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Language planning and policy formulation is a complex exercise. The purpose of this research was to explore and expose the challenges of language planning and policy formulation in Africa, with specific reference to Zimbabwe as the case study. To carry out the study, critical stages, approaches, theories and models of language planning were used. This analysis further established the attitudes of indigenous communities towards the use of indigenous languages in major domains of life. The study revealed the dilemma African Governments face in ‘officializing’ indigenous languages. The study proposes that in a multilingual nation like Zimbabwe, there is strong need to provide legal recognition to African languages as both official and national languages within Zimbabwe’s constitution. The research comprises six chapters. The conclusion restates the problem identified at the beginning and summarizes the findings. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Thesis (Ph.D. (Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2007 / Refer to the document / University of Limpopo

Thesis (M.ED.) --University of Limpopo, 2008 / Language prejudice is of two types: positive and negative. Negative prejudice is image effacing. It is characterized by negative evaluation of one’s own language or speech patterns and a preference for someone else’s. An example of this kind of self- -denigration is the case of David Christiaan, the Nama Chief in Namibia, who, in response to the Dutch missionaries’ attempt to open schools that would conduct their teaching using Nama as a medium of instruction, is reported to have shouted, “Only Dutch, Dutch only! I despise myself and I want to hide in the bush when I am talking my Hottentot language” (Vedder, 1981: 275 as quoted in Ohly, 1992:65. In Ambrose, et al (eds.) undated: 15).

Language planning and policy formulation is a complex exercise. The purpose of this research was to explore and expose the challenges of language planning and policy formulation in Africa, with specific reference to Zimbabwe as the case study. To carry out the study, critical stages, approaches, theories and models of language planning were used. This analysis further established the attitudes of indigenous communities towards the use of indigenous languages in major domains of life. The study revealed the dilemma African Governments face in ‘officializing’ indigenous languages. The study proposes that in a multilingual nation like Zimbabwe, there is strong need to provide legal recognition to African languages as both official and national languages within Zimbabwe’s constitution. The research comprises six chapters. The conclusion restates the problem identified at the beginning and summarizes the findings. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Multilingualism is currently a much discussed topic, especially abroad. The objective of this thesis is to examine whether and eventually how multilingualism affects the process of learning Czech as a second language within Erasmus+ language courses. The language skills of both the lecturers and the students of these courses meet the EU language policy requirement to master at least two foreign languages. In the theoretical framework of the thesis, the terms multilingualism and bilingualism are explained, citing mainly foreign scholarly literature. The focus is then shifted to the EU language policy and the current state of research into multilingualism in language teaching. In the last part of the theoretical framework, multilingualism didactics and the communicative approach are introduced. The chief data source for the following empirical research are audio recordings of Czech language courses for Erasmus+ students of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. The data gathered from the classes are then analyzed and interpreted, with a focus on the manifestations of multilingualism. The thesis first deals with English, other foreign languages used in the courses follow. In the closing part, several teaching situations in which the multilingualism didactics is present are introduced, as...

Traditionally, language policy (LP) has been conceptualised as a notion separate from that of practice. That is, language practices have usually been studied with a view to evaluate the extent to which a LP is (or is not) implemented (e.g. Martin, 2005; Johnson, 2009). Recently, however, Spolsky (2004, 2007, 2008a) has argued that policy and practice need not be seen as distinct and that, in fact, there is policy in language practices themselves (I use the term ‘practiced language policy’). Therefore, Spolsky’s claim represents a decisive development in the field of LP research. However, this proposal remains essentially programmatic since Spolsky does not indicate how practiced language policies can be investigated. The aim of this thesis is to address this methodological gap. The main claim of the thesis is that Conversation Analysis (CA) – a method specifically developed to describe conversational practices – can be used to investigate practiced language policies. In order to support this claim, a case study has been conducted on the language practices of an induction classroom for newly-arrived immigrant children in France. In the thesis, a broad view of CA is adopted, incorporating both sequential and categorisation analysis (Membership Categorisation Analysis). More specifically, I have used the conversation analytic approach to code-switching (as developed over the last few years by researchers such as Auer, 1984; Li Wei, 2002; Gafaranga, 2009; Bonacina and Gafaranga, 2010) and investigated a corpus of audio-recorded classroom interactions I collected in the above mentioned setting. Observation of these interactions revealed a number of “norms of interaction” (Hymes, 1972) the classroom participants orient to in order to go about the routine business of talking in an orderly fashion. For example, it was observed that each of the languages available can potentially be adopted as the “medium of classroom interaction” (Bonacina and Gafaranga, 2010) depending on who is doing being the language teacher. When no one is doing being the language teacher, it was observed, a key determinant of language choice is participants’ language preference. Finally, in the absence of any shared preferred language, French was adopted. The practiced language policy of this induction classroom consists of the set of such interactional norms. It is because CA can be used to discover and describe such interactional norms that this thesis claims it can be used to investigate practiced language policies in this induction classroom and in other settings as well. In summary, this thesis is primarily a contribution to the field of LP research. It starts from recent proposals in the field, especially by Spolsky (2004, 2007, 2008a), that there is policy in practices and shows how this programmatically formulated proposal can be implemented. More specifically the thesis shows that and how CA can be used to discover a practiced language policy. The research reported here has adopted a case study methodology, investigating language choice practices in a multilingual educational setting. It therefore contributes to the study of bilingual classroom talk, albeit indirectly. This is particularly the case as there has been very few, if any, studies of bilingual classroom talk which combine both sequential and categorisation analysis.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Bilingual dictionaries play an extremely important role in a multilingual society; they can be perceived as the key instruments in the communication between different groups and speech communities. Efficient and active communication between different cultural groups is essential in the South African environment. Culture-bound lexical items and the way they are treated in bilingual dictionaries can have a great influence on this process of communication. It is evident that the misrepresentation of culture-bound lexical items in bilingual dictionaries could seriously impede communication rather than enhance it. It is of great importance that lexicographers should provide users of the dictionary with adequate guidance in their treatment of these items. In order to equip the user with the necessary skills and knowledge, the treatment of culture-bound items should go beyond the mere provision of a translation equivalent. Translation equivalents should be supplemented and supported by illustrative markers, labels, glosses, usage notes and pictorial illustrations could be of use. The particular needs of a multilingual society imply certain adaptations to the structure and nature of a bilingual dictionary. The bilingual dictionary should be adapted in terms of form, content as well as structure in order to be able to present and treat a representative amount of cultural data in a comprehensive manner. The material used for the dictionary basis should be representative of the culture of the speakers; the linguistic and cultural reality that confronts the speakers daily should be reflected in the dictionary, language contact and change should be acknowledged. Many South African languages still have a strong tradition of oral literature and the relation of oral and written texts should be represented realistically in the dictionary basis. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Vertalende woordeboeke speel 'n sleutelrol in die veeltalige omgewing. Hulle is naamlik van kamidale belang in die kommunikasie tussen verskillende taalgemeenskappe. In die Suid-Afrikaanse konteks is effektiewe kommunikasie en oop kanale tussen verskillende groepe van kardinale belang. Kultuurspesifieke leksikale items en die opname en hantering van hierdie items in vertalende woordeboeke kan 'n groot invloed uitoefen op die proses van kommunikasie tussen verskillende taalgemeenskappe. Onakkurate of onvoldoende hantering van hierdie items kan ernstige misverstande tot gevolg hê en sodoende skade doen aan die proses van kommunikasie. Leksikograwe moet die gebruiker van die woordeboek voldoende leiding gee rakende die betekenis en gebruik van kultuurspesifieke leksikale items. Die gebruiker moet ook in 'n woordeboek leiding kry om die kulturele konteks van 'n gespreksituasie te kan begryp. Die hantering van kultuurspesifieke leksikale items in vertalende woordeboeke moet meer behels as die voorsiening van vertaalekwivalente. Dit moet vir die gebruiker van die woordeboek moontlik wees om kennis van die kultuur van 'n ander taalgemeenskap op te doen, asook om sy of haar kommunikasievaardighede te ontwikkel deur die gebruik van die woordeboek. Om dit te bewerkstellig, is dit nodig dat die vertaalekwivalente wat vir kultuurspesifieke leksikale items voorsien word, aangevul word deur onder andere merkers, etikette, glosse, gebruiksnotas en illustrasies. Die behoeftes van die gebruiker van die vertalende woordeboek in die veeltalige omgewing impliseer dat daar sekere aanpassings gemaak moet word aan die aard en struktuur van die vertalende woordeboek. Die vertalende woordeboek wat gemik is op 'n gebruiker in 'n veeltalige en multikulturele omgewing, moet in terme van die vorm, inhoud en struktuur aangepas word om sodoende 'n verteenwoordigende hoeveelheid van kulturele data op 'n omvattende, sinvolle wyse te kan aanbied. Die materiaal wat vir die basis van die woordeboek gebruik word, moet verteenwoordigend wees van die kultuur van die sprekers. Die woordeboek moet die werklikheid waarmee die gebruiker daagliks gekonfronteer word, in die aanbieding van data en die samestelling van die sentrale woordelys reflekteer. Die tradisie van orale letterkunde speel vandag nog 'n daadwerklike rol in die lewe van baie Suid Afrikaners en dit moet ook in die woordeboek verreken word.

published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Playing has been part of people's lives since the beginning of time. However, play does not take place in silence (isolated from speech and sound). The games people play allow them to interact and to learn through experiences. Speech often forms an integral part of playing games. Video games also allow players to interact with a virtual world and learn through those experiences. Speech input has previously been explored as a way of interacting with a game, as talking is a natural way of communicating. By talking to a game, the experiences created during gameplay become more valuable, which in turn facilitates effective learning. In order to enable a game to “hear", some issues need to be considered. A game, that will serve as a platform for speech input, has to be developed. If the game will contain learning elements, expert knowledge regarding the learning content needs to be obtained. The game needs to communicate with a speech recognition system, which will recognise players' speech inputs. To understand the role of speech recognition in a game, players need to be tested while playing the game. The players' experiences and opinions can then be fed back into the development of speech recognition in educational games. This process was followed with six Financial Management students on the NWU Vaal Triangle campus. The students played FinMan, a game which teaches the fundamental concepts of the “Time value of money" principle. They played the game with the keyboard and mouse, as well as via speech commands. The students shared their experiences through a focus group discussion and by completing a questionnaire. Quantitative data was collected to back the students' experiences. The results show that, although the recognition accuracies and response times are important issues, speech recognition can play an essential part in educational games. By freeing learners to focus on the game content, speech recognition can make games more accessible and engaging, and consequently lead to more effective learning experiences. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014