3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Localising an online computer software to include Setswana, an indigenous African language, for the South African teacher(2021) Moodley, MeganathanThe introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) into the South African education sector has brought optimism that ICT can enhance education, and at the same time trepidation whether it will benefit all South Africans. Research, in general, has shown that acceptance of ICT in education is low because of limited access and low ICT skills. However, emerging research shows that the acceptance of ICT is influenced by context, culture, and language. There exists an erroneous belief that ICT is more suited for the richer countries and communities, which has resulted in the need to rethink the traditional conceptualisation and design of ICT resources. Evidence shows that South African English speakers are no longer the main users of ICT and that there is steady growth among Indigenous African language speakers. Hence, it is important to accommodate the country’s diverse linguistic groups in ICT. The continued dominance of English in ICT will only serve to alienate potential users. This study aimed to examiner how the introduction of educational software with a dual English-Setswana interface and content can influence teachers’ user experience of the software and their attitude towards the use of African languages in ICT. The conceptual framework adopted in this study merged the Technology Acceptance Model and the theory of colonial mentality to explain the findings. The study’s population was teachers from the North West province who were introduced to the dual-language software. Data was collected using systematic self-observation, participant observation and interviews. Trustworthiness of the study was achieved using several data collectors and external data transcribers. To maintain a high level of ethical compliance, names of participants and schools were excluded from the research report. The findings indicated that while the teachers felt pride and easiness using the Setswana software and were happy with the translation, they were concerned about the non-translated terms and the neglect of dialect accommodation. Even though the teachers completed the tasks on the Setswana version with ease, they acknowledged that English was better suited for use in ICT. The conceptual framework adopted in this study merged the Technology Acceptance Model and the theory of colonial mentality to explain the findings. Based on these findings, it is recommended that consultations with relevant language and cultural experts and the target end-users are necessary for software localisation. Furthermore, more research is needed on the role of colonial mentality in the acceptance of technology by Indigenous populationsItem Hiatus resolution in formosan austronesian and selected Bantu languages :a comparative analysis(2019) Fang, Chen-ShuThe aim of this study is to present a comparative analysis of common hiatus resolutions of a number of languages from the Bantu and Formosan Austronesian language families. Luganda, ciNsenga, ChiShona and isiXhosa belong to the Bantu language family, whereas Isibukun Bunun and Squliq Atayal belong to the Formosan Austronesian language family, that is, the Austronesian language spoken by aboriginals in Taiwan. The two language families are geographically distant from each other. However, due to the extent of coverage of Austronesian languages, Madagascar is the final point where Bantu and Austronesian language merge. Malagasy, the language spoken in Madagascar, is still categorized as one of the Austronesian languages, but it contains words of Bantu, Swahili, Arab, English, and French origin. Although prior studies indicate that these languages have different phonological structures, they all disfavored hiatus (Huang, 2006; Casali, 2011; Kadenge & Simango, 2014; Rosenthall, 1997). Other previous studies (Busser, 2011; Kadenge, 2014; Park, 1997) that compare hiatus resolution using Optimality theory (OT) focus on the languages of the same language family or dialects of the same languages. This study thus aiming to compare the common hiatus resolutions two different distant language families. A vast corpus of ciNsenga, ChiShona, Luganda, isiXhosa, Isbukun Bunun and Squliq Atayal, with other supporting language data from Bantu and Formosan Austronesian languages, is drawn from the existing studies and presented in the analysis chapter. Glide formation occurs in all the selected languages. It is triggered when V1 is high in ciNsenga, ChiShona, and Luganda. In addition, V2 becomes a long vowel in Luganda after V1 turns into a glide. Glide formation targets high vowels regardless of the position of V1 or V2 in Isbukun Bunun and Squliq Atayal. In isiXhosa, only a round V1 before a following non-round vowel glides (/o+i/, /o+e/, /o+a/, /u+i/, /u+e/, and /u+a/) without a compensatory lengthening. Coalescence is not the hiatus repair strategy of ciNsenga and Luganda, but is one of the strategies to resolve hiatus in ChiShona, isiXhosa, Isbukun Bunun and Squliq Atayal. Coalescence takes place when the stem-final vowel and the following vowel are identical in both languages. In Squliq Atayal, when the stem-final vowel and the following –VC suffix create a falling-sonority sequence (a+u), coalescence is also triggered. Luganda has a similar strategy to deal with two juxtaposed vowels. However, it is categorized as Twin Vowel Deletion. Coalescence takes place in isiXhosa when V1 is non-high and V2 is high. The overall findings of the study show that different rankings of the same set of constraints distinguishes one language from another, and also highlight the similarities between the two language families.Item The development of discourse coherence devices of different language typologies: South African English and IsiZulu(2018) Coertze, NatashaThe current South African linguistic context is focusing on building formal knowledge of preciously understudied South African indigenous languages. This research adopts a multi-lingual stance by conducting a cross-linguistic study of the development of discourse coherece devices in the acquisition of isiZulu and South African English. Although successful communication is founded on pragmatic principles, such as discourse coherence, most research leans towards focusing on the early acquisition of formal linguistic structures, often at the expense of addressing pragmatic and discursive development. This research will use an oral narrative in order to observe the development of discourse coherence. This study will adopt a multi-modal stance as research has shown that language is a multi-modal system whereby gesture assists both communication and language production. Furthermore, research has also shown that typological constraints affect language processing. Thus, a typological approach will be adopted in order to observe typological constraints on the development of discourse coherence strategies. The research seeks to address three aims: what strategies are used by each language to communicate discourse coherence; how these strategies develop across age groups; and what are the typological effects on this development. The study seeks to address these aims by using archival data of previously elicited narratives. A cartoon stimulus was used to elicit narratives from the three age groups of English and isiZulu participants: 5-6 years, 9-10, and adults (control group). Discourse coherence strategies will be assessed on the following levels: narrative level, linguistic level, and gesture. The cross-linguistic comparison of these three age groups will provide insight into the relationship between structural language, pragmatics, and cognition.Item Subject positioning in the South African symbolic economy: student narratives of their languages and lives in a changing place(2016-07-28) Botsis, HannahLanguage use is irreducibly social and historical, bearing the complexities of difference, location, and power. These dynamics are particularly visible in “post”-apartheid South Africa, where historical and contemporary asymmetries of race and class are refracted through language politics, practices and experiences. “Youth embody the sharpening contradictions of the contemporary world in especially acute form” (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2005, p. 21) because they are often at the coalface of societal change. At this particular historical moment the paradoxes and challenges of South African students are acutely visible when examining the role of language in reproducing a bifurcated education system, and indeed society. Methodologically, I examined 15 student narratives about their experiences of language in everyday life. The narratives were generated using a multi-modal approach to language biographies, where participants’ linguistic repertoires are visually represented in different colours on a pre-given body outline (Busch et al., 2006). The inclusion of the visual component provided participants with a nuanced vocabulary for constructing their narrative accounts. This narrative data was then thematically analysed with a focus on participants’ subject positioning. Firstly, it was found that the notion of an authentic identity functioned as an ideological claim. The participants referred to a desire for authentic cultural roots, through reference to what they considered “pure” African languages. They articulated a sense that an authentic cultural identity might be lost by virtue the ubiquitous nature of English in their lives. Participants positioned themselves and others as either belonging or not belonging, depending how “authentic” a member of an identity category one was assessed to be. The narratives demonstrated that the nuances of language and voice become the site for the nano-politics of identity and authenticity (Blommaert & Varis, 2015), especially when cultural and racial identity categories appear to be in crisis. Secondly, English was constructed as a variable symbolic asset across different fields. Representations of English and African languages were positioned in line with existing colonial and racial tropes where English was represented as the language of the mind and rationality, while African languages, even when positively described, were construed as languages of the body or emotion. For black participants, while it was appropriate and desirable to speak English at university, in other fields, such as the home, English could be negatively sanctioned. It is the relation of power between fields in the symbolic economy that influences the reception of a linguistic asset. I argue that English was negatively sanctioned (while still being desirable) as a way of containing the power of English qua whiteness. The link between desirability and derision that English represents makes claims to authenticity, as well as accusations of betrayal, pivotal in the subject positioning of participants in relation to their experiences of language across different fields. These student narratives about experiences of language capture a particular historical moment and demonstrate how the youth straddle the contradictions of the past and the future. However, while these narratives are historically specific they also point to the universal process of becoming a subject through language.Item Attitudes of high school pupils towards African languages(2009-11-19T13:20:13Z) Gamede, Thobekile