Browsing by Author "Smouse, Mantoa"
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- ItemOpen AccessThe acquisition of Setswana phonology in children aged 3;0 – 6;0 years : a cross-sectional study(2014) Mahura, Olebeng; Pascoe, Michelle; Smouse, MantoaThis study aimed to describe the typical development of speech in first language Setswana speaking children. Thirty-six children, aged 3;0 – 6;0 years, attending preschools in Hebron in the North-West Province of South Africa, participated in the study. The objectives of the study were documenting the children’s ability to produce consonants and vowels, different syllable structures, as well as the nature of phonological processes occurring at various ages. The study followed a cross-sectional design with six children grouped into each six month age band. Due to the preliminary and exploratory nature of the project, an assessment tool was developed and used to document speech development in Setswana-speaking children. This was done as none is currently available. Words and pictures selected for this assessment tool were culturally and linguistically appropriate for the study population, and an expert panel was used to ensure this. Assessments were transcribed online by a first language Setswana speaker using the IPA convention and were audio-recorded and re-transcribed by the same Setswana speaker to ensure reliability. Findings of this study indicate that the majority of Setswana consonants are acquired by 3;0 years. The rounded alveolar trill /rw/ is among the phonemes which continue to develop after 6;0 years, particularly in the penultimate syllable. Phonological processes found in the speech of younger children mainly occur in multisyllabic words and include deletion of marked and unmarked syllables, gliding of liquids, assimilation, as well as the simplification of -Cw- digraphs and words with five syllables. Older children (5;6 – 5;11 years) present with fewer phonological processes than the younger group of children (3;0 – 5;5 years). Findings of the study are discussed in relation to normative data from other languages, and in particular to those belonging to the same language group such as Sesotho. Knowledge of Setswana speech development will better equip Speech-Language Therapists working in Southern Africa to assess and manage speech difficulties in Setswana-speaking children. Future research may focus on developing a standardised Setswana speech assessment tool. The results contribute to an increasing body of locally relevant information about the typical development of children’s speech.
- ItemOpen AccessThe alignment between curriculum objectives and assessment of IsiXhosa at Grade 12 level(2015) Poni, Zukiswa; Smouse, MantoaIn the new South Africa (after 1994), the education system required an extensive overhaul to ensure that the inequalities of the past do not continue to dominate the education system. As a result, a number of debates took place and in 1998 a new educational model that is competency based was introduced (Taylor & Vinjevold, 1999). The main aim of this change was to ensure that the curriculum would integrate academic and vocational skills. The other aims was to ensure that the new education system represent a complete opposite of the apartheid education system. Language, being central to education, is one of the areas that were totally overhauled. It is therefore the aim of this study, to investigate whether the expectations of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), articulated through curriculum objectives and expected outcomes, are fulfilled at grade 12 level, with a particular focus on isiXhosa language as a Home language. This study aims to investigate the alignment between curriculum objectives and assessment through an interrogation of the curriculum aims and assessment tools.
- ItemOpen AccessAteso Grammar: A descriptive account of an Eastern Nilotic Language(2017) Barasa, David; Deumert, Ana; Smouse, Mantoa; Dimmendaal, Gerrit; Schroeder, HelgaThis study discusses the structure of Ateso, an Eastern Nilotic language. Based on interview and recorded data from fieldwork conducted in both Uganda and Kenya, where Ateso is spoken, the study provides the first comprehensive description of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the language. The main findings of this study are as follows: The key feature of Ateso's phonological structure is that vowel alternation strategies are constrained by three harmony rules: root-control, feature-control, and, finally, mid-vowel assimilation. While Ateso shares this structure with the other Eastern Nilotic languages, it has its unique features as well. For example, while the other members of the Eastern Nilotic family have lost the vowel */ä/, Ateso has retained it phonetically. Ateso's noun morphology has noun-inflectional affixes associated with gender- and number marking. The language employs noun prefixes for gender and uses suffixes to express number and to derive words from others. With regard to its verbal morphology, Ateso verb forms are inflected for a variety of functions. Inflectional categories such as person, number, tense, aspect and mood are marked on the verb either segmentally or supra-segmentally. Tense is expressed suprasegmentally by tone on the nucleus of verb roots, while different morphemes mark person, number, aspect and mood. The discussion of Ateso verb morphology covers verbal derivations and extensions; namely, causatives, ventives, itives, datives, iterative, passives and instrumentals. Regarding its syntactic structure, as a VS/VO language, Ateso allows for a complete clause made up of an inflected verb only, or an inflected verb followed by one or two NPs/or an NP and a pronoun. The language can also have sentence structures involving strategies such as coordination, subordination and clause chaining.
- ItemOpen AccessDecolonising the media : the use of indigenous African languages in South African television advertisements(2015) Grier, Lara Anne; Dowling, Tessa; Smouse, MantoaAdvertisements in African languages are generally confined to radio, and in that medium are factual, dialogic and direct. When used in television advertising, however, South Africa’s indigenous languages play a less informative role, being employed rather to index a concretised African essence, African identity, urban style, or a particular reified postapartheid togetherness and cultural mobility. In this dissertation I analyse six television advertisements, all using African languages or language varieties, broadcast over the years starting 2010 through to 2014. I reflect on how and why the African language is used and to what extent African languages are no longer seen by television advertisers as carriers of information but as exploitable symbols of trustworthiness, multiculturalism, belonging and innovation. Methodology includes interviews with agencies, sociolinguistic analyses of the varieties used, detail on brands and products represented by the language and a small pilot study with viewers to ascertain their responses to the six selected advertisements.
- ItemOpen AccessHealth sciences undergraduate education at University of Cape Town: a story of transformation(Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2012) Hartman, Nadia; Kathard, Harsha; Perez, Gonda; Reid, Steve; Irlam, James; Gunston, Geney D; Janse van Rensburg, Vicki; Burch, Vanessa; Duncan, Madeleine; Hellenberg, Derek; Van Rooyen, Ian; Smouse, Mantoa; Sikakane, Cynthia N; Badenhorst, Elmi; Ige, BUndergraduate education and training in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town has become socially responsive. A story of transformation that is consonant with wider societal developments since the 1994 democratic elections, outlining the changes in undergraduate curricula across the faculty, is presented.
- ItemOpen AccessIntervention for bilingual children with speech sound disorders: A description of three English/isiXhosa speaking children(2016) Rossouw, Katherine; Pascoe, Michelle; Smouse, MantoaIsiXhosa is a language that is widely spoken in South Africa. Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children learning isiXhosa as a home language and English from a young age. This study investigated three case studies of bilingual children with speech sound disorders. It aimed to describe changes in their speech following intervention according to a tailor made intervention plan. The project aimed to add to the limited research available on intervention for bilingual children with speech sound disorders. The speech of Gcobisa* (4;2), Lulama* (4;0) and Ntando* (3;0) were assessed and their speech sound disorders categorized according to Dodd's diagnostic subcategories. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, the speech of the children was reassessed. Gcobisa's speech was categorized as a consistent phonological delay, and she was provided with intervention using a minimal pairs approach with isiXhosa targets, and showed evidence of generalizing the target phoneme to English words. Lulama's speech was categorized as a consistent phonological disorder, and she received intervention based on an adapted cycles approach in English, with little evidence of change in her phonological systems in English and isiXhosa, but increased intelligibility. Ntando's speech, although more difficult to categorize, was categorized as presenting with a consistent phonological disorder, and he received intervention based on core vocabulary in English. He showed an increase in his consistency and intelligibility in both English and isiXhosa. The data has theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa-English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair, as well as adding to the small set of intervention studies investigating the changes in the speech of bilingual children following intervention. In addition, clinical implications can be drawn, as it provides a possible framework to guide intervention for isiXhosa-English bilingual children with speech sound disorders. *Pseudonyms were used to ensure anonymity.
- ItemOpen AccessPhonological development of first language isiXhosa-speaking children aged 3;0-6;0 years a descriptive cross-sectional study(2012) Maphalala, Zinhle; Pascoe, Michelle; Smouse, MantoaIncludes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.