This report is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of masters by coursework and research report in the faculty of humanities in the university of Witwatersrand / This thesis explores the different ways that identities are negotiated and renegotiated in different spaces. It intends to unearth the contradictions, tensions and complexities that occur as a result of racialised subjectivities. This study unpacks the socially constructed term "Coconut" and challenges the existing dominant discourses that speak of "Coconuts" as inauthentic Black people who have lost touch with their heritage.What it means to be Black today in South Africa is being contested and there is resistance towards binary and rigid understandings and conceptualizations of blackness. In the intersection of race and class, class is often the silent signifier of distinction and difference post-apartheid but proves to be significant in understanding the different nuanced lived experiences of the Black subject. This thesis is specifically interested in how the inability to comprehend or communicate in an African language further complicates and adds another layer of complexity to not only the lived experiences of Black monolinguals proficient in English only, but also to their personal sense of self. Being a "Coconut" is experienced in conflicted and precarious ways. On the one hand it is experienced with alienation and rejection and in other contexts, it holds significant value and serves as social cultural capital necessary for maneuvering social, political and economic spaces. Key words: Identity, Coconut, Blackness, Class, Cultural capital, Monolinguals, Language, Accent, Racial subjectivity / GR2017

This dissertation, a qualitative case study, investigates issues of language and identity among sixteen young black women studying at Technikon Natal. I examine the ways in which identities are structured by discourses of which language practices are an important part. The research participants' need to learn English is also interrogated against a scenario of South Africa during and post-apartheid. In Chapter 1, I give historical background on the educational structures and legislation which affected my research participants before 2000, and then briefly describe their present context of study. The literature on which my dissertation is based is reviewed in Chapter 2. Humanist theories of motivation for second language learning, for example, Gardner's (1985), are rejected in favour of Norton Peirce's (1995) notion of investment in second language learning, which builds on Bourdieu's (1977 - 1991) concepts of capital, and views the second language learner as inseparable from her social world. However, the emphasis in Chapter 2 is given to some of the central ideas of poststructuralist thinking, particularly those pertaining to the undermining of totalising theories, and those arguing in favour of multiple subjectivity. Chapter 3 contains both my research methods, which were mainly social constructionist, as well as the broad discourse analysis techniques I deployed for my data analysis. Notable in Chapter Four, in which I present and analyse my findings, is the power of ethnic discourses to govern the use of their own and other languages by their subjects. Significant, too, are the shifts in subjectivity which individuals experience as they integrate new discourses into their lives. Amongst my conclusions in the final chapter is the notion that, from a poststructuralist perspective, code switching may allow the simultaneous display of more than one identity; that the use of English by black South Africans is fraught with contradictions, and that indigenous African languages appear vulnerable to the pressure from powerful English discourses. I also discuss the limitations of this research and make recommendations for future research, and end with the particular insights into language and subjectivity I have gained as a lecturer in my current teaching context. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This thesis has been written in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a masters programme in intercultural communication. The study focuses on aspects of linguistic communication, specifically in media discourse, where “cultural boundaries” are determined by sexual difference and where much misunderstanding appears to be founded in different conceptions of homosexuality. I have investigated the theoretical frameworks within which discursive reflection on homosexuality can be studied from an interdisciplinary perspective. The research examines reports in a student newspaper that topicalise homosexuality; it also considers reports that are part of a discourse in which communication takes place between a heterosexual majority and a homosexual minority. Reports that were published across a period of five years were examined, in order to determine whether there has been any development in the discourse. This investigation of a particular kind of intercultural media discourse has been augmented by investigating attitudes towards the minority group by means of a questionnaire, designed by Kite and Deaux (1986: 137). This questionnaire was distributed among 240 students in an attempt to determine whether their reported attitudes coincide with those reported in the media. Despite the fact that homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) more than 30 years ago, reports of homophobic violence and attitudes in news media reveal that a significant percentage of the population still views homosexuality as an illness, a psychological disorder or as sin. The aim of this thesis was to examine the possible (re)enforcement of such homophobic ideologies in news media, as well as the possible (re)enforcement of increasingly tolerant ideologies, by making use of frameworks developed within Critical Discourse Analysis, by van Dijk (1998) and Gelber (2002). While the results of the media analysis indicate a growing acceptance of homosexuality, the survey results reveal that the majority of the heterosexual students surveyed still maintain homophobic attitudes. Furthermore, discrepancies in the survey results reveal the complex nature of such attitudes.

The recent emphasis on Affirmative Action policies in South African corporations has illuminated the issue of cultural diversity in organizations and the difficulties arising from this transition and change. One such difficulty is the problem of intercultural communication where miscommunication can have life-threatening consequences. This problem is particularly critical in the operational environment of the passenger aircraft flight deck where small group factors, as well as intercultural issues must be taken into account. In this thesis the problem of intercultural communication in such contexts as a consequence of Affirmative Action is examined. The data for this thesis comprises the communication of five culturally diverse flight crews. A multi-method was used for the gathering and analysis of this data. This involved the use of video-taped flight simulator sessions, and personal interviews with each crew member. The subjects themselves were involved in identifying key communication problems from the video and interpretation of the data. Three levels of analysis were used in the interpretation of the findings - the individual, the group and the organization. The factors which affected communication at each level in the small, culturally diverse group are highlighted. Furthermore, factors which influence the climate in which communication takes place are also considered. The implications for Affirmative Action are discussed.

Thesis (Master of Education (Education)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008 / This research aims to establish the relationship between language acquisition for isiXhosa as an additional language and the use of e-learning as well as the effect that such an approach will have on the students of the target group. The researcher selected a group of students from those whom she taught, and used e-learning by means of the Blackboard platform in the teaching process. A B-Ed 3 group was identified as target group out of which six candidates were randomly selected as case studies in order to monitor the process of implementation and usage. In an attempt to obtain underlying and rich information, they each maintained a journal about the e-learning usage, completed two questionnaires and attended a focus group discussion. These sources of information supplied data which reflected the students’ true feelings about e-learning. The lecturer, who had no previous experience of e-learning, attended e-learning courses and also from her perspective, noted the process of implementation in a journal. E-learning tasks were used as support to subject content which were used in the classroom. The students were therefore expected to attend all classes and complete the e-learning tasks outside of class time. The research determined that e-learning has the potential to be applied successfully to additional language teaching. Both the lecturer and the students experienced the process positively.

Traditional healers are one among professionals that are viewed as the most significant people in African Society. They are accorded the highest esteem because of the role they play in saving people’s lives and promoting cultural aspects such as ukuhlonipha amasiko in isiZulu. It should be remembered that this word ukuhlonipha which means to respect, is used across cultures to maintain peace within family and society. It all depends on which culture promotes it more than others. It is sociolinguistic truism that ukuhlonipha is essentially linked to the ubuntu philosophy of African people. However, traditional healers more than other people follow ukuhlonipha culture in numerous ways, especially when they meet, being consulted and during traditional ceremonies. They serve and promote what in IsiZulu is known as ukuhlonipha, which to the uninitiated and sometimes even to the scholars of this philosophy is a mystery. It is for this reason and others that people view them as the soul of society. This study looks at relevant sociolinguistic theories especially the politeness theory to analyze most of the hlonipha features shown by traditional healers, apprentice and people during consultation. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

This study is on standard isiXhosa in a multilingual classroom and includes an interpretation of both urban and rurual learners’ literary texts. An attempt is made to examine a selection of isiXhosa texts in order to interprete the state of affairs of the isiXhosa language in the 21st century. Organization of the study This dissertation was organized in the following manner: Chapter one includes an introduction to the study, its aims and objectives as well as the research methodology. Since the isiXhosa language is the focal point of the study, it is discussed in some depth. In chapter two, the researcher concentrates on the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) "Imibono yethu". Imibono yethu is an anthology of learners' writings. The learners were invited to enter a competition by using various genres, e.g. short stories, poems, one-act dramas, rap songs, kwaito, essays, and melodic poems. The researcher wanted the learners to use whatever genre inspires them, to put it colloquially, "what turns them on!" Any aspect of the urban lifestyle could be explored within the theme of each entry and fell under the following headings: • Standard language. • Standard isiXhosa. Chapter three investigates non-standard language varieties with special reference to isiXhosa and the language policy of South Africa. In this chapter, a comparison was drawn between non-standard language and standard language. vi In chapter four, the researcher discusses the overall findings of the competition, comparing the results emanating from the Eastern Cape and Gauteng. Chapter five deals with achievement of the objectives and highlights of the research. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / 214 Leaves printed on single pages, preliminary pages i- xvi and numbered pages 1-191. Includes bibliography and illustrations. / Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. Digitized by Ivan Jacobs on request of Niel Hendrickz, 15 April 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This investigation is informed by the assumption that language, as representation and as image, is positioned in a metaphorical relationship to reality. Language, as a structure of representation, is the way in which we represent reality to ourselves and to others and recreate the past, as well as the way in which we invest our lives with meaning, significance and experience. Language includes visual and verbal representation, and this investigation shows how image and text create a variety of multiple meanings through playful and interactive reciprocation. Following from the assumption that language comprises temporal and spatial qualities, it is also the terrain that enables us to know and understand reality, ourselves, and others. This emphasizes the material nature of language, which is also connected with social and cultural practices and, as such, involves reciprocation and interaction between divergences. Language is therefore a mode of action that makes the bridging of divisions possible. Language is proposed as a medium through which the monolithic hegemony of the apartheid past may be confronted within a multicultural South Africa. The aim of representing this past in my work is not to recall it as it was or to discover etemal, inheritable qualities, but rather to bring about re-demption (healing) through re-presentation. Re-demption and re-presentation is a textual practice that involves a re-script of the past. With the understanding that history and culture are regarded as text, re-writing the past does not involve representation as mimesis, but as production. This investigation recognizes the role of the subconscious as the other or the alterity in all language constructs that makes it possible to circumvent the logic of binary oppositions; entertain alternatives simultaneously; erase boundaries; share spaces, and discover the other in the self. This unconscious language of the other, as a strange doubling and interplay between near and far, gives rise to poies/s. The creation of multi-dimensional spaces that draw the poetical and the everyday into an imaginative and directed conceptual interplay as well as provoke dialogue between differences and diversities, engenders a desire for the complexity of the other. The interplay and recurrent movement across divisions and between paradoxes create a new and changed interspace, characterized by difference, plurality, and contradiction. Intertextual spaces allow relationships between differences and exist precisely as a result of dialogicity between diversities. In this way it is possible to establish, by virtue of difference, a mutual, interdependent relationship with the other. Metaphorical language requires an allegorical reading that places divergences in relation to one another, thereby causing a mythic animation of signification that moves from one level to another. Mytho-poeisis, as an allegorical structure, is proposed as a model by means of which symbolic transformation and redemption of the personal and collective psyche may occur. Poetic re-imagining as re-presentation impels change and transformation and points to other possible forms of social and ethical experiences. This impulse, to reconcile the social and the aesthetic, or the cultural with symbolic form, is based on the principle of reconciliation between art and life. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie ondersoek handhaaf die veronderstelling dat taal in 'n metaforiese verhouding tot die werklikheid staan as voorstelling en as beeld. Taal, as 'n struktuur van voorstelling, is die wyse waarop ons die werklikheid aan onsself en ander voorstel en die verlede herskep, asook die wyse waarop ons sin, betekenis en ervaring aan ons lewens verskaf. Taal sluit visuele en verbale voorstellings in en hierdie ondersoek toon op watter wyse beeld en teks in speelse en interaktiewe wisselwerking 'n verskeidenheid meersinnige betekenisse skep. Uitgaande van die veronderstelling dat taal temporele en ruimtelike kwaliteite betrek, is dit ook die terrein wat ons in staat stel om die werklikheid, onsself en ander te ken en verstaan. Dit beklemtoon die materiele aard van taal, wat ook met sosiale en kulturele praktyke verbind is en sodanig wisselwerking en interaksie tussen uiteenlopendhede betrek. Taal is dus 'n modus van doen, wat oorbrugging van skeidings moontlik maak. Taal word as 'n medium voorgestel waardeur die monolitiese hegemonie van die apartheidsverlede binne 'n multikulturele Suid-Afrika gekonfronteer word. Voorstelling van hierdie verlede in my werk is nie met die doel om dit te herroep soos dit was, of ewige, erfbare eienskappe te ontdek nie, maar eerder om herstel deur her-voorstelling te bewerkstellig. Her-stel en her-voorstelling is 'n tekstuele praktyk wat 'n re-skripsie van die verlede behels. Met begrip dat geskiedenis en kultuur as teks beskou word, behels die her-skryf van die verlede nie voorstelling as mimesis nie, maar as produksie. Hierdie ondersoek erken die rol van die onderbewussyn as die ander of die alteriteit (alterity) in alle taalvoorstellings wat dit moontlik maak om die logika van binere oposisies te omseil; alternatiewe gelyktydig in ag te neem; grense uit te wis, ruimtes te deel en die ander in die self te ontdek. Hierdie onbewuste taal van die ander, as 'n vreemde verdubbeling en spel tussen naby en ver, gee aanleiding tot poesis (poiesis). Die skep van multidimensionele ruimtes wat die poetiese en die alledaagse in 'n verbeeldingryke en gerigte konseptuele wisselspel betrek, asook dialoog tussen verskille en diversiteite bewerkstellig, skep 'n aandrang vir die kompleksiteit van die ander. Die interspel en ewigdurende beweging oor skeidings en tussen paradokse skep 'n nuwe en veranderde interruimte, wat gekenmerk word deur verskil, pluraliteit en kontradiksie. Intertekstuele ruimtes laat verskilsverhoudings toe en bestaan juis as gevolg van dialogisiteit tussen diversiteite. Op hierdie wyse is dit moontlik om op grond van verskil 'n wedersydse en interafhanklike verhouding met die ander aan te knoop. Metaforiese taalgebruik verg 'n allegoriese lees wat uiteenlopendhede in verhouding tot mekaar plaas sodat dit 'n mitiese animasie van betekening bewerkstellig wat vanaf een vlak na 'n ander vlak beweeg. Mito-poesis, as 'n allegoriese struktuur, word voorgestel as model waarvolgens simboliese transformasie en herstel van die persoonlike en kollektiewe psige kan geskied. Poetiese her-verbeelding as her-voorstelling motiveer verandering en transformasie en dui op ander moontlike vorms van sosiale en etiese ervarings. Hierdie impuls, om die sosiale en die estetiese, of om die kulturele met simboliese vorm te vereenselwig, berus op die beginsel van versoening tussen kuns en lewe.

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.

Students in tertiary educational institutions in South Africa come from many different backgrounds and have varied educational experiences. Some students, especially those from non-English speaking backgrounds, may encounter linguistic difficulties with various academic tasks. In order for students to be successful at university, they must become academically literate. That is, they must master all the reading, writing, listening and comprehension tasks required by the disciplines in which they are studying. One such task is presented by the academic lecture which is an integral part of any course of study. Linguistically, the academic lecture can be seen as a particular genre with unique characteristics. This study investigated some linguistic characteristics of academic lectures. The discipline of Political Science, as a Social Science, was chosen because there is little research that has been done on language in the Social Sciences. The Political Science sub-disciplines of Political Philosophy, South African Politics, and International Relations were used in this research. First year lectures were recorded from each of these three sub-disciplines. The linguistic characteristics of lectures were analysed using techniques drawn from Systemic Functional linguistic theory. The analysis concentrated on the aspects mode and field as they were realised in the lectures. In addition, higher level generic structure was also analysed. The insights gained from the analysis were validated through interviews with the lecturers who gave the lectures. The aim of this research was to develop a linguistic characterisation of the lecture genre as it occurs in the three sub-disciplines of Political Science. The results of this research suggest that although there is a unified academic lecture genre, there is variation according to sub-discipline. The implications of this variation are discussed with reference to their relevance to teaching academic literacy.