Introduction

Language in Zambia is part of a series of five country studies that have been produced over the past few years. This effort at linguistic documentation has been perhaps the most important activity of the Survey of Language Use and Language Teaching in Eastern Africa. The Survey, supported by the Ford Foundation and assisted by universities, research institutes, government ministries and public offices in five countries in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia) sponsored research teams from 1967 to 1971, each team spending twelve to fifteen months in Africa gathering data, then a similar period of time analysing the data and writing a report. The country studies will hopefully also contribute to the other Survey goals, will develop more research consciousness, and will encourage further studies, which will contribute to the national pool of linguistic expertise. Also the studies will hopefully increase public support of local universities through pride in institutional development.