Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the theoretical work in articulating the motivations and conditions for account-giving in isiXhosa in relation to image restoration. This emotional and behavioural rehabilitation is done through accounts. In this context, accounts are similar to narratives and can be retained at the level of private reflections or written as diary entries or for others to read and refer to from time to time. The account-making process according to Warren (1989), is like a "life in motion" in which individual characters are portrayed as moving through their experiences, dealing with some conflict or problem in their lives and at the same time searching for a resolution. It is then this quest to understand the major stresses in each individual's mind that is at the core of this study. The why questions that are the result of the daily experiences of destitution, depression, death, disability, etc., are also addressed here. The importance of the intelligibility of accounts is established with reference to Schank and Abelson (1977) who contend that people construct accounts based on their knowledge structure approach, causal reasoning and text comprehension. Thus, for an account to be hounered, it has to be goal-oriented and coherent. In this study, the social-interactive aspects of account-giving are investigated and it is discovered that severe reproach forms involving personality attacks and derogatory aspects, elicit defensive reactions that result in negative interpersonal and emotional consequences. The mitigation-aggravation continuum is then examined with regard to the selection of the failure management strategies. Narrative accounts based on Mcintyre (1981) form the basis of moral and social events and as such, stories have two elements through which they are explored. They are explored firstly in the way in which they are told and secondly, on the way they are lived in the social context. These stories follow a historically or culturally based format and to this effect, Gergen (1994) suggested a narrative criteria that constitute a historically contingent narrative form. Narrative forms are linguistic tools that have important social functions to satisfactorily fulfil such as stability narrative, progressive narrative and regressive narrative. According to Gergen (1994), self-narratives are social processes in which individuals are realized on the personal perspective or experience, and as such their emotions are viewed as constitutive features of relationship. The self-narratives used and analysed in this study portray the contemporary culture-based elements or segments of a well-formed narrative. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die teoretiese werke en die artikulasie van die motiverings en kondisies vir verslag-making en verslagdoening in isiXhosa m.b.t. beeld-herstel ('image restoration'). Hierdie emosionele en gedragsrehabilitasie word gedoen deur verslagdoening. In hierdie konteks is verslae soortgelyk aan narratiewe en kan beskou word op die vlak van privaatrefleksies of geskryf word as dagboekinskrywings. Die verslagdoeningsproses, is, volgens Warren (1989) soos 'Iewe-in-beweging', waarin individuele karakters voorgestel word as dat hulle beweeg deur hulle ondervindings waarin hulle een of ander konflik of probleem aanspreek, en soek na 'n oplossing. Dit is hierdie soeke om die hoofspanninge in elke individu se denke te verstaan wat die kern van hierdie studie is. Die waarom-vrae wat die gevolg is van die daaglikse ondervindinge, eensaamheid, depressie en gestremdheid, word ook aangespreek in die studie oor narratiewe in isiXhosa. Die belangrikheid van die verstaanbaarheid van verslae word ook ondersoek met verwysing na Schank en Abelson (1977) se siening dat mense verslae konstrueer gebaseer op hulle kennis, struktuurbenadering, kousale beredenering en teksbegrip. Dus, vir 'n verslag om gerespekteer te word, moet dit doel-georiënteerd en koherent wees. In hierdie studie, word die sosiaal-interaktiewe aspekte van verslagdoening ondersoek, en dit word bevind dat erge verdedigingsvorme persoonlike aanvalle en verkleinerende aspekte insluit wat verdedigende reaksies uitlok wat negatiewe interpersoonlike en emosionele gevolge het. Die vermindering-vergroting kontinuum word ondersoek m.b.t. die selektering van mislukking bestuurstrategieë. Narratiewe verslae gebaseer op Mcintyre (1981) vorm die basis van morele en sosiale gebeure, en as sodanig, het stories twee elemente waardeur hulle ondersoek word, eerstens op die wyse waarop, en tweedens, op die wyse wat hulle beleef word in sosiale konteks. Stories volg In histories- en kultureelgebaseerde formaat. Gergen (1994) het narratiewe kriteria voorgestel. Narratiewe vorme is linguistiese gereedskap wat belangrike sosiale funksies het, insluitende stabiliteit narratief, progressiewe narratief en regressiewe naratief.

Bibliography: leaves 166-172. / Isihlonipho Sabafazi (the Xhosa women's language of respect) is a language in which syllables occurring in the names of menfolk are avoided by women. Thie thesis attempts to place the practice in it social context by applying both descriptive and analytical methodologies. The thesis include a literature survey and a critique on the dynamics of gender and language. The results of interviews conducted in three areas, one urban and two rural, are analysed and tabulated. A glossary of substitute words is included.

Analyses of Sotho and Xhosa seem to concentrate predominantly on morphological, tonological and phonological studies. Semantics seems to be a relatively neglected area in African Languages. It is the view of the writer that attention should now be turned increasingly to semantics. In fact, except perhaps for van Rooy's Venda work semantic field analysis does not seem to have been undertaken in African Languages. This thesis is an attempt to contribute in this particular area of linguistic analysis. In addition to that, the present study is an attempt to explore new dimensions in African language study, namely the application of componential analysis to two African languages, Sesotho and Xhosa. In general terns, the aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between language and culture. Very little seems to have been done in this particular area in African languages. In this connection the only work that comes to mind is van Rooy' s Venda work which has already been referred to above. In that work, van Rooy tries to show the integration of language and culture in the communication of the Christian message as illustrated by the Venda Bible. Perhaps with the notable exception of Siertsema there seems to be some scholarly concensus about the relationship between language and culture as the following brief survey will show. Boas, the American anthropologist, for example has investigated the interplay of the environment, cultural life and linguistic form. This be has done by comparing Kwakiutl, an American Indian language, with the Eskimo language. Lotz shows how the structure of one semantic field, or area of semantically related terms, namely numerals, can shape the goals a particular linguistic community strives for in a major cultural activity such as sports. Conklin shows how languages may differ not only in their segmentation of a semantic field e.g. colour, but also in the dimensions of semantic fields themselves. Siertsema, on the other hand, takes a different view from the above views. Only a brief summary of his views will be given here. A fuller exposition will be made in the next chapter when some theoretical issues are considered. He disputes the view that language and culture are related. It must be noted though that he does not speak specifically of culture but of a world view. He examines four "properties" of language and on their basis disputes the language - world view relationship which he eventually dismisses as showing circular reasoning. Perhaps another scholar that needs to be mentioned is Whorf who admittedly is not writing about semantic fields. His relevance to the present discussion lies in the fact that he also considers the relationship between language and other phenomena, namely thought. He writes, "We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions 'Which has to be organized by our minds - and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe signfiicances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to organize it in this way - an agreement that ... is codified in the patterns of our language". Whorf 's theory has been called the Dissection Theory from the opening line of the quotation that has just been referred to. Put in a nutshell, what Whorf is saying is that language has a constraining influence on thought or cognition. Or, perhaps put in another way, it is through language that reality is NECESSARILY apprehended. Thought and cognition have to be seen as necessarily dependent on language, at least in certain respects. Whorf discusses a linguistic - philosophic problem which is not really relevant to a study that addresses itself to semantic fields. In exploring the relationship between language and culture some semantic fields will be analyzed. A lexical analysis of each semantic field will then be done applying some of the insights and techniques of componential analysis. What this means, is that we shall start with vocabulary, analyze it and see through its structure the structured world of culture. The question may well be asked, why Sotho and Xhosa? Firstly, the reason for choosing these two languages is for comparison and contrast. Sotho and Xhosa belong to the same language area, traditionally known as the south-eastern zone. As a result, these two languages share certain morphological, syntactic and phonological phenomena. Because the present study is basically semantic one can also add that the choice of the two languages is meant to reveal the extent of semantic similarities and differences between them. Secondly, the writer is, so to speak, bi-cultural. He is very well acquainted with both Basotho and amaXhosa cultures firstly, because of the circumstances of his birth and secondly, because of his education. The writer is actually Sotho speaking with a Xhosa speaking mother. He also has university training in both Sotho and Xhosa, languages he can speak fluently. All these factors are mentioned here in order to lay some claim to competence in both Sotho and Xhosa. Basotho and amaxhosa live in slightly distinct worlds despite all linguistic affinities between their languages. They have slightly different perceptions of the same reality. This accounts for the difference in the organization of any selected field, however slight in some cases. This factor seems to be an indication of the fact that the conceptualization of the universe differs from language to language. This is the point that is also made by Hoijer and Lyons. Hoijer argues that the "real world" to a large extent depends, perhaps unconsciously , on the language habits of the speakers. He goes on to say that no two languages are so similar as to be considered to represent the same social reality. This naturally goes for Sotho and Xhosa as well. The world in which different peoples live are different and cannot merely be characterized as the same world with only different labels. Lyons is even more pertinent to the present study, ''Every language is integrated with the culture in which it operates; and its lexical structure reflects those distinctions which are (or have been) important in the cultures. This statement cannot be overemphasized. While the assumption will be held that language reflects culture, one may hasten to add that not every word in a language does so. For example, there does not seem to be anything particularly cultural about interjectives or about ideophones. In other words, some lexical items are more significant than others in this respect. One should therefore rather speak of lexical items as being a mirror of culture in 'a selective kind of way. As Hymes puts it, "In a particular culture a language serves as a sort of "metalanguage", a cultural way of communicating about much, not all of the culture". (Emphasis added).

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study explores the defining characteristics of the genre-theory analytically for isiXhosa. The five chosen genre texts in isiXhosa, extracted from five Bona magazine, deal with social problems. Firstly the study investigates the theory of genre-based approach. The genre-based approach forms the framework for the analysis of the isiXhosa texts. The ethnography of writing posited in the theory of text construction of Grabe and Kaplan (1996) is explored. This theory is accepted as an underlying framework for teaching writing in isiXhosa in Curriculum 2005. The ethnography of writing entails addressing the following questions: who writes, what, to whom, for what purpose, why and how. Secondly, the write parameter, which is extensively examined, deals with the six learning outcomes such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, thinking and reasoning, language structure, in relation to the assessment standards, as a realisation of communicative purpose. The text-linguistic characteristics of the genre approach involving Grabe and Kaplan's model of writing are explored in the five isiXhosa magazine texts. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek die onderskeidende kenmerke van die genre-teorie analities vir isiXhosa. Die vyf genre-tekste van die BONA tydskrif wat gekies word, handeloor sosiale probleme. Die studie ondersoek eerstens die teorie van die genre-gebaseerde benadering. Die genre-gebaseerde benadering vorm die raamwerk vir die analise van die isiXhosa tekste. Die etnografie van skryf soos gepostuleer in die teorie van tekskonstruksie van Grabe en Kaplan (1996) word ondersoek. Hierdie teorie word aanvaar as onderliggende raamwerk in die onderrig van skryfvaardighede in Kurrikulum 2005. Die etnografie van skryf, behels die ondersoek van die vrae: wie skryf wat aan wie, vir watter doel, wanneer, waarom, en hoe. Tweedens, die skryf parameter, wat uitgebreid ondersoek word met verwysing na die Xhosa tekste, hou ook verband met die leeruitkomste van luister, lees, praat, denkvaardighede en taalstruktuur, met betrekking tot die assesseringsstandaarde, as 'n realisering van kommunikatiewe doelstelling. Die tekslinguisitiese eienskappe word ondersoek soos gepostuleer deur Grabe en Kaplan t.o.v. die vyf Xhosa tydskrifartikels. / ISICATSHULWA Lo msebenzi uphonononga ukwakhiwa kwe thiyori yegenre ngokuhlalutyiweyo. Itekisi zegenre ezintlanu zijonga iingxaki zasekuhlaleni yaye zicatshulwe kumabali amahlanu encwadi ekuthiwa yiBona. Okokuqala lo msebenzi uphanda ithiyori ebanzi ngendlela ethi igenre ijongwe ngayo. Le yimvelaphi yohlobo Iwetekisi yolwimi IwesiXhosa. Indlela yokubhala amagama ivela kwithiyori ka Grabe no Kaplan (1996). Le thiyori yamkelekile njengesiseko sokufundisa ukubhala. Iquka indlela yokubhala enale mibuzo: ngubani obhalayo, ebhala ntoni, ebhalela bani, siyintoni isizathu, ngoba kutheni, ebhala njani. Imigaqo okanye imimiselo yokubhala iyavavanywa yaye iza kujongana neziphumo zokufunda ezithandathu ezizezi: ukumamela, ukuthetha, ukufunda nokubona, ukubhala, ukucinga nokuqiqa, ukwakhiwa kolwimi nokusetyenziswa, nendlela yokuhlola njengenjongo yokudlulisa umba lowo. Ezi mpawu zolwimi Iwetekisi yokusetyenziswa kwegenre zizakujongwa banzi kusetyenziswa Ie ndlela yokubhala ka Grabe no Kaplan. Iziphumo zemfundo eyile: ukufunda nokubona, ukubhala, ukucinga nokuqiqa ziza kunikwa uqwalaselo olulodwa. Okokugqibela abafundi bebanga lesixhenxe baza kuba nakho ukukubona ukuvisisana nokudibana kokubhala ukucinga ukuqiqa kunye nemiqathango yokuhlolwa.

This study has been undertaken to explore and investigate the genre-theoretic properties of social commentary texts in isiXhosa' -- P. ii. / Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study has been undertaken to explore and investigate the genre-theoretic properties of social commentary texts in isiXhosa. Five social commentary texts are chosen from the Bona magazine dealing with social problems, which the writers want the readers to focus on. The genre-based approach to the isiXhosa texts is employed as framework to analyse social commentary texts. The genre based approach involves the view of being explicit about the way language works to make meaning in social commentary texts. This means in this study that the engagement of students and language educators is important. The genre based approach represents a fundamentally new educational paradigm of language teaching in Curriculum 2005. The implications for teaching isiXhosa will be given consideration given that texts belong to different genres. Some of these implications of Freedom and Medway (1992) are discussed. The genre-theoretic approach is utilized in such a way to form a framework -__ for analysing discourse properties of the isiXhosa texts. The theory of text construction of Grabe and Kaplan (1996) deals with textlinguistic analysis and the ethnography of writing. The following questions are examined: who writes, what, where, why, to whom, how and for what purpose? These parameters of writing give an explicit framework for the analysis. Textlinguistic properties are explored and the isiXhosa texts will be analysed according to these properties. The five learning outcomes which include: listening, speaking, reading and viewing, writing and thinking and reasoning together with their assessment standards are into considered when dealing with Outcome Based language Education in relation to the genre approach to language teaching. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie is onderneem om 'n ondersoek te doen na die genre-teoretiese eienskappe van sosiale kommentaartekste in isiXhosa. Vyf sosiale kommentaartekste is gekies vanuit die BONA tydskrif wat handeloor sosiale probleme waarop die skrywers die lesers se aandag wil fokus. Die genre-gebaseerde benadering tot die isiXhosa tekste word gebruik as raamwerk om die sosiale kommentaar tekste te ontleed. Die genre-gebaseerde benadering behels die siening in hierdie studie dat daar eksplisiet gewees moet word oor die wyse waarop taal werk om betekenis te skep in sosiale kommentaar tekste. Die genre-gebaseerde benadering verteenwoordig 'n fundamenteelnuwe paradigma vir taalonderrig in Curriculum 2005. Die implikasies vir die onderrig van isiXhosa salondersoek word met inagneming dat tekste tot verskillende genres behoort. Van hierdie implikasies, soos ondersoek deur Freedom en Medway (1992) word bespreek. Die genre-teoretiese benadering word aangewend as 'n raamwerk vir die analise van die diskoerseienskappe van isiXhosa tekste. Die teorie van Grabe en Kaplan (1996) hou verband met tekslinguistiese analise en die etnografie van skryf. Dit ondersoek die volgende vrae: Wie skryf wat vir wie, waar, hoe en vir watter doel? Hierdie parameters van skryf gee 'n eksplisiete raamwerk vir die analise van die Xhosa tekste. Tekslinguistiese eienskappe van isiXhoda word ondersoek en die tekste word ontleed n.a.v. hierdie eienskappe. Die vyf leeruitkomste, luister, lees, skryf, praat en denkvaardighede en argumentasie, saam met hulle assesseringsstandaarde, van Kurrikulum 2005, word beskou in die lig van Uitkomsgebaseerde taalonderrig en die verband daarvan tot die genre-gebaseerde benadering.