This study examines the oral strategies employed by Zulu speaking people in the expression of conflict and criticism in their social discourse. These oral discourses, viz. izibongo and naming practices, are analysed to ascertain the socially acceptable ways in which Zulus articulate their frustrations and discontent in various social settings. These are commonly used in rural communities, but they also echo in urban social settings. Hostility and ill-feelings are thus channelled through the sanctioned form of these various oral expressions either as a means of merely airing one's dissatisfaction or as a means of seeking personal redress. The study also reveals that these particular forms of oral expression with critical content, do not exist for their own intrinsic value simply to artfully describe a particular individual. They are composed primarily to serve a particular social function of conflict articulation and expression in non-conflictual ways. The function of these oral forms is that of a "socio-cultural archive" (Conolly 2001), which is vested in the memory of those who can express in performance, their renditions of personal and group identity. The aesthetic beauty of these forms must be regarded as a secondary function and a direct by-product of the primary function, which is personal identity expressed in a way which ensures that issues which could cause conflict are highlighted so as to diminish their conflictual potential. The reason for this is that in order to fulfill the first function, which is conflict reduction, Jousse (1990) states there has to be a form (rhythm, balance and formula) which makes the expressions memorisable - which literate people equate to 'poetry'. / Thesis (Ph.D)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

The National Research Foundation has directed research to obtain information about learners who are entering the FET phase of education and have completed nine years of Outcomes Based Education. This study aims to ascertain whether learners (in the micro-context of English Home Language - Grade 10) are performing according to the Assessment Standards stipulated in the NCS 2003 and whether they are demonstrating control of the recognition and realisation rules as discussed by Bernstein that apply to poetic analysis. The learners' personal dispositions toward teaching and learning at a city school in Pietermaritzburg have been analysed to find out if there is any correlation between their personal dispositions and their control of the recognition and realisation rules. The project is a case study and the approach is interpretive. Bernstein's theory forms the framework from which the model was structured and analysed. Instruments were developed to measure the degree of control of recognition and realisation demonstrated by ten, Grade 10 English Home Language learners. These learners also completed questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted to explore the dispositions of the learners. Results from the recognition and realisation tasks (mainly qualitative with some quantitative support) were analysed and correlated with the interpretation of the findings from the interviews and questionnaires. It is hoped that the conclusions from this research will provide insight into how these specific learners, who have only experienced Outcomes Based Education, will perform in the FET phase of education. It is further hoped that the findings may shed some light into the process of social transformation in South Africa and how, if given the opportunity to do so, learners develop mastery of the elaborated code that enables them to function successfully in society. In the words of Zonke (a learner in the study), how a learner must 'get that light that shows them the way'. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, [2007].

KîîTharaka is a Bantu language spoken by a minority community in Kenya numbering about 120,000. Attitude markers belong to the broad category of ‘residue’ elements in language commonly called ‘discourse markers’. Alternative terms for discourse markers are: Discourse particles, discourse/speech modifiers, pragmatic markers, pragmatic particles, or discourse operators. As the term ‘attitude’ markers itself suggests, attitude markers may best be defined as a set of expressions in language which the speaker applies to clarify his or her feelings, emotions or views contained in the utterance being made. Attitude markers ‘amplify’ the speakers intended meaning. Moore (2001: 5) observes that English speakers use expressive verbs to convey attitudes to or about a state of affairs e.g. ‘apologize’, ‘appreciate’, ‘congratulate’, ‘deplore’, ‘detest’, ‘regret’, ‘thank’, and ‘welcome’. It is such kind of expressions that are investigated in this research on KîîTharaka. This dissertation highlights on this linguistic phenomenon with the view that to ignore the role played by attitude markers in communicating meaning in KîîTharaka may reduce the accuracy of the speaker’s or the writer’s intended message. Bearing in mind that attitude markers are similar to discourse markers in that both are not part of the conceptual (i.e. the referential) information of the speaker’s utterance, the critical distinction to be made between discourse markers and attitude markers is that unlike discourse markers, attitude markers do not function as connectives i.e. they do not primarily establish discourse cohesion. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of this study was to determine discourse and functional motivation for passive word order variation as shown in three of the major Early Old English prose texts, Orosius, Pastoral Care, and Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The main variation of Early Old English passive word orders are of three types, which this study showed to be distinct in the extent to which passive subjects represent information structure. This study further shows that, while thematicity functions as a main motivating factor for the use of passives, positional variation of passive verbal elements is also an important determinant of the degrees of information structure of passive main clause subjects. / Department of English

In recent discourse-oriented studies of grammar, it has been claimed that the information structure of discourse is composed of two levels, foreground and background, and that linguistic categories such as tense and aspect have as their functions the sorting of information into these two levels. However, this study of Korean narrative finds that Korean tense and aspect distinguish not between foreground and background, but between ordinary and significant information within foreground and background. It was found that a total of five levels of information are signalled by the choice of tense and aspect in Korean narrative: ordinary background information, significant background information, ordinary mainline events, significant mainline events, and peak.Ordinary background information is indicated by the imperfective aspects (progressive, resultative, continuative, iterative, and inchoative) with the past tense. Significant background information is indicated by either the progressive the resultative with the historical present tense. The completive or inceptive aspects, both of which are perfective, combine with the past tense to mark ordinary mainline events. These shift to the progressive or resultative with the historical present to indicate significant mainline events. Peak is indicated by the completive aspect as well as tense-shift and other stylistic and linguistic devices such as onomatopoeia, concentration of participants, change of the normal pace of the story, or change from narration to dialogue. Tense and aspect are thus interrelated in signalling function and degree of significance of information.This study demonstrated two major points. First, Korean distinguishes five levels of information in narrative discourse. Second, these are differentiated by the choice of tense and aspect, among other devices. Two methodological consequences are that linguistic categories such as tense and aspect may be fully analyzed only in a discourse-based study and that mode of discourse cannot be analyzed without reference to tense and aspect.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dept. of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, University of Melbourne, 2000. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 377-387).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio University, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-193).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio University, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-193).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in d'études supérieures. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-150). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38751