Le point de départ de la thèse est une interrogation sur l'importance de la variation du sémantisme en français médiéval entre les différents genres textuels au cours du Moyen Âge. L'étude a été menée sur plusieurs dénominations féodales dont il s’agit de déterminer le contenu sémantique et son éventuelle évolution du XIIe au XVe siècle. La recherche s'appuie sur un corpus comportant des textes de genres suivants : chansons de geste, romans, chroniques et textes documentaires. L'analyse du sémantisme des dénominations étudiées se fait par le biais de l'étude des occurrences relevées au cours du dépouillement exhaustif, automatique ou manuel, de la totalité des textes de notre corpus. Deux angles sont adoptés lors de l'analyse : l'étude du co-texte linguistique des occurrences et l'étude du contexte narratif de leur apparition. En raison des dénominations étudiées, qui appartiennent pleinement au vocabulaire de la féodalité, l'analyse linguistique ne se sépare pas des travaux d’historiens et de littéraires concernant l'évolution de la société féodale et les textes de notre corpus. Au terme de la thèse sont apparus nettement des régularités dans les évolutions des emplois et du contenu sémantique des dénominations étudiées, ce qui démontre la nécessité d'intégrer la question des genres textuels dans les études sémantiques. Au-delà de résultats pour ces dénominations, il s’agit l'expérimentation d'une méthode pour la sémantique du français médiéval. / The starting point of our thesis was the examination on the importance of semantic variations in Medieval French throughout different text genres during the medieval period. It was based on the study of several feudal names; the aim of the research was to point out their semantic structures and eventual change from the 12th to the 15th century. The corpus that we used consisted of texts of following genres: Epic texts, chivalry romances, chronicles and documentary texts. We analysed all texts by manual or automatic counting of all examples of the investigated names. Two perspectives were adopted: the study of the linguistic co-text of the names and that of narrative context of their use. Given the nature of the studied names, which are integrated in the feudal vocabulary, the linguistic analysis was completed by historical and literary studies on the feudal society and the texts of the corpus. The research pointed out clearly a number of regularities in the uses, semantic structures and linguistic change of the studied names; it confirms the relevance to consider the variation of text genre in semantic studies. Beyond the results for the examined names, our thesis suggests a method for Medieval French semantic studies.

Submitted by Mariana Dornelles Vargas (marianadv) on 2015-05-21T15:57:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 aos_leitores.pdf: 3089423 bytes, checksum: 9ed39a1573630d0515a016380d40eff0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-21T15:57:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 aos_leitores.pdf: 3089423 bytes, checksum: 9ed39a1573630d0515a016380d40eff0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A pesquisa expõe estratégias autorreferencias investidas no editorial da revista Veja, que possibilitam a criação de vínculos de confiança e credibilidade com seu público. Descreve o perfil do jornalismo opinativo a partir da narração dos processos de produção das reportagens dando ênfase aos seus colaboradores, como repórteres e fotógrafos durante suas rotinas de trabalho. Para classificar os tipos de discursos enunciados pela seção examinada, os textos dividem-se em categorias. Após uma minuciosa análise quantitativa realizada sobre as edições do ano de 2009, elegeu-se a ?celebração profissional? como parâmetro da análise qualitativa. O estudo compara os editoriais enquanto ?Carta do Editor? e ?Carta ao Leitor?, apresenta suas características, e discorre sobre suas relações com outras seções da revista, como as imagens que acompanham os editoriais procurando comprovar o que está sendo dito em seus textos. A pesquisa identifica marcas autorreferenciais no discurso de Veja enquanto sujeito enunciador que, através da persuasão, e de forma implícita, instiga o leitor a render-se aos seus ditames. / The research seeks to study the self-referential strategies invested in the editorial of the magazine Veja that allow the creation of bonds of trust and credibility with your audience. Describes the profile of opinionated journalism from the recounting of stories of production processes with emphasis on its employees, as reporters andphotographers during their routine work. To classify the types of speeches declared by section examined, the texts are divided into categories. A detailed quantitative analysis performed on the issues of 2009, he was elected a "professional celebration" as a parameter for qualitative analysis. Compares the editorial "Letter from the Editor" and "Letter to the Reader" by presenting their characteristics, and talks are on their relationships with other sections of the magazine, as the images accompanying editorial looking to prove what is being said in their texts. Brands are identified in the self-referential of Veja discourses, characterized as enunciating subject who, through persuasion, and, implicitly encourages, the reader to surrender to its dictates.

Orientador: Clélia Cândida Abreu Spinardi Jubran / Banca: Ingedore Grunfeld Villaça Koch / Banca: Sanderléia Roberta Longhin-Thomazi / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem como base teórica a concepção de referente apresentada pela Lingüística Textual de linha sócio-cognitivo-interacionista. Para esta, a referenciação, não mais vista como uma relação de espelhamento entre linguagem e realidade, passa a ser considerada como um processo de construção referencial dada no interior do discurso e, portanto, sem relação especular com o objeto-de-mundo. Assim, para essa perspectiva teórica, o referente, também denominado de objeto-de-discurso, é construído sócio-culturalmente a partir das práticas sociais e remodelado, no interior do discurso, em função dos propósitos comunicativos dos parceiros da interlocução verbal. Com base nesse aparato teórico, esse trabalho buscou analisar os recursos lingüísticos empregados por Carlos Heitor Cony na construção de referentes em suas crônicas de temas políticos publicadas entre 2004 e 2005. A partir dos dados encontrados no corpus, esta dissertação demonstra que, além das estratégias de progressão referencial já previstas pela literatura da área, a predicação - tanto nominal quanto verbal - e o que foi denominado de "jogo de instauração de referentes" podem atuar, em conjunto com o contexto discursivo, para a construção referencial. Como objetivo mais específico, tal pesquisa voltou-se à construção referencial de Lula, com destaque para as transformações sofridas por esse referente no decorrer das crônicas selecionadas e não apenas em cada uma delas isoladamente. De acordo com os dados analisados, esse trabalho constatou uma mudança na construção do referente Lula, que, de início, se voltava a aspectos positivos do presidente, sendo esses, em alguns casos, mesclados a aspectos negativos. No entanto, no decorrer...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present work has as theoretical base the conception of referent presented by Textual Linguistics of socio-cognitive-interactionist base line. According to it, the referenciation is no longer seen as a relation of mirroring between language and reality, but it is considered as a process of referential construction that occurs in the discourse and, therefore, without a specular relation with the "object of world". Like this, to this theoretical perspective, the referent, also denominated "object of discourse", is constructed socio-culturally starting from the social practices and remolded, in the interior of the discourse, in the function of the verbal interlocutors' comunicative purposes. Grounded on this theoretical support, this work aimed to analyse the linguistic means used by Carlos Heitor Cony in the construction of the referents in his chronicles of political themes published between 2004 and 2005. With base on the data found in the corpus, this dissertation demonstrate that, besides the estrategies of referential progression already foreseen by the bibliography about referenciation, the predicate - both nominal and verbal - and what was denominated instauration of referents game are able to act, with the discoursive context, to promote the referential construction. As a more especific objective, this research turned to the referential construction of Lula, with emphasis on the transformations suffered by this referent in the course of the selected chronicles and not only in each one of them separately. Starting from the analysed data, this work verified a change in the referent Lula's construction, which, in the beggining, turned to the president's positive aspects, in some cases, mixed with the negative ones. However, in the course of the chronicles, there was an intensification of negative aspects atributed to that referent. This was...(Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Orientador: Pedro Ângelo Pagni / Banca: Lúcio Lourenço Prado / Banca: Marcus Vinícius da Cunha / Resumo: Ao analisar o funcionamento da linguagem, Wittgenstein, nas Investigações Filosóficas, problematizou, por um lado, os sistemas filosóficos modernos, que se apoiaram em um ideal de racionalidade unidimensional, pois consideraram a razão, o único meio de se alcançar o conhecimento verdadeiro e, por outro lado, colocou em dúvida a linguagem como estrutura de representação firmemente estabelecida e seu uso instrumentalizado. Nessa análise, o filósofo descreveu a categoria jogos de linguagem e seus usos nas mais diversas formas de vida em contraposição ao ensino ostensivo assegurado na concepção agostiniana de linguagem. Wittgenstein considerou que a teoria referencial compreendia a linguagem como um sistema logicamente estruturado, reduzido ao exercício da designação, enquanto que os jogos de linguagem permitiam, à linguagem, uma infinidade de funções. Dessa forma, ao invés de nos atermos a uma única forma de expressão dos pensamentos, podemos utilizar inúmeras maneiras de pensar os problemas que nos afligem. Embora Wittgenstein não tenha elaborado uma Filosofia da Educação, suas críticas ao ensino ostensivo e a caracterização da categoria jogos de linguagem parecem evidenciar a complexidade da linguagem, quando nos remetemos à discussão de seus limites. Essas críticas e categoria, depreendidas de sua filosofia, ao nosso ver, fornecem elementos para que os educadores se contraponham à unidimensionalidade da razão e do uso na linguagem pelas teorias e práticas pedagógicas, no presente, levando-os a refletir sobre os seus limites e, quem sabe, a possibilidade de pensá-las em sua multiplicidade. / Abstract: Analyzing the language working, Wittgenstein, in Philosophical Investigations, put in doubt the modern philosophical systems, that based on a model of unidimensional reason because it considers the reason the only way to reach the true knowledge and, otherwise, he placed in doubt the language as structure of representation firmly fixed and how its is used. In this study of facts, the philosopher related the category language games and its uses in differents life forms in contraposition to the ostensive teaching insured on the agostiniana's conception of language. Wittgenstein considered that the referential theory had comprised the language as a structured system, reduced to exercise of designation, and the language games let, to the language, an infinity of functions. This way, opposite to cling to the only form of expression of the thoughts, we can use many ways of thinking about the problems we have fear. Although Wittgenstein hadn't elaborated a Philosophy of the Education, his discernments about the ostensive education and the characterization of the category language games look to evidence the language complexity, when we refer to the discussion of his limits. Those discernments and category, deduced of his philosophy, in our point of view, give elements for the teachers compare to the unidimensionality of the reason and of the use in the language by theories and pedagogic practices, at the present time, taking them to think about their limits and, maybe, the possibility of thinking about its multiplicity. We can, in this dissertation, to think about the own questions of the education when we relate the referential language to the possibilities of communication limited to the transmission of formulated knowledges and, the language games, to the condition of plural possibilities, that consider the differents uses of the language in the educative activity. / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:45:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviane Yamane da Cunha.pdf: 3885231 bytes, checksum: 72acc4d86cf4d3c53270724a37db6311 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-16 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The aim of this essay is to verify the choice of referring expressions in subject position by examination of texts from the social networks orkut, twitter and blog. We verify the discursive and textual behavior of different types of phrase, in another words, we verify if the subject is filled by a noum, a pronoun or zero. Furthermore, we analyze the functionality of the conjunctions AND, BUT and OR in order to determine which are coreferential and try to justify the choice of referring expressions. The survey data is compared and discussed through theories of functional grammar from NEVES (1997), HALLIDAY (1994), GIVÓN (1995), HALLIDAY & HASAN (1976), and others. / O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em verificar a escolha de expressões dos referentes em posição de sujeito mediante exame de textos retirados das redes sociais orkut, twitter e blog. Verifica-se o comportamento discursivo-textual dos diferentes tipos de sintagma, isto é, se o sujeito é preenchido por um sintagma nominal, pronominal ou zero. Ademais, analisa-se a funcionalidade das conjunções E, MAS e OU afim de que se encontrem determinantes e justificativas para a correferencialidade do sujeito. Os levantamentos de dados são discutidos mediante teorias funcionalistas de HALLIDAY (1994); GIVÓN (1995); HALLIDAY & HASAN (1976); NEVES (1997) entre outros.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:45:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gustavo Pereira Tomazini.pdf: 684135 bytes, checksum: dd5949de4cee992e127e3531640d776d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-09 / The purpose of this research is to verify the expression of referential process in legal and business documents, the originals of which are written in English and the translations of which are made in Portuguese, assessing the effectiveness of the strategies activated by the translators, so that the mapping of referring expressions and the flow of information should not distort the translation process. The documents for analysis are compared with and discussed based on the functional theory, particularly by Halliday (1994); Givón (1995); Halliday & Hasan (1976), and on the studies by Neves (1997; 2007; 2011). / O objetivo deste trabalho consiste em verificar a expressão do processo de referenciação em documentos jurídicos e comerciais, em originais redigidos no idioma inglês e em traduções no idioma português, avaliando a eficiência das estratégias ativadas pelos tradutores para que o mapeamento das expressões referenciais e o fluxo de informação dos textos originais não falseiem o processo tradutório. Os documentos de análise são comparados e discutidos com base na teoria funcionalista, particularmente em Halliday (1994); Givón (1995); Halliday & Hasan (1976), e nas explicitações de Neves (1997; 2007; 2011).

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:45:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luciana Ribeiro de Souza.pdf: 1272328 bytes, checksum: dcecae964d9cbf23b680770a948b9704 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-26 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / This dissertation analyzes, from the viewpoint of enunciative relations, referential chains in different textual sequences excerpts (narrative, descriptive and argumentative) of Brazilian novels. Anchored in functionalism (HALLIDAY 1964; 1973; 1978; 1989; HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2004; DIK, 1997; NEVES, 2004, 2007), related with text linguistics and cognitive linguistics, this proposal analyzes language in function a textual-discursive view of grammar. In the realization of this research, it was established as central to the analysis the chain of endophoric reference and its triadic categories. In this proposal, it was aimed at verifying and interpreting: the different fillers for referential slots in the text (noun phrases, pronouns, ø); the relation between the filler of the referential slots and the creation and maintenance of the referential network; the interplay of enuncive-enunciative categories set up in this network, according to selected textual sequences from different novels of different literary periods. The verification had its focus on: in narrative sequences, the type of phoric filler used in reference to the characters; in descriptive sequences, the introduction and maintenance of phoric elements on the spatial construction of the descripted scenario. The results of the analysis showed, among other things, (i) in narrative sequences: the relevance of noun phrases in creating descriptive traits of characters; the non-canonical use of personal pronouns, which were used to introduce referents; (ii) in descriptive sequences: a great number of noun phrases and a very low number of pronominal forms and zeroes; the introduction of new referents associated with to the description of space; (iii) in argumentative sequences: in which, most of the times, the author opines, there is a special contribution . It was concluded that in any textual sequence there are elements that construct the referential chain, through which these elements are made part of the construction of the cohesive meaning of the utterance. However, it became evident that in different textual sequences and, specially, different novels from different literary periods are a conditioning factor to the construal and maintenance of referential chain in the text. / Este trabalho tem o objetivo de analisar, do ponto de vista das relações enunciativas, o estabelecimento da cadeia referencial em diferentes sequências textuais (narrativas, descritivas e dissertativas) do gênero romance, no Brasil. Numa perspectiva funcionalista (HALLIDAY 1964; 1973; 1978; 1989; HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2004; DIK, 1997; NEVES, 2004, 2007) que aproveita desenvolvimentos da linguística do texto e da linguística cognitiva, a proposta se dirige à língua em função, numa visão discursivo-textual da gramática. Na realização da pesquisa, instituiu-se como campo central da análise a cadeia referencial endofórica, vista sob o ângulo da enunciação, com suas categorias triádicas. Nessa proposta, objetivou-se, especificamente, a verificação e a interpretação: dos diferentes preenchimentos fóricos das casas em que se opera a referenciação textual (sintagma nominal, pronome, zero); da relação entre o modo de preenchimento das casas e o modo de criação e manutenção da rede referencial; do jogo enuncivo-enunciativo que se monta nessa rede, segundo as sequências textuais selecionadas em romances de diferentes escolas literárias. A busca de verificação dirigiu-se para: nas sequências narrativas, o tipo de preenchimento fórico usado para referência às personagens e, em relação a isso, o grau de identificação dessas personagens, em correlação com esse tipo de preenchimento; nas sequências descritivas, a introdução e a manutenção dos elementos fóricos que contribuem para construção espacial das cenas em que se operam as descrições; nas sequências dissertativas, a introdução e a manutenção dos elementos fóricos usados na construção do ponto de vista do enunciador. Os resultados dessas análises, dentre outras coisas, mostram (i) nas sequências narrativas: a relevância dos sintagmas nominais na composição descritiva das personagens; o uso não canônico do pronome pessoal que apareceu, mais de uma vez, introduzindo referente; (ii) nas sequências descritivas: uma proporção muito maior de sintagmas nominais e, em contrapartida, um número pouco significativo de pronome ou da referenciação textual zero; a introdução de novos referentes associada à descrição do espaço; (iii) nas sequências dissertativas: em que, na maioria das vezes, o autor introduz sua opinião, uma contribuição especial do conhecimento do contexto de situação para a construção do sentido do texto. Dentro da proposta aqui instituída, conclui-se que qualquer que seja a sequência textual, nela há elementos que constituem uma rede referencial, pela qual entram na constituição da coesão e de todo o sentido do enunciado. Entretanto, ficou evidente que diferentes sequências textuais e, especialmente, diferentes inserções das obras e dos autores em diferentes contextos de situação condicionam conduções específicas na montagem das cadeias referenciais textuais.

Nesta dissertação de mestrado investigamos a influência do contexto de formação do Mestrado Profissional em Ensino de Física (MPEF) da UFRGS no desenvolvimento dos produtos educacionais. A pesquisa consiste de duas etapas de análise: uma quantitativa, com foco no universo total de trabalhos concluídos, e uma análise discursiva dos textos de apoio de Física clássica, em interação orgânica com o dialogismo proposto pelo Círculo Bakhtin/Volochinov/Medvedev e com as racionalidades profissionais de Contreras. A partir da análise quantitativa percebemos que a maneira como os autores dos produtos educacionais, juntamente com seus orientadores, encaram os referenciais teóricos sinaliza um descrédito em relação a necessidade dessa fundamentação. Ocorrem diversas incoerências como a adoção de duplas de autores quase antagônicos como Vygotsky e Piaget, ou Vygotsky e Ausubel, sem uma mínima reflexão a respeito dos pressupostos teóricos defendidos por esses autores. Essa ingenuidade gera uma concepção utilitarista no uso dos referenciais, estritamente relacionada com a metáfora do mercado. Percebemos ainda a utilização de teóricos simpáticos aos orientadores, reforçando a significação social e hierárquica do contexto extraverbal no qual os enunciados foram produzidos. A escolha desses aportes teóricos possivelmente serve como estratégia discursiva para estreitar a relação entre o aluno-professor, o professor orientador e os avaliadores. A análise discursiva evidenciou que os autores utilizam os referenciais apenas porque é uma exigência formal em um trabalho de conclusão. Poucas vezes identificamos uma articulação entre o aporte teórico, as questões-foco, desenvolvimento, aplicação e avaliação produto. Notamos que o racionalismo técnico propagado pelo MPEF da UFRGS influencia diretamente no desenvolvimento dos produtos, refletindo na direcionalidade, responsividade, expressividade e gênero discursivo dos trabalhos. Os produtos educacionais desenvolvidos nesse tipo de contexto de formação tendem a ser pouco relevantes frente às necessidades escolares. / In this dissertation, we investigate the influence of the training context of the Professional Master’s degree in Physics Teaching (PMPT) at UFRGS on the development of educational products. The reaserch consists of two stages of analysis: a quantitative, focusing on total universe of completed works, and a discursive analysis of Classical Physics didactical texts (called support texts)in strong interaction with the dialogism proposed by Bakhtin/Voloshinov/Medvedev’s Circle and the professionals rationalities of Contreras. From the quantitative analysis, we realized that the way the authors of educational products, along with their advisors, treat the theoretical frameworks points toward an unbelief on the need of a solid theoretical foundation. Several inconsistencies occur as the joint adoption of almost antagonistic authors such as Vygotsky and Piaget, Vygotsky and Ausubel or without a minimum reasoning about the theoretical principles defended by these authors. This naive approach leads to an utilitarist conception of the theoretical framework, strictly related to what we call metaphor of market. Moreover, we see the adoption of scholars in a way that it is advisor’s friendly, strengthening social and hierarchical significance of extraverbal context in which the utterances were produced. The choice of these theoretical contributions possibly acts as a discursive strategy to develop the relationship between the student-professor, advisors and evaluators. The discursive analysis showed that the authors use the theoretical frameworks as if they are simple requirements to be fulfilled by their dissertations. In a few times we identified links between theoretical contribution, focus-issues, development, implementation and evaluation of educational product. We note that the technical rationality disseminated by UFRGS PMPT directly influences the development of educational products, reflecting the directionality, responsiveness, expressiveness and speech genre present on these works. Educational products developed in this kind of training context tend to be of little relevance concerning the school needs.

<p>The study is about the rock engravings on the wonderstone hills just outside Ottosdal, North West province, about 70km northwest of Klerksdorp. Wonderstone is remarkable rock that is&nbsp / smooth, shiny and very easy to mark. The wonderstone occurs only on two adjacent farms, Gestoptefontein and Driekuil, and thus the rock art on the wonderstone outcrops is referred to as the Gestoptefontein- Driekuil complex (GDC). This rock art is now the only remaining trace of what must once have been a much larger complex of engravings. Sadly, much of the rock art has been destroyed in the course of mining activities, with very few records. The largest remaining outcrop is still threatened by potential mining activities. The study attempts to bring this disastrous and unacceptable situation to the attention of the public and the heritage authorities, who have so far failed to respond to applications to grant the sites protection. It therefore has two main aims: to&nbsp / locate and record as much of the rock art as possible and to understand the significance of the outcrops in the lives of the people who made them. Based on the rock art itself, as well as what little historical evidence is available, it is argued that the rock art was made by Khoe-San people during the performance of important ceremonies and other activities. The rock art has two main components: engravings of referential motifs and a gestural, or performative, element. The referential motifs depict a range of things: anthropomorphs and zoomorphs, decorative designs, items of clothing, as well as ornaments and decorations. The gestural markings were made by rubbing, cutting and hammering the soft wonderstone, probably in the course of a range of activities that people carried out on the outcrops. One of the main findings of the study is that the GDC was a place that was of particular significance to women. This is suggested by the large number of engravings of items that are closely associated with Khoe-San women &ndash / depictions of aprons, ornaments, and decorations. These play a prominent role in the initiation practices of many Khoe-San groups. Initiates emerging from ritual isolation after their first menstruation are given new clothes / they are also loaned ornaments and jewellery. This reincorporation into society as a &lsquo / new person&rsquo / has been described by some Khoe-San women as one of the high points of their lives. Oral traditions from the area indicate that the wonderstone outcrops were believed to have&nbsp / special properties / the study incorporates these traditions to argue that the wonderstone outcrops were associated with the presence of a great water snake that lay on the rocks and also lived in&nbsp / the pools of water in the nearby Driekuil Spruit. People therefore came to the outcrops to perform rites of reincorporation. One of these ceremonies may have been performing rites of association&nbsp / with the great snake / such practices may have included the use of rock dust as an ingredient for body paint.</p>

<p>The study is about the rock engravings on the wonderstone hills just outside Ottosdal, North West province, about 70km northwest of Klerksdorp. Wonderstone is remarkable rock that is&nbsp / smooth, shiny and very easy to mark. The wonderstone occurs only on two adjacent farms, Gestoptefontein and Driekuil, and thus the rock art on the wonderstone outcrops is referred to as the Gestoptefontein- Driekuil complex (GDC). This rock art is now the only remaining trace of what must once have been a much larger complex of engravings. Sadly, much of the rock art has been destroyed in the course of mining activities, with very few records. The largest remaining outcrop is still threatened by potential mining activities. The study attempts to bring this disastrous and unacceptable situation to the attention of the public and the heritage authorities, who have so far failed to respond to applications to grant the sites protection. It therefore has two main aims: to&nbsp / locate and record as much of the rock art as possible and to understand the significance of the outcrops in the lives of the people who made them. Based on the rock art itself, as well as what little historical evidence is available, it is argued that the rock art was made by Khoe-San people during the performance of important ceremonies and other activities. The rock art has two main components: engravings of referential motifs and a gestural, or performative, element. The referential motifs depict a range of things: anthropomorphs and zoomorphs, decorative designs, items of clothing, as well as ornaments and decorations. The gestural markings were made by rubbing, cutting and hammering the soft wonderstone, probably in the course of a range of activities that people carried out on the outcrops. One of the main findings of the study is that the GDC was a place that was of particular significance to women. This is suggested by the large number of engravings of items that are closely associated with Khoe-San women &ndash / depictions of aprons, ornaments, and decorations. These play a prominent role in the initiation practices of many Khoe-San groups. Initiates emerging from ritual isolation after their first menstruation are given new clothes / they are also loaned ornaments and jewellery. This reincorporation into society as a &lsquo / new person&rsquo / has been described by some Khoe-San women as one of the high points of their lives. Oral traditions from the area indicate that the wonderstone outcrops were believed to have&nbsp / special properties / the study incorporates these traditions to argue that the wonderstone outcrops were associated with the presence of a great water snake that lay on the rocks and also lived in&nbsp / the pools of water in the nearby Driekuil Spruit. People therefore came to the outcrops to perform rites of reincorporation. One of these ceremonies may have been performing rites of association&nbsp / with the great snake / such practices may have included the use of rock dust as an ingredient for body paint.</p>