Since the publication of Dr. Johnson’s first English dictionary in 1755, there have been rapid changes in the development of dictionaries in other parts of the world. However, the advances are perceived more in other languages of the world such as the European languages while in Africa, the changes have been very slow. The majority of dictionaries utilised by most Africans are bilingual and were produced by the missionaries. These dictionaries were aimed at serving the needs of the missionaries, but more recently African scholars have been trying to create dictionaries that are intended to meet the needs of the native speakers particularly because the existing dictionaries contain many words which are archaic or going out of use. This means that the currently produced dictionaries should reflect the changes that have occurred in languages and society. The two dictionaries under scrutiny, Sesuto-English Dictionary and Sethantšo sa Sesotho, share similar content as if they were both targeting the same generation even though the former was written by missionaries in the 19th century while the latter was created by a Sesotho native speaker in the 21st century. This study aimed to establish whether the two dictionaries are the same or not, or whether Sethantšo sa Sesotho had been derived from Sesuto-English Dictionary as well as whether the two dictionaries meet the needs of the contemporary users. The study employed adaptation theory in order to discover the originality of Sethantšo sa Sesotho. User-perspective approach and communication-oriented function were utilised to judge the effectiveness of the two dictionaries in reading and writing and to analyse users’ views. The study established that Sethantšo sa Sesotho has adapted 69% lexical items from Sesuto-English Dictionary; words are arranged in a similar order in both dictionaries with slight differences here and there; most definitions and illustrative phrases/sentences are the same even though the author of Sethantšo sa Sesotho did not acknowledge using any written source of information, thus violating the principles of adaptation; use of these dictionaries during reading and writing was found to be beneficial to users; and both dictionaries lack current words which users encounter daily. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.(African Languages)

Southern Sotho verbal relative clauses are, on discourse-pragmatic grounds, categorised as direct and indirect. The pragmatic factors that govern the occurrence of these two types of relatives within a particular discourse context are investigated. An analysis of relative clauses occurring in live conversations as well as in the dramas Bulane (Khaketla, 1983) and Tjootjo e tla hloma sese/a (Maake, 1992) reveals that direct relative clauses usually modify the reference of predicate nouns (i.e. nouns used as the complements of copulative predicates), while indirect relative clauses modify the reference of object nouns. Theories which suggest that both predicate as well as object nouns generally convey new information, but that the reference status of predicate nouns is non-specific indefinite, while that of object nouns is specific indefinite, are discussed. A hypothesis suggesting that there is an interrelationship between the reference status of a head noun and the type of relative by means of which it is qualified, is proposed. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Thesis (M. Tech. (Communication)) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2015 / The central role of language in governance need not be argued; it is self-evident. Effective communication between the political leadership and the state administration, between individual government bodies and institutions, within these bodies and institutions, and between the government and its citizens, which is a prerequisite for good government, occurs mainly through language.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Die term deiksis is afgelei van die Griekse woord deiktikos wat 'wys na' betaken, en verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat in 'n taal gebruik word om die belangrikste orientasiepunte in 'n gespreksituasie te verwoord. Aile deiktiese interpretasies kan net relatief tot 'n spesifieke verwysingspunt (deiktiese sentrum) gemaak word. Vyf deiktiese kategoriee word onderskei. Persoonsdeiksis hou verband met die deiktiese persona, m.a.w. die spreker en aangesprokeneen moontlik 'n derde persoon indian hy/sy/dit in die gespreksituasie teenwoordig is. Persoonsdeiksis word hoofsaaklik in Noord-Sotho se kongruensie-en pronominale sisteem gereflekteer. Sosiale deiksis verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat die spreker se houding teenoor die aangesprokene of die derde persoon weergee. In Noord-Sotho word leksikale items met 'n sosiaal--deiktiese funksie aangetrefwat die spreker se bewondering, afkeer of respek teenoor die aangesprokene reflekteer, asook verwantskapstenne en aanspreekvonne. Alhoewel Noord-Sotho se pro nominate stelsel neutraal is ten opsigte van geslag, is daar ander maniere om taalkundig 'n onderskeid tussen die geslagte te maak. Plekdeiktiese uitdrukkings word gebruik om die Jigging van 'n objek relatief tot die deiktiese sentrum te beskryf. Die posisie van die gespreksgenote of hulle fisiese gestaltes kan hierdie deiktiese sentrum uitmaak. In Noord-Sothoword demonstratiewe, demonstratief-kopulatiewe, lokatiewe kopulatiewe,lokatiewe bywoorde en sekere werkwoorde vir hierdie doe I aangewend. Tyddeiksis word in Noord-Sotho hoofsaaklik deur middel van temporale bywoorde geleksikaliseer en deur middel van tydsvonne in die werkwoord gegrammatikaliseer. Die interpretasie van hierdie uitdrukkings is van die deiktiese sentrum (tyd wanneer die uiting gemaak is) afhanklik. Temporale bywoorde sowel as die tydsvonn van die werkwoord beskryf die tyd wanneer die handeling plaasvind. Hierdie vonne sal aandui of die handeling v66r koderingstyd plaasgevind het (verlede tyd), of dit na koderingstyd sal plaasvind (toe~omende tyd), en of die handeling met koderingstyd saamval (teenwoordige tyd). Diskoersdeiksis verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat gebruik word om na dele van die diskoers, of na naamwoordelike antesedente waarvoor daar nie 'n referent in die buitetaalse werklikheid bestaan nie, te verwys. In Noord-Sothoword demonstratiewe, pronomina van die derde persoon, demonstratief-kopulatiewe, sekere bywoorde, identifiserende kopulatiewe, sekere kwalifikatiewe en sekere voegwoorde vir hierdie doel aangewend. / The term deixis is derived from a Greek word deiktikos which means 'point at' and it is used in grammar to refer to those expressions which describe the essential points of orientation in a speech situation. The interpretation of deictic expressions can only be made in relation to a specific reference point (the deictic centre). Five deictic categories are distinguished. Person deixis concerns the deictic persons, that is the speaker, the addressee and possibly a third person if he/she/it is present in the speech situation. Person deixis is mainly reflected in the concordia! and the pronominal system of Northern Sotho. Social deixis refers to those expressions which reflect the speaker's attitude towards the addressee or the third person. Such expressions include lexical items which reflect the speaker's admiration, dislike or respect towards the addressee, as well as kinship terms and vocatives. Although the pronominal system of Northern Sotho is neutral with regard to sex, there are other linguistic ways in which gender distinctions can be drawn. Place deictic expressions are used to identify the location of an object relative to the deictic centre. The location of the speech participants or their bodies may constitute this deictic centre. Demonstratives, demonstrative-copulatives, locational copulatives, locative adverbs and certain verbs are used for this purpose in Northern Sotho. Time deixis is mainly lexicalised by means of temporal adverbs and grammaticalised by means of tense morphemes in the Northern Sotho verb. The interpretation of these expressions depends on the deictic centre (time when the utterance is made). Time adverbs as well as the tenses describe the time of an event. These structures will indicate whether the action took place before coding time (past tense), whether it will take place after coding time (future tense), or whether it coincides with coding time (present tense). Discourse deixis pertains to those expressions which are used to refer to parts of the discourse, or to nominal antecedents of which the referent is not present in the extra-linguistic context of the utterance. Demonstratives, demonstrative copulatives, third person pronouns, certain adverbs, identifying copulatives, certain qualificatives and certain conjunctions are used for this purpose in Northern Sotho. / African Languages / D Litt. et Phil. (Afrikatale)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Die term deiksis is afgelei van die Griekse woord deiktikos wat 'wys na' betaken, en verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat in 'n taal gebruik word om die belangrikste orientasiepunte in 'n gespreksituasie te verwoord. Aile deiktiese interpretasies kan net relatief tot 'n spesifieke verwysingspunt (deiktiese sentrum) gemaak word. Vyf deiktiese kategoriee word onderskei. Persoonsdeiksis hou verband met die deiktiese persona, m.a.w. die spreker en aangesprokeneen moontlik 'n derde persoon indian hy/sy/dit in die gespreksituasie teenwoordig is. Persoonsdeiksis word hoofsaaklik in Noord-Sotho se kongruensie-en pronominale sisteem gereflekteer. Sosiale deiksis verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat die spreker se houding teenoor die aangesprokene of die derde persoon weergee. In Noord-Sotho word leksikale items met 'n sosiaal--deiktiese funksie aangetrefwat die spreker se bewondering, afkeer of respek teenoor die aangesprokene reflekteer, asook verwantskapstenne en aanspreekvonne. Alhoewel Noord-Sotho se pro nominate stelsel neutraal is ten opsigte van geslag, is daar ander maniere om taalkundig 'n onderskeid tussen die geslagte te maak. Plekdeiktiese uitdrukkings word gebruik om die Jigging van 'n objek relatief tot die deiktiese sentrum te beskryf. Die posisie van die gespreksgenote of hulle fisiese gestaltes kan hierdie deiktiese sentrum uitmaak. In Noord-Sothoword demonstratiewe, demonstratief-kopulatiewe, lokatiewe kopulatiewe,lokatiewe bywoorde en sekere werkwoorde vir hierdie doe I aangewend. Tyddeiksis word in Noord-Sotho hoofsaaklik deur middel van temporale bywoorde geleksikaliseer en deur middel van tydsvonne in die werkwoord gegrammatikaliseer. Die interpretasie van hierdie uitdrukkings is van die deiktiese sentrum (tyd wanneer die uiting gemaak is) afhanklik. Temporale bywoorde sowel as die tydsvonn van die werkwoord beskryf die tyd wanneer die handeling plaasvind. Hierdie vonne sal aandui of die handeling v66r koderingstyd plaasgevind het (verlede tyd), of dit na koderingstyd sal plaasvind (toe~omende tyd), en of die handeling met koderingstyd saamval (teenwoordige tyd). Diskoersdeiksis verwys na daardie uitdrukkings wat gebruik word om na dele van die diskoers, of na naamwoordelike antesedente waarvoor daar nie 'n referent in die buitetaalse werklikheid bestaan nie, te verwys. In Noord-Sothoword demonstratiewe, pronomina van die derde persoon, demonstratief-kopulatiewe, sekere bywoorde, identifiserende kopulatiewe, sekere kwalifikatiewe en sekere voegwoorde vir hierdie doel aangewend. / The term deixis is derived from a Greek word deiktikos which means 'point at' and it is used in grammar to refer to those expressions which describe the essential points of orientation in a speech situation. The interpretation of deictic expressions can only be made in relation to a specific reference point (the deictic centre). Five deictic categories are distinguished. Person deixis concerns the deictic persons, that is the speaker, the addressee and possibly a third person if he/she/it is present in the speech situation. Person deixis is mainly reflected in the concordia! and the pronominal system of Northern Sotho. Social deixis refers to those expressions which reflect the speaker's attitude towards the addressee or the third person. Such expressions include lexical items which reflect the speaker's admiration, dislike or respect towards the addressee, as well as kinship terms and vocatives. Although the pronominal system of Northern Sotho is neutral with regard to sex, there are other linguistic ways in which gender distinctions can be drawn. Place deictic expressions are used to identify the location of an object relative to the deictic centre. The location of the speech participants or their bodies may constitute this deictic centre. Demonstratives, demonstrative-copulatives, locational copulatives, locative adverbs and certain verbs are used for this purpose in Northern Sotho. Time deixis is mainly lexicalised by means of temporal adverbs and grammaticalised by means of tense morphemes in the Northern Sotho verb. The interpretation of these expressions depends on the deictic centre (time when the utterance is made). Time adverbs as well as the tenses describe the time of an event. These structures will indicate whether the action took place before coding time (past tense), whether it will take place after coding time (future tense), or whether it coincides with coding time (present tense). Discourse deixis pertains to those expressions which are used to refer to parts of the discourse, or to nominal antecedents of which the referent is not present in the extra-linguistic context of the utterance. Demonstratives, demonstrative copulatives, third person pronouns, certain adverbs, identifying copulatives, certain qualificatives and certain conjunctions are used for this purpose in Northern Sotho. / African Languages / D Litt. et Phil. (Afrikatale)

The use of the mother tongue (MT) as a medium of instruction in schools is still a problematic subject of debate in South Africa and the continent at large. In most African countries, English remains the medium of instruction (MoI). This structured research sought to highlight the pros and cons of using mother tongue instruction in schools, specifically Northern Sotho, which is spoken by one of the ethnic groups in South Africa. Currently, in South Africa, children receive mother tongue education from grade one to three. In this study, the researcher argues that mother tongue should be used from grade one to twelve. For this study, the researcher relied on extant literature on mother tongue education. The concept of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) by Cummins (2001) was used to guide this study. The argument for mother tongue education is premised on the fact that it is crucial for the success and progress of children at school. As an example, studies have shown that children who are taught in their mother tongue such as Afrikaans and English, which remain the defacto mediums of instruction in the schools in South Africa, and French, German, Mandarin, etc. in other countries, excel in school and understand subjects such as Maths and Science better. / Ngangišano ya tšhomišo ya polelo ya gae bjalo ka polelo yeo e šomišwago go ruta dikolong e sa le taba ye bothata dinageng tše ntši le mo Afrika Borwa. Dikolong tše ntši mo dinageng tše, Seisemane ke leleme leo le sa šomišwago bjalo ka leleme la go ruta. Tlhamo ya nyakišišo ye e nyaka go gateletša bohlokwa bja go šomiša polelo ya gae bjalo ka polelo yeo e ka šomišwago dikolong, kudukudu Northern Sotho yeo e bolelwago ke ye nngwe ya dihlopha tša MaAfrika Borwa. Gonabjale mo Afrika Borwa, bana ba rutwa ka leleme la gae go tloga go mphato wa 1-3. Mo thutong ye, monyakišiši o nganga gore polelo ya gae e swanetše go šomišwa go tloga go mphato wa pele go fihlela go wa masomepedi. Thutong ye, monyakišiši o ipotile ka dingwalo tšeo di ngwadilwego ka ga thuto ya polelo ya gae. Kakanyo ya “Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)” yeo e tlilego ka Cummins (2001) e tla šomišwa go tlhahla thuto ye. Ngangišano ka ga thuto ya leleme la gae e theilwe godimo ga nnete ya gore le bohlokwa kudukudu go katlego le tšwelopele ya bana sekolong. Bjalo ka mohlala, dithuto di bontšhitše gore bana bao ba rutwago ka leleme la gae bjalo ka leleme la SeAfrikaanse le Seisemane, ao e sa lego maleme a thuto dikolong mo Afrika Borwa, SeForentšhe, Sejeremane, SeMandarini bjalobjalo kua dinageng tše dingwe, ba dira mošomo wo mobotse sekolong gomme ba kwešiša dithuto tša go swana le Thutadipalo le Saense bokaone. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

This study takes place within a school situated on the north eastern side of Soshanguve, a township to the north of the capital city, Pretoria, also called Tshwane. The school draws most of its learners from an area that started as an informal settlement. Certain parts of this settlement are now well structured and it is gradually becoming a formal settlement. The children who form part of this study are those whose parents have migrated from neighbouring provinces such as Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga, as well as from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Owing to this migration, the community around this school is multilingual. Multilingualism has led to phonic, grammatical, semantic and stylistic language interference. This interference has caused language change, which in turn has led to variations that affect the standard form of Sesotho sa Lebowa, the first language of the school. The school selected for this study has achieved very average matriculation results since its establishment in 1994. Although the school generally achieves a 100% pass rate in the subject Sesotho sa Lebowa, marks are generally low despite the fact that the learners are supposedly first language speakers of Sesotho sa Lebowa. The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons for the poor quality of these results. Matriculation results over the past four years attest to the fact that something needs to be done in order to reverse the negative trend of these results. / Linguistics / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)

This study takes place within a school situated on the north eastern side of Soshanguve, a township to the north of the capital city, Pretoria, also called Tshwane. The school draws most of its learners from an area that started as an informal settlement. Certain parts of this settlement are now well structured and it is gradually becoming a formal settlement. The children who form part of this study are those whose parents have migrated from neighbouring provinces such as Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga, as well as from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Owing to this migration, the community around this school is multilingual. Multilingualism has led to phonic, grammatical, semantic and stylistic language interference. This interference has caused language change, which in turn has led to variations that affect the standard form of Sesotho sa Lebowa, the first language of the school. The school selected for this study has achieved very average matriculation results since its establishment in 1994. Although the school generally achieves a 100% pass rate in the subject Sesotho sa Lebowa, marks are generally low despite the fact that the learners are supposedly first language speakers of Sesotho sa Lebowa. The aim of this study is to investigate the reasons for the poor quality of these results. Matriculation results over the past four years attest to the fact that something needs to be done in order to reverse the negative trend of these results. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)

The central argument that underpins this thesis is that the Bataung, Bafokeng and the Bakuena lineages are found across all the Basotho groups of Basotho (Southern Sotho), Batswana and Bapedi. The thesis concerns itself with the similarity of the Sotho groups, a topic that has seldom received a sustained scholarly attention. Scholars have devoted much attention in discussing Sotho groups of Batswana, Basotho (Southern Sotho) and Bapedi, but their concern has mostly been to describe one group at the time discussing their cultural, social and political dimensions.The thesis aim investigates the oneness of Sotho by discussing the cultural, social and political similarities of the Batswana, Basotho (Southern Sotho) and Bapedi. The thesis drew on a range of semi-structured interviews with academics, senior people with knowledge of Sotho culture and literature to crystallise the information from the narrative analysis of documents, media and secondary literature. The thesis maintains that Basotho (Southern Sotho), Batswana and Bapedi are similar people. Their cultural dimension shows they have similar languages that share the same collection of words (langue) that indicates the same same origin. They also share the name ‘Basotho’ ~ Abeshundu that emanates from their similar way of dressing. The Sotho groups’ social dimension shows that they have similar practices of birth, raising children, lebollo (initiation school) and handling of death. They share similar games, folktales and taboos that reflect the aforementioned four cycles of human experiences in similar narratives across the groups. The thesis finds that Sotho groups have similar way of governance. They come together in the hierarchy of similar clans (e.g. Bafokeng, Bataung and Bakuena), chiefdoms and a group. These subdivisions in a group help with the allocation of resources for each individual and maintaining status quo in governance. The Sotho groups have similar proverbs and idioms to counsel proper leadership. The thesis discusses Sotho groups together as they come from the same origin although they have gone their separate ways. The thesis uses Gellner and Smith theories of ethnicity to explain the similarity of the Sothogroups. Gellner’s view is that one chooses to belong to a particular culture and associates oneself with people who practice this culture. Ethnicity is socially constructed due to experiences and people’s circumstances. Smith complements the description of the Sotho in forming different groups by saying that in these groups, there are memories of shared historical past. There is a continuum of the original culture where the groups have resemblance in their ways of life and symbolical elements, although adapted to their new environments and time. The variations of the groups’s practices are not their differences but they are changes caused by a quest to adapt to the new environment. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

South Africa is a multilingual country and this has certain implications on the development of cognitive-linguistic skills such as phonological processing (amongst others), which are essential for reading development. Research has, in the past, not adequately addressed the development of, and relationship between, a broad range of phonological processing and reading skills in South Africa. The study investigates the relationship between phonological processing skills and reading development in Northern Sotho-English bilingual children. Ninety-eight participants, divided into group 1 (n=48) and group 2 (n=50) based on their Language of Learning Language of Teaching were sampled. Group 1 received literacy instruction in Northern Sotho, whilst group 2 in English. Participants were assessed using a battery of phonological processing tests and on reading abilities in English and Northern Sotho. Correlations, multiple regressions and multivariate analyses of variance were conducted. Findings revealed that phonological processing skills are essential in reading development in both the first and second language of the participants. / African Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)