Browsing by Author "Mesthrie, Rajend"
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- ItemOpen AccessA Phonological Study of the Tegem Language(2018) Ali, Ahmed Sosal Altayeb Mohammed; Mesthrie, Rajend; Storch, AnneThis study describes the phonological structure of the Tegem language, a little-known Niger-Kordofanian language spoken by around 2000 people in Sudan. The research follows the basic linguistic theory in identifying the segments, investigating their phonotactic pattern, and identifying their functional role in meaning distinction. The study is based on lexical items collected from two Tegem language speakers via wordlists elicitation sessions. That provides the core basis for a detailed foundational description of the phonetic and phonological features of consonants, consonant sequences, vowels, syllables, and tones in Tegem. The description includes a brief account of relevant morphophonemic phenomena such as the voicing assimilation, consonant labialization and noun class sound alternations. Tegem consonants and vowels phonemes are categorized into two and three categories respectively. The consonants comprises of five obstruent and nine sonorant phonemes out of 20 phones. The vowels include four front, two central, and four back vowels phonemes out of 12 phones. Both the consonants and vowels are very common to occur in a phonologically (and morphologically) complex clusters. There are phonotactic constrains on such sequences conditioned by the environment where they occur. The study explored those sequences as bisegmental structures of adjacent segment sequences. The suprasegmental analysis found six closed and seven open syllables in Tegem where the monosyllabic lexemes of CVC and CVV are the most salient among its 13 syllable types. The research also recognized a pattern of backness (±back) vowel harmony in the disyllabic nouns and adjectives. The syllable is determined as the bearing unit of the lexical tone in Tegem, i.e. change in the syllable tone is contrastive. The lexical tones include two level tones: high (H) and low (L), and four contour tones: falling (F), rising (R), falling-rising (FR), and rising-falling (RF). The amount of the linguistic data in this study and its description form a solid foundation for further investigation of this poorly documented language.
- ItemOpen AccessA sociophonetic investigation of ethnolinguistic differences in voice quality among young, South African English speakers(2018) Wileman, Bruce Rory; Mesthrie, RajendPrior research has suggested that there may be differences in voice quality between black and white speakers of South African English who had attended well-resourced middle-class schools. The principal objective of the study is to address the question of whether there is any acoustic evidence of such differences. The study then proceeds to describe such acoustic evidence for differences in voice quality. The author interviewed 36 female South African English speakers (18 white and 18 black) between the ages of 18 and 22. The research subjects had all attended well-resourced middleclass schools. In order to control for the possibility of substrate influences on voice quality, all black participants were of an isiXhosa language background. High quality sound recordings were conducted, consisting of both a set of read sentences as well as semi-structured interviews, the latter of which formed the core dataset for the subsequent acoustic analysis. The acoustic data were analyzed using VoiceSauce, a program specifically designed for the acoustic analysis of voice quality. Measurements were based on automatically segmented speech samples using FAVE and PRAAT. The VoiceSauce measurement data were statistically analyzed by means of a linear mixed effects regression analysis and Wilcoxon rank sum tests using the statistical package R to evaluate the significance of ethnicity as a variable. The effect of ethnicity was found to be significant for several measures of spectral tilt (including for example, 2K*-5K, H4*-2K*, H1*-H2* and H1*-A1*) and cepstral peak prominence with a nearly significant effect for the subharmonics-to-harmonics ratio. Black speakers exhibited consistently higher values for most harmonic differential measures (for example, H1*-A1*) overall, while white speakers exhibited higher values for fundamental frequency, harmonics-tonoise ratio and cepstral peak prominence. The author concludes that the acoustic evidence is most consistent with the hypothesis that the white speakers overall typically use a voice quality iii characterized by greater vocal fold constriction, thickness and stiffness in comparison to the black speakers, hypothesized to use a voice quality characterized by more breathiness. By providing a description of voice quality variation, the research contributes towards a more complete account of sociolinguistic variation in South African English.
- ItemOpen AccessA study of the historical and linguistic factors that shaped Modern Spanish(2021) Bentley, Emma; Mesthrie, RajendBased on the perspectives and findings of descriptive linguists and typologists, this thesis presents a largely discursive qualitative analysis of how the morphosyntactic changes in Spanish, since its emergence as a separate code from Latin, are linked to both external and internal systems. The morphosyntactic changes follow the course of the three distinct phases of Spanish: Medieval Spanish, Early Modern Spanish and Modern Spanish. Medieval Spanish (español medieval or romance castellano) was used from the 9th to the start of the 15th century. Early Modern Spanish (español medio or áureo) was used from the 15th to the 17th centuries. Modern Spanish (español moderno) has been used since the 17th century. The external systems are understood as the political, historical, societal, and individual elements at play, whereas the internal system refers to systematic linguistic changes. This perspective of the analysis is concerned with how exposure to other language communities, including those speaking substrate languages of former times, as well as other social contexts including ruling social communities has influenced the changes which emerged in the shape of present-day Spanish. However, the findings in this analysis also show that the reasons for the acceptance of many of the structural changes have been due to their frequent use in the spoken form. The analysis investigates the sociolinguistic context for these morphosyntactic developments, supported by existing research on language contact, historical linguistics, including grammaticalisation and sound change regularity. In doing so, this study considers how the past has influenced the present shape of Spanish and considers which sociolinguistic and contact factors were involved. The main findings are that, however great the exposure of Spanish to other language communities has been, the changes to its morphosyntactic system have been subjected to a number of internal grammatical and sociolinguistic conditions. Grammatical conditions may include its typological profile, grammaticalisation, and phonological changes. Sociolinguistic conditions include the speaker's choice, linguistic adaptation and receptiveness to change. The role the Real Academia Española (RAE) has played since the 18th century in promulgating linguistic uniformity in the grammar, orthography and lexicon of the Spanish language has been pivotal for the standard written form of the language. Whilst bringing about uniformity in the written language, it has still allowed for linguistic variation in the vernacular, both within Spain and beyond its borders. This is in line with its role as the umbrella academy to the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (ASALE). This would suggest that the uniformity in the written language has managed to bolster effective communication amongst the different Spanish speaking nations.
- ItemOpen AccessA study of the Namibian transitional language policy in education and the role of code-switching in achieving it(2022) Kela, Judith Namubi; Hurst, Ellen; Mesthrie, RajendThe study investigated the Namibian transitional language in education policy and the role of code-switching in achieving it. Firstly, the study identified the types, structures and roles of code-switching in the Grade 4 bilingual classroom. Secondly, the study established the challenges faced by educators and students regarding English as the medium of instruction during the transition phase. Thirdly, the study established the challenges that educators face in implementing the Namibian language in education policy during the transition phase in Grade 4. The data were collected at the Gabriel Mubita Primary School (pseudonym) of the Zambezi region of Namibia. The study adopted qualitative research methods and data were collected via classroom observations and in-depth interviews. Furthermore, the participants were two educators who were observed and interviewed, together with their Grade 4 students. The data of the study were audio and visual recorded, translated and transcribed. Thereafter, the data collected were linguistically and thematically analysed into themes and sub-themes. The findings of the study were that code-switching was predominately utilised by educators and students at the school under investigation. It was revealed that educators employed three different types of code-switching namely situational, educational and interpersonal codeswitching for pedagogical, teaching and social reasons. The research also found that three different structures of code-switching were utilised by educators, mainly intra-sentential and inter-sentential, while tag-switching was rarely utilised. Code-switching was utilised for roles such as: to encourage students to participate in the classroom, for explanations and clarification purposes, to maintain discipline in the classroom, to show solidarity, to reiterate, to translate and to explain the subject content that students could not grasp as they were beginners. The findings revealed that educators and students faced challenges such as lack of English proficiency, shortage of teaching and scholarship materials, students' linguistic under-preparedness and limited exposure to the target language. Lastly the findings showed that educators had insufficient training on the transition phase, lack of policy awareness, and that the transition to English as the medium of instruction takes place too early. The study recommends that the policymakers must involve educators when developing the policies and ensure that educators are trained in policymaking, orthography of two common languages such as Subiya and Sifwe must be developed since students in the Zambezi Region are not taught in their mother tongue but rather in Silozi, the lingua Franca of the Zambian origin, educators must be given a pre-service and in-service training by the Ministry of Education on how to deal with code-switching or formulate a language policy that includes code-switching since it is considered a powerful teaching tool during the transition phase, teaching and learning material resource shortages within schools should be addressed by the Ministry of Education.
- ItemOpen AccessAfrikaans-English in the Western Cape : a descriptive socio-linguistic investigation(1993) Watermeyer, Susan Jean; Lass, Roger; Mesthrie, RajendI have attempted to give a broad description of the variety of English used by first-language (White) Afrikaans-speakers in the Western Cape. The first chapter outlines the aims of the thesis with respect to the study of English as a world phenomenon. Important work on other varieties of English, notably that of William Labov and that of Lesley Milroy, is discussed, with emphasis on variationist studies. The chapter also includes a description of the methods used for the collection of data. I did not use questionnaires but rather conducted 'participation interviews'. A brief outline of the areas that the informants were selected from is given. Chapters 2 and 3 give the historical and sociolinguistic background of the Afrikaners. This is important, as without an understanding of their history and social circumstances one cannot appreciate their present attitudes to language. The formative history of the Afrikaners includes a description of the policies of the British government at the Cape at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the subsequent emergence of national identity among the formerly Dutch community. The establishment of such organisations as the Afrikaner Bond, the Broederbond and the Ossewabrandwag all contributed to the identity of the Afrikaners today. The final section of chapter 3 deals with speech communities as well as the concept of social class, as applied to the White South African community. There is a brief outline of the differences between the White and Coloured Afrikaans-speaking communities of the Cape. The third section of this thesis (chapter 4) concerns language: acquisition, in particular theories of second language acquisition. I have outlined the development of (White) education in South Africa, with particular reference to medium of education, and have included a brief description of second language teaching in South Africa today. Bilingualism and ,communication strategies are discussed and I have grouped the informants according to their individual level of proficiency in English. The use of code-switching and code-mixing techniques is also discussed in this chapter, with a brief look at the structural differences between English and Afrikaans. The last, and major, part of the thesis, chapters 5 and 6, is a detailed description of the phonology, syntax, morphology and lexis of Afrikaans-English. The features of this variety are compared to those of standard South African English. The presence or absence of features in the speech of the informants is discussed and indicated in the tables given; the core features, i.e. those that are found even in the speech of the most fluent speakers, are noted. It is also shown that although all the features are possible, no single speaker will have the full set of variables in his/her speech. The presence of the features discussed in this section in Afrikaans- English, Coloured English and other, non-South African, varieties of English is shown; the presence of a feature in non-South African varieties of English appears to reinforce the use of that particular feature in Afrikaans-English. It is shown that Afrikaans-English overlaps phonologically with the continuum of first language South African English at either end of the spectrum on the one hand the accent of Afrikaans- English has features in common with Extreme South African English and at the other, LI-fluency end, it is almost indistinguishable from Respectable South African English. Mention is also made of syntactic, morphological and lexical features that spill over into LI varieties of South African English. Finally, I have appended a brief outline of each of the four competence groups and have given annotated extracts from the data for each. I have also included a collection of the comments regarding language made by the informants.
- ItemOpen AccessAn analysis of communication between health-care workers and Xhosa-speaking patients in a Cape Town hospital, from the perspective of language cognition and inter-cultural communication(2005) Nxasana, Nonceba Thandeka Jacqueline; Mesthrie, Rajend; Kaschula, RussellThe investigation seeks to establish whether vital information is lost or not communicated properly due to differences in language between medical practitioners and patients. In particular the thesis is concerned with English-speaking doctors and their Xhosa-speaking patients in Cape Town. This thesis studies interactions between ten Xhosa patients and five English-speaking doctors at the Red Cross hospital in Cape Town. It examines terminological issues, especially the names for illness as understood by doctors and patients. It also examines communication difficulties pertaining to a lack of complete fluency in the respective second languages. Culture-bound assumptions about illness and communication of important information are also studied. The thesis contends that vital information does tend to be minimised or even lost and examines the consequences of this loss, and makes recommendations in order to minimise miscommunication and enhance communication.
- ItemOpen AccessAnd then I was like, “No way!”: A variationist study of be like in young Cape Town speech(2022) Horn, Elizabeth; Mesthrie, RajendOver the last two decades, the adoption of the quotative be like has emerged as one of the prominent examples of ongoing historical changes in English. This has been documented internationally, but the degree to which this change has taken place in South African English remains understudied. This dissertation conducts an apparent-time study of quotative systems in Cape Town. In this study, 1791 quotatives, collected from 64 sociolinguistic interviews, are analysed to assess the use of be like in contrast with older quotative verbs, as well as how the use of different quotatives is constrained by local social and linguistic variables. The judgement sample consists of young participants of four races, White, Coloured, Indian and Black, and a ‘control group' of older White speakers who represent the older norms. There is a focus on race in order to assess how social networks, and therefore language practices, may be deracialising, compared to the relative rigidities of a generation ago. Similarly, there is an emphasis on schooling in order to determine whether former model-C schools may be facilitating language practice change. A combination of statistical analyses in R, including ctrees and logistic regression, is used to determine the degree to which different social and linguistic variables influence quotative choice within the database. The results indicate that there is broad and prolific use of be like among the younger generation. Black and White participants use be like in the highest numbers, indicating that they may be leading the change. Similarly, speakers from former model-C schools use be like more than speakers from other schools, and best exhibit the content of quote and tense and temporal reference constraints on be like. Among them, there is a positive correlation between the use of be like and the expression of quotes containing internal monologue, as well as exclamations and non lexicalised sounds. Be like is also positively correlated with the use of historical present tense.
- ItemOpen AccessAspects of the phonology of Sukwa: an optimality theoretic analysis(2011) Mtenje, Atikonda Akuzike; Mesthrie, Rajend; Gowlett, DerekPhonological studies of Bantu languages have continued to be an area of investigation for many scholars over the years. These studies have discussed the language's sound patterns syllable structures, phonological processes and suprasegmental features and have based their analyses on various theories of phonology.
- ItemOpen AccessAspiration in South African Indian English : emerging phonological norms in new dialect formation(2006) Delbridge, Shelly Anne; Mesthrie, RajendIncludes bibliographical references.
- ItemOpen AccessThe attitudes of Tigre-speaking students in Eritrea towards studying Arabic and Tigrinya as second languages at school : a case study(2003) Weldemichael, Tedros Hagos; Mesthrie, RajendBibliography: leaves 87-91.
- ItemOpen AccessBlack South African English in relation to other second-language Englishes of Africa(2005) Morreira, Kirsten Lee; Mesthrie, RajendThe existence of distinctive varieties of second language English in Africa has, by now, been long recognized. Such L2 Englishes are known to arise in situations where the socioeconomic value of English is high, but where restricted access to native speaker varieties of the language results in the establishment and, eventually, the generational transmission of a new secon4:1anguage variety. These 'New Englishes' have been found to possess certain structural similarities across geographical boundaries, while still retaining distinctively local features. The New Englishes of Africa, in particular, have been observed by several authors to be sufficiently similar to warrant the possible use of 'African English' as a generalized cover term for the group. Nevertheless, the continued study of L2 English varieties in separate geographical and political areas within Africa is an indication of the existence of distinctive, if in many ways similar, local varieties. The object of this dissertation is a systematic comparison of the syntactic structure of varieties of sub-Saharan L2 English, taking as a basis Black South African English as a point of comparison. The syntactic structures of these varieties are examined in order to determine the nature and extent of the structural similarities between them, as well as the degrees of difference that occur. It is widely acknowledged that of those sets of features of the New Englishes which differ from Standard English, syntactic variation forms the smallest part. Nevertheless, such variation does exist, both in differences between the New Englishes and the standard(s), and between the New Englishes themselves. The syntactic features of Black South African English are discussed and compared with those of other African Englishes, in order to develop a means of describing such language varieties in relation to one another, and of assessing the extent to which certain of their syntactic features can be recognized as pan-African. A more detailed analysis of the structure of the relative clause in the varieties is given, drawing on theories regarding the origin of certain New English features, as a means of explaining the non-standard occurrence of resumptive pronouns within the relative clause. Finally, the need for corpus-based research into African Englishes is stressed, as a means of determining the frequency of occurrence of those features identified as typical of the varieties.
- ItemOpen AccessA case study in language contact : English, Kiswahili and Luhyia amongst the Luhyia people of Kenya(1999) Shivachi, Calebi I; Mesthrie, RajendThe aim of this research is to provide some ground work in the study of Luhyia socio-linguistics. A fair amount of research on indigenous forms of English has been conducted in South Africa as well as West Africa. According to Schmied (1991), Nigeria is covered by several books and articles on English, but other areas of Africa are relatively blank. Schmied himself has produced primary work on English in East Africa. Studies of language maintenance and language shift have been undertaken by eminent scholars such as Brenzinger (1992), Eastman (1990, 1992). However, it is Myers-Scotton's pioneering research on code-switching among the Luhyia speakers undertaken in the 1980s that proyided the initial inspiration and further foundation for this thesis. An attempt is made here to build on Myers-Scotton's insightful observations on code-switching among Luhyia speakers. In addition this thesis explores the type of English in use among the Luhyia, and its effects on the indigenous language with which it has come into contact.
- ItemOpen AccessChanging sociolinguistic identities of young, middle-class 'Coloured' people in post-apartheid Cape Town(2008) Dennis, Tracey Lynn; Mesthrie, RajendThis study set out to examine the sociolinguistics of social change amongst a group of young, middle-class coloured people who were educated in a predominantly white school environment. The demise of the apartheid system in the early 1990s led to a situation in which racial mixing in government-run schools was permitted for the first time. I conducted sociolinguistic interviews with 20 self-identified 'coloured' Cape Town residents, who attended schools that were formerly open only to white children. I analysed the data on two levels. Firstly, an analysis of accent, focusing on three salient phonetic markers of South African English, namely the GOOSE, BATH and PRICE lexical sets (Wells 1982). Acoustic analysis of these vowels was done using a computer software programme, Praat, to record a total of 4410 tokens for the 20 speakers. The second level of analysis investigated how the informants constructed social identities in those unprecedented educational circumstances. I used three theories of identity to do this: Speech Accommodation Theory (Giles 1973), Social Identity Theory (Taj fel 1972) and the Linguistic Market (Bourdieu and Boltanski 1975). Comparing the results of the phonetic and sociological analyses, I found that the two levels of analysis supported the same conclusion: the young coloured people in the sample subscribe to a coloured social identity, but have clear links with the white community. This suggests that they occupy an intermediate space between the two race groups, which is not surprising given the significant contact they had with members of both communities. There is some evidence of a separation between the coloured community and the typical 'coloured' accent, however, suggesting that one does not need to sound 'typically coloured' in order to be part of the coloured community. It is likely that we are witnessing the formation of an upper middle-class within the coloured middle-class community.
- ItemOpen AccessChanging sociolinguistic identities of young, middle-class 'Coloured' people in post-apartheid Cape Town(2008) Dennis, Tracey Lynn; Mesthrie, RajendThis study set out to examine the sociolinguistics of social change amongst a group ofyoung, middle-class coloured people who were educated in a predominantly white school environment. The demise of the apartheid system in the early 1990s led to a situation in which racial mixing in government-run schools was permitted for the first time. I conducted sociolinguistic interviews with 20 self-identified 'coloured' Cape Town residents, who attended schools that were formerly open only to white children. . I analysed the data on two levels. Firstly, an analysis of accent, focusing on three salient phonetic markers of South African English, namely the GOOSE, BA TH and PRICE lexical sets (Wells 1982). Acoustic analysis of these vowels was done using a computer software programme, Praat, to record a total of 4410 tokens for the 20 speakers. The second level of analysis investigated how the informants constructed social identities in those unprecedented educational circumstances. I used three theories of identity to do this: Speech Accommodation Theory (Giles 1973), Social Identity Theory (Tajfel 1972) and the Linguistic Market (Bourdieu and Boltanski 1975). Comparing the results of the phonetic and sociological analyses, I found that the two levels of analysis supported the same conclusion: the young, coloured people in the sample subscribe to a coloured social identity, but have clear links with the white community. This suggests that they occupy an intermediate space between the two race groups, which is not surprising given the significant contact they had with members of both communities. There is some evidence of a separation between the coloured community and the typical 'coloured' accent, however, suggesting that one does not need to sound 'typically coloured' in order to be part of the coloured community. It is likely that we are witnessing the formation of an upper middle-class within the coloured middle-class community.
- ItemOpen AccessChildren in language shift: The syntax of fifth-generation, pre-school Indian South African English speakers(2003) Mesthrie, RajendLanguage shift, the process by which a second language ousts a community's first language as the everyday vernacular, almost inevitably throws up a vast array of morpho-syntactic and phonetic variety in the new vernacular. This paper seeks to ascertain what choices the first post-shift generation of child learners makes from such an array of competing forms. Data from longitudinal studies undertaken in the early to mid-1990s is presented from Indian South African English, focussing on fifth generation, monolingual, pre-school children in a natural (i.e. non-classroom) setting. The paper shows that while these children do make a selection of the morpho-syntactic variants in the elder's speech, there is no syntactic innovation. On the other hand, a surprisingly large number of former second-language features persist in post-shift speech, probably enhanced by the peculiarities of apartheid society, during which these children acquired their vernacular.
- ItemOpen AccessCode-Switching among Bilingual Speakers of Cape Muslim Afrikaans and South African English in the Bo-Kaap, Cape Town(2020) Cozien, Christine; Mesthrie, RajendThe Bo-Kaap is traditionally a Cape Muslim Afrikaans-speaking community, and sociohistorically it is particularly relevant to the development of Afrikaans at the Cape (Davids 2011, Mahida 1993). The Cape Muslim Afrikaans spoken in the Bo-Kaap is a sub-variety of Standard Afrikaans (Kotzé 1989, Davids 2011) and is distinguishable by its retained lexis (Mesthrie and Bhatt 2008) from languages historically spoken by slaves at the Cape, such as Malay, Arabic, Gujarati, and Konkani. Over time a number of socio-cultural, geographic, and historical factors have introduced the use of South African English alongside Cape Muslim Afrikaans in this speech community. The goal of this study was to provide insight into the nature of bilingual talk in the Bo-Kaap community, and to make a useful contribution to the growing body of codeswitching1 (hereafter CS) research generally. Based on natural language data collected during group interviews with members of the community, the study explored the language contact situation in the Bo-Kaap today, taking the viewpoint that what is occurring presently may be considered CS Three aspects of the CS documented were analysed and quantified. Specifically, the study investigated language interaction phenomena (Myers-Scotton 1995, Deuchar et al 2007) triggers (Clyne 1987) and directionality (Muysken 1997, Deuchar et al 2017, Çetinoglu 2017). A quantitative approach was taken to the data analysis. The interview audio files were downloaded and transcribed in ELAN. (Max Planck Institute). The annotations2 produced in ELAN were organised in a spreadsheet for analysis, resulting in a data set comprised of 356 annotations. The full data set was divided into subsets and tagged for language interaction phenomena, triggers, and directionality. These data sets were then sorted and quantified to identify trends in these three areas of interest. The study found Intra-sentential switches to be the most common type of language interaction phenomenon in the CS of this speech community, being present in 79% of the sampled annotations. Results from other CS studies echo this finding in other speech communities (Al Heeti et al 2016, Koban 2012, Falk 2013). The most common trigger for Intra-word switching in this corpus was in the head of the past tense Verb Phrase. Out of 27 occurrences of Intra-word switching, 16 were of this nature. In all of those an English verb head was housed within an Afrikaans past tense structure. No exceptions were observed in the data set, a strong indicator of the relationship status of the two languages involved. Cape Muslim Afrikaans almost certainly playing the role of the Matrix language, with South African English embedded. In terms of directionality, switching from Cape Muslim Afrikaans into South African English was by far the most common, at 85%. This further supports what the findings on triggers suggest about the hierarchy between these two languages.
- ItemOpen AccessCode-switching, Structural change and Convergence: A study of Sesotho in contact with English in Lesotho(2019) Semethe, Mpho Maboitumelo; Mesthrie, Rajend; Bowerman, SeanThis 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.
- ItemOpen AccessA comparative analysis of the phonology and morpho-syntax of Cisukwa, Cindali and Cilambya(2016) Mtenje, Atikonda; Brenzinger, Matthias; Mesthrie, RajendThis PhD thesis describes and compares the grammars of Cisukwa, Cindali and Cilambya (SuNdaLa) - three closely related varieties spoken in the northern region of Malawi. The analysis of the language data collected in this research project focuses on the phonological and morpho-syntactic systems of the SuNdaLa varieties by examining variation among them and by identifying the shared linguistic features. Within this research project, the linguistic distance among the three varieties has been analysed and suggestions have been made as to whether the SuNdaLa varieties should be considered as being three dialects of one language or as constituting three distinct languages. The study also places the SuNdaLa cluster into a wider context of the Bantu languages spoken in the region and more generally. Quantitative and qualitative language data was collected in the field from "native" speakers of all three varieties. The SuNdaLa survey included the collection of a comparative word list by using a questionnaire that was designed based on existing wordlists, such as „Swadesh 100 word list‟ (Swadesh 1955) as well as the SIL Comparative African Wordlist (Snider and Roberts 2006). Language data on the morpho-sytax and phonology was collected in elicitation sessions as well as by recording natural conversations among the key language consultants as well as their conversations with other community members.
- ItemOpen AccessA comparative study of the Morphosyntaz and Phonetics of Town Bemba and Standard Bemba of the Copperbelt Zambia(2010) Kabinga, Moonde; Mesthrie, RajendFor many years now, the status of Town Bemba (TB) has been fuzzy in its descriptions, as no specific framework has been used in characterising the language variety. TB has been regarded as an urban variety spoken in the townships of the Copperbelt province, Zambia. It had also been perceived as a 'secret language' or 'mixed jargon' used by male migrant workers on the mine, but today, it is used by males and females across the board, and also tends to be used as first language (L1) for offspring raised there. This research attempts to investigate the status of TB. It will also make observations of any significant differences between TB and Standard Bemba (SB) through linguistic markers and style of speech by the informants. The comparative analysis will help in assessing the extent to which TB has deviated from SB. The data for morphosyntax, socio-phonetic and lexical analyses was collected through one-on-one interviews and two TB music lyrics. Twenty speakers of TB and SB were interviewed in this research. For data analysis three theoretical frameworks were used namely; Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Frame Model (MLF) for the morphosyntax data; socio-phonetics using Praat and Normalisation of vowels for phonetic data; and a linguistic characterisation of language varieties were used to characterise TB and establish its status. The results show that TB is quite similar to the base language SB and exemplifies general characteristics that are more similar to Tsotsitaal. The difference is that the former (TB) uses one base language (SB) with heavy borrowing and assimilations from English mainly and a bit from local languages like Nyanja, and Afrikaans; the variety is used by people of different ethnic backgrounds, its commonly used in everyday life among educated and non-educated male and female speakers. TB also has been able to preserve many forms associated with more traditional Bemba and at the same time shows changes in some of its lexical and grammatical forms, mainly simplification. Tsotsitaal in comparison is associated with many base languages but behaves similarly to TB in other ways. In this regard, I suggest that TB be referred to as another type of an urban variety that is moving towards being a new language because it is more than a 'style' (Hurst 2008) like Tsotsitaal.
- ItemOpen AccessComputer language support programs for tertiary students : a contribution to educational linguistics(2001) Jeffery, Beth; Mesthrie, RajendBibliography leaves 240-258.
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