文学专有名词学中的主要概念基本一致，文学专有名词学主要研究文学作品中人物的命名。本文旨在通过分析《以斯巴亚》中姆卡巴以所扮演的角色来描绘其性格。本文认为《以斯巴亚》中“姆卡巴以”这一名字是为纪念祖鲁民族的女英雄，探讨了姆卡巴以这一命名对其在剧中角色的行为以及角色塑造手法的影响，并通过剖析该名字的内涵来加以论证。此外，本文还阐述了创作者如何通过以逝者命名角色的形式来反映逝者的个性。本文主要采用民族志学的研究方法，数据来源于姆赞西魔法 161 频道周一至周五晚 8 点半播出的《以斯巴亚》。本研究所采用的理论是文学专有名词学。研究发现，剧中角色的命名可以揭示作者的意图和其所要传达的信息，角色名字的意义远不止用来区分剧中人物。
关键词：戏剧；名字；命名；文化；性格塑造；专名学
1 Introduction
In most, if not all African societies, personal names play a significant role in virtually all aspects of human life. Among African people, it is conceived that the name that an individual bears can exert an enormous influence on their general lifestyle and life prospects (Olatunji et al., 2015). Therefore, given names are not just sheer tags or labels, but also carry and convey a significant message to the family or society of the named person. The message is often descriptive of the person named or their family (Penzura, 2021). Names are used in all the known languages and cultures. With names, it is easy for people to speak about individuals, certain people, places, objects or subjects, without having to describe them with a great deal of words. Without names, communication would be difficult, practically impossible. Although the phenomenon of naming practices is universal, previous studies indicate that different conventions or approaches to naming are observed in different cultures, countries or social settings (Edwards, 2006; McConnell-Ginet, 2003).
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2 Isibaya drama series: a historical background
Isibaya was a South African daily drama series. Its production started in March 2013 and ended in April 2021, premiering on Mzansi Magic. Isibaya was created by Angu Gibson, Desiree Markgraaff, Teboho Mahlatsi, Catherine Stewart, and Benedict Carton. On one hand, Siyabonga Thwala led the male cast as Mpiyakhe Zungu. On the other hand, Thembi Nyandeni led the female cast as Mkabayi “MaNcwane” Zungu. The drama series Isibaya played around traditions and the urban lifestyle. Interestingly, the generality of rural dwellers were perceived as old-fashioned because they were embedded in traditions and culture. Thus, Isibaya was playing along with these conventions to transformhow people look at things and how the world is shifting. In “traditional” Zulu society and many contemporary Zulu households in the study, it is primarily the young wife who is required to demonstrate respectand deferential behavior towards her husband and his family. This includes a certain acceptable dress code, a submissive posture, the avoidance of calling the names of the relatives, and many subtle linguistic and social patterns of behavior that are indexical of an inferior position of women in society (Rudwick & Shange, 2009). However, Isibaya portrays a plot line in which traditional gender roles were defied. For example, Mkabayi Zungu was portrayed as a matriarch who does not take orders from anyone including her brother, especially when it comes to her family (Landers, 2016).
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3 Towards a definition of onomastics
Onomastics refers to the field of study concerned with the origin and forms of proper names of persons or places. It is a term that literally means the study of names and naming. It does not then, as it may seem, emanate from any specific academic discipline, but rather from the Greek language. In 2016, The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming was published, which used “onomastics” as the preferred term for the study of names and naming. It was separated into seven parts: onomastic theory, toponamastics, anthroponomastics, literary onomastics, socio-onomastics, onomastics and other disciplines, and other types of onomastics (Hough, 2016). Onomastics derives from the Greek word onoma, which means “name”. By definition, onomastics denotes the naming of persons. Generally, the term onomastics may be interpreted and understood as the study of proper names of all kinds and their origins. These proper names may include language, geographical, place, street, personal, and animal names. In the current study, the focus is on Mkabayi. The word name has two fundamental meanings. On one hand, a name is a word or combination of words, such as Zama or Mpume (isiZulu names), referring to one identified person, being, subject or object, in which case the term proper noun or proper name can be used.
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4 Review of literature related to onomastics
The topic of names has drawn the attention of several intellectuals and critics including philosophers of language, ethnographers, anthropologists, linguists and ordinary people, each with their own ideas and theories about names (Mutunda, 2011). There are two main branches of onomastics, namely toponym or topomastics, which is the study of place names and anthropomastics, concerned with the study of personal names (Mutunda, 2017). Onomastic researchers have been interested in the study of personal names. Researchers’ attention to the study of personal names could be attributed to the significance of personal names in different cultures globally. This overview of existing research is fundamental as far as it will steer this research. The recent studies engaged in the discussion about Mkabayi as a radical feminist, which, however, is not the primary purpose of this study.
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5 Methodology
This article adopted a qualitative approach and a constructivist paradigm. We explored the naming of Mkabayi in Isibaya and associated it with how this female character was represented in the drama. The central aim of qualitative research is to understand the meanings that people make to shape or construct the world (Denscombe, 1998). Furthermore, this approach allows researchers to explore a wide array of dimensions of the social world through diverse people sharing their perspectives on the meanings they have made about aspects of the world (Mason, 2002). Denscombe (1998: 133) states that, “qualitative research emphasizes the ways in which human activity creates meaning and generates the social order that characterizes the world in which we live”. This means that the primary goal of qualitative research is to give in-depth analyses, knowledge and argument about how things work in a particular social context (Mason, 2002). This study’s methodology is based on a careful following of Isibaya, highlighting the name of the main character (Mkabayi) and illustrating her main characteristics. Content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data generated from the study.
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6 Gender Stereotype and Culture
Culture plays a significant function in creating relations between males and females. Man and culture are indivisible (Masuku, 2005). Culture is also crucial in the effective adaptation of any member of any community to their environment. It is in fact, a great determinant of the development of codes of behavior and communication. Therefore, culture guides actions and knowledge. It should also be noted that culture is not static but continuously changing, whether slowly or rapidly, as a result of its contiguity to other cultures (Masuku, 2005). Contact between cultures may be deliberate or unintentional. Contact may only involve the transmission of one element of a culture from one society to another. Sometimes it can involve a large-scale adoption of a new foreign culture by another society. Culture is ordinary. Therefore, “every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning” (Williams, 2011: 53-54). Culture is therefore a reference point to one’s reality (Cullum-Swan & Manning, 1994).
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7 Analysis, interpretation and discussion
The character Mkabayi was named after Mkabayi kaJama, a powerful Zulu woman, and an older sister of King Senzangakhona. Senzangakhona was the great King Shaka Zulu’s father. Mkabayi kaJama was potentially the most influential woman in pre-colonial Zulu history for her role in succession disputes from the late 1700s through the 1830s (Canonici, 1993). Mkabayi kaJama was often referred to as a kingmaker for the part she played with Senzangakhona, Shaka and Dingane (Canonici, 1993). She was addressed as a male (Usoqili– “Father of tricks”) because she held the kind of power that was normally exercised by men, and she used it in an unscrupulous, cunning and sometimes cruel manner, as men did. Mkabayi served as regent for her younger brother King Senzangakhona. She was co-regent with Mudhli, her half-brother, who was not eligible for the position of chief. In the mid-to-late 18th century, a woman serving as regent was fairly common (Morrissey, 2015). In Isibaya, Mkabayi’s strong personality was at the centre of attention. Mkabayi was considered as a powerful woman who had both strength and a great personality. Her personality encouraged women to prioritise their dignity ahead of everything else and be able to stand for what they believed in so that they could not be easily controlled. She also had a starring role as Mkabayi Zungu, the tough-talking matriarch of the family.
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8 Conclusion
Media are very efficient, powerful and influential in disseminating new knowledge, useful for behavior change among women, thus influencing women’s empowerment variables as well. Television as a leading media broadcasting platform has transformed our social and cultural environment. It has transformed the relationships between public and private spheres, and between physical and social spaces. It has made the world visible and accessible in new ways. In this article, an analysis of the naming of one character (Mkabayi) in Isibaya drama series was made. The discussion dwells on the interpretation of the name Mkabayi and views are given on whether the name helps in revealing the authors’ ideas as intended. In Isibaya, Mkabayi’s characterwas presented as a woman who held both strength and a great personality. Her personality encouraged women to prioritise their dignity ahead of everything else and be able to stand for what they believe in so that they cannot be easily controlled. This article explores the similarities between Mkabayi in Isibaya and the great Zulu princess, Mkabayi kaJama. In the history of the Zulu nation, there were women with strong personalities. The producer named one of the protagonists Mkabayi to demonstrate that Mkabayi from Isibaya is not the first Zulu woman to conduct herself as such but the Princess Mkabayi kaJama also behaved like that and she was successful in her quest to build the Zulu empire. Her devious character and intellect cannot go unnoticed and can be drawn out as inspiration for the current Mkabayi’s character. This study has discovered how characters’ personal names are used to articulate the authors’ intentions and the intended message. It also reveals that a character’s personal names bear far more meaning than their referential role in distinguishing one character from the other.
版权说明
本文作者邦盖皮威埃·德拉米尼 – 姆耶尼，南非祖鲁兰大学人文与社会科学学院非洲语言与文化系讲师；研究领域：人名学、语言和祖鲁文学；隆基莱·西奈赫兰赫拉·姆科瓦纳兹，南非祖鲁兰大学人文与社会科学学院非洲语言与文化系硕士生；研究领域：人名学和祖鲁文学。本文发表于《非洲语言文化研究（第五辑）》。
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审核 | 李洪峰 王婷
推送 | 杨若曦
