Browsing by Subject "Linguistics"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 69
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A comparative analysis of metaphorical expressions used by rural and urban Ndebele speakers: the contribution of S'ncamtho
    (2018) Ndlovu, Sambulo; Hurst, Ellen
    This thesis explores language expansion and change through metaphorical expressions that originate with urban youth varieties. It focuses on the impact of S'ncamtho, an Ndebele-based urban youth variety of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe along the variables of rural/urban, sex, age and level of education. The thesis uses Cognitive Metaphor Theory to build on research on metaphor in urban youth varieties to answer the overarching question; how is S'ncamtho impacting Ndebele? It confirms that sex and sexuality, music and partying, love and relationships are popular themes in S'ncamtho. The thesis identifies relexicalisation and replacement of metaphoric vehicles as the main metaphor derivational strategies in S'ncamtho and confirms the existence of clearly discernible genres of metaphor in S'ncamtho which are proverbs, sayings, aphorisms and euphemistic metaphors. While S'ncamtho and other youth varieties in Africa have been identified as urban varieties, the study brings in the dimension of measuring the spread of S'ncamtho to peri-urban and rural areas. Data from questionnaire tests, interviews and observations is analysed using the Idiom Familiarity and Comprehension Judgement Method to measure the impact and spread of S'ncamtho metaphors. The guiding theory in evaluating the spread of S'ncamtho metaphors is a Social Psychology framework- Social Impact Theory (SIT). The thesis argues that S'ncamtho metaphors spread outside Bulawayo’s high density male youth to female and older Ndebele speakers in and outside the city, it identifies male youth in the age cohort 15- 35 years as more familiar and using more S'ncamtho metaphors compared to females and older males in urban, peri-urban and rural areas. It also reveals that S'ncamtho metaphor familiarity declines with age and distance from Bulawayo, and that generally females use less S'ncamtho compared to males and the young are more familiar with S'ncamtho compared to adults. The research reveals that there is no significant difference between rural and urban professionals in S'ncamtho metaphor familiarity and this confirms that improved communication networks impact on the spread of S'ncamtho as professional people frequent Bulawayo for pay and other services. However, the study also noted that there are still more people who have negative attitudes towards S'ncamtho, compared to those who view its impact positively. The thesis argues that the popularity of S'ncamtho has seen S'ncamtho metaphors operating in professions including journalism, health professions, teaching and religious professions. Furthermore, attitudes are changing as some people have begun to view S'ncamtho positively outside the criminal prejudices.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A Phonological Study of the Tegem Language
    (2018) Ali, Ahmed Sosal Altayeb Mohammed; Mesthrie, Rajend; Storch, Anne
    This 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A study of the historical and linguistic factors that shaped Modern Spanish
    (2021) Bentley, Emma; Mesthrie, Rajend
    Based 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A 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, Rajend
    The 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Applying Vendler's verbal categories to Mandarin Chinese and issues in telicity
    (2006) Shih, Yuan-Lung; Bowerman, Sean Alan
    Includes bibliographical references.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Art in ethno-medicine : a case study of Juogi (Mysticism among the Luo people) in South Nyanza district of western Kenya
    (2005) Ogembo, Jack E Odongo; Satyo, Sizwe
    This ethnographic study is intended to give voice to the feeling of those who value and depend on indigenous medicine and to examine how it has worked for the Luo. In this thesis we investigate how one acquired the skills of becoming a medicine man or woman. We examine how the medicine man or woman uses art to carry out the healing practices. We also look at how the qualification was manifested on the part of the practitioner. Special emphasis is made on language as an art, used by the patient and the doctor. Such components of art and language as myths, legends, folk tales, metaphors and songs of the Luo are looked into especially with a view to evaluating their contribution towards causes of illness and healing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Aspects of the phonology of Sukwa: an optimality theoretic analysis
    (2011) Mtenje, Atikonda Akuzike; Mesthrie, Rajend; Gowlett, Derek
    Phonological 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Aspects of the syntax of Spanish nominal expressions
    (2001) Raffray, Claudine
    This study deals with aspects of the grammatical structure of nominal expressions in Spanish, examined within the broad frame of notions, principles and assumptions constituting the Minimalist Program (MP). A central concern of the study is the major theoretical reconceptualization of nominal structure known as the DP Hypothesis, an analysis of nominal expressions as being headed by D, rather than by N, as in the traditional analysis. The most important proposals in support of this hypothesis are set out and critically reviewed, and then reinterpreted in minimalist terms where necessary.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Aspiration in South African Indian English : emerging phonological norms in new dialect formation
    (2006) Delbridge, Shelly Anne; Mesthrie, Rajend
    Includes bibliographical references.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Ateso Grammar: A descriptive account of an Eastern Nilotic Language
    (2017) Barasa, David; Deumert, Ana; Smouse, Mantoa; Dimmendaal, Gerrit; Schroeder, Helga
    This 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    The 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, Rajend
    Bibliography: leaves 87-91.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Black South African English in relation to other second-language Englishes of Africa
    (2005) Morreira, Kirsten Lee; Mesthrie, Rajend
    The 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A case study in language contact : English, Kiswahili and Luhyia amongst the Luhyia people of Kenya
    (1999) Shivachi, Calebi I; Mesthrie, Rajend
    The 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Challenging common sense about nonsense : an integrational approach to schizophrenic language behaviour
    (2009) Poole, Jennifer Amy Forbes
    Due to certain fundamental flaws, orthodox linguistics has not succeeded in producing a coherent account of 'schizophrenic language' - the host of symptoms that are alternatively characterised as evidence of formal thought disorder or labelled as disorganised speech, a disorder in itself. The most important of these flaws are its treatment of languages as fixed codes, which doubles as an explanation of how linguistic communication works, and its postulation of the mental structures that would be necessary if languages were indeed fixed codes, and communication a matter of encoding and decoding messages. In particular, orthodox linguistics has bolstered the now-dominant neo-Kraepelinian, biomedical account of schizophrenia, which treats utterances as symptoms that give clues to brain (dis)organisation and (dys) function. Integrational linguistics, which criticises the culturally based assumptions - collectively referred to as 'the language myth' - that are at the heart of the orthodox account of languages and language, provides an alternative. It sympathises with the growing trend in cognitive science and philosophy towards 'embodiment' and 'distributed cognition', which recognises that encultured entities like languages, minds, brains, bodies, and world are intrinsically defined by their co-evolution in the species, and co-emergence during an individual's development. Integrationists argue that by focusing in the first instance on second-order cultural constructs called 'languages', orthodox linguistics fails to give an account of the first-order experience of language users. This thesis approaches the topic of 'schizophrenic language' from a broadly integrationist perspective in order to demonstrate that because orthodox linguistics is so widely taken for granted in psychiatry, its biases inform current mainstream accounts of schizophrenic language, motivate the outright dismissal of interpersonal accounts, past and present, and provide a skewed picture of the phenomenon it purports to be describing, by ultimately constructing an individual-focused, deficit-based account of what is not, as opposed to what is. That is, by holding up orthodox linguistics' idealised version of communication and speakers (which has little applicability even to 'normal' language users), it uses deviation from the ideal as description and explanation, rather than recognising the strategies actually employed by schizophrenics in their attempts to make sense, even if these attempts fail. The alternative argued for here is to apply the tenets of integrationist linguistics to schizophrenic language behaviour, to give a fuller account of communication situations involving schizophrenics and normal interlocutors. As a result, this thesis calls for a reformulation of the idea that incomprehensibility stems from deviant speech, itself the product of an irrational brain. 'Sense', 'deviance' and 'irrationality' are a moment-to-moment metalinguistic appraisals made by language users, second-order cultural constructions that shape the speech community's response to certain individuals. Describing the speech of schizophrenics as 'deviant', 'irrational', or 'nonsensical' constrains their jointly-constructed capability of making sense using the resources (which may include other individual's minds) at their disposal. Integration linguistics thus brings into focus a moral and political dimension to such descriptions which is obscured by an orthodox linguistics-biased biomedical approach.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Changing sociolinguistic identities of young, middle-class 'Coloured' people in post-apartheid Cape Town
    (2008) Dennis, Tracey Lynn; Mesthrie, Rajend
    This 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    Changing sociolinguistic identities of young, middle-class 'Coloured' people in post-apartheid Cape Town
    (2008) Dennis, Tracey Lynn; Mesthrie, Rajend
    This 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.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Open Access
    Children's Songs in Nawfija Community, Southeastern Nigeria: A sociolinguistic perspective
    (2023) Okeke, Chinazam; Deumert, Ana; Brown, Justin
    This thesis studies the Indigenous children's songs of the Nawfija community, in the Southeastern part of Nigeria. The language of communication in the community is the Nawfija variety of Igbo. The research was conducted from a sociolinguistic perspective, shaped by the participants' ideas and perceptions, thereby allowing their voices to be heard. Adopting a qualitative paradigm, the study employed interviews and observations for data collection. 20 participants were interviewed, and observations were carried out in five households. The study draws on language socialization and language ideologies as its theoretical frameworks. The study shows, firstly, that Indigenous songs serve as an important language socialization tool in the Nawfija community. Secondly, it shows that the songs have declined in their use over time. The decline can be linked to the histories of colonialism, a western education model, globalization, and religion. At the same time, new practices have emerged. For example, cell phones, toys, DVDs, and CDs are now often used in child care. In addition, localized English songs, afro-beats, reggae, and hip-hop, are used when looking after children. The research discusses three ideologies surrounding these Indigenous songs, two of which, (i) and (ii), may have contributed to their decline. The ideologies are (i) English equates to intelligence and success, (ii) English is the language of geographical mobility, and (iii) Igbo/Nawfija variety is a language of identity. The study concludes by arguing that, as a result of ideologies (i) and (ii), if these Indigenous children's songs were revitalized, possibly, not all community members would be committed to maintaining them. Therefore, for the revitalization to be successful, people need to appreciate the importance, beauty, and value of their languages and cultural practices (see ideology (iii)). Likewise, the Nigerian academic system should be shaped to reflect their uniqueness and promote their language and its practices, by adopting the local variety as the primary language of education. This will help to strengthen people's knowledge of their history, language, linguistic practices, culture, knowledge, present realities, and future challenges.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A comparative analysis of the phonology and morpho-syntax of Cisukwa, Cindali and Cilambya
    (2016) Mtenje, Atikonda; Brenzinger, Matthias; Mesthrie, Rajend
    This 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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Open Access
    A comparative study of the Morphosyntaz and Phonetics of Town Bemba and Standard Bemba of the Copperbelt Zambia
    (2010) Kabinga, Moonde; Mesthrie, Rajend
    For 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.