Electronic Theses and Dissertations (Masters)

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Challenges faced by court interpreters while interpreting for children in South African courts
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Chikele, Heather Mikateko; Maliko, Natasha Parkins; Dladla, Celimpilo P.
The study investigated the challenges faced by court interpreters in South Africa when working with child witnesses within the legal system. The objectives of the study included investigating interpreter challenges, identifying their role in safeguarding children’s well-being and rights, and evaluating the effectiveness of interpreter training. The country’s linguistic diversity, characterized by 12 official languages and distinct cultural distinctions, adds layers of complexity for interpreters (Powell, et al., 2017). The problems encountered during the process includes linguistic barriers, encompassing the clear conveyance of child testimonies, interpretation of child-friendly legal terminology, and ensuring the child’s understanding of legal proceedings. The study recognized the involved interplay of language, culture and age, which highlights the need for interpreters to address the emotional state, comprehension level, and communication capacities of child witnesses. To tackle these challenges, the study highlighted the crucial requirement for specialized training and support for court interpreters handling cases involving children in South African courts (Moeketsi & Wallmach, 2005). This involved cultivating a sophisticated understanding of child psychology, cultural sensitivity, and legal terminology to effectively bridge communication gaps (Jianqing, 2008). By doing so, the study contended that South Africa could strengthen its commitment to safeguarding children’s rights and welfare within the legal system, ultimately ensuring equitable access to justice for all residents. The study utilized a quantitative research methodology, utilising a structured questionnaire distributed through Google Forms. The questionnaire was designed to gather insights from court interpreters about their experiences and challenges. The questions were crafted to elicit detailed responses on topics such as the impact of the child’s age on interpretation, linguistic and cultural challenges, and training and qualifications of court interpreters. The research focused on obtaining valuable information directly from court interpreters through the survey instrument, so as to understand their perspectives in a more streamlined manner (Cheung, 2014).
An investigation into paywalls in the south african online news space
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Crossley, Gaye Tracey; Daniels, Glenda
Journalism should aspire to be a public good, meaning people should ideally have un-excluded and un-rivalrous access to the news. For news to be a public good, it must serve to educate and inform readers and be free from economic and political interference. However, journalism cannot be a public good if it is not financially viable. One way South African news organisations have sought to create financial viability and sustainability is through the implementation of paywalls. However, subscription services like paywalls pose a risk to journalism being a public good. South Africa’s unequal society, along with the digital divide, are major inhibitors to people being able to access news online. Paywalls further exacerbate this issue of access. This research aims to investigate paywalls in the South African online news space, within the context of journalism serving as a public good. In doing so, the research considered the digital divide, digital disruption of the newsroom, sustainability of the newsroom, and the positive and negative contributions of paywalls to South African online news. This qualitative research was conducted through a series of structured interviews with two of South Africa’s media houses, Media24 and Arena Holdings, which had both implemented paywalls for their online news sites. These case studies were then juxtaposed against Daily Maverick, which has kept its news free for all readers, but relies on a number of alternative funding models, including a membership model.
(Re)composing: A study of the musical documentary in reimagining the historical archive through song
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Roberts, Daniel Ronald Newland; Kaplan, Kenneth
This thesis investigates conventional documentary reenactments and proposes a different approach by examining the role of purpose-composed songs as a medium for historical reenactment in the music documentary. It scrutinizes this approach as an alternative to traditional notions of reenactment often associated with Hollywood-style documentaries where the convention is to restage historical events. Instead, the argument made is for the transformative and imaginative of poetic verse and musical expression to embody historical texts. The research explores the profound connection between the performer and the historical subjects through ancestral bonds, examining how this relationship enhances the performance's potency. In addition, it delves into the collaborative process between musicians and documentarians in creating purpose-composed songs, especially when performances are situated within locations deeply connected to the historical context, assessing how this impacts audience engagement. Reflecting on the evolution of the music documentary genre since the 1960s, the thesis critically examines Bill Nichols’s enduring analysis of documentary modes. It investigates the continued reliance on the vérité style in music documentaries while using selected case studies to map more diverse documentary forms extending beyond Nichols's purely observational mode. The artistic component of this research is an essay film, which offers a contemplative view of the symbiotic relationship between cinematographer and musician. It probes into the nuances of creating poignant artistic expressions that address historical traumas while simultaneously managing the complex interplay of the subjectivities inherent in filmmaker and musician. This dual-focused inquiry seeks to illuminate the capacity of music documentaries to convey historical narratives in a manner that resonates with contemporary audiences, marrying historical accuracy with emotional depth.
Social media as a sphere of violent discourse in times of civil unrest: A case study of the 2021 looting in South Africa
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03-15) Malaka, Chaboke Prince; Govenden, Prinola
Social media has been used by activists in contemporary civil upheavals.The content created by these activists is believed to predict offline protest behaviour. There was previously no corelation drawn between social media usage and real-world behaviour, however, recently protesters’worldwide use of social media platforms provide an unparalleled opportunity to witness how social media usage can have real-world behavioural ties (Mina, 2019). This study's main objective was to investigate the extent to which social media, specifically X (formerly Twitter), was used as a forum for violent discourse during times of civil unrest. In particular, it examines the looting that occurred in South Africa in 2021 July under the hashtags,#LootingSA and #FreeZuma, that started in KwaZulu-Natal province on 8 July 2021 and spread to the Gauteng province. It is well recognised that social media sites enable users to communicate, share knowledge, and produce digital content. Social media has also served as an activist platorm during times of civil disturbance (Lim, 2012). This study adds to the current literature by elucidating howpeople’s engagement in X (formerly Twitter) as a social media platform was used to createa discourses of violence during the 2021 looting. Protest Participation Theory (PPT) and Galtung’s Theory of Violence (GTV) media theories have been used to drive this study and has further supported the findings from a theorectical standpoint. . The study used a qualitative approach and employed a thematic analysis technique to analyse data. The units of analysis, violent tweets, revealed a substantial presence of aggressive language, calls for violence, threats, and incitements to harm during the civil unrest period. Interestingly, a significant portion of these tweets did not explicitly endorse violence but circulated content related to violent acts e.g Tweets containing voilent content. In contrast, non-violent tweets predominantly centered around the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma with sentiments expressing disapproval, critique, or support for the arrest of the former president. The study acknowledged instances where X (formerly Twitter) was used for personal agendas and entertainment indicating a diverse range of discussions on social media related to violence. The non-violent tweets highlighted both opposition and support for Jacob Zuma's arrest with a smaller percentage categorised as "not related" and not taking a clear stance on the overarching topic. The research primarily focused on measuring the prevalence of looting activities rather than delving into the detailed aspects of the "how" question.
Adoption and use of internet of things and the implications for adaptive regulation
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03) Jarvis, Boipelo; Ntlatlapa, Ntsibane
Internet of Things (IoT) is evolving, developing and finding use in many industries where it is mainly used for automating, controlling, tracking and monitoring of different assets and processes, and also to digitalise and optimise business processes. One of IoT’s main characteristics is the interconnection of physical and virtual objects, the involvement of various stakeholders and the vast amount of data that is collected, communicated, stored and analysed in its ecosystem. IoT is projected to continue on its tremendous growth path for years to come, and to also permeate many more industries. However, IoT has inherent challenges of security and privacy due to its characteristics and therefore requires relevant regulation so as to address the challenges related to it and enable its continued growth, adoption and use. The study explored the adoption and use of IoT in South Africa, looked into security and privacy challenges for IoT and ways to address them, ways in which current regulatory approaches are affecting IoT and how regulation that is relevant to IoT can be developed. The researcher followed a qualitative research approach, collected data from participants through in-depth interviews and employed thematic analysis to discover themes from data that was collected. The study’s findings are categorised according to three themes that emerged from the literature review namely: adoption and use of IoT, security and privacy challenges for IoT and ways to develop adaptive regulation for IoT. The Socio Technical Systems (STS) framework was a theoretical lens that was used to analyse data by mapping the study’s findings against STS components to explore the social and technical aspects of IoT. To define and understand the relationship between the social and technical subsystems of STS, an interaction between the elements of these two subsystems namely technology, tasks, structure and people was done. Under the technical subsystem, the findings brought to light the challenge that interoperability, security and privacy has on the adoption and use of IoT and the activities that enable the adoption and use of IoT. The findings under the social subsystem highlighted regulatory measures that are required to enable the adoption and use of IoT, regulatory ways to address the challenges of security and privacy as well as the need for IoT stakeholders to work collaboratively to encourage the growth, adoption and use of IoT and to address challenges related to it. The interaction of the STS elements identified collaborations and collaborative mechanisms as ways to address the challenges of IoT and develop regulation that is adaptive to its development. Based on the researcher’s analysis IoT requires a collaborative approach to address the challenges that its development, adoption and use are confronted with and to also develop regulation that is relevant and encouraging of its adoption and use.
Analysing misinformation coverage by three newspapers during the 2nd phase of covid-19 vaccination in south africa: the daily sun, the daily maverick, and the sowetan from 7 may to 7 july 2021
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) SEMENYA, ANNA MOSHALA; FRANZ KRUGER
As South Africa geared up for a mass vaccination programme to inoculate its citizens, with the public eager to return to normalcy after enduring varying degrees of lockdowns for over a year, the enigma surrounding the virus provided fertile ground for anti-vaccine groups to propagate misinformation consisting of misconceptions, myths, fake news and rumours. The mainstream media, wielding significant power and influence, played a pivotal role in disseminating information to enhance public health awareness during the pandemic before and after vaccines became available. This paper endeavours to assess how three national newspapers addressed the prevalent misinformation at the time. It does so by reviewing articles published 10 days before the phase two vaccination campaign commenced up to two months after the aforementioned commencement. The results indicate that one newspaper attempted to address the misinformation explicitly, another did so through subtle discourse whilst the last one remained resolute in its pro-vaccine stance and did not entertain the misinformation.
Just Me and You, Ms W
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-03) Hoffman, Alexandra Laurel; Law-Viljoen, Bronwyn
Audio-visual speech perception amongst bilingual speakers
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024-03) Seedat, Ammaara; Ramona, Kunene Nicolas
Why does a face articulating the syllable [ga] presented alongside an auditory /ba/ syllable result in a perceived /da/ syllable/? Language is more than words, and the human face has shown enormous communicatory significance as a mode of nonverbal communication. Multisensory integration is used in audio-visual speech perception when auditory and visual information are integrated at the same time. This integration, however, can be viewed as an involuntary process that occurs automatically. The audio-visual benefit effect occurs when auditory and visual information is synchronized, this is when the visual cue is congruent with its auditory counterpart. Literature on audio-visual speech perception, states that the magnitude of visual influences on audio-visual speech perception varies not only across languages but also across developmental stages. The reasons underlying cross-linguistic and developmental differences in audio-visual speech perception however remain unclear. With bilingualism becoming the norm rather than the exception around the world (Grosjean & Byers-Heinlein, 2018), strong research foundations for spoken-word comprehension in bilinguals have been carried out. These foundations have been grounded in classical frameworks from monolinguals and formalised in models such as the Bilingual Model of Lexical Access (BIMOLA) (Léwy, 2008) and the Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech (BLINCS) (Shook & Marian, 2013). Bilinguals may experience increased audio-visual integration when using their less dominant language because less familiarity with a language creates a greater reliance on the visual channel to make sense of auditory input. This study will therefore examine the extent to which young adult bilinguals benefit from audio-visual speech. We examine how different listening conditions affect how L2 bilinguals perceive audio-visual speech. Participants in this study were L1 English speakers learning L2 isiZulu between 17-29 years of age. Each participant was introduced to four different conditions. Namely, an audio only condition, a visual-only condition an and audio-visual condition and an incongruent condition. In the audio-only condition, the stimuli were only auditory, in the visual-only condition the stimuli were perceived without an auditory stimulus. The audio-visual stimulus was made up of both an auditory and visual stimulus whilst the incongruent stimulus was created through dubbing the audio of one word over the visual of another word. The results of the study highlighted the importance of audio-visual speech in late L2 bilingual acquisition. The differences in the phonetics and phonology of language systems might play an important role in how late L2 bilinguals perceive language in different conditions.
A comparative study of how four selected newspapers framed the coverage of the death of mthokozisi ntumba
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) MAGOMANI, AMUKELANI; Balliah, Dinesh
For years, traditional media such as newspapers have played a pivotal role in circulating news and information for public consumption. South Africa has recently experienced an increase in news on police brutality cases against protesters on various platforms covered by the newspapers. This study analyses the framing of media coverage by Daily Maverick, Daily Sun, Mail & Guardian, and Sowetan newspapers of the pre-and post-trial of the law enforcement officers charged with the killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba. This case was centred on forceful actions by police officials to disperse a crowd during a student protest. Although Ntumba was not amongst the protesting crowds, he was shot and killed by police officers. The study aims to discover the ways in which Ntumba’s case was reported by the four selected newspapers. The nature, aim, objectives and contextual significance of this study dictates that a qualitative research approach be used. The study was underpinned by the framing theory. Qualitative data was collected using the content analysis method, with purposive sampling used to select all textual units that contributed towards answering the study’s research questions. A sample of 83 articles was selected on the basis that the articles reported the news of the killing of Ntumba and the follow up court trial of the police officers. Qualitative framing analysis was used to study the media coverage of the killing of a bystander and police brutality in South Africa. From the study’s findings, it was revealed that different frames were used by the four selected newspapers in the coverage of Ntumba’s case. The frames used by the selected newspapers highlighted the extent to which the issue of police brutalityin the country has led to the death of people and other underlying issues that exist due to police brutality during protests.
Phonological memory and sentence processing in South African L2 English-speaking children
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08-25) MADZIWO, ALEXIA RUVARASHE; Kunene, Ramona Nicolas
Out of the many factors that have impacted the state of education in South Africa (resulting in low literacy rates and high rates of academic failure), it is critical to investigate the linguistic implications on education. Comprehension has been pinpointed as a site of further research and intervention; therefore, this current study aimed to investigate the possible contributions that phonological short-term memory (pSTM) has on spoken sentence comprehension of South African second language (L2) English-speaking children from southern African Bantu language backgrounds. Discourse has claimed pSTM – a temporary auditory information memory store – to be an independent language process system from that of comprehension. However, it presents an interesting focal point for a few reasons including the following: i) L2 English-speaking children from southern African Bantu languages are confronted with the phonologically distinct English language in educational spaces; ii) children need to store sentences to process and respond to them; and iii) children’s complex linguistic skills have not yet been developed – thus, there is dependence on lower-level linguistic skills. In this study, 25 children from Polokwane, Capricorn District, participated in tasks to identify the effects of pSTM in relation to sentence processing. The researcher then analysed the developmental aspects of these processes. The corpus fell into two separate groups: i) the Grade 1, 6–7-year olds and ii) the Grade 4, 9–10-year-olds. Three tasks were presented to the participants: i) the nonword repetition task to assess their pSTM capacity, ii) a sentence-repetition task, and iii) a sentence-picture naming task. The results indicated that pSTM capacity was present from age 6 and improved with age. However, there was no clear contribution to sentence processing; despite high pSTM capacity results, sentence comprehension and repetition results remained low. In this study, we also found the following: i) syntax was a marker for comprehension issues; ii) sentence repetition showed better results than comprehension, indicating a possibly stronger link between pSTM and sentence repetition; iii) possible language interactions during pSTM disyllabic recall were noted.
Femicide in South Africa: Ideal Victims, Visible Bodies, and Invisible Perpetrators
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-05) Nyathi, Tebogo; Falkof, Nicky
South Africa’s femicide rate is five times the global average (Statistics South Africa 2018). In recent years, we have seen increased scholarly attention examining media reporting of femicide. These studies have been critical the way South African media have and continue to cover femicide. This study seeks to add to this existing knowledge by exploring the media coverage of three sexual violence murders. This study explores the online news media coverage of three case studies. These case studies are the rape and murder of University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana, the rape and murder of Lynette Volschenk, and the rape and murder of grade 7 pupil Janika Mallo. All these murders happened in Cape Town in August 2019 and received prominent media coverage. This study utilizes thematic analytic tools to explore dominant patterns in the data through the framework of representation and intersectionality. The study aims to do a close reading and identify discourses embedded in news media texts to highlight their functions, effects, and social and ideological implications for society. The findings reveal an increased focus on the visible bodily injuries of victims and media used spectacular language to present this. The focus on the bodily injuries resulted in making perpetrators invisible. The analysis confirmed that certain victims matter to media more than others. Furthermore, media represented femicide as a current crisis and ignored the historical structures that enable the prevalence of sexual violence. Although, this study is not comparative media analysis and does not provide media to show that some murders are under reported, because it is only looking at three cases the analysis does demonstrate that other murders matter more than others. The study concludes that the way media cover femicide does not present the ‘true reality’ of sexual violence in South Africa and we are still far from finding long lasting solutions to the rampant violence.
Proximalisation in the acquisition of sign language by hearing adult learners
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Chambers, Dana Jade; Kaneko, Michiko
This research study explores whether or not proximalisation is present in the acquisition of South African Sign Language (SASL) by hearing adult learners. This research will specifically be looking at the extent of proximalisation, as well as the details of how and when proximalisation occurs. This research is motivated by the fact that while both the study and the use of sign language by hearing people is growing on a global scale there is very little research done on their production using the necessary joints. I have used a quantitative descriptive study in order to investigate the presence of proximalisation in the signs produced by hearing learners. I have used the study done by Mirus, Rathmann and Meier (2001) who looked at the proximalisation and distalisation of German Sign Language and American Sign Language as a basis for this research study. This study focused on the proximalisation in the production of signs by hearing adult first year SASL learners with no prior knowledge of sign language. I have also used a study by Napoli et al (2014) to identify additional features regarding joint usage and joint manipulation in regards to ease of articulation. Based on the findings by Mirus, Rathmann and Meier (2001) in their study the findings of this study show a significantly lower than expected presence of proximalisation. It was found that participants joint manipulation rather favoured that of distalisation, joint omission (the complete lack of the joint in the production) and joint addition. These were unexpected and all resulted in an ease of articulation and overall, less energy and effort production.
The ‘madness account’: An examination of madness and writing within the fictional and autobiographical works of Bessie Head and Janet Frame
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-08) Hovelmeier, Sinéad Katherine; Van Schalkwyk, Simon
Bessie Head and Janet Frame are two writers who have not been read comparatively. Despite this, both authors engage in writing about ‘madness’. Bessie Head presents madness in her fictional work A Question of Power (1973) as well as in her various life-writings (letters). Janet Frame presents madness in her fictional work Faces in the Water (1961) and her autobiography An Autobiography (1982). The current field labels these fictional works as ‘autobiographical’, and it pays close attention to madness as one area where the supposed commonalities between life experiences and fictional accounts justify this labelling. Current research on autobiography is divided along the individualist tradition of ‘male’ autobiography and the newer forms of autobiography, which not only employ the ‘autobiographical pact’ but stretch the conventions of autobiography into a whole host of emerging subcategories (autofiction, confessional literature, faction etc.). The current field does not consider that equating a ‘mad’ author with a ‘mad’ character in fiction is a limited approach to representations of madness. Focusing on ‘scriptotherapy’ and the ‘madness account’, my research addresses this gap in the literature. Reading the texts comparatively produced varied results for ‘madness’; Frame’s account of madness is richest in the fiction she decidedly claimed as not autobiographical, while Head’s life-writings reveal her fictional account of ‘madness’ as autobiographical but dissatisfying, it fails to express her real-life experiences accurately. Reading all four texts together and applying ‘scriptotherapy’ to each provides insights into the role of ‘madness’ within each text and its impact on each author. This research fills a gap in the current research by revealing a broader view of ‘madness’ in the works of both Frame and Head.
Students’ motivation on learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language Course: A case study on the University of the Witwatersrand and University of Mpumalanga
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-02) Adão, Roberto; Campos, Marta
Motivation is one of the most significant and determining factors in language learning, therefore it is important to study the different ways in which motivation influences students in their foreign language studies. This dissertation investigates university students’ motivation for learning Portuguese as a foreign language course at two South African universities. This study aimed to identify the principal factors which motivate students to study Portuguese as a foreign language at two universities: along with determining the possible similarities and differences between the students’ sources of motivation for learning Portuguese at each respective university as a foreign language. The study took place at two universities namely, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the University of Mpumalanga. Both universities currently offer Portuguese as a language course within their respective Bachelor of Arts degrees. Through the application of a questionnaire and obtaining quantitative data from the student’s responses, in addition to the use of the Likert scale and descriptive statistics (mode, mean and standard deviation), students’ sources of motivation were possible to assess and interpret in a numerical form, as regards their learning of Portuguese with the objective of expanding their proficiency in the Portuguese language.
The Value of Translation Theory for Translation Practice
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Mitchell, Ruben Isaac; Leal, Alice
Despite the fact that many translation practitioners acknowledge the importance of translation theory for shaping and delivering functional translations and helping translators reflect on their work, there is still a common perception that translation theory is of little or no value for the practice of translation. With the backing of a survey among professional translators, this study attempts to show trends in the development of translation theory. Many practitioners feel the theory is irrelevant to their work but believe it does not need to be so. Not enough is being done to show practitioners, both in the field and in the classroom, that the value of theory is, for example, in giving them conceptual tools with which to reflect on their work and solve translation problems. The tension between descriptive translation studies and prescriptive translation studies is examined. After decades of research, debate and writing, there is still much disagreement among scholars about meaning, equivalence, translation as a science and as a viable activity at all, and fidelity vs. freedom in translation. Risks that are real in modern theorising about translation include becoming prescriptive while advocating for descriptive translation studies, and perpetrating cultural subversion against the source language while advocating for cultural transfer to the target language. It is possible for theorists to guide and suggest while allowing the translator to have the final choice in the translation act. Theory should be based on a wider variety of examples, genres and cultures. Finally, assessment criteria both for the classroom and the workplace need to be clearer. Recommendations are supplied for remedying the perception of theory, improving classroom practice and improving conditions for translators.
She’s Not a Bad Girl, Brenda Fassie: Past, Present and Future, A Canon for the Construction of Post Colonial Feminist Consciousness
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-07) Qwesha, Qhama; Mupotsa, Danai S.
In this research report, I examine the ways that icon Brenda Fassie operates as an important archive for the articulation of quotidian feminist consciousness. In paying close attention to the present re-emergence of Fassie in South African intimate publics that include idioms, modes, praxes, aesthetics, and consumptive forms that she currently figuratively circulates. I approach the question of an archive from two central sensibilities: first, with regards to authoritative narrative accounts related to her memorialization; and second, in the ways that her figure (re)appears in these intimate publics to reconfigure the meanings we attach to African femme/womanhood and sexualities. Looking to multiple archives is a methodological gesture at assembling a range of cultural objects that include her body of work, including the aural, visual, and aesthetic performance of her work; along with the archive of work produced with or about her that often situates itself around accounts of her biography. With this understanding of her archive, the approach is to see how Fassie figuratively operates, presenting contesting identities through which she can move in and out of multiple temporalities that are often contradictory. Fassie’s ability to transgress while equally forming a part of national historic discourse allows us to inquire into the ways that she complicates notions of gender and sexuality – and how these continue to shape current articulations of feminism in post-apartheid South Africa.
Towards the Development of a Monolingual Sesotho Learner’s Dictionary
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-01) Mahloane, Malefu Justina; Setshedi, Quinn Thelma Malakabane
Sesotho practical lexicography commenced over 160 years ago and up to the time when this research was initiated, there had not been a single monolingual or online learner’s dictionary produced for the language. As a result, this research aimed to develop a Sesotho monolingual learner’s dictionary with the ultimate goal being to make the dictionary available online. To achieve this, the research investigated the different factors to consider when developing a dictionary with these characteristics. The objective of this research was to use Corpus Linguistics methodology to develop the dictionary. The methods used are both qualitative and quantitative. The contents of the dictionary are extracted from a c.a. 100 000-word corpus that was compiled specially for this research – as a corpus is the object of study or a tool in Corpus Linguistics. The corpus was processed using various language processing methods and tools, the main being the TshwaneLex Suite. The study managed to develop a prototype of the Sesotho monolingual learner’s dictionary and it is attached as Annexure 1, and the dictionary will continue to be developed beyond this research. It is anticipated that, the developed prototype dictionary presented here, will serve as evidence that there are effective means that Sesotho Lexicographers can adapt to produce other types of dictionaries beyond the usual bilingual/translation and paperback dictionaries that are the norm in Sesotho lexicography.
Vera Duarte and Paulina Chiziane: The Notion of Womanhood and Post-Colonialism
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-05) de Oliveira, Monica Ester Monteiro Batista; Campos, Marta
This dissertation intends to present a comparison of the notion of womanhood in the post-colonial context presented by Paulina Chiziane’s novels, namely Niketche: Uma História de Poligamia (2012) and Ventos do Apocalipse (2003) and Vera Duarte’s novels (poetry anthologies) De Risos e Lágrimas (2018) and A Reinvenção do Mar (2018). This research will be done by conducting a comparative study on the works of the African writers Vera Duarte and Paulina Chiziane, using thematic and narrative analysis. This dissertation will contribute to and complement existing research related to both authors and both countries. However, this study is novel in that it compares the works of two female Lusophone writers, from two different Lusophone countries and compares two different styles of literature, poetry and novel.
Socio-technical factors impacting youth perspectives on digital transformation in resource-constrained environments: A study of Diepsloot youth
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-06) Matanda, Lorraine; Ochara, Nixon Muganda; Abrahams, Lucienne
There has been a proliferation of tech hubs in Africa, with more than 80 in South Africa, forming a foundation for more inclusive digital innovation. However, we do not sufficiently understand the relationships between tech hubs, digital inclusiveness and poverty. This study explores the sociotechnical factors influencing access and use of the Internet to achieve social inclusion in resource-constrained environments. The literature reviewed focused on social influences on digital adoption, tech hub infrastructure, digital skills, and trends in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) policies. The study’s findings are categorised into themes using the sociotechnical systems (STS) theoretical framework. Each of the seven STS theoretical components (goals, culture, people, processes, infrastructure, technology and environment) were used as a lens to explore the social and technical factors that influence the perspectives of the youth on digital transformation. These themes were then mapped to the four dimensions of the research questions (social influence of digital adoption, institutional infrastructure for access, digital skills, and ICT policies for digital enablement) to highlight key findings and interpretations of the study. Under social influences, the youth demonstrated resilience driven by a need to improve their standard of living in a challenging environment. The institutional infrastructure, designed to support youth to access digital technologies, is constrained by a lack of resources. Tech hubs are using creative ways with the limited resources to cater to all their patrons, although there is room for improvement. In terms of digital skills, four youth profiles are highlighted to demonstrate a solid existence of digital skills and pursuit of tangible outcomes among the youth. In addition, the youth want to pursue entrepreneurship, meaning that tech hubs can potentially become mass training centres for digital entrepreneurship. Finally, a review of ICT policies revealed a chasm between the ICT policy objectives and activities on the ground, pointing to a lack of implementation and monitoring of ICT policies. Acting as a platform for digital foundations, tech hubs in marginalised environments must engage policymakers and reinforce their role in digital empowerment to influence policy development. This research is located in the qualitative interpretivist paradigm. A total of 21 in-depth interviews were conducted with 18 youth, with an equal representation of male and female, and three tech hub managers. Based on the researcher's analysis, access to the Internet offers the resilient youth a view into "a new world" that make them feel they can achieve anything they want. The high literacy level among the youth puts them in good stead for digital upskilling, and they are motivated to participate in the digital economy. However, ICT policy objectives concerning universal access look good on paper, but in reality, poor people are still offline. They are still excluded.
Literary and visual representations of queer ecologies in South Africa’s maritime and terrestrial environments
(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-09) Dimond, Harvey Lewis; Hofmeyr, Isabel
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