Doctoral Degrees (African Languages)
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- ItemAppraisal and evaluation in Zimbabwean parliamentary discourse and its representation in newspaper articles(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Jakaza, Ernest; Visser, M. W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: “Unofananidza Jesu naKombayi here? (Lit. Are you comparing Jesus with Kombayi?) (Condolences on the death of Senator Patrick Kombayi, 28th July 2009, Appendix B4, line 350) This Shona interjection during the debate on the motion on condolences on the death of Senator Patrick Kombayi (MDC- T) in the Zimbabwean parliament presents the speaker stance taking, appraising and strategically manoeuvering advancing certain argumentative positions. Considering the impact of the outcome of these debates on governance, discourse- analytic researches have to be carried out in order to explore the sorts of appraisal and argumentation principles that are realised. This study makes a multifaceted theoretical approach to a comprehensive exploration of debates and speeches in the Zimbabwean parliament and their representation in newspaper articles. The appraisal theory, the extended pragma- dialectic theory of argumentation and controversy analysis have been integrated to uncover important linguistic insights on parliamentary discourse and news reporting. The analysis is based on a corpus of debates and speeches in the Zimbabwean parliament within the period 2009 and 2010. Another corpus consists of newspaper reports on these debates and speeches in this period. A thematic approach informed by theoretical principles is utilised in the selection of reports, debates and speeches. Firstly, I examined parliamentary discourse. Focus have been on the critical discussion model, argumentative strategies- forms of strategic manoeuvering, how the dialectic- rhetoric relation can be understood, how appraisal resources are realised in the argumentation process and on examining how appraisal resources employed reflect the type of a debate or speech. Secondly, I explored newspaper articles from four Zimbabwean newspapers reporting on the same themes on debates and speeches. Focus has been to make comparative analysis of news reporting examining how appraisal resources are utilised in the representation of parliamentary discourse in different newspapers (independent versus government or state owned newspapers and English versus Shona newspapers) and to examine the nature of argumentation and strategic manoeuvering principles that are utilised in news reporting and how controversial (divergent) debates or issues are represented. This multifaceted analysis offered varied dimensions in the exploration of parliamentary discourse and news reporting and expansions of the appraisal and argumentation theories.
- ItemArgument quality in Tanzanian parliamentary discourse in Kiswahili in budget speeches and debates(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Nyanda, Davis; Dlali, Mawande; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENLGISH SUMMARY: The present study examines the nature of argument quality properties in Tanzanian parliamentary discourse in Kiswahili. The study applies the pragma-dialectical theory to analyse two Annual Budget Speeches (ABS) and debates about the speeches. The study focuses on the manifestation of three arguments in the ABS and the related debates: argument from cause and effect, argument from authority, and argument from example. The corpus of two ABS and the related debates in the Tanzanian parliament included in the analysis is based on the 2011/2012 Tanzanian annual budget parliamentary sitting. The data analysed was obtained from the Tanzanian National Assembly Hansard records (both printed and electronic versions). In the pragma-dialectical theory, there are stipulated criteria for evaluating whether arguments are properly applied in argumentative discourse such as parliamentary speeches and debates. The study specifically examines the extent to which ministers and MPs utilise the three arguments in the ABS and the related debates, and the extent to which these arguments conform to, or deviate from, the criteria established in the pragma-dialectical theory. The research further investigates the strategic manoeuvring the ministers and MPs make in the ABS and the related debates in their efforts to influence their target audience. The study covers several facets of the pragma-dialectical theory in the analysis of the ABS and the related debates. However, a flexible application of the criteria postulated in the pragma-dialectical theory for evaluating the three arguments is demonstrated, rejecting strict application of the criteria as proposed in the theory. The study reveals that the three arguments vary in the extent to which the ministers and MPs apply them. Argument from authority appears in a few instances in one of the speeches and the debates. In the case of argument from example, it is applied to a certain extent in one of the speeches and the debates. The analysis further indicates that argument from cause and effect is frequently utilised in the ABS and the related debates. In addition, the analysis shows that the ministers and MPs (re)package their arguments in such a way that would convince their target audience to accept them. The ministers and MPs achieve this by manoeuvring strategically in terms of topical potential, adaptation to audience demand and presentational devices. The current study suggests various dimensions of the pragma-dialectical theory could be enriched. These include making the theory less prescriptive in the evaluation of arguments, expansion of the evaluation criteria related to argument from authority, and expansion of the theory to recognise variation in the extent to which arguments are utilised in argumentative discourse such as parliamentary discourse.
- ItemArgument realization, causation and event semantics in Kiwoso(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Mallya, Aurelia; Visser, Marianna W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the properties of change of state and change of location/position verbs in relation to argument realization, (anti-)causative alternation, and event semantics in Kiwoso. To execute this study, firstly, a representative sample of change of state and change of location/position verbs as outlined by Levin (1993) were identified with regard to their syntactic and semantic characteristics. The data were gathered through introspections, complemented by other native speakers’ acceptability judgements, and text collection. The study adopts syntactic decomposition approach as postulated by Alexiadou et al. (2006, 2015) and Alexiadou (2010). Given that an adequate explanation of the syntactic behaviour of alternation constructions in Kiwoso is contingent on aspectual verb class distinctions, Vendler's (1957) aspectual approach as developed further by Verkuyl (1972) and Smith (1997) is invoked. The two approaches are supplemented by Distributed Morphology, Minimalism, and Cartography. Research on the (anti-)causative alternation focuses on two central issues: firstly, the lexical semantic properties that determine verbal alternations, and the derivational relationship between the alternates, and secondly, the similarities between (anti-)causative, passive, and middle alternations. This study demonstrates that both externally and internally caused change of state verbs, as well as change of location/position verbs productively alternate in Kiwoso. The findings of the study establish that participation of verbs in (anti-)causative alternation is determined by the encyclopaedic lexical semantics of verb roots. The results illustrate that the causative variants of externally caused change of state verbs in Kiwoso are morphologically marked, but the anticausative alternates are unmarked. The study demonstrates further that both causative and anticausative variants of internally caused change of state, and change of location/position verbs are morphologically unmarkedin Kiwoso. The study findings demonstrate that categorization of verb roots into semantic and aspectual verb classes is mainly determined by an incremental theme argument, and the grammatical aspect. In addition, the findings establish that an applicative suffix has an effect on the aspectual property of change of location/position verbs in Kiwoso. The results of the study demonstrate that realization of an external argument is determined by the lexical semantic property of verb roots. The findings establish that verbs which denote human-oriented events realize an agent and instrument arguments, but not causers, whereas other verbs realize agent, instrument, and causer arguments. The findings demonstrate that anticausative, passive, and middle constructions are syntactically similar in that they do not express the syntactic external (subject) argument, but they are semantically different aspects. The general findings of the study suggest that alternating verbs in Kiwoso are compositionally built in the syntax. This makes derivational approaches inadequate in accounting for the properties of these verbs. Therefore, the study adopts the family of generative syntax approaches which adequately account for the properties of these verbs in alternation constructions.causer arguments. The findings demonstrate that anticausative, passive, and middle constructions are syntactically similar in that they do not express the syntactic external (subject) argument, but they are semantically different aspects. The general findings of the study suggest that alternating verbs in Kiwoso are compositionally built in the syntax. This makes derivational approaches inadequate in accounting for the properties of these verbs. Therefore, the study adopts the family of generative syntax approaches which adequately account for the properties of these verbs in alternation constructions.
- ItemArgumentation in doctor-patient consultations in EkeGusii: A pragma-dialectical approach(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Basweti, Nobert Ombati; Visser, Marianna W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts Social Sciences. Dept. of African languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation investigates the argumentative discourse of (Eke)Gusii doctor-patient consultations in Kenya using the framework of the extended pragma-dialectical theory of argumentation. The study particularly investigates how Gusii doctors and Gusii patients strategically manoeuvre in resolving differences of opinion through the analysis of simulated medical consultations in (Eke)Gusii. The data for the research constituted transcripts of audio recordings of twelve consultation simulations conducted in (Eke)Gusii involving Gusii doctors and Gusii simulated patients with already diagnosed cases of HIV and AIDS, diabetes or cancer at The Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital, a public hospital in Kenya. The analysis conducted employed the pragma-dialectical method which entailed the interpretation, reconstruction and evaluation of the dialogues. Utilising the model of critical discussion, the study also assessed the display of communication accommodation and attitudinal aspects of evaluative language use in strategic manoeuvring in doctor-patient consultations. This multiperspective study establishes that the interplay of the macro contextual exigencies of contemporary western medicine and the traditional Gusii sociocultural belief system concerning illness, which determine the nature and properties of strategic manoeuvring in the (Eke)Gusii doctor-patient consultation give rise to a hybrid of genres of consultation and persuasion. Displaying explicit and invoked evaluative language, the Gusii doctors and Gusii patients continually exploit linguistic and psychological convergence or divergence in their choice of presentational devices to accommodate the institutional constraints of the two institutions and realising the composite institutional point. The study identifies and characterises the prototypical pattern of argumentation in the Gusii medical consultation, as one in which Gusii doctors and Gusii patients employ pragmatic argumentation as the main argumentation to defend a desirable effect of a prescriptive standpoint. The findings of the study indicate that symptomatic argumentation or other pragmatic arguments entail the support argumentation pattern for both parties but with diverse sources of authority. The sociocultural, macro and discursive contextual circumstances of the Gusii medical consultation determine the supporting argumentation and responses to the critical questions of pragmatic arguments. The study concludes that argumentation in the (Eke)Gusii medical consultation presents empirical evidence for the enhancement of the strategic manoeuvre design of the extended pragmadialectical theory with elements of evaluative language use and communication accommodation.
- ItemArgumentation involving account-giving and self-presentation in tanzanian parliamentary debates: a praga-dialectical perspective(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2020-12) Msagalla, Brighton Phares; Visser, Marianna Wilhelmina; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigatesthe actual argumentative reality in the resolution ofdifferences of opinion involving account-giving and self-presentation in Tanzanian parliamentary debatesin Kiswahili. The research data that are analysed in this study come fromthe Hansard transcripts of the official proceedingsof the annual ministerial budget debates which were collected in their original form from the website ofthe Tanzania’s Bunge(www.parliament.go.tz/hansards-list).The study concentrateson three annual parliamentary debates from the last three years of President Kikwete’s second term of presidency. Following a systematic reconstruction of the selected data, the analysis focuseson thedebateson the constitutional review processin Tanzania, the ‘controversial issues’of the Union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and the annual budget speech in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children. In the analysis ofthe selected debates, the study employsthepragma-dialectical theory of argumentation as the main theory and anaccount-giving model as a complementarytheory. The findings of the study indicatethatthe first three stages of the (critical)discussions in all the three debatesexemplify, to a greater or lesser degree,the proposedpragma-dialecticalstages of a critical discussion. However, the concluding stage in all the three debates isnot materialised in the manner proposed by the theory. As regards the code of conduct, while there arecases where the rules are observedin all the three debates (e.g. the freedom rule), instances of ruleviolation (e.g. the relevance rule) arealso found. The findings further suggest that MPs employ various modes of strategic manoeuvring from all the three aspectsof topical potential, audience demand, and presentational devices. For instance, MPs’ presentational devices includethestrategic use of accusation of inconsistency, evasion, metaphors (and other figurative expressions), narratives, personal attacks, quotations, and rhetorical questions. Concerningthe prototypical argumentative patterns,theministers’ prescriptive standpoints are,atthe first level of defence,justifiedby either pragmatic argumentationin coordinative argumentationor pragmatic argumentation andsymptomatic argumentationin coordinative or multiple argumentation. In the next levels of defence, pragmatic and symptomatic argumentation arejustifiedby various (sub)types of argumentation, including authorityargumentationfrom statistics(or statistical argumentation), argumentation from example, and causal argumentation. In regard tothe argumentative style, the ministers’ argumentative style seems to exemplify a strategic combination ofdetached and engaged stylesand the argumentative style by the opposition’sspokespersons and other MPsexemplifies an engaged style. Moreover, all the four account-giving strategies (plus silence) are manifested in the ministers’ accounts offailure events as theministersaccept, deny, or evaderesponsibility.
- ItemThe causative and anticausative alternation in Kikongo (Kizombo)(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Fernando, Mbiavanga; Visser, Marianna W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the applicability and suitability of the syntactic decomposition approach to account for the causative and anticausative alternation in Kikongo (Kizombo) in terms of the structural nodes of Voice, vCAUS and Root as posited in this approach to (anti-)causativity (see Alexiadou 2010). In addition, the aspectual approach postulated by Vendler (1957) and further developed by Verkuyl (1972) and Smith (1997) is invoked for the reason that the two alternants in the causative and anticausative alternation in Kikongo (Kizombo) are associated with aspectual verb class differences. Research on the causative and anticausative alternation has long been the focus of extensive work in typological and theoretical linguistics. Two central issues revolve around the debate: first the properties of meaning that determine the alternation and the derivational relationship between the alternants, and second, the relation between the causative alternation and other transitivity alternations, e.g. passives and middles. This dissertation demonstrates that there is a wide range of acceptability judgments associated with anticausative uses of Kizombo in externally and internally caused change of state and change of location/position verbs. The verb root is the element of meaning that allows the Kizombo verbs to alternate irrespective of their verb classes, including agentive verb roots. All the causative variants of externally caused verbs are morphologically unmarked, but all the anticausative variants are morphologically marked. However, all the internally caused change of state verbs are morphologically unmarked. Both the causative and anticausative variants of change of location/position verbs are morphologically unmarked. The anticausative and passive sentences can license an external causer through an implicit argument. While the passive verb sentences can be modified by by-agent, purpose clause and agent-oriented phrases, the anticausative sentences can be modified by instrument, natural force, agent-oriented and by-self phrases. The acceptability of modifiers with anticausatives and passives presupposes a presence of a causer in both constructions. The causative form of change of location/position verbs is syntactically intransitive (i.e. in the locative-subject alternation), but its anticausative variant acquires a transitive-like form. Thus, the concept of causative is related to cause and effect of the argument participating in the process. The study considers competing approaches concerning the derivational direction of the causative and anticausative alternation. Given the data in Kizombo, it is argued that the syntactic decomposition approach is the most appropriate to account for the example sentences in the causative and anticausative constructions. The transitive approach could probably deal with the externally caused change of state verbs, as discussed in chapter 6, but would face a challenge relating to the change of location/position verbs because none of the variants is morphologically marked.
- ItemCognitive and linguistic complexity in an isiZulu task-based computer-assisted language-learning syllabus for health sciences students(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Gokool, Roshni; Visser, Marianna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Effective doctor-patient communication is one of the key components entrenched in health sciences curriculum of universities in South Africa. With most patients speaking isiZulu as their mother tongue language, it is imperative that effective healthcare is provided in the patients’ language. The inclusion of the teaching of African languages in health sciences programmes is crucial. Whilst efforts are made to improve the status quo of second language (L2) teaching and learning of African languages within South African higher education institutions, the need for research based on scientific and principled theories of second language acquisition (SLA) is still required. This study, therefore investigates an isiZulu task-based syllabus design for doctor-patient communication for health sciences students studying at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study adopts a multifaceted approach to the teaching of isiZulu L2 that invokes key principles of task-based language learning and teaching (TBLT), language for specific purpose (LSP) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) related to second language acquisition. The aim of this study is to explore a procedure for a task-based CALL syllabus design based on a design-based approach. To prepare students for the realities in a healthcare context, it was essential that the investigation on syllabus design focused on real authentic communication tasks. Medical students registered for a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa participated in a needs analysis, an essential first step towards the investigation of the design of the task-based CALL syllabus. The purpose of the analysis was to ascertain the proficiency levels of the students, gather information regarding their current knowledge about isiZulu, or lack of knowledge thereof, and digital skills to be learnt and developed to acquire isiZulu skills to conduct a successful doctor-patient consultation. To create an organic learning environment that allows students to learn isiZulu in a real communicative sense, it was necessary to design relevant, locally produced authentic learning material that reflect doctor-patient communication, based on the students’ needs analysis. Hence, simulated and authentic doctor-patient interviews were used to create communication target tasks appropriate for healthcare professionals at a basic-intermediate proficiency level of isiZulu. The communication target tasks were used as the unit of analysis for the investigation into syllabus design. Communication tasks were graded and sequenced in terms of their cognitive complexity and linguistic complexity, which was then used to design isiZulu pedagogic tasks for enhancing second language development of students. Insights and perspectives on how to include focus on grammatical form in a communicative way were also considered. The findings of the study indicated that most of the communication target tasks were cognitively complex in terms of Robinson’s (2005) Cognition Hypothesis. It also showed that the tasks exemplified high syntactic complexity. Target tasks were simplified by descaling/decomplexifying the target tasks, using Robinson’s SSARC Model (2010) to ensure that the pedagogic tasks are more manageable for students to perform. The study is concluded that the design of a task-based CALL syllabus for isiZulu L2 health sciences students is a complex process and the success of such a syllabus design is dependent on several key elements.
- ItemCognitive task analysis in task-based syllabus design for the teaching and learning of Kiswahili as a second language in Ugandan secondary schools(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Jjingo, Caesar; Visser, Marianna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African language.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The genesis of this theoretically informed dissertation is motivated by researcher’s need to explore both available and suitable conventional teaching and learning practices that are globally accepted with the aim of utilising them in Kiswahili L2 teacher-training at the School of Education, Makerere University, Uganda. In search for such conventional methods and approaches, through research literature review with respect to instructed second language acquisition in general, and by critically observing the Kiswahili teaching syllabus for lower secondary schools in Uganda, it emerged that Kiswahili pedagogies are still realised using traditional conventions of L2 teaching and learning methods. These conventions have been disproved and replaced by contemporary approaches such as task-based theories and their associated pedagogical approaches that the current study has adopted and demonstrated their applications for lower secondary schools in Uganda. The demonstration has largely been informed by Long’s (2005a) proposals that have also constituted the research design (methodology) of the current study. Using Long’s views, the study employed document analysis approach as well as researcher’s introspective and heuristic judgement techniques to generate its data i.e. the construction of (i) the overarching task theme, (ii) task description specifications (TDSs) and (iii) simulated task dialogues (STDs), as primary input in designing a task-based Kiswahili syllabus. Relatedly, Breen’s (1987a, 2001) views on task-based syllabus design principles have provided a framework on which the constructed data (TDSs) has been organised for its analysis and ultimate grading and sequencing of the designed Kiswahili pedagogical tasks. In relation to procedures of analysis, five out of forty-one TDSs and their respective STDs have purposely been selected for analysis purposes. Thus, the data has been analysed in three facets of task complexity. For example, the framework of Pica, Kanagy & Falodun (1993, 2009) has been employed to analyse the interactional complexity of the TDSs. Similarly, the views of Robinson (2001a, 2005, 2010) have provided useful insights into analysing the cognitive complexity of the TDSs. Lastly, Foster, Tonkyn & Wigglesworth’s (2000) framework, has been utilised to analyse the syntactic/ linguistics complexity of the STDs. The omission and alteration techniques as advanced by Hasan’s (1985), Henry and Roseberry’s (1998), have been utilised in decomplexifying the Kiswahili cognitive complexity features occurring in the TDSs and the decomplexification of the syntactic/linguistic complex properties exhibited in the realised STDs of the TDSs. Relatedly, the two principles from the Robinson’s (2010) SSARC model were used in grading and sequencing the various versions of cognitive and syntactic complexities occurring in the TDSs and STDs, respectively, to design Kiswahili learning tasks. Therefore, on the one hand, on the interactional feature basis, the study predominantly argues that the analysed TDSs exhibited task communication configurations of the information gap tasks. On the other hand, with regard to cognitive and syntactic analysis, the study has concluded that while the resource-directing variables of the analysed TDSs and STDs demonstrated an [-] feature, the resource-dispersing dimensions presented deviations between the [+/-] features. That is to say, as the [+/- prior knowledge] and [+/- single task] variables of TDSs and STDs of Task one, Task two and Task four exhibited the [+] feature, those of TDSs and STDs of Task three and Task five demonstrated the [-] feature, hence qualifying for their decomplexification/scaling down the complex features through the omission and alteration techniques to realised less and least cognitively and syntactically complex task version which were then sequenced from the least to the most complex task versions by using the principles of the SSARC model, as proposed by Robinson (2010). Thus, the above findings indicate to L2 Kiswahili researchers and teachers that while designing task-based syllabuses, all the task features such as cognitive variables, interactional variables as well as syntactic properties, that pose cognitive demands to the L2 learners, need to be taken into account to design a suitable syllabus that addresses the Kiswahili L2 learners’ needs such as those in Ugandan lower secondary schools. It is in this respect that the study recommends similar studies e.g. for primary schools in Uganda with the ultimate goal of gradually replacing the traditional syllabuses and their pedagogical practices with task-based syllabuses in the education system of Uganda and wider contexts for the teaching and learning of Kiswahili as an L2.
- ItemA complex system of complex predicates: tense, taxis, aspect and mood in Basse Mandinka from a grammaticalisation and cognitive perspective(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-03) Andrason, Alexander; Visser, Marianna Wilhelmina; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present work analyses the Basse Mandinka tense-taxis-aspect-mood verbal system within the framework of cognitive and grammaticalisation linguistics and from the perspective of complexity theory. The author builds his study by pursuing the following more specific – gradually more macroscopic and systematic – objectives: (a) a description of the entire semantic potential of all the Basse Mandinka verbal grams; (b) a representation of the synchronic inventories of senses of each Basse Mandinka verbal construction as a coherent phenomenon, i.e. as a kinetic qualitative map ordered by means of grammaticalisation templates or paths; (c) an introduction of the information concerning the prototypicality of the map and the development of a bi-dimensional representation of the meaning as a wave; (d) a construction of streams that contain gram-waves organised along similar evolutionary templates; and (e) a modelling of the entire Basse Mandinka verbal organisation into a system of currents. This system – visualised as an ocean – is demonstrated to have characteristics typical to complex bodies: it is open, situated, fuzzy, full of unstable individuals, highly cardinal, uncontrollable, dynamic, metastable, past dependant, nonlinear, sensitive to initial conditions, deterministically chaotic in some regions, non-additive, non-resultant, but containing emergent properties, structurally intricate, self-organising and characterised by top-down causation and bottom-up causation. Additionally, as far as its methodological properties are concerned, the representation is incomplete, provisional and pluralistic in agreement with models of real-world complexity.
- ItemComplexity in task-based language teaching and learning of isiXhosa as a second language in primary schools(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Minas, Edith Christina; Visser, Marianna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to investigate complexity in isiXhosa task-based second language (L2) learning and teaching in the Eastern Cape and South African primary school intermediate phase context in order to identify the specific learning needs of young beginner second language learners in the school instructional context. The study explores the use of communicative tasks for young beginner second language teaching. It aims at providing a sound theoretical foundation of language learning principles supporting task-based teaching for young learners. Cognitive and social perspectives on language learning within second language acquisition and related disciplinary fields presenting distinct approaches and foci in investigating second language learning and teaching are regarded, integrated and consolidated, informing a more comprehensive view of the dynamic processes and varying factors involved. Second language learning is assumed to be a non-linear, cumulative, ever-developing process relying on learner engagement with quantity and quality input, authentic meaning-orientated output and feedback on language production facilitating language development. Supporting task-based language teaching where tasks form the units of analysis for lesson design and syllabus design, the study identifies core complexity features in task design, task-based interaction, task-based assessment and task sequencing, allowing teachers and syllabus designers to adjust pedagogic task complexity on a cline matching young beginner L2 learners’ learning needs. Robinson’s Cognition Hypothesis provides a rationale for categorizing, grading and sequencing pedagogic tasks for second language acquisition. Young beginner L2 learners’ age and existing language knowledge are considered critical factors in determining learning needs contributing to task difficulty. Additionally, the study examines linguistic complexity and linguistic difficulty, analysing example target tasks for young beginner isiXhosa L2 learners in primary school intermediate phase, motivating task-based focus on form methodology representing various degrees of explicitness facilitating noticing and learner L2 development. In order to identify the specific learning needs of young beginner isiXhosa L2 learners in primary school intermediate phase context, an affordances theory in an interdisciplinary investigation, analysing theoretical perspectives on the instructional task, individual learner factors, the context of learning and components of language development, is presented. It is argued that task-based L2 teaching contextualizes the task process in terms of local learning needs affording learner awareness and engagement with the target language needed for language development. It is further argued that a primary concern in task-based second language teaching is task design, allowing for learner participation through motivating task contents and graded task complexity relating to learner readiness in terms of individual learner factors, affording the development of implicit and explicit language knowledge.
- ItemThe compound noun in Northern Sotho(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2006-12) Mphasha, Lekau Eleazar; Visser, M. V.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the various elements which appear in compound nouns in Northern Sotho. The purpose of this study fill in an important gap in the Northern Sotho language studies as regards the morphological structure of compound nouns in Northern Sotho. This study is organized as follows: CHAPTER ONE presents an introduction to the study. The introductory sections which appear in this chapter include the aim of the study, the methodology and different views of researchers of other languages on compound nouns. Different categories which appear with the noun in the Northern Sotho compound are identified. CHAPTER TWO deals with the different features of the noun in Northern Sotho. It examines the various class prefixes, nominal stems/roots and nominal suffixes which form nouns. Nouns appear in classes according to the form of their prefixes. The morphological structures of the nouns have been presented. It also reviews the meanings, sound/phonological changes and origins of nouns. CHAPTER THREE is concerned with the nominal heads of compound nouns. It examines compounds that are formed through a combination of nouns, and compounds that are formed from nouns together with other syntactic categories. Arguments which defend the structure of different compounds with nominal heads are presented. CHAPTER FOUR explores compound nouns with verbal heads. It examines various elements of compound nouns with a verb as one of its components. The entire chapter includes examples that illustrate that when a verbal form appears with a noun, it is adapted to a noun by the addition of the relevant prefixes and suffixes. CHAPTER FIVE gives an overview of the findings, and presents the conclusions, of the research on compound nouns in Chapters Three and Four.
- ItemDeceptive message production in TshiVenda(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009-12) Sikhwari, Matodzi Godfrey; Dlali, M.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Specific deceptive messages in Tshivenda were collected and subsequently analysed according to a methodology which is regularly used in deceptive message production. Forty deceptive messages were randomly collected from the following persons: teenage males and females and adult males and females. The main findings of the study can be summarized as follows: The respondents gave nine categories of reasons for their deceptive messages. The person involved in these deceptions are the deceivers (six categories of people) and the persons who have been deceived (seven categories of people). Extensive arguments have been utilized to strengthen the deceptive messages i.e. a total of 225 arguments. Various cues to deception have been extensively used i.e. 12 cues to deception which have been used 252 times. The four groups of people above have used these cues almost equally i.e. 61-65 cues per group. Cultural issues within deception have been given attention and nine different cultural issues have been found which have been used 46 times. The success rate of deception is not equal between the groups. The two female groups have a success rate of 75% while the male groups have a success rate of only 35%. Various other issues within message production in general have also received attention, i.e. plans which have been made to deceive as well as the complexity, type and quality of the plans. The action in deception has also been given attention, specifically message production and emotional appeals. Of the message effects mention can be made of relational and emotional effects, competence, appropriateness and effectiveness as well as politeness.
- ItemThe deficient verb in Xitsonga(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2004-04) Nxumalo, Ntiyiso Elijah; Visser, M. W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the morpho-syntactic and semantic properties, specifically tense and aspectual properties, of deficient verbs in Xitsonga. Various properties of deficient verbs have given rise to a distinction in verbal categories. Among these a range of features are explored in the study with the aim of establishing whether they playa significant role in relevant linguistic questions: The research on the deficient verb involves questions from three theoretical areas, namely Syntax, Morphology and Semantics. Deficient verbs in Xitsonga and related African languages are generally subcategorized for a clausal complement as illustrated in the following example: [a-hi-hamba [hi-rima laha]] [We-did-usually [plough here]] In the above sentence the deficient verb is hamba and it is followed by a compulsory clause as complement. The main properties of deficient verbs explored in this study relate to the following phenomena: • The deficient verb determines the selection of the mood in Inflection of the clausal complement. • The clausal complement of a deficient verb must have compulsory agreement of its subject with the subject of the matrix clause. • The deficient verbs lack the property which is characteristic of the autonomous verbs i.e. that they may be extended by derivative affixes such as the applicative or causative. • Deficient verbs have distinctive semantic features which are related to two inflectional categories, i.e. aspect and tense. This study concludes that the deficient verbs may express several meanings, including meanings related to duration, habitual, frequentative, progressive, obligative, manner, continuative, concessive and completive.
- ItemDefiniteness and specificity in Runyankore-Rukiga(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Asiimwe, Allen; Visser, Marianna W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the manifestations of the universal categories of (in)definiteness and (non-)specificity in the Runyankore-Rukiga determiner phrase by means of discourse-pragmatic and morpho-syntactic considerations. Runyankore-Rukiga, like all other Bantu languages, exhibits no (in)definite articles, but there are various ways the language employs to encode the definiteness. Lyons’s (1999) semantic principles of definiteness and his definition of specificity are adopted for the study, as well as the Minimalist and Cartographic approaches to syntax. The data come from authentic written materials, recorded spoken discourse and elicitation (backed up by other native speakers’ grammaticality judgement). The study considers modified and unmodified (bare) nouns. Bare nouns are generally (save for those with inherent unique semantic features) ambiguous between (in)definite and (non-) specific readings Thus, an appropriate reading is contingent on a correct discourse-pragmatic setting. Nominal modifiers are categorized into three groups (Visser, 2008). Those which contribute unambiguously to the definiteness interpretation of head nouns, e.g., demonstratives, the functional elements -a and nya-, some quantifiers and the absolute pronoun. The second category includes nominal modifiers which have neutral semantic features of (in)definiteness and (non-)specificity, namely, adjectives, numerals, possessives as well as nominal and clausal relatives. Thirdly, nominal modifiers occur which are assumed to possess an inherent semantic feature of indefiniteness, for example, some quantifiers and the lexicalized element haine. The study investigates the inferences associated with the Initial Vowel (IV) when it occurs optionally in the inflectional morphology of nominal modifiers with the neutral feature of (in)definiteness and (non-)specificity in prenominal, and postnominal positions, as well as in positions when the head of the phrase is a pro category. The intricate relation of the core morpheme of the demonstrative and the IV is investigated. The study concludes that the initial vowel occurring optionally in the inflectional morphology of neutral nominal modifiers and with bare object nouns following a negative verb evolved from the core demonstrative morpheme and exhibits anaphoric features in the absence of a full lexical head as well as functioning as a functional category determiner, expressing specificity, contrastive focus and sometimes emphasis features. Indefinite nominal modifiers contribute to indefiniteness reading of their head nouns although the indefinite feature is not inherent in them, in that they can appear in definite contexts as well. Indefinite quantifiers too allow the IV in their inflectional morphology as a determiner that mainly encodes contrastive focus or emphasis. The results from the study offer explanations of key areas of syntax, morphology and semantics relating to the Determiner phrase system from a perspective of no (in)definite articles, which constitutes a significantly major contribution to Bantu linguistic research.
- ItemDefiniteness in Northern Sotho(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2007-12) Mojapelo, Mampaka Lydia; Visser, M. W.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.Definiteness is generally viewed as a morpho-syntactic category. It is grammatically marked by articles in languages such as English, but not all languages have a formal grammatical encoding for this category. The nominal preprefix (NPP) in languages such as Dzamba is not an equivalent to the English article system; however, it displays a close association with definiteness. Northern Sotho is non-articled, and it does not possess the NPP in its grammatical system. As a grammatical category, definiteness is the grammaticalisation of a pragmatic category of identifiability, which is present in all languages. Identifiability, as a means of referent tracing, plays a vital role in communication. The main aim of this study is to investigate how the phenomenon of definiteness manifests itself in Northern Sotho. The introductory chapter describes the purpose and aim of the study, its theoretical approach and methodology, as well as its organisation. The second chapter presents an overview of the previous major works on definiteness. It begins with the literature on the category in general, and moves on to the literature on definiteness in African Languages. These previous studies agree on the central issues of this category. The speaker utters a definite noun phrase (NP) if he presupposes that the addressee will be in a position to locate and to identify the referent of the NP uniquely or inclusively. Chapter 3 examines noun phrases that are regarded as definite in Northern Sotho; and the factors that contribute to such a reading. Pragmatic factors, i.e. existential presupposition, transparent contexts and anaphoric reference make major contributions to the interpretation of a noun phrase as definite. Nominal determiners and quantifiers whose semantic content suggests locatability, uniqueness and/or inclusiveness give a noun phrase definite reference. Such determiners and quantifiers include the demonstrative, possessive with locative gona/ntshe, the universal quantifier, etc. Proper names and pronouns have unique reference. Chapter 4 investigates indefinite noun phrases in Northern Sotho. Bare noun phrases in this language such as mang (who), lefeela (nothing) and aretse (unknown thing/place) are incompatible with definiteness. Their semantic content suggests that their referent cannot or should not be uniquely identified. Nominal modifiers such as -ngwe (another/different/ a certain), -fe (who/which) and šele (another/different/strange) are also incompatible with unique identifiabilty and they, therefore, accord a noun phrase indefinite reference. Nouns with generic interpretation and nouns in idioms do not uniquely refer to particular individuals. Chapter 5 looks into the ambiguity of bare noun phrases in Northern Sotho. It examines such a phrase in the subject position, the object position and the complement position of prepositional phrases. Nominal modifiers such as the adjective, the relative and the possessive are incorporated into noun phrases to see how they affect the reading. The question of subject inversion (SI) is also investigated. Lastly opaque contexts are discussed, and the ambiguity created by opacity-creating operators is examined. The final chapter of the study presents the main findings.
- ItemDescriptive nominal modifiers in Setswana(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2002-12) Theledi, Kgomotso Mothokhumo Ambitious; Visser, M. W.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study focused on three descriptive nominal modifiers which specify the attributes of nouns, i.e. the morphological adjective, the relative clause and the descriptive possessive. The morphological adjective appears in an adjectival phrase, which has to consist of a determiner and an adjective. The adjective must have agreement with the head noun in an NP. The adjective root may appear with nominal suffixes such as -ana and -gadi, it can be reduplicated, it may be transposed to other categories and it may even be compounded. The AP may also occur in predicative position as well as in comparative clauses. The relative clause may have the same semantic properties as the adjective. The relative clause in Setswana consists of a determiner in the position of the complementizer followed by an lP. Such an lP may have a copulative or non-copulative verb. Attention in this study has focused on the nominal relative, which appears as a complement of a copulative verb. These nominal relative stems have been divided into two sections, i.e. a section in which the nominal relative stems may not appear in a descriptive possessive construction and a second section where these stems may also appear as a complement of the possessive [a]. The semantic features of these nominal relative stems have been isolated and it is clear that they show a wide variety of semantic features. This type of relative clause represents the most prolific category, which specifies the attributes of nouns. The third category, which displays the semantic feature of an attribute of a noun, is the descriptive possessive construction. The syntactic and semantic structure of this type of phrase has been investigated. A wide variety of complements of the possessive [a] have been isolated in Setswana and some semantic features have received specific attention, i.e. group nouns and partitives.
- ItemThe determiner phrase syntax of iGiha: a generative syntax-interfaces approach(Stellenbosch -- Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) Bichwa, Saul Simon; Visser, Marianna; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The debate in generative linguistics on whether languages with no overt articles, including the Bantu languages, project a Determiner Phrase (DP), similarly to languages that have overt definite and indefinite articles (like ‘the’ and ‘a’ in English) informed the investigation on the igiHa NP/DP syntax conducted in this study. The main goal of this dissertation is thus to examine the evidence that igiHa, a Bantu language with no overt articles, projects a DP above NP in the syntactic representation of nominal phrases of igiHa. The study examines the igiHa complex noun phrase in providing evidence for postulating that the pre-prefix occurring in the inflection morphology of the lexical head noun, and the pre-prefix element in the inflectional morphology of different nominal modifiers is a functional category Determiner that heads a DP projection. For this purpose, the study examines the interpretative semantic, discourse-pragmatic, and information structural contrastive focus properties encoded by the (non-)occurrence of the Determiner pre-prefix in the inflectional morphology of the lexical head noun and the various nominal modifiers. The occurrence of the nominal modifiers in different syntactic positions with respect to the head noun is considered. A multi-perspective theoretical framework, exploring syntax interfaces properties was thus adopted for the study. This framework assumes the Minimalist Program principles of generative grammar, with particular focus on DP structure questions, extended to include perspectives from Cartography studies (Rizzi 1997). In addition, the theory of Definiteness and Specificity postulated by Lyons (1999), and information structural perspectives are incorporated in the framework. The study presents arguments in support of the view that the pre-prefix in igiHa is a functional category determiner, specified for the semantic feature of specificity and the information structural feature of contrastive focus. This view is evidenced in the igiHa nominal phrase data by examples where the pre-prefix occurs obligatorily or optionally in the inflectional morphology of the lexical head noun and different nominal modifiers. It is argued that the determiner pre-prefix that occurs in the inflection morphology of nominal modifiers such as the adjective, the numeral, the possessive, the clausal relative, and some quantifiers and enumeratives is a D(eterminer) predicate functional category introducing a DP predication (DPPred) projection in the representation of these igiHa nominal phrases. The study furthermore proposes that igiHa nominal modifiers such as the demonstrative and the anaphoric determiners -áá, -á-á-ndi, and nya- have an inherent feature of definiteness, whereas other modifiers, particularly the adjective, the numeral, the possessive, and the clausal relative are inherently neutral with respect to the semantic features of (in)definiteness and (non-) specificity. Some quantifiers, enumeratives, and interrogatives are inherently indefinite. However, the study argues that these nominal modifiers with a semantic feature of indefiniteness can under certain circumstances appear in definite environments. In terms of the analyses proposed for the igiHa NP/DP constructions, the Determiner pre-prefix heads the DP projection, and the demonstrative and the anaphoric determiners occupy the specifier position. The Determiner pre-prefix dominates a Focus Phrase (FocP) projection in the context where it encodes the feature of contrastive focus.
- ItemDeverbal nominals in Xhosa(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010-12) Mletshe, Loyiso Kevin; Visser, M. W.; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The relationship between deverbative noun classification and their effect on the semantic meaning of the derived deverbal nominal has been the focus of many studies in linguistics, with special reference to African languages in recent years. The study maintains that the descriptive analysis of deverbal nominals in African languages does not fully interrogate the predicate argument structures of the verbs that host these deverbal nominals. This thesis is an investigation of how the syntactic properties of verbs from which deverbal nouns are derived are invoked in explaining the argument structure and event structure properties of deverbal nouns, particularly in Xhosa. The analysis presented here is situated in terms of a lexical semantic representation drawing on Pustejovsky (1996) and Busa (1996), which aims to capture linguistically relevant components of meaning. Chapter 1 presents the purpose and aims of the study, and states the theoretical paradigm on which this study is couched, namely Pustejovsky’s (1996) generative lexicon theory as well as the methodology for conducting the research. Chapter 2 contains a literature review on deverbal nominals in African languages. This chapter explores the general definitions of concepts, the descriptive nature of deverbal nominals from various African languages, noun classification and the morphology of African nouns. Chapter 3 reports on an examination of the generative lexicon theory. This theory contains multiple levels of representation for different types of lexical information required, namely the argument structure, the event structure, the qualia structure and the lexical inherent structure. For the purposes of this study, the first three levels of representation were used for analysis. Chapter 4 contains the systematic classification of deverbal nominals that are derived from various semantic verb classes and are considered under their derivation from intransitive, transitive and di-transitive verbs, respectively. The first lexical schematic representation for each verb class gives a classification of various deverbal noun classes 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 14 in instances where the noun class applies. The second schematic representation details how these various verb classes are classified/categorised in terms of their semantic type. There are various noun class nominalisations for each verb class, which serve as a representative for each group of the various verb classes. Chapter 5 provides a detailed analysis of various deverbal nouns derived from different verb classes utilising the generative lexicon theory as a source of reference, particularly the first three levels of representation. The compositionality and the semanticality of derived nominals within the predicate argument structures are demonstrated. Chapter 6 summarises the findings of all previous chapters in this study.
- ItemDeverbal nominals in Xitsonga(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2012-03) Hlungwani, Madala Crous; Visser, M.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Science. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study investigates the nature of Xitsonga deverbatives that are derived from three types of syntactic verbs, namely intransitive verbs, monotranstive verbs and ditransitive verbs .The aim is to determine the classes in which nominalisation occurs as well as to determine the semantic features which occur with these deverbatives in various noun classes. The three types of verbs are further distinguished into agentive verbs and non-agentive verbs. The deverbatives that are examined in this study are arranged in terms of Levin (1993)’s semantic classification of verbs. The focus of this study is on the verbs without derivational suffixes. However, few deverbatives with derived verbal forms have been included. The nominal morphology of Xitsonga is also examined in this study The study is conducted within the framework of four assumptions in morphology and lexical semantics, namely lexeme-based theory, X-bar syntax, lexical semantic properties of verb classes advanced by Levin (1993), and the Generative Lexicon theory advanced by Pustejovsky (1995), specifically the assumption about the meta-entry for a lexeme. The study illustrates that nominalisation in Xitsonga, in particular, and in African Languages in general occurs through the affixation of the class prefix and the nominal suffix onto the verb stem. The study found that the deverbal nominals occur in a similar morphological structure to that of nonderived nouns. It was also demonstrated that Xitsonga deverbatives may be classified in terms of Busa’s view of distinguishing between stage-level nominals and individual-level nominals. The study has established that nominalisation in Xitsonga is a phenomenon that occurs in classes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 14 with both agentive and non-agentive verbs as verb stems. It however, found that the most productive classes are 1, 3,5,7,and 14. The study demonstrated that class 1 deverbatives refer strictly to humans, while deverbatives in other classes refer to various things. The data examined in this study revealed that in general, Xitsonga deverbatives exhibit the following semantic features across various noun classes: [Actor], [Experiencer], [Theme], [Patient] [Result], [Event], [Act], [State], [Artifact], [Instrument]. [Excessive act], [Excessive state], [Place], [Expert], [Excessive actor], [Excessive experiencer], [Excessive theme], and [Excessive patient].
- ItemThe discourse of conflict : an appraisal analysis of newspaper genres in English and Runyankore-Rukiga in Uganda (2001-2010)(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Mugumya, Levis; Visser, M. W.; Viljoen, S.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores generic properties of hard news reports and editorials and the nature of linguistic devices invoked by journalists to communicate issues of conflict in Uganda. It describes the textual architecture of a hard news report and an editorial unfolding in the Ugandan print media, and the features that define English-language and Runyankore-Rukiga hard news and editorials. The study further explicates the nature of overt and covert linguistic resources that news reporters and editorialists employ to communicate issues conflict in English and Runyankore- Rukiga across government and private newspapers. It also examines strategies that news reporters employ to establish their stance towards the news event being communicated and seeking to align or disalign with the issue in a manner that seeks to enlist the reader to do likewise. The study employs the multi-dimensional and multi-perspective approaches of discourse analysis to examine news stories and editorials that communicate issues of conflict. Using genre-theoretic and appraisal–theoretic principles, the study explores a diachronic corpus of 53 news reports and 27 editorials drawn from four selected newspapers, Daily Monitor, The New Vision, Entatsi and Orumuri. It therefore, involves a cross-linguistic comparison of English and Runyankore-Rukiga news texts across government and privately-owned newspapers. The investigation demonstrates that news reports in Runyankore-Rukiga and English in the Ugandan print media exemplify similar generic properties and textual organisation to the Englishlanguage hard news reports obtaining in the Anglo-American world. The editorial texts also largely exhibit rhetorical moves similar to the ones employed in the English-language editorials. Nonetheless, a chronological development of news segments occurs across a considerable number of hard news reports in English and Runyankore-Rukiga. This is evident in the use of markers of cohesion such as anaphoric references, time adjuncts, or a mere positioning of events of similar nature in adjacent segments, which leads to some of them hanging together. Consequently, this feature constrains reordering of segments without causing textual unintelligibility. In particular, the Runyankore-Rukiga news reports display a lengthy and value-laden opening whose elements are usually at variance with the body components or even the actual news event. The interpersonal meanings are actuated via metaphors, implicit judgement, non-core lexis, and occasional proverbs. While both government and private newspapers restrain from overt judgement of human conduct, news reporters from the private newspapers invoke implicit attitudes to assess the behaviour of news actors and occasionally highlight the negative actions, particularly of the police, army, or other government agents depicting their conduct as inappropriate. The government leaning newspapers often assess their conduct in positive terms or avoid mentioning events in which their conduct would have hitherto been construed as negative. The study also established that some of the news reports display affect values activated via the description of circumstances or negative actions of the agents on the affected. This description often involves expressions that trigger in the reader feelings of pity, empathy, or pain for the affected while at the same time evoking anger or disgust for the agent. The study demonstrates how news reporters invoke non-core lexical elements or proverbs to intensify the interpersonal value, thus endorsing the attitudinal value expressed by the locution(s).
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