1,720,964 research outputs found
Learning in Mother Tongue: Language Preferences in South Africa
Get PDFPublished ArticleThis study is based on the findings conducted to investigate children and parents’ preferences of
language of learning and teaching in grades 1 – 3. This study is a survey in which interviews and questionnaires were
used to gather data from pupils, parents, school heads, Foundation Phase teachers and teachers in Early Childhood
Development Centres (ECDs). The sample consisted of fifty learners, forty parents, thirty school heads, hundred
and fifty Foundation Phase teachers and twenty ECDs. Respondents were purposively selected from metropolitan,
township and rural schools in Motheo district in Free State province in South Africa. The findings were that
learners and parents preferred English as the language of instruction at Foundation Phase. It is recommended that
there is a need for attitude change and thus a serious campaign for all stakeholders to appreciate the role played by
the mother tongue in the early years of schooling
Reading Skills Acquisition in English: A Comparison of Monolingualism and Bilingualism in Foundation Phase
Get PDFPublished ArticleThis study is based on the findings from a study conducted to examine acquisition of reading skills of
monolingual English and bilingual Sesotho-English third grade learners by evaluating their phonological and
reading skills. The sample consisted of 80 monolingual English and 80 bilingual Sesotho-English pupils in Motheo
District, Free State. Tasks of Phonological Awareness (PA) were correlated with reading measures in English as an
L1 and L2, but significant differences were found on all of the measures; implying overall support for use of PA
measures for reading achievement in L1-English monolinguals and in the English (L2) of bilingual children, but
with the understanding that L1 Sesotho spoken proficiency and L2 English-only instruction influences the underlying
repertoire of PA skills used for L2 English reading acquisition, different from that of the L1 English reading
acquisition process. The educational implications of these observations are discussed
Break and bend verbs in Sesotho
Get PDFThesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The break and bend verbs in Sesotho are investigated with a view to account for the
unique properties of these verbs.
The study gives a full account of the predicate argument structure of break and bend
verbs. In Sesotho we have three types of predicates, namely, one-place, two-place and
three-place predicates. The study also focuses on the number of arguments these verbs
may assign. Some of these verbs are intransitive and therefore they assign one
argument, which is an external argument. Other verbs are transitive and as such they
assign more than one argument (i.e. external and internal arguments).
These verbs are investigated as to whether they would select certain arguments to appear
with them and it was found that when they do, they also select semantic features which
these arguments must have in order to appear with such verbs.
These verbs are also examined with the view to account for their difference. It was found
that certain bend verbs show the same syntactic properties as the break verbs, except
those bend verbs name reverse actions. Another observation was that not all break and
bend verbs have zero-related nominaIs. When they do, the nominals describe the result
of the action named by the verb.
The study investigate these verbs as to whether they would allow cognate objects, verbal
alternations and derived verbs (in the case of bend verbs), and it was found that some of
them would allow such lexical items.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die breek en buig werkwoorde in Sesotho is ondersoek met die doel om die unieke
kenmerke van hierdie werkwoorde te bepaal.
Die studie verskaf 'n beskrywing van die predikaat argumentstruktuur van breek en buig
werkwoorde in Sesotho. Ons het drie tipes predikate, te wete eenplek, tweeplek en
drieplek predikate.
Die studie fokus ook op die aantal argumente wat hierdie werkwoorde kan toeken.
Sommige van hierdie werkwoorde is onoorganklik, derhalwe ken hulle een argument toe
wat ekstern is. Ander werkwoorde is oorganklik, sodat meer as een argument, te wete
ekstern en intern, toegeken word.
Daar is ook ondersoek of hierdie werkwoorde argumente kan selekteer om met hulle te
verskyn, en dit is bevind dat as hulle dit doen, hulle ook die semantiese kenmerk selekteer
wat hierdie argumente moet he as hulle saam met daardie werkwoorde verskyn.
Hierdie werkwoorde is ondersoek met die doel om hul verskil te bepaal. Daar is bevind
dat sommige buig werkwoorde dieselfde sintaktiese eienskappe het as die breek
werkwoorde, behalwe dat buig werkwoorde ook reversiet is. 'n Verdere kenmerk is dat
nie alle breek en buig werkwoorde voorkom met nul-verwante nominaIe. As hulle dit
doen, beskryf die nominale die uitslag van die handeling in die werkwoord.
Daar is ondersoek of kognitiewe voorwerpe, werkwoord alternasies en afgeleide
werkwoorde toegelaat kan word, en daar is bevind dat sommiges dit toelaat.Master
Issues of Ambiguity in Sesotho: Meaning Retrieval
Get PDFPublished ArticleThis paper is based on the findings from a study conducted to examine issues of ambiguity in Sesotho.
This is a qualitative study in which two experiments were conducted to collect data from 30 Sesotho native
speakers. The respondents were purposefully selected from language users in Motheo district in South Africa. The
results from these experiments showed that native speakers are able to distinguish a dominant meaning of a word
from a subordinate meaning. They are able to assess the role of context in determining the meaning(s) of words.
The implications of these findings are discussed. This paper provide an insight as to how context should be regarded
as crucial in meaning retrieval. That in the absence of ‘context’, or if it is less restrictive, the most frequent
occurring meaning will be activated
The presentation of female characters in three of BM Khaketla's texts: A literary analysis
Get PDFPublished ArticleLike most literature around the world, African literature initially portrayed women poorly. This is in accordance with
Kalu’s (2001:14) observation that the role of women in society is constantly questioned and ‘for centuries women
have struggled to find their place’ in a world that is predominantly male oriented. Inaccurate and incomplete portrayals
of female characters littered early African works. This may be largely due to the fact that African literature was first
written by men, whose education was put above that of women. Educated men not only came from a patriarchal
society but were educated by missionaries and colonisers, who also came from a patriarchal society. The article
attempts to investigate the representation of women characters in BM Khaketla’s texts. His penchant to portray
androcentric narratives is at variance with the female gender that is trivialised through patriarchy, culture, a gender
socialisation process, marriage and domestic enslavement. The images of African women in these texts will be
reassessed and redefined. The article concludes with some contemporary issues showing that women do have
control over their own lives and are therefore the designers of their own future. There is room for contemplation of
individual responsibility in women’s plight apart from their cultural classification and expectations
A Comparative Study of Requests amongst Second Language Speakers of English
Get PDFPublished ArticleThis paper is based on the findings from a study that investigated the analysis of requests produced by
second language (L2) speakers (that is, 15 Afrikaans-speaking (L1) and 17 Sesotho-speaking (L1) learners) of
English and how these requests are received by English first language (L1) speakers. The aim of this study is to
compare the manners in which Afrikaans first language (L1) and Sesotho first language (L1) speakers make requests
when speaking English. The Cross Cultural Speech Act Realization Project (CCSARP) framework of Blum-Kulka
was utilized to analyze the requests made by these two groups. The outcomes revealed that Afrikaans speakers used
fewer politeness and alert markers as compared to Sesotho speakers who utilized more. The implications of these
findings are also discussed
An Analysis of the Sesotho Folktale Kgubetswana Le Talane Using the Binary Opposition Approach
Get PDFPublished ArticleThis study is based on an analysis of the Sesotho folktale Kgubetswana le Talane. The folktale is analysed using the theory of binary opposition. This theory is also consolidated with Vladimir Propp’s approach to folktales, which is used to analyse the meanings of symbols and character roles in the story. The implications of the differences and similarities of Kgubetswana le Talane with other folktales are discussed. Efforts to interpret the meanings of symbols in the story were also made by analysing the animal characters and examining these animal symbols through the understanding of the Basotho culture. The paradox between the protagonist and the antagonist is essential in the creation of the story and its themes
Lexical semantics and deverbal nominalisations in Sesotho
Get PDFThesis (DLitt)--Stellenbosch University, 2008.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation, the semantic and syntactic properties of deverbatives are
analyzed in the context of Generative Lexicon theory, which is a model of lexical
semantics.
The aim of the analysis relates to the existence of the relationship between nominals
derived directly from an event description and their inheritance of the properties of
that event. The deverbal nouns in Sesotho are analyzed semantically within specific
parameters taking into account the deverbal noun as a whole. This is done by
viewing how word meaning interact with a set of generative mechanisms to account
for the creative use of language. These mechanisms involve the levels of
representations (i.e. argument, event and qualia structures) which provides
information about the number and type of arguments; the event type of a lexical item
and how these events are tied together within different relations.
There are correlations between lexically encoded base forms and morphological
derived forms. These correlations provide a need for a representational structure to
distinguish between stage-level and individual-level nominals. Focusing on the role of
events in the semantics of nouns, it is shown that stage-level and individual-level
nouns differ in the type and the quantification of their defining event. This led to the
adoption of the view that that nominals in general should be named after the events
they each fulfil.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie proefskrif word die semantiese en sintaktiese eienskappe van
deverbatiewe in Sesotho ontleed binne die raamwerk van Generatiewe
Leksikonteorie, ‘n model van leksikale semantiek.
Die doel van die analise hou verband met die verhouding tussen nominale direk
afgelei vanaf ‘n gebeurtenis (‘event’) beskrywing en die oorerwing van die
eienskappe van daardie gebeurtenis (‘event’). Die Sesotho deverbatiewe word
semanties ontleed binne spesifieke parameters met inagneming van die semantiese
eienskappe van die deverbatief as geheel. Dit word gedoen deur ‘n ondersoek te
doen na hoe woordbetekenis in interaksie is met ‘n stel generatiewe meganismes om
‘n verklaring te bied vir die kreatiewe gebruik van taal. Hierdie meganismes betrek
die vlakke van representasie (nl. argumentstruktuur, gebeurtenis (‘event’) struktuur
en qualia-struktuur) wat inligting voorsien omtrent die getal en tipes argumente (dit is,
uitdrukkings wat tematiese rolle het), die gebeurtenis (‘event’) tipe van ‘n leksikale
item, en hoe hierdie gebeurtenisse (‘events’) saamhang binne verskillende verbande.
Daar is korrelasies tussen leksikaal ge-enkodeerde basisvorme en morfologiesafgeleide
vorms. Hierdie ko-relasies bied ‘n behoefte vir ‘n verteenwoordigende
struktuur om te onderskei tussen fase-vlak (‘stage-level’) en individuele-vlak
nominale. Daar word aangetoon, met fokus op die gebeurtenisse (‘events’) in die
semantiek van naamwoorde, dat fase-vlak en individuele-vlak verskil in die tipe en
die kwantifisering van hulle definieerbare gebeurtenis. Dit lei tot die aanvaarding van
die siening dat nominale in die algemeen benoem moet word na die gebeurtenisse
waaraan elk voldoen.Doctora
The Interpretation of “Botlokotsebe” V/S “Bosenyi”
Get PDFPublished ArticleThe present paper is based on the findings from a study conducted to examine the interchangeable use
of the concepts ‘botlokotsebe’ (mischief) and ‘bosenyi’ (crime) as an English equivalent term ‘crime’. This study
is thus a survey in which questionnaires were used to collect data from 165 (of which 15 are experts in the language
practice) Sesotho speakers. The respondents were intentionally selected from language users in Motheo and Thabo
Mofutsanyana districts in South Africa. Documents from different domains (where these terms are appearing) were
also analysed to assess the everyday use and usage of these terms in distinct contexts. The results show that
‘botlokotsebe’ cannot denote criminal activity but ‘bosenyi’ is the relevant equivalent term to describe any crime.
The implications of these findings are discussed. The study also provides an insight as to how Sesotho language
users should be careful and cautious in implementing certain terms without following relevant sources. It also
proposed that ‘bosenyi’ be regarded as superordinate term referring to criminal activities
- …
