11 Facts About Zimbabwean English

Zimbabwean English is a regional variety of English found in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwean English has been called "one of the under researched varieties of English".

Zimbabwean English evolved with the changing social, economic and political conditions in which blacks and whites interacted in Zimbabwe; with the old conservative Rhodesian accent being effectively replaced by the more neutral and prestigious sounding cultivated private school accent, which ironically retains some of its features.

Much like Australian and South African Zimbabwean English, spoken Zimbabwean English exists on a continuum from broad, general to cultivated, based on an individual's background, particularly with regards to education, class, income and historically, ethnicity.

Lower middle to middle class black Zimbabweans are by far the largest speakers of Zimbabwean English and are generally the most prominent in the mainstream media, especially since 2000.

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Speakers of this general Zimbabwean English accent include: Evan Mawarire, Hamilton Masakadza, Marc Pozzo, Heath Streak, Morgan Tsvangirai and Petina Gappah.

Subset of the general accent is general Zimbabwean English as spoken by younger middle-class, white Zimbabweans, especially those who were born or came of age after 1980.

Today Zimbabwean English is spoken by virtually all in the cities, but less so in rural areas.

Coloured Zimbabwean English is made up of a range of forms which developed differently in different parts of Zimbabwe, and are said to vary along a continuum, from forms close to general and cultivated Zimbabwean English to more heavy forms, that exhibit a disproportionate influence from South African English and Afrikaans.

Similarities, exist between the two dialects they have diverged significantly as most Cape Coloureds are largely Afrikaans speaking, while Zimbabwean English Coloureds have become universally anglophone or less commonly bilingual with Shona or Ndebele.

Zimbabwean Coloured English is spoken among Coloured people generally, though not all mixed-race people identify as Coloured and not all Coloureds speak the dialect.