This is a cross-cultural communication study which investigates the compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students at the Springfield College of Education. The Springfield College of Education is a desegregating institution where students of Indian origin presently comprise the majority of the student population with African students the minority. Due to the enforced racial divisions of the past students do not mingle freely with each other on the college campus. An additional complication is that the students come from different cultures and are accustomed to different social practices. This results in their responding differently to different communicative situations. These differing responses could be potential sources of miscommunication and conflict and therefore warrant investigation. Compliment response behaviour is one such area where intercultural miscommunication could easily arise. Since compliments are used to initiate, sustain and promote conversational interactions, not responding appropriately to them could result in possible feelings of antagonism and racial hostility. This study investigates the compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students at the Springfield College of Education, identifies areas of diversity and potential sources of intercultural miscommunication and presents a set of recommendations about the teaching of compliment response behaviour at the Springfield College of Education.The findings of this study are also compared with the findings of a similar study conducted by Chick (1991) at the University of Natal, Durban with a view to establishing what changes have occurred in the compliment response behaviour of Indian and African students since the time of Chick's (1991) study. This study reveals that there is a diversity in the compliment response behaviour of different ethnic groups and that this diversity is a potential source of intercultural miscommunication. However, the College lecturers can turn this diversity to advantage by using it in a teaching programme where an understanding of it is fostered. This would result in students understanding why miscommunication arises and would also enable them to react appropriately in different contexts. It is hoped that this study,which is very much pilot in nature, helps highlight issues that can become the subject of more detailed studies in this field. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

Reading lies at the centre of Science Foundation Programme (SFP) students' struggle for access to the very support that such programmes offer in preparation for undergraduate study. It is a skill that is generally not sufficiently improved over an initial year of university study because, apart from being underdeveloped in previous educational and life experiences, it is not explicitly developed at tertiary level where students are generally expected to process extended texts independently in a limited time period. This study not only probes the background literacy experiences of UKZN (PMB) SFP students, but also measures the reading ability, in terms of reading comprehension, rate, and receptive non-technical academic vocabulary, with which the majority begin their studies. To better understand why many SFP students struggle with their academic reading and find prescribed science texts inaccessible, student feedback on reading difficulties and reasons for not attempting homework reading is also considered. In response to such data from the 2005 cohort of about 180 students, a means of supporting or "scaffolding" student reading was investigated. This involved preparing an experimental group of students for independent reading by initially "talking them through" an overview of the text in commonsense terms so that even the weakest readers could begin the reading process with some understanding of the extended text that had been assigned. The other half of the student cohort made up a control group who were merely instructed to read the text for homework. Overall comprehension of experimental and control groups was tested, and questionnaires about reading difficulty administered. The effect, on reading rate, of using a paraphrased version of a text was also investigated by dividing students into an experimental group to read such a version and a control group to read the original. Reading rate was measured again at the end of the year, in comparison with a mainstream sample, for potential progress. Findings suggest that SFP students are largely under-prepared academic readers who are more likely to read a prescribed text, and this with comprehension, when initially talked through a commonsense paraphrase. It is hoped that provision of such scaffolding over the course of the foundation year will develop students' confidence to attempt reading the texts assigned to them so as to become more practiced academic readers, and thus better prepared for mainstream study. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

‘Scrambling’ languages allow arguments in a given sentence to be ordered in a variety of ways while leaving the grammatical roles of these arguments unchanged. West Germanic languages like German, Dutch, Yiddish, and West Flemish exhibit, to different extents, scrambling properties (Haider, 2006; Grewendorf, 2005; De Hoop, 2003). One well established assumption is that a prerequisite for scrambling is a rich (overt) case morphology: Grammatical relations need to be overtly marked on arguments in order for them to freely permute (Haider, 2006; Mahajan, 2003). Afrikaans, like other West Germanic languages, also allows a certain degree of flexibility (Molnárfi, 2002; Biberauer & Richards 2006; Conradie, 2007 Huddlestone, 2010). Generally, however, it is assumed to be much more rigid than a richly inflected language like German, in part because Afrikaans is the most morphologically ‘impoverished’ of all the West Germanic languages (Molnárfi, 2002; Biberauer & Richards, 2006; Huddlestone, 2010). In this thesis, I draw attention to certain double object constructions in Afrikaans that allow German-like flexibility without German-like morphology. Afrikaans allows the indirect and direct object of particular verbs to optionally invert their canonical order in finite embedded sentences without V-raising. I propose an analysis within a minimalist framework that accounts for the flexibility exhibited by these constructions. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This study examined how different words and phrases used within the media may portray a certain image of an individual, ultimately impacting the perception that the reader forms of such individual. Specifically, the manner in which Fred van der Vyver was portrayed by both an Afrikaans language newspaper and an English language newspaper in the Fred van der Vyver-Inge Lotz murder case was examined. This was a highly publicized case from March 2005, when Inge Lotz was found murdered, to November 2007, when Fred van der Vyver, who was suspected of killing Inge Lotz, was acquitted. The aim of the study was to compare two South African journalistic cultures, namely the ones represented by Cape Times and Die Burger, respectively, in their construction of Fred van der Vyver as newsmaker. The rationale for the study was that newspaper coverage of a murder as well as of the investigation and trial which follow creates a certain perception among its readers, and that this perception is based on the information that readers accumulate by reading various published articles. The hypothesis was that both newspapers treated Fred van der Vyver as a newsmaker, and as a murdered in particular, by making use of various linguistic devices. The data analyzed were a selection of articles published between March 2005 and November 2007 in the online versions of Cape Times and Die Burger. A focal point of the study was to show how different aspects of newspaper reporting – specifically headlines and the text itself – construct a particular view or image of the case in general and of Fred van der Vyver in particular. It was found that neither the Cape Times nor Die Burger wrote that Fred van der Vyver was the murderer but both suggested it throughout by making use of linguistic devices. Loaded words, for example, were used to describe certain aspects of the case, and these aspects were then associated with Fred van der Vyver. Fred van der Vyver`s identity had been presented as that of a murderer within the press by means of linguistic tools and language use. The hypotheses was therefore borne out by the data, as both newspapers had indeed portrayed the identity of Fred van der Vyver as that of a murderer. What we read in the papers does have an influence on what we perceive to be true, objective or accurate and on how we ultimately form an opinion. In this case, the public automatically accepted Fred van der Vyver’s identity as portrayed in the press, namely as that of a murderer, and assumed that he was guilty once he was arrested.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / This thesis has been written as a research project within a programme that topicalises intercultural communication in fairly broad terms. It provides an analysis of the different constructions in the media of events and people by journalists from different linguistic communities who have regular intercultural contact in the course of reporting on local newsworthy events. The communities here are different media producers, different news publishing institutions who print and circulate current news to audiences in different language communities. Illustratively, attention will go to the particular role players in the media, i.e. news producers (journalists, newspapers, publishing groups), newsmakers (people whose actions are observed and topicalised in the media) and news consumers (the audience, readership) engaged in reporting on a particular, prominently mediated event in 1986, and again in 1996. The event that is now recorded as the Guguletu Seven incident is investigated for the way in which it can highlight cultural linguistic differences in mediating the same event.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))—University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / The aim of the present study is to identify the functions of codeswitching in intercultural communication occurring in multilingual high school classrooms. The definition of “codeswitching” adopted here is that of Myers-Scotton (1993: 1), who states that the term is used to refer to alternations of linguistic varieties within the same conversation. The present study considers the use of codeswitching between Afrikaans and English by learners and teachers in the classroom. The study was conducted in a multicultural and multilingual high school in the Western Cape in five classrooms of three different subjects. The nature of the multilingual context of the classrooms is diverse and includes learners form various sociolinguistic backgrounds. Being a predominantly English school meant that most learners have English as an L1 and Afrikaans and/or isiXhosa as an L2. The data for the study were collected by the researcher by means of observations and audio recordings of the lessons and by a questionnaire completed by learners and teachers. The data collection was carried out over a period of three weeks and data were analyzed within the framework of Myers-Scotton (1993) Markedness model for codeswitching. According to Myers-Scotton’s (1998: 4) Markedness Model, markedness relates to the choice of one linguistic variety over other possible varieties. Myer-Scotton (1993) classifies codeswitching into four different types namely marked, unmarked, sequential, and exploratory codeswitching. Within these types a number of functions of codeswitching in the classrooms were identified, for example clarification, expansion, and translation. These functions are discussed in relation to the data from the questionnaire.

Thesis (MA (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH SUMMARY: This sociolinguistic study examines selected aspects of the linguistic behavior of a rural language community in South Africa. The general aims are to establish first, whether this "coloured" community in the historically Afrikaans town of Beaufort West is still predominantly Afrikaans, second, whether there is evidence of language shift in the community, specifically following more use of English in other formerly Afrikaans communities after the change of government in 1994, and third, what the nature of such language shift may be. An overview of pertinent aspects of the social and political history of South Africa generally and of Beaufort West specifically, is presented in order to contextualise the language dispensation – past and present – addressed in this study. History reveals that the town in question was first named Hooyvlakte and only later acquired the name of Beaufort West. Hooyvlakte is currently the name of one of the suburbs in which a section of Beaufort West's "coloured" community resides. For the purpose of this study the larger Beaufort West community which is in focus here, is also referred to as the Hooyvlakte community The study is mainly of a qualitative nature. The respondents were 184 members of the Hooyvlakte community, they included individuals of both genders and were aged between 16 and 87 years. The only requirement for participation in this study was that the respondent should have been a Beaufort West resident for at least 15 years. Each respondent completed a questionnaire from which his/her language proficiency, language use and language preference could be assessed. The questionnaire also allowed respondents an opportunity to express their opinion on the value and practice of multilingualism in their community. The results of this study indicate that the Hooyvlakte community remains predominantly Afrikaans. There is, however, an increase in the knowledge and use of English, and despite possible limits in actual English proficiency, the residents in the Hooyvlakte mostly view themselves as balanced Afrikaans-English bilinguals. This view is related to the gradual change in linguistic identity, from an almost exclusively (often stigmatized) Afrikaans identity to a (mostly proud) Afrikaans-English bilingual one. The stigmatized "coloured" and Afrikaans identities appear to be products of South Africa's sociopolitical history of ethnic and cultural categorisation and segregation. Stigma, on the one hand, and exclusion, on the other, have led to a desire in the Hooyvlakte community to associate with a language other than Afrikaans as well. This shift to an Afrikaans-English bilingual identity contrasts with the shift from predominantly Afrikaans monolingualism to virtual monolingualism in English found in other Coloured communities studied in the Western Cape's and Eastern Cape's metropoles (see Anthonissen and George 2003; Farmer 2009; Fortuin 2009). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie sosiolinguistiese studie ondersoek geselekteerde aspekte van die talige gedrag van 'n landelike taalgemeenskap in Suid Afrika. Die algemene doelstellings van die studie is eerstens, om vas te stel of die "bruin" gemeenskap in die histories Afrikaanse dorp Beaufort- Wes steeds hoofsaaklik Afrikaans is, tweedens, of daar aanduidings is van taalverskuiwing, spesifiek een wat neig na 'n toenemende gebruik van Engels, soos gevind is in ander histories Afrikaanse gemeenskappe na die regeringsverandering in1994, en derdens, wat die aard van so 'n taalverskuiwing sou wees. 'n Oorsig word gegee oor beduidende aspekte van die sosiale en politieke geskiedenis van Suid-Afrika in die algemeen, en meer spesifiek van Beaufort-Wes, om die huidige en voormalige taalsituasie soos dit in hierdie studie aan die orde kom, te kontekstualiseer. Geskiedkundige verslae wys daarop dat die dorp eers die naam Hooyvlakte gehad het voor dit verander is na Beaufort-Wes. Hooyvlakte is tans die naam van een van die dorp se woonbuurte waar 'n gedeelte van Beaufort-Wes se "bruin" gemeenskap woonagtig is. In hierdie studie benoem "Hooyvlakte" die "bruin" gemeenskap van die hele dorp. Dit is in húlle wat hierdie tesis geïnteresseerd is. Die studie is hoofsaaklik kwalitatief van aard. Die respondente was 184 lede van die Hooyvlakte gemeenskap, en deelnemers het individue van beide geslagte tussen die ouderdomme van 16 en 87 jaar ingesluit. Die enigste vereiste vir deelname aan die studie was dat informante reeds 15 jaar in Beaufort-Wes woonagtig moes wees. Elke informant het 'n vraelys voltooi op grond waarvan sy/haar taalvaardigheid, taalgebruik en taalvoorkeur vasgestel kon word. Die vraelys het ook die informante geleentheid gegee om hul mening te lug oor die waarde en gebruik van veeltaligheid in hul gemeenskap. Die bevindinge van die studie toon aan dat die Hooyvlakte gemeenskap steeds hoofsaaklik Afrikaans is. Daar is egter 'n toename in hul kennis en gebruik van Engels, en ten spyte van moontlike beperkinge in hul Engelse taalvaardigheid wat formele toetse sou kon uitwys, beskou deelnemers hulself steeds as gebalanseerde tweetalige sprekers van Afrikaans en Engels. Hierdie siening hou verband met 'n verskuiwing in talige identiteit, van 'n oorwegend eksklusiewe (meestal gestigmatiseerde) Afrikaanse identiteit na 'n (grootliks trotse) Afrikaans en Engels tweetalige identiteit. Die gestigmatiseerde Bruin en Afrikaanse identiteite blyk neweprodukte te wees van die (etniese en kulturele) klassifiseringsgebruike uit die vorige Suid-Afrikaanse sosio-politiese bestel. Stigma, enersyds, en uitsluiting, andersyds, het 'n begeerte in die Hooyvlakte gemeenskap laat ontstaan, om te assosieer met 'n ander taal benewens Afrikaans. Hierdie verskuiwing na 'n tweetalige Afrikaans-Engelse identiteit kontrasteer met die verskuiwing van hoofsaaklik Afrikaanse taalidentiteit na feitlik uitsluitlik eentalig Engelse identiteit, wat onlangs in "bruin" gemeenskappe elders waargeneem en opgeteken is (vgl. Anthonissen en George 2003; Farmer 2009; Fortuin 2009).

MPhil / The concept of ‘new Englishes’ developed as a result of the relatively new perception of English as an adapting and evolving language within increasingly wider global contexts. According to McArthur (1992:688) the term “new Englishes” refers to "recently emerging and increasingly autonomous variet[ies] of English, especially in a non-western setting, such as India, Nigeria, or Singapore." Such varieties of English develop from an English, traditionally recognised as standard, to become distinctly individual: they retain some cultural and linguistic characteristics of the standard English but additionally represent and include many aspects of the culture and language of the country in which the new English functions. These new Englishes are lexico-grammatically sophisticated and as viable as any of the traditionally recognised standard Englishes. The “new languages” are used intranationally and internationally and so are not only a result of intercultural communication; they also facilitate and enable intercultural communication. This thesis investigates (i) Swazi English (SwE) as a ‘New English’ and (ii) the perceptions that Swazis themselves, as well as speakers from other language communities, have of SwE and its users. Swaziland is a landlocked country in the northeast region of Southern Africa and one of the last remaining monarchies on the African continent. English was introduced to Swaziland during the 1800’s and remained one of the official languages alongside siSwati after Swaziland achieved independence from Britain in 1968. English in Swaziland continued to develop despite increasingly restricted access to input from English first language speakers of British descent thus resulting in SwE developing independently of any external norm. SwE now appears to be a stable variety of English that is not only spoken but also written in newspapers, in government and legal correspondence and in the public relations documents of Swazi companies. The research for this thesis identifies a number of lexical, syntactic and semantic features of SwE that are different from those of standard British or American English. These features of SwE occur frequently and consistently in newspaper articles. Nevertheless, as indicated by the research results of this thesis, SwE continues to be perceived as an error-ridden second language variety rather than as a new English in its own right. Furthermore, the language prejudice is extended to users of SwE as many judge the intelligence, credibility and trustworthiness of writers of SwE negatively on the basis of linguistic features that cannot be indicators of character, skill or competence. This prejudice gives rise to stereotyping which is a barrier to effective intercultural communication.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This thesis has been written in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a masters programme in intercultural communication. The study focuses on aspects of linguistic communication, specifically in media discourse, where “cultural boundaries” are determined by sexual difference and where much misunderstanding appears to be founded in different conceptions of homosexuality. I have investigated the theoretical frameworks within which discursive reflection on homosexuality can be studied from an interdisciplinary perspective. The research examines reports in a student newspaper that topicalise homosexuality; it also considers reports that are part of a discourse in which communication takes place between a heterosexual majority and a homosexual minority. Reports that were published across a period of five years were examined, in order to determine whether there has been any development in the discourse. This investigation of a particular kind of intercultural media discourse has been augmented by investigating attitudes towards the minority group by means of a questionnaire, designed by Kite and Deaux (1986: 137). This questionnaire was distributed among 240 students in an attempt to determine whether their reported attitudes coincide with those reported in the media. Despite the fact that homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) more than 30 years ago, reports of homophobic violence and attitudes in news media reveal that a significant percentage of the population still views homosexuality as an illness, a psychological disorder or as sin. The aim of this thesis was to examine the possible (re)enforcement of such homophobic ideologies in news media, as well as the possible (re)enforcement of increasingly tolerant ideologies, by making use of frameworks developed within Critical Discourse Analysis, by van Dijk (1998) and Gelber (2002). While the results of the media analysis indicate a growing acceptance of homosexuality, the survey results reveal that the majority of the heterosexual students surveyed still maintain homophobic attitudes. Furthermore, discrepancies in the survey results reveal the complex nature of such attitudes.

Thesis (MPhil (General Linguistics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: During interpreting in the National Parliament of South Africa, the South African Sign Language (SASL) signs used for terms frequently occurring in political debates appear to differ from one interpreter to the next. The question arises as to whether this could be a possible source of miscommunication, and, if so, whether there is a need for SASL to be standardised in order to promote successful communication and/or avoid misunderstandings while interpreting the proceedings of Parliament for a Deaf Member of Parliament as well as for Deaf members of the public. The present research set out to answer these questions. In order to do so, video-recordings were made of two parliamentary SASL interpreters each independently signing 10 English terms often used during Parliamentary sittings. These recordings were shown to three Deaf adults, from more or less the same linguistic background, who were tasked with writing down the meaning of each sign of each interpreter. Responses given by the informants were allocated marks and a total score was calculated to reveal the level of intelligibility of the signs of each interpreter. It was found that not one of the deaf adults could understand all 10 signs of any one interpreter, and that the signs used by the two interpreters for eight of the 10 English terms differed vastly. The answers indicate the possibility of miscommunication, which could be avoided if standardised terms were available for use in the Parliamentary environment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tydens tolking in die Nasionale Parlement van Suid Afrika blyk tekens in Suid Afrikaanse Gebaretaal vir terme wat gereeld in politiese debatte voorkom, te verskil van tolk tot tolk. Die vraag is of dit ‘n bron van moontlike wankommunikasie kan wees en, indien wel, of daar dan ‘n behoefte daaraan is om Suid-Afrikaanse Gebaretaal te standardiseer met die doel om suksesvolle kommunikasie te bevorder en/of om misverstande te vermy terwyl die verrigtinge van die Parlement getolk word vir die dowe Lid van die Parlement asook die dowe lede van die publiek. Die huidige navorsing is gedoen om ‘n antwoord op hierdie vrae te verkry. Vir hierdie doeleindes is video-opnames van twee parlementêre gebaretaaltolke gemaak. Elke tolk het onafhanklik van die ander een 10 Engelse terme getolk wat gereeld voorkom gedurende parlementêre sittings. Hierdie opnames is dan aan drie volwasse Dowes gewys, wat afkomstig was van ongeveer dieselfde taalagtergrond, wat die betekenis van elke tolk se gebare neergeskryf het. Tellings is aan die response van elke informant toegeken en die totale telling is uitgewerk om die vlak van verstaanbaarheid van die gebare van elke tolk uit te werk. Daar is bevind dat nie een van die Dowe volwassenes al 10 terme korrek kon verstaan nie en dat ag van die 10 Engelse terme grotendeels verskillend getolk is deur die tolke. Die antwoorde dui daarop dat daar ‘n moontlikheid van wankommunikasie bestaan, wat vermy kan word as gebaretaalterme gestandardiseer kan word in die parlementêre omgewing.