IsiZulu Biblically Derived Idioms: Their Sentence Adaptation, Tense Variations & Socio-Cultural Assimilation

This article explores the influence of biblical teachings on selected IsiZulu idiomatic expressions. It addresses a gap in the existing literature on the transformative effects of Christianity and the Bible on the IsiZulu language. Through the theoretical lenses of hermeneutics and the adoption of document analysis as a qualitative research technique, this research investigates the sentence adaptation, tense variations, and cultural assimilation of selected IsiZulu idioms that are derived from the Bible. The findings of the study demonstrate that the selected biblically derived idioms adapt to different sentence and tense variations. Essentially, they are syntactically versatile in that they can use different subjects and subject concords. Moreover, these idioms appear in five different IsiZulu tenses namely, the present tense, near past tense, remote past tense, near future tense, and remote future tense. In terms of cultural assimilation, the findings reveal that idiomatic expressions derived from the Bible have transcended religious contexts and are now embedded in everyday discourse. To support and demonstrate this, examples were extracted from online sources such as the isiZulu newspapers. Overall, the findings reflect the widespread acceptance (directly or indirectly) of Christian values within the Zulu community. These expressions encapsulate Christian virtues such as faith, forgiveness, and humility, often aligning with traditional Zulu principles such as ‘ubuntu’ (humility).