21 JUNE 1986, Page 23

Ayao upset

Sir: Henry Chipembere's people, the Ayao, whose language is not Yao but Chiyao, would be upset to know that Don- ald Trelford (Blacking Levin', 17 May) had described their language as a 'remote tribal dialect'. The Ayao are a large tribe, whose territory falls mainly in Mozambi- que but who were, at least until some years before the period when Mr Trelford was editor of the Malawi Times, numerically the dominant people in southern Malawi, where the main commercial centres, Blan- tyre and Limbe, and the then administra- tive capital, Zomba, are situated.

J. Kemp

16 All& des Merisiers, 45100 Orleans,

France