M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the use of address form in Tshivenda. Chapter one concentrates on aims of study, data collection and the organisation of study. Chapter two concentrates on various studies which deal with forms of address in different communities. They introduce forms of address as a routine between people who are embedded in the socio-cultural context of society. Chapter three deals with the informal use of forms of address. This includes names, pronouns and kinship terms. Different names deal with Tshivenda names and Non- Tshivenda names, and the way they are used in different context as a form of address. The controversial use of a pronoun as a form of address is also taken into account as well as kinship terms as a form of address in family where forms are applied in informal situation. [Where the place is unstructured and they are applied in the traditional way.] Chapter four investigates the formal use of address in a structured situation, this covers titles, occupations, special address forms and innovations. Titles are used in a more structured situation. They show social rank or official position such as Doctors, Professors etc. Occupational terms are connected with a person's job. These are terms like nurses, teachers etc. The special forms of address are used in certain occasions where the sender uses an unpopular form of address, uses new techniques and they are practised by elite class, who tries to change the status quo. Chapter five gives the main conclusions of the thesis. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die gebruik van aanspreekvorme in Tshivenda. Hoofstuk een konsentreer op die doelstellings van die studie, die versameling van data en die organisasie van die studie. Hoofstuk twee konsentreer op verskillende studies wat handel oor aanspreekvorme in verskillende gemeenskappe. Hulle sluit in aanspreekvorme soos gewoonlik gebruik tussen mense wat vas gewortel is in die sosio-kulturele konteks van die gemeenskap. Hoofstuk drie handel oor die gebruik van informele aanspreekvorme. Dit sluit in name, voornaamwoorde en verwantskapsterme. Dit sluit in Venda en nie-Venda name in verskillende kontekste. Die gebruik van 'n voornaamwoord in aanspreekvorme word ook belangrik geag sowel as verwantskapsterme in familie waar vorme gebruik word in informele situasie. Hoofstuk vier ondersoek die formele gebruik van aanspreekvorme in 'n strukturele situasie. Die sluit in titel, beroepe, spesiale vorme en innovasie. Titels word gebruik in In strukturele situasie. Hulle verwys na sosiale posisie of amptelike posisie soos dokters, professors ens. Die spesiale vorme word gebruik in omstandighede waar die sender die ongewone vorm gebruik vir die ontvanger. Innovatiewe vorme gebruik nuwe tegnieke en hulle word beoefen deur die hoer klas, wat probeer om die status quo te verander. Hoofstuk vyf gee die bevindinge van die tesis.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study the adjective constructions in Tshiven~a are investigated within a set of criteria in order to characterize the adjectival category and to differentiate it from other categories. An adjective can be defined as a word which modifies a noun that prototypically denotes visible or tangible objects. Different linguists give different accounts which deal with criteria for adjectives where they give attention to prototype and certain multiple criteria. Dixon establishes seven different semantic types under which the adjectives can be grouped, e.g. one of them is dimension. It has been established by Schachter that there are languages that have no adjectives at all, in which the meanings that they express are conveyed by nouns or verbs. In other words what is universal is not adjectives but to modify, or elaborate on the meaning of a noun. Morphological adjectives are marked by a noun class prefix on the adjectival stem. The prefix agrees in class with the noun to which it refers. Morphological adjective can appear attributively and predicatively. When adjectives are used attributively in Tshivenda they usually appear as " complements of a noun. But when they are used predicatively, they occur in copulative constructions. Syntactic evidence relates to the fact that different categories of words have different distributions. Adjective can not be identified by looking at it in isolation, because the form of a word does not necessarily indicate its syntactic function. Descriptive possessives as semantic adjectives describe the noun they refer to in a way that is different to that of possessives. The descriptive part can be shown as the head of the noun and can also be shown as a complement of possessive [-a-] where they indicate location, time, event and gender. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie studie word die adjektief konstruksie in Tshivenda ondersoek binne die raamwerk van 'n stel kriteria met die doelom 'n karakterisering te gee van die adjektief kategorie en om dit te onderskei van ander kategorieë. 'n Adjektief kan gedefinieer word as 'n woord wat 'n naamwoord bepaal wat prototipies verwys na konkrete voorwerpe. Linguiste gee verskillende aannames wat handeloor kriteria vir adjektiewe waarin hulle aandag gee aan prototipe en sekere meervoudige kriteria. Dixon het sewe verskillende semantiese tipes bepaal waaronder adjektiewe gegroepeer kan word bv. een daarvan is dimensie. Daar is vasgestel deur Schachter dat daar tale is wat geen adjektiewe het nie waarin die betekenisse wat hulle uitdruk gedra word deur naamwoorde of werkwoorde. Wat dus universeel is, is nie adjektiewe nie maar om die betekenis van 'n woord te modifieer. Morfologiese adjektiewe is gemerk deur 'n naamwoord klasprefiks op die adjektiefstam. Die prefiks kom ooreen in klas met die naamwoord waarna dit verwys. Morfologiese adjektiewe kan attributief en predikatief voorkom. Wanneer adjektiewe attributief gebruik word, verskyn hulle as komplement van die naamwoord. Maar wanneer hulle predikatief gebruik word kom hulle voor in kopulatief konstruksies. In sintaksis kan verskillende kategorieë van woorde verskillende distribusies hê. Adjektiewe kan nie geïdentifiseer word deur na dit te kyk in isolasie want die vorm van In woord dui nie noodwendig sy sintaktiese funksie aan. Deskriptiewe possessiewe as semantiese adjektiewe beskryf die naamwoord waarna hulle verwys op 'n wyse wat verskillend is van dié van possessiewe. Die deskriptiewe deel kan aangetoon word as die kern van die naamwoord groep en kan ook aangetoon word as In komplement van die possessiewe [-a-] waar hulle plek, tyd, gebeurtenis en geslag aandui.

Thesis (M.A.)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the interpretation and syntax of construction that realize reflexivity in Tshiven~a. Chapter One: deals with the introduction of the study. The binding theory in its general principles and definitions will be analyzed. Chapter Two: deals with the interpretation of reflexive di-verb " constructions. In this chapter various verb types with ~i- will be given. (i) Mono-transitive verbs (ii) Di-transitive verbs. Chapter Three: deals with the derived verb that is applicative, causative and passive. The appearing of ~i- verbs with derived verbs will be examined. Chapter Four: deals with ~i- verbs followed by the reflexive emphasizer -~e.The interpretation of prepositional phrases (PP) with the reflexive meaning will be considered and the applicability of binding theory to these phrases will be explored. Chapter Five: deals with the findings, recommendations and conclusion of the study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die interpretasie en sintaksis van die konstruksie wat die refleksief in Tshivenda moontlik maak. Hoofstuk een bevat die inleiding van die studie. Veral die algemene beginsels en definisie van die bindingsteorie word bekyk. Hoofstuk twee handeloor die interpretasie van konstruksies met die refleksiewe fji-werkwoord. In hierdie hoofstuk word verskeie werkwoord kategorieë met fji- behandel waaronder enkeloorganklike en dubbeloorganklike werkwoorde. Hoofstuk drie handeloor die afgeleide werkwoorde nl. die applikatief, kousatief en passief. Die voorkoms van die refleksiewe fji- met hierdie afgeleide werkwoorde word ondersoek. Hoofstuk VIer handeloor fji- werkwoorde gevolg deur die refleksiewe beklemtoner -ne. Die interpretasie van preposisionele frases met 'n refleksiewe betekenis word oorweeg en die toepasbaarheid van die bindingsteorie op hierdie frases word ondersoek. Hoofstuk vyf handeloor die bevindinge, aanbevelings en konklusie van die studie.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The lemmatisation of nouns in African and Non-African language dictionaries is investigated with a view to account for the development of a theoretical framework of how nouns could be lemmatised in a Tshivenda monolingual dictionary. Within the African language dictionaries two traditions exist for lemmatisation of nouns: the stem or root system and the word system. Dictionaries belonging to the Nguni languages enter nouns according to the letter of the root or stem and this has been followed because of the presence of a preprefix in these langauges. Languages like Venda, Tsonga and Sotho usually enter nouns in the dictionary under the first letter of the prefix if present. In African languages the morphological and syntactic category noun is exactly the same. With syntax and morphology the category noun is presented by the root or stem of the noun with prefixes added as inherent semantic and grammatical features of such nouns. So, the exact entry in a dictionary has to be considered form the view point of the syntactic and morphological category only. Taking these considerations into account a case can be made for the treatment of nouns in dictionaries. In a Tshivenda monolingual dictionary nouns are entered as head of the noun phrases (NPs); thus indicating the syntactic operation of the noun outside the context of a sentence. In other instances the syntactic operations are indicated within the context of a sentence and this information is indicated within a dictionary implicitly or covertly by means of illustrative examples. Nouns in these dictionaries may appear with two and or more than two arguments. Semantically, the noun Halwa in a Tshivenda monolingual dictionary may have two arguments: firstly it may mean "an intoxicating drink" and secondly it may refer to "a container for holding beer". Thus the noun in African language dictionaries, Tshivenda in particular, could be represented syntactically morphologically and semantically. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die lemmatisering van naamwoorde in Afrika- en nie-Afrikatale woordeboeke is ondersoek om 'n teoretiese raamwerk te ontwikkel vir die lemmatisering van naamwoorde in 'n Tshivenda eentalige woordeboek. Binne die Afrikatale woordeboek bestaan twee tradisies vir die lemmatisering van naamwoorde: die stamsisteem en die woordsisteem. Woordeboek vir die Ngunitale skryf naamwoorde in volgens die eerste letter van die stam: Dié stelsel is toegepas weens die teenwoordigheid van 'n voorprefiks in hierdie tale. Tale soos Venda, Tsonga en Sotho neem gewoonlik naamwoorde in die woordeboek op onder die eerste letter van die prefiks, as daar een is. In die Afrikatale is die morfologiese en sintaktiese kategorie naamwoord presies dieselfde. Die naamwoord word deur die stam of wortel verteenwoordig en van prefikse vergesel ter aanduiding van bepaalde semantiese en grammatikale kenmerke. Die presiese inskrywing in 'n woordeboek word bepaal deur die sintaksiese en morfologiese kategorie. Baie aandag moet dus gegee word aan die aard van die behandeling van naamwoorde in woordeboeke. In 'n Tshivenda eentalige woordeboek, word naamworde opgeneem as kern van die naamwoordstukke ter aanduiding van die sintaksiese optrede van die naamwoord buite die konteks van 'n sin. In ander gevalle word die sintaksiese optrede aangedui binne die konteks van 'n sin en hierdie inligting word in 'n woordeboek implisiet aangedui deur middel van voorbeeldmateriaal. Naamwoorde in hierdie woordeboek kan met twee en of meer as twee argumente voorkom. Semanties kan die naamwoord [ Halwa] in 'n Tshivenda eentalige woordeboek twee argumente hê : eerstens kan dit beteken" 'n dronkmakende bier" en tweedens 'n blik wat bier hou". Dus kan die naamwoorde in Afrikataalwoordeboeke, veral Tshivenda, sintakties, morfologies en semanties voorgestel word.

Thesis (MA)--University of South Africa, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on nasal strengthening and nasal assimilation processes in Tshivenda. Two phonological models are applied in order to present credible descriptions and explanations of these phenomena. After having described the core components of, respectively, the classical Transformational Generative (TG) model of Chomsky & Halle (1968), and the more contemporary feature Geometry (FG) model, analyses of the phenomena are presented. It appears as if the TG model can handle the idiosyncrasies of the language more elegantly, with a sustained high level of credibility. The FG model is unable to render the same results. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op nasaalversterking en nasaalassimilasie in Tshivenda. Twee fonologiese modelle word aangewend om hierdie verskynsels te beskryf en te verklaar. Die klassieke versie van liniêre fonologie, die sogenaamde SPE model van Chomsky en Halle (1968) is eerste aan die orde gestel. Daar is gevind dat dit tot In groot mate daarin slaag om die onderskeie prosesse te verklaar. Nadat die kernkomponente van die sogenaamde FG model verduidelik is, is hierdie modelook toegepas. Verskeie gebreke in die toepassing van hierdie model het na vore gekom. Ten slotte word bevind dat die klassieke TG model die verskynsels meer omvattend kan hanteer as die FG model.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The use of interpersonal verbal routines such as greetings is a universal phenomenon of human languages. All human speech communities have such formulas, although their character and the incidence of their use may vary enormously from one society to another. For several decades, greetings have been a recurrent object of inquiry for linguists and other human communication. Greetings are part of phatic communion, whereby people create ties of union and avoid silence, which is always alarming and dangerous. Communion among humans will often be marked in speech “phatically”. There is widespread evidence that greetings are an important part of the communicative competence necessary for being a member of any speech community. Greetings regularize patterns among members. Greeting has been often treated as if it was spontaneous emotional reaction to the coming together of people carrying overtly its own social message. Greeting expressions constitute an important part of the polite language. By greeting the speaker, indicates his attitude towards the addressee or starts a conversation with him. Greetings are often patterned expressions, which may vary among different nations. Most greetings perform primarily a phatic communion function; some greetings are used to convey information. Some culture does not operate non-verbal demonstration of respect of difference like bowing, or prostrating and kneeling, it makes up for this by insistence on the proper execution of verbal greetings, for example: Igbo culture does not operate nonverbal, whereas Japanese, Joruba and even Vendas they do practice these non-verbal demonstrations. Cultural performances are influenced by social variables such as the ages, sex and status of the interactants. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die gebruik van interpersoonlike mondelingse roetines, soos die handeling van groet, is ‘n universiele fenomeen van menslike taal. Alle menslike gemeenskappe het formules, alhoewel hulle karakter en die voorkoms van hulle gebruik, mag verskil van een gemeenskap tot ‘n ander. Vir dekades, was groet ‘n herhaalde onderwerp van ondersoek van taalkenners saam met ander aspekte van persoonlike kommunikasie. Die handeling van groet is ‘n deel van fatiese kommunikasie, waarby mense bande skep, en stilte vermy wat angswekkend kan wees. Kommunikasie tussen mense sal altyd na verwys word as faties in taalverskynsels. Daar is wydverspreide bewyse dat die handeling van groet ‘n belangrike deel van kommunikatiewe kompetensie is, wat noodsaaklik is vir 'n lid van enige gemeenskap geld. Groet reguleer voorbeelde van wedersydse verhoudings tussen groepelede. Groet is dikwels hanteer asof dit ‘n spontane emosionele reaksie by die saamkom van mense is wat hulle eie sosiale boodskap oordra. Die spraakhandeling van groet vorm ‘n belangrike deel van beleefdheidtaal. Deur te groet, bewys die persoon sy houding teenoor die ander persoon of begin om met die persoon 'n gesprek te voer. Die spraakhandeling van groet is dikwels voorbeelde van uitdrukkings wat verskil tussen verskillende taalgroepe. Die meeste groetvorme het ‘n primere fatiese gemeenskaps funksie, sommige begroetings word gebruik om informasie te verskaf. Sommige kulture maak nie gebruik van nie-verbale demonstrasies van respek of verskille soos neerbuiging of kniel, dit maak op vir die aandring op behoorlike gebruik van mondelinge begroeting, byvoorbeeld: Igbo kultuur maak nie gebruik van nie-verbale demonstrasies, waar Vendakultuur gebruik maak van hierdie nie-verbale demonstrasies. Kulturele belewenis van die groetvorm word beVnvloed deur sosiale veranderlikes soos ouderdom, geslag en status.

Thesis (M. A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / Muhumbulo muhulawane wa ṱhoḓisiso iyi ho vha u sengulusa ndeme ya mikhwa na vhuḓifari zwo ḓisendeka kha ngano dza Tshivenḓa. Ngudo iyi yo zwi bvisela khagala na u tumbula uri ndi zwa ndeme vhukuma u anetshela vhana ngano sa izwi dzi dzone thikho ya u funza vhana mikhwa na vhuḓifari havhuḓi vhune vha ḓo vhu shumisa kha vhutshilo havho hoṱhe mahayani, zwikoloni, mishumoni, kerekeni na hoṱhehoṱhe. Ṱhoḓisiso iyi yo dovha hafhu ya sumbedza na masiandaitwa a mikhwa na vhuḓifari vhu si havhuḓi. Ho ḓo wanala mawanwa na themendelo dzi bvaho kha mafhungo o kuvhanganywaho a themendelaho uri naho hu khou vha na u dzhenelela ha zwithu zwinzhi zwa maitele a musalauno, kha ri ḓiṋee tshifhinga tsha u anetshela vhana na zwiḓuhulu zwashu ngano sa zwe zwa itwa nga vha musalauḽa u itela u vhulunga luambo na mvelele yashu ya Tshivenḓa.

M.A. (African Languages) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the Predicate Argument Structure (PAS) of the verbs of existence with special reference to transitive and intransitive verbs in Tshivenda. Chapter One is the introduction of this study. It states the purpose of study, theoretical framework, organisation of study as well as the predicate argument structure of the verbs of existence. representation (i.e.theta-roles) are also defined. The lexical - semantic A review of Chomsky's Government and Binding theory is given. The study also examines the different types of verbs of existence. Chapter Two of this study examines the arguments of verbs of existence. The external NP argument in subject position will be considered with the features [+animate] i.e. (humans and animal) or [-animate]. The interpretation of the example sentence of the arguments will also be given. Chapter Three examines the compatibility between verbs of existence and several syntactic operations. These possible operations include the locative inversion, locative alternation, location subject alternation, location instrument alternation, the benefactive and the locative. Chapter Four is the conclusion where the summary of the main contents of the previous chapters is given. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hiedie navorsing ondersoek die Predikaat Argument Struktuur van die werkwoorde van bestaan met spesiale verwysing na oorganklike en onoorganklike werkwoorde in Tshivenda. Hoofstuk Een is die inleiding van hierdie navorsing. Dit gee die doel van die studie, die teoretiese raamwerk, organisasie van die studie, sowel as die predikaat argument struktuur van die werkwoorde van bestaan. Die leksikaal semantiese representasie (d.i. die theta-roll e) is gedefinieer. Die aannames van Chomsky se Government en Binding teorie is gegee. Die studie poog ook om die verskillende vorms van die werkwoord van bestaan te gee. Hoofstuk Twee ondersoek die argumente van die werkwoorde van bestaan. Die eksterne argumente in onderwerp-posisie val saam met die kenmerke (+lewendig) d.i. (mense en diere) of (-lewendig). Die interpretasie van die voorbeeldsin is ook gegee. Hoofstuk Drie ondersoek die alternasies van die werkwoorde van bestaan en verskeie sintaktiese operasies. Hierdie operasies sluit in die lokatiewe inversie, -alternasie, -onderwerp alternasie, -instrument alternasie, die bevoordeelde en die lokatiewe. Hoofstuk Vier is die konklusie waarin 'n samevatting van die vonge Hoofstukke gegee word.