1,720,990 research outputs found
A study of dialectal and inter-linguistic variations of Khoekhoegowab: towards the determination of the standard orthography
No full textPhilosophiae Doctor - PhDNama is a Khoekhoe-language variety spoken in more than three countries namely Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Angola. The language was previously called the Nama language, however, for pragmatic reasons, to cater for a Damara/Nama union, it is called Khoekhoegowab in Namibia. As far as I know there has been no comprehensive study on Nama/Damara/Khoekhoegowab. A preliminary study was done by Haacke, Eiseb and Namaseb (1997). However, as can be seen from the title of this study, it was �preliminary� which means the authors are the first to admit
that their study was not complete. The aim of this thesis was to undertake an extensive linguistic analysis of Khoekhoegowab as a way to come up with a comprehensive dialectal inventory. The established dialectal inventory will not only help in the linguistic development of Khoekhoegowab, but also in the determination of a standard linguistic code, leading to development of materials. This is important in grammatical descriptions needed for literacy material development and language policy implementation. Following Haacke, Eiseb and Namaseb (1997) and Guldenmann (2000, 2003, 2008), the study employed a dialectal difference or comparative approach. Considering the nature of the study, a mixed research design was used to collect the data. The data was drawn from the few available
studies on Nama/Damara or Khoekhoegowab dialects such as those by Haacke, Eiseb and Namaseb (1997) and Du Plessis (2009). This was supplemented and complemented by document analysis and the various Khoekhoegowab literature. Interviews of limited key informants and focus groups were undertaken in various regions namely (Hardap, Karas and Kunene). The narratives from these interviews were used to determine the dialects currently in place as well as the differences and similarities. The collected data was then treated to a linguistic and dialectal analysis (cf. Guldenmann 2000, 2003, 2008; Du Plessis, 2009) as a way to discover similarities and differences, which will in turn inform the proposal on a possible standard form and composite orthography. The phonological differences of the three dialects under discussion were identified where the vowel system was discussed. With regard to the plain vowels, an argument was made that the
Central Nama and Central Damara are in fact similar in terms of vowel inventory compared to Central Nama and the Bondelswarts dialects. The phonetic aspects of the consonant system of the identified dialects were also discussed. A discussion on clicks and click consonants was also made where a distinction was drawn between plain clicks and complex clicks. The morphosyntax of Khoehoegowab was also discussed where it was obvious that there were mainly more similarities than differences between the dialects. The phonetic inventories identified in chapters
4 and 5 were assessed using data from different sources such as the Bible, the Social Security booklet, the grade 9 school textbook, Facebook (a social media page), Google maps, Khoekhoegowab orthography (2003), and the Ministry of Health booklet. The aim of this was to account for differences and similarities between various materials in terms of symbols used for writing Khoekhoegowab. There were differences observed which were because of the influence of modern technology (especially the electronic keyboard) on the writing practices of Khoekhoegowab speakers. The proposed orthography takes technological developments into account. As a contribution, this study provides new insight into the issues of voicing, and voiced and voiceless consonants. In terms of theory the handling of tone and length was discussed in detail where it was established that tone is phonemic and not vowel length. The issue of whether or not complex clicks should be treated as units or clicks plus an accompaniment was discussed where I
argued that the sounds are co-articulated and should be treated as one. Regarding the orthography, although there is orthography, the existing orthography is clearly not adequate as some of the sounds were not correctly captured. This has an implication on teaching the language in the schools. It will help in the revitalizing of Khoekhoegowab compared to more established Bantu languages
A study of dialectal and inter-linguistic variations of Khoekhoegowab: towards the determination of the standard orthography
Get PDFPhilosophiae Doctor - PhDNama is a Khoekhoe-language variety spoken in more than three countries namely Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Angola. The language was previously called the Nama language, however, for pragmatic reasons, to cater for a Damara/Nama union, it is called Khoekhoegowab in Namibia. As far as I know there has been no comprehensive study on Nama/Damara/Khoekhoegowab. A preliminary study was done by Haacke, Eiseb and Namaseb (1997). However, as can be seen from the title of this study, it was ‘preliminary’ which means the authors are the first to admit
that their study was not complete. The aim of this thesis was to undertake an extensive linguistic analysis of Khoekhoegowab as a way to come up with a comprehensive dialectal inventory. The established dialectal inventory will not only help in the linguistic development of Khoekhoegowab, but also in the determination of a standard linguistic code, leading to development of materials. This is important in grammatical descriptions needed for literacy material development and language policy implementation. Following Haacke, Eiseb and Namaseb (1997) and Guldenmann (2000, 2003, 2008), the study employed a dialectal difference or comparative approach. Considering the nature of the study, a mixed research design was used to collect the data. The data was drawn from the few available
studies on Nama/Damara or Khoekhoegowab dialects such as those by Haacke, Eiseb and Namaseb (1997) and Du Plessis (2009). This was supplemented and complemented by document analysis and the various Khoekhoegowab literature. Interviews of limited key informants and focus groups were undertaken in various regions namely (Hardap, Karas and Kunene). The narratives from these interviews were used to determine the dialects currently in place as well as the differences and similarities. The collected data was then treated to a linguistic and dialectal analysis (cf. Guldenmann 2000, 2003, 2008; Du Plessis, 2009) as a way to discover similarities and differences, which will in turn inform the proposal on a possible standard form and composite orthography. The phonological differences of the three dialects under discussion were identified where the vowel system was discussed. With regard to the plain vowels, an argument was made that the
Central Nama and Central Damara are in fact similar in terms of vowel inventory compared to Central Nama and the Bondelswarts dialects. The phonetic aspects of the consonant system of the identified dialects were also discussed. A discussion on clicks and click consonants was also made where a distinction was drawn between plain clicks and complex clicks. The morphosyntax of Khoehoegowab was also discussed where it was obvious that there were mainly more similarities than differences between the dialects. The phonetic inventories identified in chapters
4 and 5 were assessed using data from different sources such as the Bible, the Social Security booklet, the grade 9 school textbook, Facebook (a social media page), Google maps, Khoekhoegowab orthography (2003), and the Ministry of Health booklet. The aim of this was to account for differences and similarities between various materials in terms of symbols used for writing Khoekhoegowab. There were differences observed which were because of the influence of modern technology (especially the electronic keyboard) on the writing practices of Khoekhoegowab speakers. The proposed orthography takes technological developments into account. As a contribution, this study provides new insight into the issues of voicing, and voiced and voiceless consonants. In terms of theory the handling of tone and length was discussed in detail where it was established that tone is phonemic and not vowel length. The issue of whether or not complex clicks should be treated as units or clicks plus an accompaniment was discussed where I
argued that the sounds are co-articulated and should be treated as one. Regarding the orthography, although there is orthography, the existing orthography is clearly not adequate as some of the sounds were not correctly captured. This has an implication on teaching the language in the schools. It will help in the revitalizing of Khoekhoegowab compared to more established Bantu languages
The standard unified orthography for Sotho, Tswana languages Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe
No full textTHE AMPLEXIVES IN SETSWANA
Get PDFAmplexives are nouns that morphologically do not fall within the normal nominal class system but are used as names of individuals which then mean they must be proper nouns. Therefore, Setswana has not only a complex verbal conjugational system but also the noun system is. The amplexives show that by not having a regular nominal prefixes or regular classification, they bring another dimension in the conceptual framework of the nominal system. Nouns exist not only to name individual entities but to provide sociolinguistic and ethnological information on these entities. The classification in types, superficially shown by a certain nominal morphology is the main characteristic of the class system. However, other nouns, such amplexives have no such morphology, but they are classed by association to other nouns in the system. For instances, kinship terms are associated with the human noun system (cl. 1/2); 1a/2a), the sub-categorization into 1a and 2a clearly indicating this irregularity. But not all humans are classed in the same classes. Those ethnic groups that do not belong to the Sotho-Tswana stock are classed elsewhere (le-/ma-: cl. 5/6). In certain cases amplexives may take a second prefix, either because the original prefix is no longer felt as functional prefix or two concepts are infused. This is the case with ma-sa-rwa which also elsewhere in Setswana dialects is ba-rwa. The paper seeks to examine these extra-noun class system nouns and to characterize their semantic amplification (derogation, exclusion, honorifics, etc.)
L’enseignement de la linguistique a-t-il une place dans la classe de FLE ?
No full textLe Botswana, pays anglophone de l’Afrique australe, a introduit l’enseignement du Français Langue Étrangère (FLE) au niveau universitaire depuis quelques années. Depuis une dizaine d’années, l’enseignement du français concerne aussi quelques écoles secondaires. L’intégration de la linguistique au sein du cursus du FLE au niveau universitaire peut se heurter à des défis et des contradictions concernant le rôle qu’elle peut jouer dans l’enseignement du français aux débutants. Des défis, car les..
Clicks in Eastern Khoe languages: The case of Tsua
Get PDFThis paper discusses clicks in Tsua, an endangered Khoisan language spoken in the south-western parts of the Central District of Botswana. Tsua is situated in the Eastern Kalahari Khoe zone where languages show a systematic attrition of clicks in their phonology albeit Tsua presents an elaborate consonant system made up of non-click and click inventory. The paper seeks to respond to the question, ‘What is the nature of the phonology of Tsua? ‘The paper goes on to account for the phonological characteristics of this language. The discussion seeks to demonstrate that while clicks in this language remain fully phonemic as in other related languages, they are fewer and have less complex accompaniments when compared to those of related languages to the west. The paper further gives an account of the retention of preferred clicks. Furthermore, the paper gives an account of the phonetic mechanisms involved in the replacement and loss of clicks. The paper is an important contribution to the sub- fields of Khoisan phonology and typology. In addition, the paper contributes to the dynamics of language endangerment and loss. It shows that language loss processes may be observed among the Eastern Kalahari Khoe languages to which Tsua belongs and argues that this is what sets these languages apart from the Western Kalahari Khoe language
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
English as a Form of Neo-colonialism in Botswana
Get PDFEnglish is by practice an official language in Botswana. This role means that it takes all significant functional roles in the economy, administration, politics, and education. Since this practice is not based on a language policy, it is difficult to understand the rational of favouring English in Botswana, where Setswana is spoken by 75% of the population and it is understood by even a higher percentage. There are also other languages that have an important regional communication role. The arguments made in this article are that the English language hegemony is tantamount to linguistic imperialism and is a permutation of apolitical colonialism in a sovereign country such as Botswana. The arguments raised here seek to contribute to fresh debates of linguistic decolonialization in Africa. It is the view of this article that promoting Setswana and other local languages will make sense in the educational domain and in the construction of a national linguistic and cultural identity
- …
