Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

The purpose of this research was to examine gender issues in contemporary sermons. My sample consists of sermons delivered on BBC Radio 4 as part of acts of worship broadcast during 1993-4 which were examined to analyse how language, gender and power intersect to produce these discourses. In order to contextualize this material, chapter one focuses on the history of the sermon and its institutionalisation. Chapter two analyses the preachers’ use of generic terms and their use of the second person plural mode of address. In chapter three, I examine the gendered illustrations offered in the sermon sample in order to investigate how they contribute to create alienating and exclusionary discourses. Chapter four deals with the ways in which self-disclosure and the use of personal experience provide a means by which knowledge can be assimilated and transferred to others as well as acting as an inclusive mechanism in preaching. In chapter five, I demonstrate that metaphors have the potential to function as an inclusive device but that this influence may be negated if the gender content of the metaphor conveys gender-biases. Chapter six centres on the form and structure of the sermons as a way of considering the issue of a participatory address. The conclusion focuses on the way in which aspects of the notions of inclusive language intersect with the ways in which authority is traditionally defined. This thesis demonstrates that contemporary broadcast sermons do not endeavour to reflect the demands for inclusive language or less authoritarian discourses which have been made by feminists and advocated by most denominations in the Christian churches

Thesis (MPhil )--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the advent of the information age, government ministries in Lesotho, as well as nongovernmental agencies, are trying to gain publicity in terms of services they offer to the general public. The Ministry of Employment and Labour (MEL), for example, resorted to using radio programmes in order to inform the public about the services it offers. These range from career guidance and counselling, pre- and post-employment advice, information about occupational health and safety and HIV/AIDS, providing facts about what type of vacancies are available locally and internationally, to instilling the spirit of dialogue among relevant stakeholders in matters related to labour, employers and employees. During various weekly radio presentations, presented in Sesotho, several departments are able to go on-air and present services that their departments offer to the general public and what the public can do in the event they are given a disservice by the concerned department. In the process of doing so, many technical terms are used. These often take the form of code switches into English, translations from English into Sesotho and borrowings from English. The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the use of code switching, translation and borrowing makes it possible for factory workers in Lesotho to understand the message that is being delivered to them in a clear and unmistakable manner that will influence a change of behaviour on the part of factory workers. In order to ascertain the level of comprehension of technical terms, participants completed a questionnaire in which they gave their understanding of various technical terms selected from transcribed MEL radio broadcasts. The findings of this study show that the use of code switching, translation and borrowing from English limit the understanding of what is being communicated, making the radio broadcasts less effective in disseminating information on matters related to HIV/AIDS, the plight of factory workers according to the ratified conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), legal terms related to contracts of employment, their commencement and termination, conditions of work, the level of the unemployed versus the employed, skills needed to venture into the country’s labour market and occupational health and safety guidelines as reflected in the Labour Code of Lesotho. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Met die aanbreek van die inligtingsera probeer staatsministeries in Lesotho, asook nieregeringsorganisasies, om publisiteit te verkry vir die openbare dienste wat hul lewer. Die Ministerie van Werksverskaffing en Arbeid (MWA) het byvoorbeeld besluit om gebruik te maak van radioprogramme om die publiek in te lig aangaande sy dienste. Hierdie dienste wissel van beroepsvoorligting en -berading, voor- en na-indiensnemingsadvies, inligting oor bedryfsgesondheid en -veiligheid en HIV/VIGS, die verskaffing van feite oor beskikbare plaaslike en internasionale vakaturetipes, tot die kweek van ’n dialoog-gees onder relevante belanghebbendes in arbeid-, werkgewer- en werknemersake. Tydens verskeie weeklikse radio-aanbiedings, aangebied in Sesotho, kan ’n aantal departemente hulle openbare dienste adverteer, asook die prosedure wat gevolg kan word deur lede van die publiek wat veronreg is deur die gegewe departement. Hierdie boodskappe bevat verskeie tegniese terme, dikwels aangebied in die vorm van kodewisselings na Engels, vertalings uit Engels na Sesotho, asook Engelse leenwoorde. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om vas te stel of die gebruik van kodewisseling, vertaling en woordleen fabriekswerkers in Lesotho daartoe in staat stel om die boodskap wat gekommunikeer word te verstaan in ’n duidelike, ondubbelsinnige wyse wat tot ’n gedragsverandering onder die fabriekswerkers sal lei. Ten einde die begripsvlak vir tegniese terme vas te stel, het deelnemers ’n vraelys voltooi waarin hulle hul begrip van verskeie tegniese terme (geselekteer uit getranskribeerde MWA-radiouitsendings), weergegee het. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie dui daarop dat die gebruik van kodewisseling, vertaling en woordleen uit Engels die begrip van wat gekommunikeer word, beperk. Dít maak die radiouitsendings minder effektief in die verspreiding van inligting oor HIV/VIGS; die saak van fabriekwerkers (met inagname van die gesanksioneerde konvensies van die Internasionale Arbeidsorganisasie); regsterme wat verband hou met arbeidskontrakte, spesifiek hul aanvang en terminasie, asook werksomstandighede; die vlak van werkloses teenoor werkendes; die vaardighede wat benodig word om die land se arbeidsmark te betree; en bedryfsgesondheid en –veiligheidsriglyne, soos gereflekteer in die Arbeidswet van Lesotho.

This thesis concentrates on 1938 radio broadcast Pravda vítězí (The Truth Will Win), broadcasted from Vienna in both Czech and Slovak languages in the two months preceding and following the signing of the Munich agreement. Its theoretical part follows the genesis of the two broadcasts, the personalities involved and also the connection between Pravda vítězí and Vlajka, the infamous Czech fascist movement. In the practical part, Nazi propaganda themes are being analyzed in both broadcasts during October 1938. Main focus is on the campaigns against president Beneš, against freemasonry and bolshevism, pro-German campaign and antisemitism. In the Slovak language broadcast, anti-Czech campaign was a significant part of the Nazi propaganda, along with the support of Slovak separatism. Comparison of the ideological focus and goals of both broadcasts is supported by numerous quotations. In the final part, the thesis offers a brief look at the reactions to the broadcasts. Also, it attempts to evaluate the broadcasts' possible effects on both Czech and Slovak audience in the light of its primary goal - the disintegration of Czechoslovakia.