Magister Artium - MA / IsiXhosa is one of the Nguni languages. It falls under the Bantu Languages and is spoken mainly by people living in the South Eastern and Western regions of South Africa. Traditionally, language symbols were frequently used by the Xhosa people to shape their culture as well as to instil values that were highly regarded in their society, such as ubuntu (humanity). Their oral traditions were passed on from generation to generation − through narratives, proverbs, idioms, riddles, songs and praise poems. The elders would name their children using phrases from oral expressions and by doing so, help in the preservation of societal norms and values. IsiXhosa names that are taken from all forms of oral literature are known as proverbial names. During the colonisation of South Africa, the arrival of European settlers with different culture and values rapidly overhauled the Xhosa society and their customs. Given that certain, if not all oral traditions, including that of the traditional naming system, did not meet the approval of the new masters, a new naming system was imposed on the population. However, the end of the apartheid regime in the 1990’s ushered in a new era of indigenous cultural revival and in particular a trend to revert back to traditional isiXhosa naming practices. Conversely, most proverbial names have overtime been detached from the original oral literature and do not necessarily convey the original meaning or message. Therefore, this study undertakes to explore the meanings of isiXhosa proverbial names in relation to isiXhosa culture. It also provides a deeper insight into the origin and conceptualisation of isiXhosa names in relation to isiXhosa traditional oral literature, namely proverbs, idioms, riddles and poetry. A review of historic data related to the subject and a survey was conducted with adult isiXhosa speakers to ascertain whether the meanings of proverbial names are transparent to them. The study shows how naming practices played an important and defining part in the oral history of the Xhosa people. It also served as a system to record the events that happened around the time of birth. The comparison of results from the desk study and the respondents’ interpretations revealed that the meanings of names from oral traditions are inseparable from a socio-cultural matrix.

The purpose of this research was to discover the impact of naming practices among North American Indians on name authority control. In order to address all the aspects, the main problem was divided into the following subproblems: 1. What are the naming practices among North American Indians? 2. Are North American Indian names found in the publication environment? 3. Is it necessary to standardize North American Indian names? 4. What are the authority control rules for North American Indian names and are they adequate? 5. How are North American Indian names presented in national authority files? North American Indian names showed three different forms: European, traditional, and mixed. Name sequences and name sets were also identified. If these name sequences and sets are found in the publication environment, provision should be made for the name forms in authority control systems. All of the sample North American Indian name forms (as well as names sets) were found in the identified academic texts, popular books, children’s books, and textbooks. So these forms and sequences had to either fit the current authority control system or the system would have to be modified to meet the new names. The thesis documented how Native American Indian name forms present specific problems of standardization. The necessity of addressing these problems was confirmed. The rules in two of the central authority control reference sources, AACR2R and Names of persons: national usages for entry in catalogues, were examined. Deficiencies were identified with regard to North American Indian names and changes suggested. Presentation of North American Indian names in national bibliographies was a final test to determine the impact of North American Indian names on name authority control. The forms of North American Indian names in the national bibliographies studied varied substantially, which is an indication of the lack of standardization of the names. / Thesis (DPhil (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Information Science / unrestricted

Le chiac est une variété de français parlé dans le sud-est du Nouveau-Brunswick marqué notamment par le mélange de codes avec l’anglais. Perrot (1995) a été la première à en faire une description approfondie. Non seulement les attitudes vis-à-vis du chiac sont variées parmi ses locuteurs, mais il s’avère que les représentations de ses mêmes locuteurs sur ce qu’est ou n’est pas le chiac formellement, leurs conceptions méta-linguistiques en somme de celui-ci divergent grandement. En effet, cette variété a la particularité d’être nommée ce qui lui donne la capacité d’être appréhendée et mobilisée aisément par les locuteurs autant que par les chercheurs (Boudreau 2012). À vrai dire, le chiac ne serait pas particulièrement différent des autres variétés de français en situation minoritaire dans les Maritimes (King 2008). Cependant, sa nomination ne semble pas suffire à le décrire précisément puisque la définition donnée au chiac n’est pas la même pour tous. Qu’est-ce qu’est le chiac selon ses locuteurs ? Comment expliquer l’apparente multitude de définitions pour un seul et même terme ? Quelles sont les pratiques linguistiques auxquelles on attribue le nom de chiac ? Qui parle chiac et dans quelles situations ? Qu’est-ce que ces processus discursifs de nomination de leur langue révèlent sur les représentations que se font les Acadiens et les Acadiennes de leur langue ? Les données de cette recherche ont été récoltées principalement à l’aide d’entretiens semi-dirigés et de notes prises lors d’observation participante dans des activités de la vie quotidienne à Moncton au Nouveau-Brunswick. / Chiac is a variety of French spoken in southeastern New-Brunswick. It is marked by its code-mixing with English because its speakers live in close relationship with the English-speaking majority of the region. Perrot was the first to describe Chiac linguistic structure in 1995. Not only are attitudes towards Chiac varied among its speakers, but it appears that the representations of its speakers, their meta-linguistic conceptions of Chiac, diverge greatly. Indeed, this variety has the particularity of being named, which gives it the capacity to be easily apprehended and mobilized by speakers as well as researchers (Boudreau 2012). In fact, chiac would not be particularly different from other varieties of French in a minority situation in the Maritimes (King 2008). However, its name does not seem to be sufficient to describe it precisely since the definition given to chiac is not the same for everyone. What is Chiac according to its speakers? Why are there multiple definitions for one and the same term? What linguistic practices are attributed to the name Chiac? Who speaks Chiac and in what situations? What do these discursive processes of naming their language reveal about Acadians' representations of their language? The data for this research was collected primarily through semi-structured interviews and notes taken during participant observation in activities of daily life in Moncton, New Brunswick.

On a small contested part of the world, the peninsula of Crimea, once a part of the former Soviet Union, lives a people who have endured genocide and who have struggled to etch out an identity in a land once their own. They are the Crimean Tatar. Even their name, an exonym promoting the Crimeans’ “peripheral status” (Powell) and their ensuing “cultural schizophrenia” (Vizenor), bears witness to the otherization they have withstood throughout centuries. However, despite attempts to relegate them to the history books, Crimeans are alive and well in the “motherland,” but not without some difficulty. Having been forced to reframe their identities because of numerous imperialistic, colonialist, and soviet behavior and policies, there have been many who have resisted, first and foremost through rhetorical sovereignty, the ability to reframe Crimean Tatar identity through Crimean Tatar rhetoric. This negotiation of identity through rhetoric has included a fierce defense of their language and culture in what Malea Powell calls a “war with homogeneity,” a struggle for identification based on resistance. This thesis seeks to understand the rhetorical function of naming practices as acts that inscribe material meaning and perform marginalization or resistance within the context of Crimea-L, a Yahoo! Group listserv as well as immediate and remote Crimean history. To analyze the rhetoric of marginalization and resistance in naming practices, I use the Discourse Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) within recently archived discourses. Ruth Wodak’s DHA strategies will be reappropriated as Naming Practice Strategies, depicting efforts in otherization or rhetorical sovereignty.

Die folgende Dissertation, die im Mai 2016 verteidigt wurde, beschäftigt sich mit sprachlichen Manifestationen von Genderkonzeptualisierungen im aktuellen schriftlichen Sprachgebrauch in Kroatien. Die Bedeutung von Genderzuschreibungen für die Benennung von Menschen wird sowohl aus synchroner als auch aus diachroner Perspektive auf Sprache betrachtet und analysiert. Das Material dieser Studie besteht neben sprachlichen und präskriptiven Quellen aus Tageszeitungen und linguistischem Material aus der kroatischen feministisch-queeren Gemeinschaft auch aus den Ergebnissen einer umfassenden Perzeptionsstudie und Expert*inneninterviews. Die Arbeit befasst sich mit drei zentralen Fragen: 1. Wie beeinflussen soziale Gendervorstellungen Fragen linguistischer Standardisierungsprozesse und wie werden diese Vorstellungen zudem in dominante Diskurse über Korrektheit im Sprachgebrauch eingeschrieben? 2. Welche Wirkung auf Genderkonzeptionen haben Sprachnormen im Bereich der personalen Appellation und welche kognitive Wirkung haben alternative Benennungsformen? 3. Welche Bedeutung haben Fragen des geschlechtergerechten Sprachgebrauchs bei politischen und aktivistischen Bemühungen von Genderexpert*innen in Kroatien und welche Strategien verwenden kroatische Genderexpert*innen, um eine diskriminierende Sprachnutzung zu vermeiden? / This dissertation thesis, which was defended in May 2016, deals with linguistic manifestations of gender conceptualizations in current written language usage in Croatia. The importance of gender for the linguistic naming of people is considered and analyzed from both a synchronic and a diachronic perspective on language. In addition to linguistic and prescriptive sources, the material of this study consists of daily newspapers and material from the Croatian feminist-queer community as well as oft he results of a perception study and expert inteviews. The thesis deals with three central questions: 1. How do social gender conceptions influence questions of linguistic standardization processes and how are these conceptions inscribed in dominant discourses about correctness in language use? 2. What effect do linguistic norms have on gendered conceptions of people and what is the cognitive effect of alternative naming practices? 3. What meaning is allocated to questions of gender-fair language use in political and activist efforts of gender experts in Croatia and what strategies do Croatian gender experts use to avoid discriminatory language use?

Text has abstracts in English and isiNdebele languages / This study focused on the naming and praises of amasokana (initiates) among the South African amaNdebele during and after the initiation process. An explanation is offered as to why amasokana of amaNdebele use Sepedi names instead of isiNdebele names during their transition from boyhood to manhood. Using critical language awareness, this study examined names and praises based on the cultural and traditional poetic forms recited by the amasokana during their homecoming ceremonies when they are introduced to their community by their post-initiation names. This is a case study that made use of interviews and observations as instruments to acquire data about the naming practices and praises of the amasokana of the amaNdebele. The research aims to make a meaningful contribution to the recording and preservation of the indigenous names of amasokana and their praises for posterity and to sustain cultural identity and the quintessential elements of humanity. / Irhubhululo leli linqophe ekuthiyweni kwamabizo kanye neembongweni zamasokana wamaNdebele eSewula Afrika ngesikhathi nangemva kwengoma. Isendlalelo siqale khulu ekutheni kubayini amasokana wamaNdebele asebenzisa amabizo weSepedi esikhundleni samabizo wesiNdebele ngesikhathi lokha nakasuka ebusaneni aya ebudodeni. Kilelirhubhululo, kuhlolwe amabizo kanye neembongo ngokuqalisa eendleleni ezibukondlo zangokwesiko kanye nomkhuba wokubonga kwamasokana nakagodukako lokha nakazazisa ngamabizo wabo wobusokana. Ngalokho- ke amabizo wendabuko wamasokana kanye neembongo kufanele kurekhodwe, kubulungwe ukuze kubulungwe ubunjalo besiko kanye neengcenye eziqakathekileko zobuntu. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Cette thèse propose une étude régionale des deux premiers siècles de l’Islam au cœur de la vallée du Nil. Elle se concentre sur la Moyenne-Égypte, plus précisément sur deux divisions administratives byzantines au moment de la conquête de l’Égypte par l’armée de ‘Amr b. al-‘Āṣ : celle de la capitale de la province de Thébaïde, Antinoé, et une de ses dépendances, la pagarchie d’Hermopolis Magna. Nous suivons dans cet espace les situations de contact entre conquérants et conquis au niveau local, entre les VIIe et IXe siècles, afin d’interroger l’évolution de ces deux catégories d’acteurs jusqu’à l’arrivée des Tulunides (868). Le corpus disponible pour cette étude est formé principalement par des papyrus arabes, grecs et coptes, alors que les sources littéraires s’intéressent très peu à la région. Ce riche ensemble documentaire permet de bien connaître la région et sa population à la fin de l’époque byzantine ainsi que de proposer un point de vue local sur l’histoire de la conquête. Un intérêt particulier est porté au développement d’une administration islamique locale née de la refonte du système régional byzantin en place au milieu du VIIe siècle. Au sein du développement de cette nouvelle structure administrative et provinciale au cours de la période umayyade, Antinoé perd tout statut administratif provincial. Elle prend le nom arabe d’Anṣinā, et Hermopolis celui d’Ašmūn(ayn). Cette dernière devient le principal échelon administratif de la Moyenne-Égypte islamique. En parallèle, nous pouvons suivre le développement d’une communauté musulmane de Moyenne-Égypte, impliquée à partir du VIIIe siècle dans l’administration et au cours de la période abbasside dans la propriété terrienne et dans la vie citadine et villageoise de la région. / This thesis offers a regional study of the two first centuries of Islam in the heart of the Egyptian Nile valley. It concentrates on Middle Egypt, precisely on the administrative divisions of the Byzantine system at the time of the conquest of Egypt by the armies of ‘Amr b. al-‘Āṣ (642) : the capital of the province of the Thebaid, Antinoe, and one of its dependencies, the pagarchy of Hermopolis Magna. Particular focus is given to the relationships between conquerors and conquered in this region between the 7th and the 9th century, the goal being to question the evolution of those two categories until the rise of the Tulunid dynasty (868). The sources available for this research are mainly non-literary papyri written in Arabic, Greek, and Coptic, as literary sources rarely express interest in this region. This rich documentary corpus allows us to examine in detail the administrative geography of the region and its population before the conquest and to offer a local point of view on the history of the conquest. Particular attention is given to the development of a new administrative and provincial structure during the Umayyad period in which the Thebaid is suppressed and Antinoe loses its place in the provincial structure of Egypt. It then appears under the Arabic name of Anṣinā and Hermopolis, as Ašmūn(ayn). The latter becomes the main administrative centre of Middle Egypt in the Islamic period and even supervises Anṣinā. In parallel, we can follow the development of the Muslim community involved in the administration of the region from the 8th century, in landholding and in city and village life in the Abbasid period.