The aims of this thesis are to determine to what extent the Crown remains important as a source of legitimacy for the constitutional order and as a focus of sovereignty; how the Crown has developed as a distinct institution; and what the prospects are for the adoption of a republican form of government in New Zealand. The imperial Crown has evolved into the New Zealand Crown, yet the implications of this change are as yet only slowly being understood. Largely this is because that evolution came about as a result of gradual political development, as part of an extended process of independence, rather than by deliberate and conscious decision. The continuing evolution of political independence does not necessarily mean that New Zealand will become a republic in the short-to-medium term. This is for various reasons. The concept of the Crown has often been, in New Zealand, of greater importance than the person of the Sovereign, or that of the Governor-General. The existence of the Crown has also contributed to, rather than impeded, the independence of New Zealand, through the division of imperial prerogative powers. In particular, while the future constitutional status of the Treaty of Waitangi remains uncertain, the Crown appears to have acquired greater legitimacy through being a party to the Treaty. The expression of national identity does not necessarily require the removal of the Crown. The very physical absence of the Sovereign, and the all-pervading nature of the legal concept of the Crown, have also contributed to that institution's development as a truly national organ of government. The concept of the Crown has now, to a large extent, been separated from its historical, British, roots. This has been encouraged by conceptual confusion over the symbolism and identity of the Crown. But this merely illustrates the extent to which the Crown has become an autochthonous polity, grounded in our own unique settlement and evolution since 1840. Whether that conceptual strength is sufficient to counterbalance symbolic and other challenges in the twenty-first century remains uncertain. But it is certain that the Crown has had a profound affect upon the style and structure of government in New Zealand.

It’s like the sun and the tide. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of ‘being aged’ through the everyday experiences of those who are aged. Philosophically, this interpretive study was informed by hermeneutics and interpretive phenomenology. The writings of two twentieth-century philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study’s design and research methods. The phenomenon of interest is ‘being aged;’ a thing which is ordinarily taken-for-granted in the everyday. However, much is already spoken and empirically ‘known’ about the phenomenon by those who are not yet aged. Methodologically the study’s design sought to ‘put aside’ those voices and listen in closely to what elders themselves had to say about being in their everyday lives. Individual research conversations were conducted with fifteen participants; four Maori elders aged 71 to 93 and eleven non-Maori elders aged 80 to 97 years. All were living in private residences on Auckland’s North Shore and recruited by way of the general electoral roll. The conversations were focused on gathering the stories of particular everyday events as well as the person’s reflections on aging. Anecdotes drawn from the conversations formed the research text. Hermeneutics informed the interpretive engagement with this text. As a non-Maori researcher, cultural integrity of the text and the interpretations was enhanced through partnership with a Maori advisor. Dwelling hermeneutically with the anecdotal text was a way of listening to the spoken and unspoken words. Four overarching notions were illuminated and form the study’s findings. They are my interpretive descriptions of the ordinary ways of ‘being in the everyday,’ the experiences of ‘being with others’ in advanced age, the announcing of being aged in the uncomfortableness of ‘experiencing the unaccustomed’ and how ‘aging just is’ there in an everyday way. Reflecting phenomenologically on the findings, the meaning of being aged is in its ordinariness. My thesis is that being in the ordinary everyday in advanced age both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged.

Educational activity preceded official British presence in New Zealand. The development of the New Zealand state from crown colony, to a system of relatively autonomous provincial councils, to a centralized administration took place within a period of four decades. Co-terminous with and essential to the state's progressive securing of its authority was the institutionalization of separate national systems of education for Maori and Pakeha. Whilst the ascendancy of the state and the securing of education as a central state concern proceeded ultimately with the sanction of the state and in accordance with its objectives it was not a straight forward process in a young nation which was born democratic, but was struggling to consolidate political and cultural unity. The various stages and the ultimate form that education in New Zealand took were closely linked to shifts in the nature and role of the state in its formative years, in the nature of its relationship with civil society, and in its official relationship with Maori. This provided the context and dynamic of the shift to state control as public schooling came to dominate over private or voluntary efforts, and as the particularism of isolated provincial settlements was replaced by a system designed to serve the nation as a whole. Positing conceptual links between the development of national education and the processes of state formation and nation building in a colonizing context, this thesis argues that the institutionally differentiated form that universal education took in New Zealand produced a site through which socially, culturally and ideologically determined conceptions of “normality” would be legitimated and become hegemonic. By nationalizing education to legitimate a culture of uniformity based on a specific set of norms, individual New Zealanders were differentially created according to class, gender and ethnicity, and to physical, intellectual, behavioural and sensory functioning.

The aims of this thesis are to determine to what extent the Crown remains important as a source of legitimacy for the constitutional order and as a focus of sovereignty; how the Crown has developed as a distinct institution; and what the prospects are for the adoption of a republican form of government in New Zealand. The imperial Crown has evolved into the New Zealand Crown, yet the implications of this change are as yet only slowly being understood. Largely this is because that evolution came about as a result of gradual political development, as part of an extended process of independence, rather than by deliberate and conscious decision. The continuing evolution of political independence does not necessarily mean that New Zealand will become a republic in the short-to-medium term. This is for various reasons. The concept of the Crown has often been, in New Zealand, of greater importance than the person of the Sovereign, or that of the Governor-General. The existence of the Crown has also contributed to, rather than impeded, the independence of New Zealand, through the division of imperial prerogative powers. In particular, while the future constitutional status of the Treaty of Waitangi remains uncertain, the Crown appears to have acquired greater legitimacy through being a party to the Treaty. The expression of national identity does not necessarily require the removal of the Crown. The very physical absence of the Sovereign, and the all-pervading nature of the legal concept of the Crown, have also contributed to that institution's development as a truly national organ of government. The concept of the Crown has now, to a large extent, been separated from its historical, British, roots. This has been encouraged by conceptual confusion over the symbolism and identity of the Crown. But this merely illustrates the extent to which the Crown has become an autochthonous polity, grounded in our own unique settlement and evolution since 1840. Whether that conceptual strength is sufficient to counterbalance symbolic and other challenges in the twenty-first century remains uncertain. But it is certain that the Crown has had a profound affect upon the style and structure of government in New Zealand.

Thesis (DAppLing)--Macquarie University, Division of Linguistics and Psychology, Department of Linguistics, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 404-418. / Introduction -- Literature review -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion -- Conclusion. / This study sets out to examine the pragmatic competence of Cantonese adult learners of English possessing different levels of proficiency when performing the speech act of requesting for a formal purpose in writing. Pragmatic judgment - one of the two aspects of pragmatic competence - was examined by studying the most proficient group (i.e., native Cantonese-speaking EFL teachers at university), whereas pragmatic performance - the other aspect of pragmatic competence - was examined by studying the two weaker groups (i.e., university students at two language proficient levels). Both pragmatic judgment and pragmatic performance were examined by investigating the same four dependent variables (i.e., politeness, directness, formality and amount of information). Teacher data, collected through a Pragmatic Judgment Questionnaire completed and returned by sixteen EFL teachers (eight native Cantonese speakers and eight native English speakers) and by means of individual interviews, were analyzed quantitatively for responses to twelve questions and qualitatively for responses to an additional two questions. Student data, consisting of both experimental and authentic letters and e-mails, were analyzed quantitatively. -- Main research findings suggest: *It is possible for very proficient NNSs of English, (i.e., the EFL teachers in this study), to achieve native-like pragmatic judgments in most aspects, except for their views on several pragmatic considerations (i.e., "unnaturally polite" expressions, usefulness of "negative" words, supportive moves not to be used and writing plans preferred). *As the English proficiency of L2 learners improves from Grade E to Grade A/B (as determined by the Hong Kong A-level Examinations in the subject "Use of English"), their pragmatic performance shows improvement. -- For pedagogical reasons, a qualitative analysis was conducted for Questions 1 and 2 in order to generate examples of "unnaturally polite"/ "polite" / "impolite" expressions and to provide examples of inappropriate supportive moves in relation to three writing topics. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xvii, 576 p

The aims of this thesis are to determine to what extent the Crown remains important as a source of legitimacy for the constitutional order and as a focus of sovereignty; how the Crown has developed as a distinct institution; and what the prospects are for the adoption of a republican form of government in New Zealand. The imperial Crown has evolved into the New Zealand Crown, yet the implications of this change are as yet only slowly being understood. Largely this is because that evolution came about as a result of gradual political development, as part of an extended process of independence, rather than by deliberate and conscious decision. The continuing evolution of political independence does not necessarily mean that New Zealand will become a republic in the short-to-medium term. This is for various reasons. The concept of the Crown has often been, in New Zealand, of greater importance than the person of the Sovereign, or that of the Governor-General. The existence of the Crown has also contributed to, rather than impeded, the independence of New Zealand, through the division of imperial prerogative powers. In particular, while the future constitutional status of the Treaty of Waitangi remains uncertain, the Crown appears to have acquired greater legitimacy through being a party to the Treaty. The expression of national identity does not necessarily require the removal of the Crown. The very physical absence of the Sovereign, and the all-pervading nature of the legal concept of the Crown, have also contributed to that institution's development as a truly national organ of government. The concept of the Crown has now, to a large extent, been separated from its historical, British, roots. This has been encouraged by conceptual confusion over the symbolism and identity of the Crown. But this merely illustrates the extent to which the Crown has become an autochthonous polity, grounded in our own unique settlement and evolution since 1840. Whether that conceptual strength is sufficient to counterbalance symbolic and other challenges in the twenty-first century remains uncertain. But it is certain that the Crown has had a profound affect upon the style and structure of government in New Zealand.

Educational activity preceded official British presence in New Zealand. The development of the New Zealand state from crown colony, to a system of relatively autonomous provincial councils, to a centralized administration took place within a period of four decades. Co-terminous with and essential to the state's progressive securing of its authority was the institutionalization of separate national systems of education for Maori and Pakeha. Whilst the ascendancy of the state and the securing of education as a central state concern proceeded ultimately with the sanction of the state and in accordance with its objectives it was not a straight forward process in a young nation which was born democratic, but was struggling to consolidate political and cultural unity. The various stages and the ultimate form that education in New Zealand took were closely linked to shifts in the nature and role of the state in its formative years, in the nature of its relationship with civil society, and in its official relationship with Maori. This provided the context and dynamic of the shift to state control as public schooling came to dominate over private or voluntary efforts, and as the particularism of isolated provincial settlements was replaced by a system designed to serve the nation as a whole. Positing conceptual links between the development of national education and the processes of state formation and nation building in a colonizing context, this thesis argues that the institutionally differentiated form that universal education took in New Zealand produced a site through which socially, culturally and ideologically determined conceptions of “normality” would be legitimated and become hegemonic. By nationalizing education to legitimate a culture of uniformity based on a specific set of norms, individual New Zealanders were differentially created according to class, gender and ethnicity, and to physical, intellectual, behavioural and sensory functioning.

It’s like the sun and the tide. The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of ‘being aged’ through the everyday experiences of those who are aged. Philosophically, this interpretive study was informed by hermeneutics and interpretive phenomenology. The writings of two twentieth-century philosophers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Martin Heidegger, guided the study’s design and research methods. The phenomenon of interest is ‘being aged;’ a thing which is ordinarily taken-for-granted in the everyday. However, much is already spoken and empirically ‘known’ about the phenomenon by those who are not yet aged. Methodologically the study’s design sought to ‘put aside’ those voices and listen in closely to what elders themselves had to say about being in their everyday lives. Individual research conversations were conducted with fifteen participants; four Maori elders aged 71 to 93 and eleven non-Maori elders aged 80 to 97 years. All were living in private residences on Auckland’s North Shore and recruited by way of the general electoral roll. The conversations were focused on gathering the stories of particular everyday events as well as the person’s reflections on aging. Anecdotes drawn from the conversations formed the research text. Hermeneutics informed the interpretive engagement with this text. As a non-Maori researcher, cultural integrity of the text and the interpretations was enhanced through partnership with a Maori advisor. Dwelling hermeneutically with the anecdotal text was a way of listening to the spoken and unspoken words. Four overarching notions were illuminated and form the study’s findings. They are my interpretive descriptions of the ordinary ways of ‘being in the everyday,’ the experiences of ‘being with others’ in advanced age, the announcing of being aged in the uncomfortableness of ‘experiencing the unaccustomed’ and how ‘aging just is’ there in an everyday way. Reflecting phenomenologically on the findings, the meaning of being aged is in its ordinariness. My thesis is that being in the ordinary everyday in advanced age both conceals and reveals the phenomenon of being aged.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates whether language shift is occurring within the community of the northern areas of Port Elizabeth. These areas are historically predominantly “coloured” and Afrikaans-speaking, and are mixed in terms of the socioeconomic status of their inhabitants. Lately, there is a tendency for many of the younger generation to speak more English. Using the model of another study (Anthonissen and George 2003) done in the Cape Town area, three generations (grandparent, parent and grandchild) of three families were interviewed regarding their use of English and Afrikaans in various domains. The pattern of language shift in this study differs somewhat, but not totally, from that described in Anthonissen and George (2003) and Farmer (2009). In these two studies, there was a shift from predominantly Afrikaans in the older two generations to English in the youngest generation. In this study, the shift is also almost exclusively to English in the youngest generation, but the shift at times took place from English-Afrikaans bilingualism and not predominantly from Afrikaans. In two cases, the first generation was raised in English but raised their children in Afrikaans, and then the grandchildren were raised in English again. The reasons why the shift took place in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth appears to be similar to the reasons in the Cape Town area, namely perceived better education opportunities and better socio-economic prospects. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word daar gepoog om vas te stel of taalverskuiwing besig is om plaas te vind in die gemeensakp van die noordelike areas van Port Elizabeth. Hierdie areas is histories hoofsaaklik “gekleurd” en Afrikaanssprekend, en is gemeng in terme van die sosioekonomiese status van hul inwoners. Dit wil egter voorkom asof daar deesdae ‘n tendens onder die jonger geslag is om meer Engels te praat. Die model van ‘n ander studie (Anthonissen en George 2003), wat in die Kaapstad-area gedoen is, is in hierdie studie gebruik: daar is onderhoude gevoer met drie generasies (grootouer, ouer, kleinkind) van drie families oor hul gebruik van Engels en Afrikaans in verskeie domeine. Die patroon van taalverskuiwing in hierdie studie het verskil van dié wat in die Anthonissen en George (2003)- en Farmer (2009)-studies beskryf is, maar nie heeltemal nie. In laasgenoemde twee studies was daar ‘n verskuiwing van hoofsaaklik Afrikaans in die ouer twee generasies na Engels in die jongste generasie. In hierdie studie is die verskuiwing ook na amper uitsluitlik Engels in die jongste generasie, maar by tye het die verskuiwing plaasgevind vanaf Engels-Afrikaans tweetaligheid en nie vanaf hoofsaaklik Afrikaans nie. In twee gevalle is die eerste generasie Engels grootgemaak maar het hul hul kinders Afrikaans grootgemaak, en dan is die kleinkinders weer Engels grootgemaak. Die redes waarom die verskuiwing plaasgevind het, is dieselfde as die redes wat deur die verskuiwing in die Kaapstad-gemeenskappe aangevoer is, naamlik beter opvoedkundige geleenthede en beter sosio-ekonomiese vooruitsigte.

The study focused on the translation and interpretation of cultural concepts from Xitsonga into English. The main aim of the study was to formulate strategies and methods as well as techniques of translating cultural concepts from Xitsonga into English with the view towards bridging the gap between the two cultures. The study used a mixed method approach combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches. It examined the research problem by selecting respondents who deal with translation issues on a day-to-day basis and also observed how cultural concepts are presented in the bilingual dictionaries. This was done by comparing three languages i.e. Xitsonga, Northern-Sotho and Tshivenda. The researcher had to identify the afore-mentioned cultural concepts and to find if they were properly described or translated into English. The observation focused on the translation of both Xitsonga, Northern-Sotho and Tshivenda cultural fixed expressions which were given to translation studies students to translate into English. The aim was to find if they are able to give proper explanations or translation to the given expressions. Quantitatively, 24 out of the 30 questionnaires that were sent out to respondents, were returned to the researcher for presentation, analysis and interpretation. The study found that translating cultural concepts is very challenging. These challenges are presented by lack of equivalence and not recognising the cultural concepts in the source text. The study however found that employing the right strategies, methods and techniques can assist in bridging the gap between the languages and cultures. The translator also needs to have an in-depth knowledge of the two cultures: Xitsonga and English. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)