Browsing by Author "Dowling, Teresa"

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    Linguistic and sociolinguistic aspects of the omission of sounds and syllables in isiXhosa speech: an explanatory guide for 2nd language learners of the language
    (2025) Mahlumba, Esethu; Dowling, Teresa
    The shortening of words, sometimes even to just one syllable, variously referred to as clipping, reduction and truncation, is a recognized phenomenon in slang but also in authentic speech. Most of us know that the English farewell “Goodbye!” often reduced to just “Bye!” is a clipped form of “God be with you” and that “ad” is a shortened form of “advertisement”. In fact, a body of scholarship on historical and contemporary clippings in English and many of the world's languages has, and continues to be, developed. The reduction of sounds in the lexicons of African languages, particularly Xhosa, is, however, a neglected field – a lacuna that I noticed when struggling to explain the phenomenon to English and Afrikaans speakers who could not align the written Xhosa word with its spoken form. In this thesis, therefore, I foreground the struggles of 2nd language learners of Xhosa at the University of Cape Town in comprehending spoken Xhosa and explain that being a tutor of the language at this level led me to conduct the research. I felt the need to establish a data-base of the most commonly truncated forms in the language and the phonological processes at play so that entry level students of the language (as a 2nd language) as well as more advanced learners would have access to commonly reduced words as well as explanations of the most widely occurring phonological processes involved in the omission of sounds. To ensure that the research kept its focus on actual student needs, a short survey was conducted with 2nd language students of Xhosa at the university to ascertain the extent to which they see the development of listening skills as desirable in a communication course. In addition, a pilot listening test was conducted with two groups of students – the one group receiving an intervention providing information on reduced forms in Xhosa, the other group taking the test without the intervention. Scores are tabulated and discussed and recommendations made based on the outcomes of both the survey and the tests.
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    My language, my culture: an exploration of the cultural significance of isiXhosa language to people who identify as amaXhosa: a case study with six urban and six rural speakers
    (2023) Mtsi, Ncedo; Dowling, Teresa
    There are several factors that cause people to convert from their cultures to cultures that they view as being more economically and socially desirable. In South Africa, cultural conversion became evident with the arrival of missionaries: Africans started to adopt the culture and world view of missionaries (Ndlovu, 2002; Oduyoye, 2009). The adoption of western culture came at a high price for African languages, particularly in terms of developing the skills associated with learning and speaking one's first language (people started learning languages that were in line with their newly found culture). Bamgbose (2011:5) contends that one of the things that contributes to African languages being seen as languages without value is the fact that some African people display negative attitudes towards their mother-tongues by sending their children to schools where they would be taught in a foreign language. Growing up in a middle-class family in Delft in Cape Town, where most people aspired to get a good education, land a well-paid job, and move to the suburbs, I was always aware that these aspirations were firmly linked to acquiring the highest level of English. In my daily life I, and my friends who were also young isiXhosa-speakers, could tell that the need to acquire English was paramount to achieving these aims. We saw no evidence of our own language, isiXhosa, being used in powerful institutions such as banks, hospitals, and universities. However, we did witness, at many cultural events, our language being used robustly and with pride. There appeared to be a separation between language that was valued as a way to gain economic wealth (English) and language that was important for spiritual development (isiXhosa). We thus were led to believe that our language is not sophisticated, that it holds no value in the economic world. Kramsch (2000:7) argues that the predominance of certain languages in institutions of power, and the neglect of others, can cause harm to the less powerful language and culture and slowly instil in its speakers a feeling of rejection and alienation from mainstream society: “The prohibition of its use is often perceived by its speakers as a rejection of their social group and their culture.” In other words, equating success with one language and realizing that one cannot use one's language in certain contexts that are deemed economically important, can lead a speaker of a less economically powerful language to shift from his/her home language to another.
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    The emergence of a rural/urban contrast in the vocabulary of Xhosa-speakers: a study in semantic shift in 15 Xhosa words and its relation to age, geographical area and language attitudes
    (2022) Gcingca, Luvo; Dowling, Teresa
    In this study I explored the possible emergence of a rural/urban contrast in the vocabulary of Xhosa. In order to focus the study I used 15 Xhosa words that appeared to be undergoing semantic shift and researched the meanings ascribed to these words with Xhosa-speakers in both rural and urban areas. Using a sociolinguistic theoretical framework I investigated the connection between socio-demographic data (as well as language attitudes held by speakers) and the influence of these factors on semantic choice. I used a qualitative methodological design, with purposeful sampling in these areas. The reason for selecting these areas was in order to incorporate both urban and rural styles of speech. Data was collected by means of open ended questionnaires and structured interview questions with participants across a wide age-range. This data was carefully analyzed according to how speakers use these terms during their conversations and in writing, and was then recorded, summarized and interpreted by means of descriptive statistics. The results of this study suggest that a possible urban/rural contrast is emerging in the lexicon of Xhosa speakers, with young, urban speakers being responsible for more innovative semantics than their counterparts in rural areas. The study also examined motivations for the semantic shift in the selected terms – sociocultural and emotionally marked motivations would appear to dominate with speakers choosing new meanings to suit their altered cultural environments and a new openness to talking about casual sex. The dominant semantic processes involved metaphorization, metonomy, amelioration, pejoration and bleaching, with most of the selected words becoming more polysemous. From these results recommendations are made for terminology development, dictionary revision, mother-tongue education and the creation of literature in Xhosa using the vocabulary of the youth. I conclude that further research on semantic shift in Xhosa is necessary in order to provide these sectors with reliable and useful data.