Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus
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Against Words with Two Main Stresses: The case of Guugu Yimidhirr Revisited
Full text linkThe main aim of this article is to reexamine and argue against the existence of words with two main stresses which have been reported to occur in Guugu Yimidhirr (a Pama- Nyungan language, spoken in Queensland, Australia). Based on phonological evidence from patterns of clash avoidance and the distribution of secondary stress, it is claimed that in the alleged words with two main-stressed syllables, each syllable has a different metrical status. Only the initial one is main-stressed. The second is treated as an unstressed syllable by the metrical phonology of this language.The article also entertains and explores a tonal account in order to explain why some Guugu Yimidhirr words have been reported to bear two main stresses. Moreover, the article connects the discussion to “level stress,†a phenomenon similar to the Guugu Yimidhirr’s but found in some Mainland Scandinavian dialects.In contrast to previous analyses found in the literature to solve the puzzle posed by Guugu Yimidhirr double-headed words and Scandinavian “level stressâ€, this article finds no empirical support that motivates the weakening of the prosodic theory by either allowing recursion at the level of the Prosodic Word or by proposing the existence of disyllabic feet with both of their syllables stressed
Construction of deaf narrative identity in Creative South African Sign Language (SASL)
Full text linkIn this paper we observe how deaf narrative identity (identities) emerge in creative SASL texts. We first identify how difficulties in establishing deaf cultural identities in the hearing-dominant world are represented in the ‘Man Against Monster’ plot (Booker 2004) commonly employed in sign language narrative. Then we use de Certeau (1984)’s notion of ‘place versus space’ and Heap (2003)’s notion of Sign-deaf space (plus our own term of mediated Sign-speak space) to explore how deaf artists transform the Monster (i.e. oppressing hearing place) into Deafhood and deaf space, which leads to the celebration of sign language and deaf culture. We also demonstrate how the recent notion of sensescape, coined by Rosen (2018), can be used to reinterpret our own approach to deaf narrative identity. The Monster in deaf stories can be understood not only in terms of the audist ideology but also in terms of different sensory orientations between deaf and hearing characters.Creative texts provide a wealth of opportunities to explore how narrative identities are constructed. In fictional stories, deaf narrators step back from being themselves and extract the essence of their shared experience and sublimate it into a search for Deafhood which appeals to the deaf community. Various notions developed within the field of deaf studies, such as Deafhood, deaf space and deaf geographies, are useful in (re-)interpreting existing texts and shedding a new light on them
Foreground and background in the narrative discourse of Luke's Gospel: Some remarks on the function of the Greek imperfect and pluperfect indicative tense-forms
Full text linkThe distinction between foreground and background in narrative discourse is a pervasive phenomenon in the literatures of the world, and languages have a variety of devices to indicate   this distinction. These include, amongst others, the use of specific tense-forms of the verb, morphosyntactic features, the distinction between events and non-events, lexical verb types (achievement, accomplishment, activity, state, etc.), voice, and word order. The use of the tense-forms of the verb to indicate foreground and background has been studied in depth in a variety of languages. In the last three decades there have been a number of studies on the Greek of the New Testament, following the upsurge of interest in the aspect and time characteristics of Greek in the early nineties of the previous century. This study focused on the function of the Greek imperfect and pluperfect indicative tense-forms (henceforth, imperfect and pluperfect) to indicate foreground and background in the Gospel of Luke’s narrative discourse. The study also included embedded narratives, such as the parables of Jesus. It did not include direct and indirect discourse, and comments by the author. The findings are that the major function of the imperfect in the Gospel of Luke’s narrative discourse is to provide background information, and particularly to set the scene for events in the main storyline. In this function the link between the imperfect and background information is very strong. The imperfect also typically occurs in the introduction of participants in a scene by means of presentational articulation, in situations where background details are provided, and in epilogues. The imperfect appears in explanatory clauses too, but the aorist indicative is also used. In a few instances the imperfect is used to express foreground information. Although occurences of the pluperfect are rare in Luke’s Gospel, it is used a few times to express background information, especially to set the scene and to provide background details. It is rarely used to indicate foreground information, and occurences are restricted to verbs like oἶδα, ἵστημι, εἴωθα, etc., where the pluperfect has the force of an aorist indicative. In a number of instances the function of the pluperfect is purely descriptive, for example, as part of a restrictive relative clause. The functions of the imperfect and pluperfect in narrative discourse are congruent with their inherent time and aspectual properties, but there are exceptions
Foreword
No full textThis SPiL Plus issue is dedicated to the occasion of the 60th birthday of Prof. Akinbiyi Akinlabi at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in the USA. The five articles in this volume are all written by former supervisees of Prof. Akinlabi, all of whom are currently teaching and conducting research in the field of linguistics
Interpreting research in South Africa: A bibliometric study
Full text linkAfter South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, there was an expectation that problems related to translation services would receive more attention, especially given the fact that 11 languages received official status after 1994 (Lubbe 2002:78). In addition, the call to transform and decolonize South Africa has led to widespread discussion regarding which steps need to be taken to strengthen the African perspective in higher education. Kotzé and Wallmach (forthcoming) offer an in-depth look at research trends on interpreting in South Africa for the period 2006 to 2016. They highlight that, in order to transform South African interpreting studies, it is essential to know what has already been researched and, going forward, what we can learn from publication trends on interpreting.By using a systematic literature review (Fink 2005), this bibliometric study investigates the trends of interpreting research done in South Africa, from the first publication found in 1968, through to 2017. The findings from this study will be of value to current and future interpreting researchers in that they will highlight current trends and shortcomings in South African interpreting research, and contribute to understanding and solving issues of transformation within this specific field
Mind the Gap: Towards Determining Which Collocations to Teach
Full text linkCollocations form part of formulaic language use that is considered by many scholars as central to communication (Henriksen 2013; Wray 2002). Today, most scholars agree that teaching collocations to second and/or foreign language users (henceforth “L2 studentsâ€) is a must. This study offers a reflection on the directions L2 researchers and teachers may explore, and that could contribute to modelling the teaching of collocations or at least spark the debate on this issue. The fundamental point raised here is the extent to which pedagogy may be informed by knowing the most common lexical collocations (combinations of content words) and using frequency of collocates as a key factor in selecting which collocations to bring to learners’ attention. The results from this study indicate that out of the eight different lexical collocations, adjective+noun and verb+noun collocations are the most common, and should therefore be introduced first. Furthermore, most collocates (“co-occurring words†in Sinclair’s (1991) terms) come from the 1,000 and 2,000 most frequent words. Therefore, this study suggests that the same way that “[u]sing the computational approach as a starting point makes it possible to distinguish between collocations of varying frequency of use†(Henriksen 2013: 32), frequency may be used to select the target words and their collocates once collocations have been identified. This could potentially contribute to addressing the issue of selection criteria of which collocations to teach.Â
Definition and design: aligning language interventions in education
Full text linkThe management of language diversity and the mastery of language required by educational institutions affect those institutions from early education through to higher education. This paper will deal with three dimensions of how language is managed and developed in education. The first is the design of interventions for educational environments at policy level, as well as for instruction and for language development. The second dimension concerns defining the kind of competence needed to handle the language demands of an academic institution. The interventions can be productive if reference is made throughout to the conditions or design principles that language policies and language courses must meet. The third dimension concerns meeting an important requirement: the alignment of the interventions of language policy, language assessment and language development (and the language instruction that supports the latter). The paper will use a widely used definition of academic literacy to illustrate how this supports the design of language assessments and language courses. It is an additional critical condition for effective intervention design that assessments and language instruction (and development) work together in harmony. Misalignment among them is likely to affect the original intention of the designs negatively. Similarly, if those interventions are not supported by institutional policies, the plan will have little effect. The principle of alignment is an important, but not the only design condition. The paper will therefore conclude with an overview of a comprehensive framework of design principles for language artefacts that may serve to enhance their responsible design.Â
An analysis of metaphorical idioms in South African Indian English
Full text linkThis study looks at a selected number of expressions used in the variety of English known as “South African Indian English†(SAIE). Mesthrie (1992, 2010a) compiled a dictionary of expressions used within this language variety, which is the primary source of data for this study. Mesthrie has also published numerous scholarly works documenting various aspects of SAIE (cf. Mesthrie 1991, 1992a). A selection of five metaphorical idioms have been chosen for analysis, and the meanings as put forth by Mesthrie (1992, 2010a) have been cross-checked with 10 native speakers of SAIE, as well as the author’s native-speaker intuitions. The informants were all middle-class, professional, educated persons of Indian origin, who speak English as a first language; they were all between 30 and 60 years of age, and reside either in Johannesburg as internal economic migrants from Durban, or currently reside in Durban. As this analysis is undertaken through the lens of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, the various metaphorical idioms are analysed as expressions of underlying conceptual metaphors, which confirms the idea that many entrenched idiomatic expressions are surface manifestations of underlying conceptual metaphors, and therefore part and parcel of the same human conceptual system. The analysis follows an adapted format used by Kövecses (2010), whereby the metaphorical idiom is stated, followed by the meaning, then the underlying conceptual metaphor. A table illustrating how the idiom is typically mapped in context, followed by a brief discussion of the import, is also in line with Kövecses (2010). One of the key findings is that this is indeed a viable approach to the study of idioms in general, and a more comprehensive study should be made of more expressions like these to see whether or not all entrenched expressions can be viewed as emanating from underlying conceptual metaphors.Â
Writing within simultaneity: A reflective progress report through letters from the Wits Writing Programme
Full text linkListening has long been understood as characteristic of writing centre practice, and as central to writing centre philosophy. This reflective progress report argues that such listening is also the generating culture of a university-wide writing programme of writing intensive courses, and that this culture will only be manifested and sustained if constantly modelled at all levels of the programme. In order to model what we teach, we need to build listening into the processes and structure of the programme as well as into the classrooms. Through letters from the invited co-authors of this paper, a snapshot is provided of the generative power of active listening in the teaching conversations between professor and writing fellows; lecturer, writing fellow and students; and writing fellows as a team as they create their lesson plan. Active listening is understood as a discipline of attentiveness to multiple and simultaneous meanings, and thus as a discipline which is necessary for complex thought and writing. Edward Said (2013) has described this attentiveness to simultaneity as key to a humanist critical literacy, which not only promotes engaged students and teachers but is also a political commitment to developing the citizen scholar. In the Wits Writing Programme, attentiveness to simultaneity represents a principle of teaching and of learning, an aim of writing, and a guiding value of the programme’s construction
