Browsing by Author "Bowerman, Sean"

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    Code-switching, Structural change and Convergence: A study of Sesotho in contact with English in Lesotho
    (2019) Semethe, Mpho Maboitumelo; Mesthrie, Rajend; Bowerman, Sean
    This study investigates whether code-switching practices among Sesotho-English bilinguals promote convergence between Sesotho and English. First, the study identifies different types and patterns of code-switching between Sesotho and English and analyses them using Myers-Scotton’s (1993) Matrix Language Frame model and Myers-Scotton and Jake’s (2000) 4-M model. Second, it applies the ML turnover in order to detect convergence in Sesotho-English code-switching data and to observe which direction it takes. The study also explores other factors contributing to change in the structure of Sesotho, which are not necessarily influenced by convergence. In conducting this study, data was collected through interviews that were held with younger bilingual speakers from different tertiary institutions in and around Maseru (Lesotho) and through recorded youth-centred phone-in radio programmes. Findings from the analysis of data reveal simple to complex Sesotho-English code-switching performance of various types and strategies. Findings also show through the existence of composite language in Sesotho-English code-switching that there is a turnover in the ML, which indicates a development of an asymmetrical convergence between Sesotho and English. It was also discovered that, although other changes in the Sesotho structure are not English influenced, they are enhanced mostly by younger urban bilingual speakers’ frequent “looser” approach to Sesotho. This is an indication that Sesotho’s susceptibility to change correlates strongly with age; that is, both the length of time contact between Sesotho and English has existed, and the generation in which change is mostly found. This thesis adds and documents a different perspective to the previously recorded changes on Sesotho-English contact in Lesotho.
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    Connectives in Igbo: A syntactic analysis of connectives in the Standard Igbo and the Nsukka dialect
    (University of Cape Town, 2020) Ifyede, Henrietta Chimto; Bowerman, Sean; Mesthrie, Rajend
    This study provides a description of connectives in Igbo, focusing on the Standard Igbo and Nsukka dialect varieties. These connectives in Igbo are realised mainly through conjunctions and a few adverbials and previous works on connectives in Igbo have hugely focused on connectives in the Standard Igbo variety (Emenanjo 2015). And so, the main aim of this work was to identify the connectives in both varieties and conduct a syntactic comparative analysis, thereby adding to the existing connectives in the literature. This work explores connectives in the Standard Igbo and the Nsukka Dialect and their similarities. It also highlights the difference between connectives in both varieties. Data for this work was gotten through the researcher's intuitive knowledge and by conducting unstructured interviews with native speakers. The major finding is that there are a limited number of connectives in the Standard Igbo and even a fewer number in the Nsukka Dialect and these connectives are more similar than different syntactically. One of the questions addressed by the study is the role of English in the Igbo language in general, and how this specifically affects connectives in Igbo. It does so by thoroughly reviewing code-switching and related concepts. This work concludes that the differences in connectives in both varieties are merely morphological.