KîîTharaka is a Bantu language spoken by a minority community in Kenya numbering about 120,000. Attitude markers belong to the broad category of ‘residue’ elements in language commonly called ‘discourse markers’. Alternative terms for discourse markers are: Discourse particles, discourse/speech modifiers, pragmatic markers, pragmatic particles, or discourse operators. As the term ‘attitude’ markers itself suggests, attitude markers may best be defined as a set of expressions in language which the speaker applies to clarify his or her feelings, emotions or views contained in the utterance being made. Attitude markers ‘amplify’ the speakers intended meaning. Moore (2001: 5) observes that English speakers use expressive verbs to convey attitudes to or about a state of affairs e.g. ‘apologize’, ‘appreciate’, ‘congratulate’, ‘deplore’, ‘detest’, ‘regret’, ‘thank’, and ‘welcome’. It is such kind of expressions that are investigated in this research on KîîTharaka. This dissertation highlights on this linguistic phenomenon with the view that to ignore the role played by attitude markers in communicating meaning in KîîTharaka may reduce the accuracy of the speaker’s or the writer’s intended message. Bearing in mind that attitude markers are similar to discourse markers in that both are not part of the conceptual (i.e. the referential) information of the speaker’s utterance, the critical distinction to be made between discourse markers and attitude markers is that unlike discourse markers, attitude markers do not function as connectives i.e. they do not primarily establish discourse cohesion. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This study investigates the perceptions of Zulu speaking parents of the new language-in-education policy. The context for the study, which is explained in Chapter one, is an ex-Model C senior primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. Chapter two consists of a review of the literature and examines South African language policy before 1989 as well as early ANC language policy up to the present language-in -education policy of additive multilingualism. The research entails a critical examination of the popularity of English as a language of learning (hereafter referred to as LOL), weighed against the need to maintain and sustain indigenous languages. There is also a focus on the current debate surrounding language policy and the notion that, historically, language policy has never been a neutral issue. Chapter three describes the research methodology. A qualitative approach was used, drawing on the interpretive paradigm. Some quantitative data, however, was necessary to support the research. Data was drawn from a sample comprising 30 Grade 4 Zulu speaking parents at a former Model C school, who completed a questionnaire. Interviews were conducted to probe and clarify the responses to the questionnaire. Three main issues were addressed: parents' reasons for choosing an English school; any concerns they might have over the neglect of culture; and their knowledge of the new language-in-education policy. Chapter four describes how these three broad issues were tested against the perceptions of two other participants, namely the Principal of the school (Mr B) and an outside educator (Dr L). Conclusions are discussed in Chapter 5. A key finding that emerges from the study is that parents do not favour an English only policy; they want both unfetted access to English and the assurance that their indigenous language and culture will be safeguarded. However, these findings need to be discussed in the context of rapid social change and it was concluded that parents were not well informed about the new language-in-education policy of additive multilingualism, and the options that this affords them. The government needs to disseminate information more efficiently if the new language-in-education policy is to impact on the decisions that parents make regarding their children's education. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

This research report encompasses the development and implementation of a cooperative learning project over four cycles of action research. The context for this research is eleven business communication classes, primarily comprised of Black South African adult learners using English as an additional language. The project was developed in response to national recurriculation for Outcomes Based Education and Curriculum 2005, integrating aspects of the old English syllabus in a meaningful series of business communication activities that gave learners opportunities to interact with and visit local companies. Learners engaged in the project in groups and compiled various written responses, correspondence and reports in group portfolios. The project culminated in a group business presentation where the whole class learned about the company visited and peer groups joined the lecturer in the summative assessment process. The project aimed to empower students in a number of ways, using techniques such as peer-mediation, code-switching, genre-teaching and textual scaffolding. A study guide was produced in the second cycle of action research. The study guide was revised for the third and fourth cycles in response to reflections on student feedback and using Technikon Natal and the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) criteria. Data was collected using student reports and assignments, questionnaires and journals. Analysis of the data and the study guides was reflexive and guided further implementations. A fifth cycle is anticipated where the multiliteracies pedagogy will be applied to the activities of the project and the study guide will be transformed into an interactive learner workbook accordingly. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

This dissertation explores the contribution of critical discourse analysis (CDA) using functional systemic grammar (FSG) to curriculum development in historical studies at university level. The study is premised on an acceptance of Habermas' (1972) theory of knowledge constitutive interests which claims that all knowledge is "interested" and which, on the basis of different interests, identifies three paradigms for knowledge construction. I make use of these paradigms to describe different approaches to curriculum development, to language teaching and to historical studies. I make the value judgement that curriculum development conducted within the hermeneutic and critical paradigms is educationally more valid than that conducted within the traditionalist paradigm; and that this is particularly so for disciplines such as historical studies, which involve the interpretation of texts. Furthermore, I suggest that the epistemological assumptions and the pedagogy of historical studies have developed within the traditionalist paradigm and that postmodernist perspectives pose a challenge to these epistemological foundations. In response, I suggest that the development of a "post-positivist" approach to historical studies within the hermeneutic and critical paradigms may provide a practically feasible and morally defensible strategy for the teaching of history. But this approach involves understanding history as discursive practice and therefore requires a method of discourse analysis in order to "do history". I therefore develop a method of critical discourse analysis for application to historical studies, which uses Halliday's functional systemic grammar (FSG) for the formal analysis of texts. The applied aspect of this dissertation involves a small staff development project, in which I worked with a group of historians to explore the application of the method of CDA to four selected historical texts (using the post-positivist approach to historical studies). I also designed four critical language awareness exercises to demonstrate how the method might be adapted for student use. The findings of my own explorations and of the staff development project are as follows: Firstly, I suggest that the staff development project was successful in that it provided a stimulating and dialogic context for the historians to reflect on their own theory and practice as researchers and teachers of history. Furthermore, I suggest that the method of CDA developed in this study provides a theoretically adequate and practically feasible methodology for post-positivist historical studies. This claim is in part confirmed by the historians' appreciation of the text analyses done using the method. However, the staff development project showed that the method is demanding for non-linguists, largely due to the effort and time required to master the terminology and techniques of FSG. In this sense the staff development project failed to achieve its full potential because it did not provide the historians with sufficient opportunities to learn and practice the techniques of FSG. The CLA materials prepared for students were positively evaluated by the historians, who felt that they demonstrate an accessible and feasible way of introducing CDA to history students. (However, these materials will only be properly evaluated when they are used in the classroom.) Finally, I conclude that this application of CDA to historical studies meets the criteria for curriculum development within the hermeneutic paradigm and that it holds out possibilities for emancipatory practice within the critical paradigm. Secondly, I conclude that the application of CDA to the discourses of other academic disciplines holds enormous promise for work in staff and curriculum development. This study shows how CDA can be used to demonstrate how the epistemological assumptions of a discipline are encoded in the grammar and structure of its discourse. The insights provided by CDA used in this way could be invaluable for a "discourse-across-the-curriculum" approach to staff development at a university. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1997.

This dissertation examines the writing! literacy practices of a small group of first year Bachelor of Education Honours students, who registered for the Language in Learning and Teaching module, as first year students, in 1998. The primary sources of data were (a) questionnaires (focusing on existing literacy practices with which students engage outside of the university context), (b) Literate Life Histories, and (c) individual interviews. The purpose of the research was to consider the 'fit' between students' literacy practices outside of the university and those demanded within the university. Explicitly linked to this was a consideration of the extent to which assessment processes could or should be modified to accommodate this 'fit'. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu (1965,1972,1991,1992), and his notions of habitus, field and capital, Critical Linguistics and Critical Pedagogy, the study explores the concept of 'difference', notions of literacy and institutionalised power. It also offers suggestions for a pedagogical framework that might effectively foreground a critical position in relation to these issues. Findings from this study indicate that very few literacy practices with which student engage 'fit' directly with those demanded of them by the university. Despite this, students 'take on' the academic literacy demands of the university relatively uncritically and do not attach undue emphasis to this aspect of their performance. What is of particular significance to them are the experiences of empowerment they enjoy during their studies, and the' capital' they take with them in the form of a recognised university qualification. Staff, on the other hand, tend to foreground the need to master academic discourse in order to 'succeed', and rate general student performance as low and inadequate against this criterion. These discrepancies and contradictions between what students perceive their sojourn in the B.Ed Hons programme to be about, and their notions of what constitutes 'success' vis a vis that of staff, make for thought provoking and important considerations, particularly with regard to future research possibilities. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This dissertation is a sociolinguistic study that applies the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis and Systemic Functional Grammar to written discourse generated in the context of student unrest at a South African tertiary educational institution in May 2000. The unrest was triggered by management's de-registration of students for non-payment of fees due, and hence the local press dubbed it the "fees crisis". Four one-page texts, each representing a major participant in the events of the "fees crisis", were selected for detailed analysis. The principal finding from the four analyzed texts is that they exhibit widely divergent discoursal styles that vividly express equally divergent ideologies and attitudes. Some of these ideological schisms are caused by the immediate situational context, where the groupings are competing for access to and control of resources, or to gain strategic advantages in a power struggle. The four texts are divided equally into two discoursal types: two employ the hegemonic, 'schooled' literacy; the other two use the marginalized, topic associative, oral literacy based style. This illustrates the radically different contexts of culture that inform the ideologies of the four participant groupings. Power struggle is inherent in all discoursal exchanges, but it is an element made especially prominent in discourse by the uncertainties associated with social transition such as that taking place currently in postapartheid South Africa. The frequency of the word "community" and its shifting semantic load in the four texts has been clearly demonstrated to encapsulate the vacillations in the groups' self-identities and inter-group relations already suggested by the broader stylistic variations between the four discourses. Uncertainty breeds fear, and like other primates, hominids display the greatest aggression when afraid. Discoursal analysis of the four "fees crisis" texts uncovers the reasons for the intense affect which characterized the events of the May 2000 "fees crisis". / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 2002.

AIM The aim of this study is to investigate the opacity of Chinese compounds in search of conceptual motivations for traditional exocentric compounds and contemporary neologisms in Chinese. METHODOLOGY This research may be characterised as an empirical investigation within the quantitative paradigm. The study contains three tasks. The design of Task 1 and Task 2 replicates the experiment concerning the classification of compound transparency which Libben, Gibson, Yoon and Sandra (2003) used to test English compounds. Task 3 is a kind of word association task that is designed following a suggestion by Gleason and Ratner (1998: 215). A sample of 95 Chinese native speakers for Task 1 & Task 2 is used. A sample of 50 Chinese native speakers for Task 3 is used. None of them has participated in either Task 1 or Task 2. FINDINGS The findings are presented with regard to the two types of compounds investigated in the study: ‘semantically free’ compounds and neologisms. In summary, ‘semantically free’ compounds may process through their constituents in the mental lexicon. Meanwhile, for some certain reasons ‘semantically free’ compounds may be recognized from the mental lexicon as whole. In the research, it found that the frequency effect is stronger than the effect of ‘semantic transparency’ in ‘semantically free’ compounds, it could mean that lexico-semantic distance (semantic freedom) is much smaller in Chinese exocentric compounds than anticipated by Scalise and Guevara (2006). Neologisms may process through their constituents in the mental lexicon. The effect of semantic transparency may be stronger than the frequency effect in neologisms when compounds are semantically transparent and their constituents’ meanings are similarity. KEY CONCEPTS Exocentric compounds, endocentric compounds, ‘semantically free’ compounds, neologisms, opaqueness, semantic transparency, frequency effect, word-superiority effect. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

"The Verb Phrase in Kihema" investigates a wide range of three different constructions, which have all been termed 'Grammatical Function Changing Processes' (GFCP), by Linguists, using data from Kihema (a Bantu language spoken in the northeastern district of Ituru). It focuses on those GFCPs, namely the causative, the applicative and the passive. On the one hand, Kihema causative constructions are the result of extending the verb by means of a derivational affix. This process has an impact on the argument structure of the verb. On the other hand, Kihema applicative constructions are the outcome of moving the preposition out of a prepositional phrase and incorporating it in the verb that governs it. Lastly, Kihema passive constructions result from the base verb losing its ability to assign accusative case and its failure to assign an external thematic role. Consequently, in passives, the former direct object moves to the syntactic subject position, where it receives nominative case. The thematic subject can only be realized inside a prepositional phrase. In these constructions, the verb bears morphemes such as -is- (for causatives), -ir- (for applicatives), and -w- (for passives). Causative and applicative morphemes have the ability to turn an intransitive verb into a transitive verb and a transitive verb into a ditransitive verb. The study provides data of different objects that appear with the verb in the Kihema verb phrase. It examines the syntactic properties exhibited by those objects. As a result, Kihema is classified as a 'symmetrical' language, since all postverbal objects in causative and applicative constructions exhibit direct object properties. However, the basic object in locative applicatives has some restrictions. In this research, I analyze causatives, applicatives and passives in Kihema within the framework of the Principles-and-Parameters theory (Chomsky, 1981; 1986a, 1986b) in particular, the following two theories have proven useful in my study: (i) Baker's (1988) analysis of causatives in terms of verb incorporation and his treatment of applicatives as preposition incorporation and (ii) Jaeggli's (1986) and Baker, Johnson and Roberts' (1989) theories of the passive. My study shows how these theories account for the three Kihema Grammatical Function Changing Processes. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis focuses on a community of multilingual adolescents who are high performers in mathematics and science, and whose primary language of teaching and learning is English. The participants who form part of the study all attend selected educational enrichment programmes in the greater Johannesburg area. The thesis is particularly interested in how students' language repertoires feature in their learning and in how their language repertoires contribute to their identity construction. This research is informed by literature which views identity not only as complex, contradictory, multivoiced and multifaceted, but also as dynamic and subject to constant renegotiation across space and time. In seeking answers to specific questions about the linguistic identities of the teenage participants in this study, this study will establish what the full linguistic repertoire of each participant is, and whether or not participants identify themselves by means of language. While there have been a number of very authoritative studies of language repertoires, many of these have focused on indigenous minorities, migrants or refugees who need to improve their life chances in a context where their L1 is not dominant. Although this study does include a number of participants originally from outside of South Africa, the majority of the participants are South Africans whose first languages are official languages. This study uses a multimodal approach in data collection and analysis in an attempt to investigate the multi-semiotic nature of the linguistic identities of the participants. Following the work of Busch (2010), I argue, that multilingualism can no longer be seen as an abstract competency, and that "language crossing", the appropriation of elements across boundaries, becomes a competency in its own right. These competencies can thus be used as a way of constructing a speaker's linguistic identity. Finally, the thesis makes a recommendation that more multimodal studies should be conducted in order to investigate the 'performativity' of 'identity construction'. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis fokus op ʼn gemeenskap van veeltalige adolessente wie toppresteerders is in wiskunde en wetenskap en vir wie Engels die primêre taal van leer en onderrig is. Die deelnemers aan die studie woon almal geselekteerde opvoedkundige verrykingsprogramme by in die groter Johannesburg area. Die tesis is spesifiek geïnteresseerd in hoe studente hul 'taal repertoires' gebruik wanneer hulle leer en hoe dit moontlik bydra tot die konstruering van hul identiteite. Die studie gebruik as uitgangspunt literatuur wat 'identiteit' as kompleks, teenstellend, veelstemmig en dinamies beskou. Verder word 'identiteit' ook beskou as onderworpe aan konstante heronderhandeling in elke spesifieke situasie en konteks. Die studie probeer vasstel wat die volle 'taalrepertoire' van elke deelnemer is en of die deelnemers hulself d.m.v. taal identifiseer. Hoewel daar verskeie belangrike studies oor taal repertoires bestaan fokus baie van hierdie studies op inheemse minderhede, migrante of vlugtelinge wie hul lewenskanse moet verbeter in ʼn konteks waarin hulle eerstetaal (T1) nie dominant is nie. Alhoewel hierdie studie ʼn aantal deelnemers insluit wat oorspronklik van buite Suid-Afrika afkomstig is, is die meerderheid van die deelnemers aan die studie Suid-Afrikaners wie se eerstetale, amptelike tale is. Die studie gebruik ʼn multimodale manier van data insameling en analise in ʼn poging om die multisemiotiese aspekte van die 'taalidentiteite' van die deelnemers te ondersoek. In ooreenstemming met Busch (2010) stel ek voor dat veeltaligheid nie langer gesien kan word as ʼn abstrakte vermoë nie maar dat ander praktyke soos 'taal oorkruissing', die gebruik van elemente oor taalgrense, ʼn vaardigheid in eie reg is. Hierdie soorte vaardighede kan dus ook gebruik word om die 'taalidentiteit' van ʼn spreker te konstrueer. Laastens word die aanbeveling gemaak dat meer multimodale studies gebruik moet word om die 'performatiwiteit' (performativity) van identiteitskonstruksie te ondersoek.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis reports on the ways in which rape perpetrated by males on females is constructed in news stories and the advice column, Dear Dolly, published in the South African publication, Drum magazine. The data collected for the study spans from 1984 to 2004, encompassing both 10 years before and 10 years after a democracy. The paper uses critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003) as main analytical tool and but also draws on critical feminist theory (Bourke 2007) and other strands of discourse analysis such as Van Dijk‟s (1998) socio-cognitive approach. The findings suggest that there is on the one hand a decrease in explicit victim blaming after 1994, but that subtle and opaque victim blaming is still evident in the news stories, letters to the advice column, and the responses from the columnist. These rape discourses presented in Drum magazine after 1994 are as Bakhtin (1981) suggests made up of multiple voices articulating different gendered discourses. Discourses that make women responsible for their safety and protection against rape are prevalent while at the same time rape is constructed as a “horror story” and the perpetrator as the “monster”. In this thesis, I argue that even though the use of less explicit victim blaming might seem like a positive move in the representation of rape and gender, this is not always the case. The more subtle forms of victim blaming avoid contestation and consequently often go unchecked (Fairclough 2003: 58). This makes the manufacturing of consent easier and makes it more difficult to counteract dominant discourses. I subsequently call for more studies on this underrepresented topic in discourse analysis in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis doen verslag oor die maniere waarop verkragting met mans as oortreders en vroue as slagoffer gekonstrueer word in nuus stories en in die advies kolom Dear Dolly in die Suid-Afrikaanse publikasie, Drum magazine. Die data verteenwoordig die tydperk vanaf 1984 tot 2004 (insluitend tien jaar voor en 10 jaar na demokrasie). Die tesis gebruik kritiese diskoers analise (Fairclough 2003) as hoof analitiese instrument maar leen ook van kritiese feministiese teorie (Bourke 2007) en ander tipes diskoersanalise soos Van Dijk (1998) se sosiokognitiewe benadering. Die bevindinge van die tesis stel voor dat daar aan die een kant ‟n afname in is in die eksplisiete blamering van slagoffers na 1994, maar dat subtiele en ondeursigtige blamering van slagoffers nog steeds voorkom in die nuusstories, briewe na die advies kolom en in die antwoorde van die kolomskrywer. Die diskoerse wat in Drum magazine na 1994 gevind word bestaan soos Bakhtin (1981) voorstel uit vele verskillende stemme wat verskillende diskoerse oor geslagsverhoudinge verteenwoordig. Diskoerse wat vroue verantwoordelik hou vir hul eie veiligheid en beskerming kom wyd voor, terwyl verkragting ook gekonstrueer word as ‟n “erotiese riller” en die oortreders gekonstrueer word as monsters. In hierdie tesis stel ek voor dat hoewel die gebruik van minder eksplisiete slagoffer blamering lyk soos ʼn positiewe beweging in die representasie van verkragting en geslagsgelykheid, is dit nie noodwendig die geval nie. Subtiele vorme van slagoffer blamering is moeiliker om te bevraagteken en word dikwels nie krities beskou nie (Fairclough 2003: 58). Dit maak die produksie van konsent makliker en maak dit moeiliker om dominante diskoerse teë te gaan. Gevolglik stel ek voor dat baie meer studies oor hierdie onderverteenwoordige onderwerp in diskoersanalise in Suid-Afrika gedoen moet word.