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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Victoria, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Technology: Language Practice, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / This research is designed to assess the validity of the Sapir Whorf hypothesis in relation to the linguistic and cultural notions of the Yoruba and Zulu language speakers’ via the evaluation of the culture enriched drama text The Lion and The Jewel by Wole Soyinka. The study, which uses both questionnaires and interviews to derive responses from participants, engages both the primary and secondary data throughout the chapters. The study queried both the hypothesis’ strong version, (language governs thought: linguistic classifications restrain and influence mental classifications); and its weak version, (linguistic classifications and their use influence thought as well as some other classes of non-linguistic activities) and their possible reliability. Participants’ ages were between 16 and 46 years old who all speak both English and isiZulu (isiZulu-speaking participants) and English and Yoruba (Yoruba-speaking participants). Questionnaires were used and interviews were conducted, the research questions were answered and the findings provided support for validity of the linguistic relativity hypothesis, that is, languages indeed influence thought. The findings also revealed that linguistic influence on cognition is not limited to different language speakers alone, but also same language speakers per level of exposure to other languages and concepts. Based on these findings, recommendations have been made. Among which is the soliciting more research on language and culture (acculturation and enculturation) such that societal peace, love, unity and development can be maintained and promoted in any monolingual, bilingual or multilingual society. Also, educators should be aware of the possibility of a psycholinguistic influence on thought and assimilate it into schools’ curriculum so that multiculturation is fully adopted and promoted in the schools.

Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), one of the foremost modern American poets, lived in Brasil during seventeen-odd years beginning in 1951. During this time she composed the poetry collection Questions of Travel, stand-alone poems, and fragments as well as prose pieces and translations. This study builds on the work of critics such as Brett Millier and Lorrie Goldensohn who have covered Bishop’s poetry during her Brasil years. However, most American critics have lacked expertise in both Brasilian culture and the Portuguese language that influenced Bishop’s poetry. Since 2000, in contrast, Brasilian critic Paulo Henriques Britto has explored issues of translating Bishop’s poetry into Portuguese, while Maria Lúcia Martins and Regina Przybycien have examined Bishop’s Brasil poems from a Brasilian perspective. However, American and Brasilian scholars have yet to recognize Bishop’s journey of acculturation as displayed through her poetry chronologically or the importance of her belated reception by Brasilian literary and popular culture. This study argues that Bishop’s Brasil poetry reveals her gradual transformation from a tourist outsider to a cultural insider through her encounters with Brasilian history, culture, language, and politics. It encompasses Bishop’s published and unpublished Brasil poetry, including drafts from the Elizabeth Bishop Papers at Vassar College. On a secondary level, this study examines a reverse acculturation in how Brasilian popular and literary communities have increasingly focused on Bishop since her death, culminating in the 2013 film, Flores Raras (Reaching for the Moon in English). Understanding this extremely rare and sustained intercultural junction of Bishop in Brasil, a junction that no American poet has made since, adds a crucial angle to twentieth-first century transnational literary perspectives.