1,720,964 research outputs found
Standard versus non-standard isiZulu : a comparative study between urban and rural learners' performance and attitude.
No full textThesis (M.A.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.In this study, standard and non-standard isiZulu varieties are compared and contrasted. While standard isiZulu is proved to be treasured, it is not very well known or spoken among young urban and rural isiZulu speaking learners. The socio-historical development of isiZulu is examined in order to account for the dichotomy between ‘deep’ and ‘urban’ isiZulu. ‘IsiZulu esijulile’ [‘deep isiZulu’] and ‘isiZulu sasedolobheni’ [‘urban isiZulu’] are terms found useful to describe the differences. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the characteristics of standard and non-standard language in general and standard and non-standard isiZulu in particular are discussed. The empirical section of this thesis is based on a multi-method approach, that is, one hundred rural and
urban learners are the participants of this study. This investigation suggests that the dichotomy between urban and rural varieties is not as stark as initially proposed (Mesthrie, 2002)
Exploring students’ attitudes towards the use of code-switching in tutorials at the University of KwaZulu-Natal: a qualitative study of students in the discipline of Psychology.
No full textThe present study explores students’ attitudes towards the use of code-switching (CS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). It analyses factors influencing positive or negative attitudes towards CS, in particular linguistic background and educational upbringing. In understanding these students’ attitudes the study utilised Gumperz's sociolinguistic approach and Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory as a theoretical lens. Carried out in the discipline of Psychology at UKZN and with a focus on first-year tutorials, the study used a mixed- methods but primarily qualitative design to address the research questions.
The analysis of the survey questionnaire revealed that the majority of UKZN students in the sample had positive attitudes towards the use of CS in tutorials, which was influenced by various factors. The three major reasons for a positive approach to CS were: 1) CS allows students to express themselves easily and comfortably, 2) it helps them to comprehend and process information better and, 3) it creates an inclusive learning environment. Furthermore, in the focus group interviews, most of the participants expressed positive attitudes towards the use of CS, highlighting the factors mentioned above as the influence on their positive attitudes. Focus group interviews also revealed that linguistic background and upbringing play a vital role in influencing positive or negative attitudes towards CS, with most participants coming from multilingual and multicultural environments holding positive attitudes towards CS. By understanding the factors that influence students' attitudes towards CS, this study contributes to the field of sociolinguistics by highlighting the complex interplay between language, culture, and identity in educational settings
Assessing politeness, language and gender in hlonipha.
Get PDFThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.The aim of this study is to investigate the politeness phenomena (particularly isiHlonipho) within the isiZulu speaking community in KwaZulu Natal. The study focuses on the understanding of isiHlonipho within the isiZulu speaking community and whether males and females from the urban and rural areas share a similar or different understanding of isiHlonipho. Furthermore the thesis investigates which of the existing Western/non-Western models of politeness are relevant for describing the politeness phenomena in the target community. In order to achieve triangulation, qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used. These comprised of interviews with cultural/religious leaders, discourse completion tasks, and interviews with males and females from urban and rural areas in Mdumezulu and Umlazi Township. My findings reveal that the understanding of politeness phenomena within the target community is more in keeping with that in other non-Western cultures than in Western cultures. Females from the rural area are found to utilize isiHlonipho more than those females from the urban area. On the basis of this limited sample, it is argued that females from the urban area may be beginning to reject traditional Zulu femininity in favour of more westernized identities
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
"Rap for abokhokho nelokishi nabantu bonke" : language choice in hop hop music from KwaZulu-Natal : a sociolinguistic approach.
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.The main focus of hip hop music is on the beats and the lyrics. Hip hop lyrics. performed as 'rap' (fast poetic rhymes) address topics such as self-portrayal, roots, life, location, time and space. From its beginnings, hip hop music in KwaZulu-Natal
has been bilingual with artists performing in isiZulu and English. In addition, expressions from isiTsotsi or other forms of youth language are used in performances as well as on records and mixtapes. Therefore, hip hop music from KwaZulu-Natal offers excellent material for the analysis of the relation between language choice and construction of identity amongst urban youth. This treatise investigates this matter, taking the question of
ethnicity in post-apartheid South Africa into account. Five artists who rap and perform predominantly in isiZulu provide their lyrics for the sociolinguistic analysis which takes a close look at the content and translatability of each text. Certain topics addressed in hip hop lyrics in isiZulu are languagespecific and seem to be (almost) untranslatable. These topics may be related to cultural concepts and 'common knowledge' which are based in Zulu traditions. Moreover, the analysis of the lyrics shows that isiZulu-speaking hip hop artists from KwaZulu-Natal who rap in their mother tongue merge common hip hop themes
with traditional concepts of Zulu culture
Addressing the "standard English' debate in South Africa : the case of South African Indian English.
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.This dissertation is an investigation into the 'Standard English' debate in South Africa using South African Indian English (SAlE) as a case study. I examine the 'Standard English' debate from both a sociolinguistic and a syntactic point of view. Since English underwent a process of standardization in the eighteenth century, the concept of 'Standard English' has influenced peoples' attitudes towards different varieties of English and the speakers of those varieties. 'Standard English' has, since this time, been used as a yardstick against which other varieties of English have been judged. In South Africa, where during the apartheid era, language as well as skin colour and ethnicity were used as a basis for discrimination, the 'Standard English' debate and the standard language ideology need to be explored in order to draw attention to areas of potential discrimination. Through an extended review of the literature on the 'Standard English' Debate and a particular focus on South African Indian English, as well as interviews with South African Indian participants, I investigate how the 'Standard English' debate is, more often than not, a debate about ideology, power and inequality, rather than simply about 'good' or 'correct' language usage. I argue that language attitudes are, in many cases, attitudes towards speakers, making them a potential vehicle for discrimination and prejudice. I examine the social history of the South African Indian community and SAIE and argue that the unique history of the South African Indian community has affected the development of SAlE and attitudes towards its speakers, and the attitudes of speakers of SAlE toward their own variety. Furthermore, I explore how this history has affected the syntactic structure of SAlE and provide, through a syntactic analysis of South African Indian English wh-questions, evidence for the fact that these constructions are formed on the basis of a systematic and rule-governed grammar that is different to that of 'Standard English', but is not, as a result of this difference, incorrect
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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