M.Tech. / Objective: Translation and validation of the Afrikaans version of the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Oswestry Disability Index. Methods: The English questionnaires were translated into Afrikaans. The translations were then scrutinized by a focus group in order to determine its face validity. After face validity was established, the content validity was determined by two subject experts. Both the original and the translated versions of the questionnaires were given to a study group to complete on two separate occasions. The results from the study group were then put through various psychometric evaluations in order to determine its concurrent validity and reliability. Results: Results indicated that the Oswestry Disability Index had a significant level of reliability (α=0.830) and although the reliability of the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire was below a significant level (α<0.7) it was still deemed reliable as it corresponded with its English counterpart. Both the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and Oswestry Disability Index indicated significant levels of concurrent validity; however the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire seemed to have a higher level of concurrent validity. Conclusion: Both the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire and the Oswestry Disability Index were translated successfully and can now be used within the Afrikaans population as an alternative to the English versions. Low back pain is a very common medical problem with a great impact on a patient’s health and quality of life. According to a review conducted by Papageorgiou et al. (1995), 60-80% of the general world population will suffer from low back pain in some stage of their life. In South Africa, De Wet, Losco and Moodley (2003) conducted a study on the incidence and prevalence of low back pain on 355 ABSA Bank and Unibank employees. The results of the study showed that the lifetime incidence of low back pain was 63%, the 6 month prevalence of LBP was 41% and the point prevalence of LBP was 9.6%. Treatment was sought by 46.94% of the sample population primarily from pharmacies, chiropractors, medical doctors, and physiotherapists. In addition, the study also showed that this condition is costing the South African economy millions each year due to lost working days as a result of absenteeism. As a result, disability questionnaires are increasingly used for clinical assessment, outcome measurement of treatment of low back pain. However, the use in different cultural groups has led to the need for the translation and the cross-cultural adaptation of these questionnaires to aid practitioners in the accurate assessment of low back pain.

M.A. (German) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Litt. et Phil. / This thesis constitutes an investigation into the complexity of Afrikaans legal language and explores the challenges of plain language in South Africa. It argues that language is a powerful tool, which can either be used for inclusion or exclusion. The requirement for the use of plain language as stipulated in the National Credit Act and the Consumer Protection Act is intended to improve the quality and accessibility of consumer-related documents, with vulnerable consumers in mind. South African businesses, organisations and suppliers are required to make their consumer documents available in plain and understandable language. This requirement has far-reaching implications for both the consumer industry and the language industry. Although the definition of plain language in the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 and the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 is comprehensive and theoretically sound, its practical implementation remains a challenge. Some empirical work has been done on the comprehensibility of institutional and other documents in South Africa, but these studies are mainly limited to health texts and the focus is primarily on English. In light of the language distribution and the fact that less than 10% of South Africans speak English as a home language, coupled with alarming educational attainment rates, it does not automatically follow that consumer documents that are written in plain English will be accessible to all consumers. In the framework of plain language legislation in South Africa, there is now a pressing need to extend plain language research to the other official languages as well, and to find ways to incorporate South Africa’s language distribution into a plain language policy. This study is in Afrikaans, about Afrikaans and for Afrikaans. Morever, in the absence of guidelines for methods or standards of assessing whether a consumer-related document satisfies the requirements for plain and understandable language, plain language practitioners are working in a vacuum, without any indication of the assessment criteria that will be applied to measure compliance.

M.A. (Afrikaans) / Language sexism and stereotyping in Afrikaans teaching material perpetuate an image of Afrikaans reality which is not in keeping with the modern spirit of the times. Excessive language sexism can result in the second or foreign language learner forming an unfavourable image of the speakers of the language. It can also have teaching implications, of which a negative attitude and lack of motivation are the most important. It is the aim of this study to determine to which degree language sexism and sexist stereotyping occur in Afrikaans teaching material. The method of research followed when analysing several Afrikaans courses for adult foreign language learners is a qualitative-interpretative one. The subjectivity of such method is minimised by the quantitative support of the triangulation process followed in determining the occurrence of the male pronoun "he" in Afrikaans...

This study seeks to report on the investigation into the need to use code switching as one of the language teaching strategies in the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as Additional Language in the FET band, in predominantly Xhosa-speaking environments in the Eastern Cape. The study was conducted in twelve secondary schools of the Transkei where Afrikaans is taught as an additional language. The sample of the study comprised the educators, the learners and the school managers of the twelve researched schools. The research was a case study of the selected schools. The participants were studied in their own environment and the data was collected by means of both the interviews and structured questionnaires. South Africa is a multilingual and multicultural country. This state of affairs calls for a serious re-evaluation of the existing teaching methodologies. Children acquire language skills in and outside the classroom in two different ways in multilingual societies. While children acquire proficiency in languages outside the classroom in a natural way, in the classroom they are constrained by rigid purist rules that compel them to learn languages in artificial ways. This manner of language acquisition in the predominantly Xhosa-speaking environments of the Eastern Cape, often goes hand in hand with code switching from source language to target language and vice versa. These children can be described as compound informal bilinguals (polyglots) as far as the indigenous languages are concerned since they acquire the indigenous languages from early childhood in natural settings. In the context of formal acquisition of European languages and Afrikaans in schools, they can be categorised as coordinate bilinguals. The linguistic disparities between classroom and natural acquisition practices were revealed in this investigation. In the classroom, code switching has two contradictory sides. On one hand code switching provides the teacher with ease of expression, confidence and satisfaction that the learners understand the lesson. Notwithstanding the dynamic attributes of code switching in the classroom, the learners are faced with the dilemma of having to avoid code switching as much as possible in the examinations since there is no room for code switching in the examinations. This investigation showed that despite the fact that non-mother tongue teaching is supposed to take place through the medium of the target language, both the teachers and the learners admitted that they code switch during Afrikaans classes and they perceive code switching as the best way to facilitate understanding. The findings of this study revealed that code switching was a natural and inevitable strategy in teaching an additional language. However, it also surfaced that some teachers resorted to using code switching because of their own lack of proficiency in the target language. Informed by the above findings, the study recommended that code switching be considered as one of the strategies to be used in the teaching and learning of Afrikaans as additional language. It was also recommended that learners be credited if they used code switching in the examinations since all respondents admitted that code switching was every-day practice in the classroom. This, however is to be done with extreme caution and with the sole purpose of assisting the learners achieve full mastery of the target language at the end of their learning career. Since this kind of exercise needs highly-skilled personnel, it was recommended that practising teachers be retrained and resource materials be expanded to all schools that offer Afrikaans as additional language. Although the arguments presented in this investigation do not reject the reality of the impeding effect code switching might have on the learning of an additional language, the study maintains that for purposes of mutual understanding, code switching is an enabling factor that impacts positively on the teaching-learning situation.

M.Ed. (Media Science) / The position of Afrikaans as a national language In South Africa has been a contested one since the 17th century settlement and occupation of the Cape by the Dutch and British settlers, and it Is not surprising that today, when the country faces critical questions relating to nationhood, cultural identity and language use In a profound way, its position again emerges as a crucial point of debate (Alexander, 1989:15). The Afrikaner group and the majority of their white South African adherents place great value on the historicity of the language. This is testified through the 'taalstryd" waged dUring an after the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and the present-day status of the Afrikaans language as a major item on the negotiations agenda. This historicity and centrality of Afrikaans is contested by other language and cultural groups, who claim that Afrikaans is loaded with exclusivity and racism and that it therefore does not qualify in its claim for national status. The events of 1976 in Black schools and the subsequent years of considerable debate in public and academic forums, quite clearly Illustrates the Intensity of the contest surrounding the position of Afrikaans (Alexander, 1989:26). The Indian population group has always stressed its cultural heritage and at times this has occurred at the expense of Afrikaans as a language. Priority Is assigned to vernacular languages and Afrikaans is neglected in the process. The result is that the language is hardly spoken except in the Afrikaans classroom. It is against this background that this research project will examine the use of pictures In the teaching of Afrikaans at Indian secondary schools.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / In hierdie studie word meerduidigheid as n subkategorie van meervoudigheid van betekenis beskou. Onder die hoofverdeling tussen leksikale en nie-leksikale meerduidigheid word verskillende tipes en subtipes meerduidigheid onderskei, wat almal die volgende gemeen het, dat dit telkens om een vorm gaan met meer as een moontlike, duidelik onderskeibare interpretasie. Daar word gepoog om eerstens op algemeen-teoretiese vlak die aspekte van meerduidigheid aan te toon waarvan 'n beskrywend adekwate teorie rekenskap sal moet kan gee. Die wesenlike aspekte verbonde aan die verskynsel word uitgelig by wyse van n kritiese oorsig van die tradisionele, die sintakties- en semanties-gerigte, die psigolinguistiese en die pragmatiese benaderings. Tweedens word daar gepoog om op taalspesifieke vlak meerduidigheid in Afrikaans op n adekwate wyse te verantwoord, deur die aard en die bereik van die meerduidigheid op verskillende vlakke te ondersoek, en taalspesifieke meerduidigheidskeppende faktore en vereenduidigingsmeganismes te isoleer. Daar word ingegaan op verskeie teoretiese beskouinge aangaande die leksikon, en stilgestaan by die leksikografiese problematiek - veral met betrekking tot die onderskeid tussen homonimie en polisemie. Verskillende kategoriee van leksikale en nie-leksikale meerduidigheid word ten opsigte van meerduidigheid s keppende faktore, meerdui digheidsbereik en vereenduidigingsmeganismes en -strategiee onder die loep geneem. In die proses word die wisselwerking tussen fonologiese, sintaktiese, semantiese en pragmotiese parameters wat n rol speel by die interpretasie van uitinge, verken. Verder word daar ingegaan op intensionele meerduidigheid soos dit neerslag vind in verbale humor- veral in die vertelgrap en raaisel . Daar word aangesluit by Raskin (1985) se onderskeid tussen die bona fide-modus en die nie-bona fide-modus van kommunikasie. Die voorwaardes vir en die meganismes van humor in n paar Afrikaanse grappe en raaisels word ontleed aan die hand van Raskin (1985) se skrip-semantiek, in terme waarvan hy linguistiese humor probeer verklaar binne n taalhandelingsraamwerk. Die studie dui daarop dat daar op algemeen-teoretiese vlak 'n behoefte bestaan aan omvattende taalgebruiksteorie waarbinne die moedertaaI spreker se jntuitiewe inlerpretasie en vereenduidiging van meerduidige uitinge op adekwate wyse verantwoord kan word. / In this study cimbiguity is analysed as a sub-category of multiple meaning. Within the main div ision between lexical and non-lexical ambiguity, a distinct ion is made between various types and sub-types of ambiguity which all share one characteristic: that of consisting of a single form representing more than one possible, clearly distinguishable interpretation. Firstly, an attempt is made on a general theoretical level to show which aspects of ambiguity an adequate theory must account for. The essential aspects of the phenomenon are dealt with by means of a critical review of the pragmatic, syntactic, semantic, psycholinguistic and traditional approaches. Secondly, an attempt is made on a language-specific level to give an adequate account of ambiguity in Afrikaans by investigating the nature and scope of ambiguity on different levels. Various theoretical approaches to the lexicon are considered, focusing inter alia on lexicographical problems, with particular reference to the distinction between homonymy and polysemy. Different categories of lexical and non-lexical ambiguity are considered in an attempt to isolate those factors causing ambiguity, and to ascertain the scope of the various ambiguities as well as the constraints and disambiguation mechanisms and strategies applicable in each case. In the course of this investigation attention is drawn to the interaction between phonological, semantic, syntactic and pragmatic parameters pertaining to the interpretation of utterances. In my investigation of intentional ambiguity in verbal humour, a number of Afr ikaans jokes and riddles are analysed according to certain conditions for and mechan isms of humour. This analysis draws on Raskin's (1985) theory of script-semantics and his distinction between the bona fide-mode and the non-bona fide-mode of communication. On a general theoretical level this thesis indicates a need for a comprehensive theory of language use which can adeq uately account for the mother-tongue speaker's intuitive interpretation and disambiguation of ambiguous utterances. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil.

Bibliography: pages 336-354. / Tegniese en tematiese vernuwing, aansien én verguising van sy literêre werk, 'n opsienbare openbare lewe én dood - dit alles het bygedra dat Koos Prinsloo bykans 'n kultusfiguur geword het en dat sy skrywersloopbaan en literêre arbeid 'n uiters interessante, maar komplekse studieterrein is. Verskeie artikels en nagraadse studies oor uiteenlopende aspekte van Prinsloo se verhale is reeds voltooi, maar daar is nog geen sistematiese ondersoek gedoen oor die verhouding tussen feit en fiksie soos dit na vore kom in sy vier bundels nie. Met die skrywer se afsterwe in Maart 1994 is sy oeuvre afgesluit. Dit is dus vir die navorser moontlik om tot bepaalde gevolgtrekkings te kom ten opsigte van 'n volledige korpus tekste. Die werkswyse in hierdie studie is om Prinsloo se verhaalbundels in chronologiese volgorde te ontleed, te bepaal watter verhale outobiografiese merkers vertoon, na te gaan watter tegnieke die skrywer gebruik het om sy tekste te fiksionaliseer/defiksionaliseer, en wat die funksies en konsekwensies is van die byhaal van die "werklikheid" by die fiksionele. Die uitsprake van kritici word by elke bundel gegee, met die navorser se reaksie op die kritiek. As gevolg van die omvang van hierdie studie, word daar nie aandag gegee aan die (meer omvattende) verhouding tussen "feit" en "fiksie" in Prinsloo se oeuvre nie. Sodanige studie sal meebring dat die talryke dokumentêre verwysings in sy werk nagevors en die funksionaliteit daarvan bepaal word. Hierdie studie konsentreer net op die verhouding tussen die outobiografiese feit en fiksie in sy werk, maar verwys, waar nodig, na sommige van hierdie dokumente.