MA (English) / Department of English / The study analysed the language used by The Herald and Daily News journalists to report on the marriage conflict between the former Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and Ms Locardia Karimatsenga. The Herald is a state-owned newspaper and Daily News is a privately-owned newspaper. An analysis of the marriage conflict enabled readers, in a magnified way, to see how ideological differences between the public and private media in Zimbabwe are represented. The study examined the similarities and/or differences in the manner in which the marriage conflict was represented in both papers. The study also examined the language used in the headlines, established the sources used and evaluated the ideological stances of the two newspapers. The study utilised the case study design. The researcher only focused on articles which were published during the month when the former Prime Minister married Ms Elizabeth Macheka in September 2012. It was also the month when the media published many articles about the marriage saga. Seventeen articles were analysed, eleven from The Herald and six from the Daily News. Framing and Representation theories were deemed appropriate to analyse the articles. Critical Discourse Analysis and semiotic analysis were used to analyse the selected articles and visuals which accompanied them. The findings of the study revealed that The Herald reports tended to be biased against the Prime Minister, while the Daily News was more objective in its use of language.

This thesis examines how men and women as co-interactants in management meetings use various interactional mechanisms to play out their roles and identities, as they position their ideas in a particular way for intended meaning and effect. The study aims to demonstrate how a particular approach to the examination of naturalistic data, gathered through the use of a case study design, based on recordings and supported by a number of ethnographic strategies can, when examined and informed by conversation analysis, pragmatics and more indirectly critical discourse analysis, generate further insights into the semantic and pragmatic meanings of utterances. The study focuses on four companies in postcolonial Zimbabwe, where the entry of women into senior management positions has changed the complexion of most organisations, but men continue to be the fundamental power brokers in the corporate workplace, which remains a site of social struggle where language, power and gender are important variables. This study finds that while perceptions of power may not vary significantly between men and women, how they use language to play out this power in meetings is of significance. The study suggests that gender-linked communication styles are reflected in management of talk in areas of influence, such as the corporate boardroom. It also shows that men and women, irrespective of their levels of position power or perceived power, present themselves in meetings in different ways, possibly due to gender-role socialisation processes. Apart from generating some new insights regarding theory and research methodology, and describing and interpreting male-female interaction in an under-researched domain (management meetings in a Zimbabwean corporate setting at a time of major socio-economic transformation), it is hoped that this study will also be of value at an applicational level: serving for instance to support applied linguistic goals such as the development of Language for Specific Purposes courses; and conscientising corporate citizens, in particular, to be more accommodating about, and appreciative of differences in communication styles that may be gender-based. / Linguistics / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Text in English / This qualitative study presents an onomastic perspective on the changing linguistic landscape of Zimbabwe which resulted from the post-2000 land reforms (also known as the Third Chimurenga). When veterans of Zimbabwe’s War of Liberation assumed occupancy of former white-owned farms, they immediately pronounced their take-over of the land through changes in place names. The resultant toponymic landscape is anchored in the discourses of the First and Second Chimurenga. Through recasting the Chimurenga (war of liberation) narrative, the proponents of the post-2000 land reforms endeavoured to create a historical continuum from the colonisation of Zimbabwe in 1890 to the post-2000 reforms, which were perceived as an attempt to redress the historical anomaly of land inequality. The aim of this study is to examine toponymic changes on the geo-linguistic landscape, and establish the extent of the changes and the post-colonial identity portrayed by these place names. Within the case study design, research methods included in-depth interviews, document study and observations as means of data generation. Through the application of critical and sociolinguistic theories in the form of post-colonial theory, complemented by geo-semiotics, political semiotics and language ecology, this study uncovers the richness of toponymy in exposing a cryptic social narrative reflective of, among others, contestations of power. The findings indicate that post-2000 toponymy is a complex mixture of pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial place names. These names recast the various narratives in respect of the history of Zimbabwe through the erasure of colonial toponyms and resuscitation older Chimurenga names. The resultant picture portrayed by post-2000 toponymy communicates a complex message of contested land ownership in Zimbabwe. There is a pronounced legacy of colonial toponymy that testifies to the British Imperial occupation of the land and the ideologies behind colonisation. This presence of colonial toponymy many years after independence is an ironic confirmation of the indelible legacy of British colonialism in Zimbabwe. The findings show a clear recasting of the discourses of violence and racial hostility, but also reveal an interesting trend of toponymic syncretism where colonial names are retained and used together with new names. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

This thesis examines how men and women as co-interactants in management meetings use various interactional mechanisms to play out their roles and identities, as they position their ideas in a particular way for intended meaning and effect. The study aims to demonstrate how a particular approach to the examination of naturalistic data, gathered through the use of a case study design, based on recordings and supported by a number of ethnographic strategies can, when examined and informed by conversation analysis, pragmatics and more indirectly critical discourse analysis, generate further insights into the semantic and pragmatic meanings of utterances. The study focuses on four companies in postcolonial Zimbabwe, where the entry of women into senior management positions has changed the complexion of most organisations, but men continue to be the fundamental power brokers in the corporate workplace, which remains a site of social struggle where language, power and gender are important variables. This study finds that while perceptions of power may not vary significantly between men and women, how they use language to play out this power in meetings is of significance. The study suggests that gender-linked communication styles are reflected in management of talk in areas of influence, such as the corporate boardroom. It also shows that men and women, irrespective of their levels of position power or perceived power, present themselves in meetings in different ways, possibly due to gender-role socialisation processes. Apart from generating some new insights regarding theory and research methodology, and describing and interpreting male-female interaction in an under-researched domain (management meetings in a Zimbabwean corporate setting at a time of major socio-economic transformation), it is hoped that this study will also be of value at an applicational level: serving for instance to support applied linguistic goals such as the development of Language for Specific Purposes courses; and conscientising corporate citizens, in particular, to be more accommodating about, and appreciative of differences in communication styles that may be gender-based. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

The study is an explication of the representation of traditional and faith healers in Zimbabwean newspapers. This is done through analysing newspaper articles from selected Zimbabwean Newspapers. Kwayedza, Umthunywa, The Herald, NewsDay, Daily News and two tabloids which are Bulawayo Metropolitan (B-Metro) and Harare Metropolitan (H-Metro) are the papers that were used in the study to pursue the purpose of the study. The study is guided by the Afrocentricity and the extended pragma-dialectic theory. The theories allow the study to explore the issue of traditional and faith healers in line with the political, economic and the social context which shape the system in which they find themselves. The study recognises that traditional healing is the father of all healing systems in Africa. Faith healing and Western medicine are both colonial phenomena; they came into limelight following the colonisation of Africa thereby giving African countries a three-tier health system that comprises of traditional healers, faith healers and medical doctors. The research adopts a qualitative research paradigm. Data for the research is extracted from interviews, critical discourse analysis of newspaper articles and questionnaires. The study established that traditional healers are diabolically represented in Zimbabwean newspapers and this is because of Eurocentrism which is still rife in the minds of Zimbabweans. Eurocentrism depicts people of the African race as inferior, uncivilised, barbaric, savages and chaotic and this annihilates and dehumanises Africans. Faith healers on the other hand receive both positive and negative representation. Positive representation is necessitated by the idea that they are aligned to Christianity and negative representation emanates from the idea that their healing systems embrace the African understanding of disease and illness. The study concludes that the stories are a reflection of the idea that both the media and the minds of the people involved in news production are still held in colonialism. It is therefore concluded that media representation of traditional and faith healers is colonised. The study therefore advocates for the centering of the African in newspaper discourse about traditional and faith healers. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This study examines the historical and contemporary sociolinguistic status of three minority languages, namely Shangani, Kalanga and Tonga in Chiredzi, Plumtree and Binga respectively within the civil courts of Zimbabwe. This research problematizes the issue of language choice and usage in civil courtroom discourse by native speakers of the languages under study. The background to this research endeavor is the historical dominance of English, Shona and Ndebele in public institutions as media of communication even in areas where minority languages are dominant, a situation that has resulted in minority languages having a restricted functional space in public life. Respondents in this research included native speakers of the languages under study who have attended civil courtroom sessions either as accused persons or complainants, members of rural communities including community leaders, court interpreters stationed at Binga, Chiredzi and Plumtree magistrates‟ courts and members of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC). Data was also collected from minority language advocacy groups including Tonga Language and Cultural Committee (TOLACCO), Shangani Promotion Trust (SPAT) and Kalanga Language and Culture Development (KLCDA) using semi-structured interviews. In addition, participant observation of civil courtroom proceedings involving native speakers of Kalanga, Tonga and Shangani was done. Documentary analysis of colonial and postcolonial language policies in Zimbabwe was also done. Data was analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Ecology of Language theories. The findings for this research revealed that historically, language policy making in Zimbabwe has impacted negatively on the functional roles of Shangani, Tonga and Kalanga in civil courtroom communication because of the lack of implementation clauses in national constitutions. Furthermore, language attitudes that were analyzed in conjunction with a number of factors including age, demographics, naming of provinces, awareness of constitutional provisions on language and language-in-education policies were found to be key determinant factors influencing the sociolinguistic status of Kalanga, Tonga and Shangani in civil courtroom discourse. Court interpreting and initiatives by language advocacy groups also impacted on the sociolinguistic status of the languages under study in civil courtroom interaction. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Phil. (Language, Linguistics and Literature)

This dissertation investigates the revitalisation of Tonga, an endangered minority language in Zimbabwe. It seeks to establish why the Tonga people embarked on the revitalisation of their language, the strategies they used, the challenges they encountered and how they managed them. The Human Needs Theory propounded by Burton (1990) and Yamamoto’s (1998) Nine Factors Language Revitalisation Model formed the theoretical framework within which the data were analysed. This case-study identified various socio-cultural and historical factors that influenced the revitalisation of the Tonga language. Despite the socio-economic and political challenges from both within and outside the Tonga community, the Tonga revitalisation initiative was to a large extent a success, thanks to the speech community’s positive attitude and ownership of the language revitalisation process. It not only restored the use of Tonga in the home domain but also extended the language function into the domains of education, the media, and religion. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)