Editing Clement Martyn Doke (section)

==Study of Lamba==
At first, Clement Doke was frustrated by his inability to communicate with the [[Lamba language|Lamba]]. The only written material available at the time was a translation of Jonah and a collection of 47 hymns. Soon, however, he mastered the language and published his first book, ''Ifintu Fyakwe Lesa'' ("The Things of God, a Primer of Scripture Knowledge") in 1917. He enrolled in Johannesburg as the extension of Transvaal University College for an MA degree. His thesis was published as ''The Grammar of the [[Lamba language]]''. The book is couched in traditional grammatical terms, as Doke had not yet established his innovative method to analyse and describe the Bantu languages. His later ''Textbook of Lamba Grammar'' is far superior in that respect.

Doke was also interested in [[ethnology]]. In 1931 he compiled ''The Lambas of Northern Rhodesia'', which remains one of the outstanding ethnographic descriptions of the peoples of Central Africa. For Doke, literacy was part of evangelisation since it was required so that people to appreciate the Bible's message, but it was only after his retirement that he completed the translation of the Bible into Lamba. It was published under the title of ''Amasiwi AwaLesa'' ("The Words of God") in 1959.