M.Ed. (Education Linguistics) / This study is an investigation of the applicability of the communicative approach to the teaching of African languages. The point of departure for this study is that the communicative approach can be implemented in order to improve students' communicative competence. Communicative competence entails grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic, illocutionary and strategic competence. In order to determine the communicative competence, and the needs of students their essays and letters have been analysed. The study found that students' communicative competence is not so good especially in the area of discourse competence. This problem can be solved by implementing the process approach. The process approach is the most recent communicative approach which is used for teaching writing. This study shows different activities which can be practiced in order to improve communicative competence during the writing process.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Translation Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Some research has been done on the intellectualisation of African languages. However, African languages are still not used enough in academia; in fact, they are undermined. They need to be developed into languages of education, economy and social interaction. This means preparing the languages for use in more advanced contexts. The aim of this study was to examine the intellectualisation of African languages at the University of Limpopo. Methodologically, this study was achieved through a qualitative-descriptive research design, with the use of semi-structured interviews to find out if the University of Limpopo was actively involved in intellectualising African languages. The data collected was analysed through thematic content analysis. The first finding is that the University of Limpopo has a language policy whose implementation requires improvement. It was found that there is no parity or equitable use of the languages of the university, mostly between African languages and English. It has been observed that African languages can improve the academic performance of students at the University of Limpopo. The study further found that the development of African languages can help students and lecturers to learn these languages, so they can communicate with each other in these languages and thereby promote multilingualism. It has been found that the University of Limpopo is a good place to promote and exercise multilingualism as it is a multicultural community. The significant point here is that there is a need to devise strategies to improve the implementation of the university’s language policy. It is concluded that the intellectualisation of African languages would help minimise (if not erase) any language barriers, particularly for those who would be working with individuals on a daily basis in their respective fields. There is a need to do campaigns to educate students about the importance of mother tongue and African languages as well as to remove the negative perceptions about these languages. One recommendation for the university is that the University of Limpopo must come up with an implementation plan to implement its language policy. One recommendation for other researchers is to come up with more strategies on how higher institutions of learning can implement their language policies and intellectualise African languages. Key words: African languages, higher education, implementation, intellectualisation, language policy, Sepedi, Tshivenda, University of Limpopo, Xitsonga. / National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) in collaboration with the South African Humanities Deans Association (SAHUDA)

Thesis (Ph.D.(African languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2019 / This thesis investigated the use of African languages as media of teaching and learning in public schools in Mopani District of Limpopo Province. The study was guided by a qualitative approach. A total of 30 educators from five primary schools participated in the study. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants. Interviews were used as a tool for data collection. Data from the interviews was analysed by means of thematic method of data analysis, and was presented in the form of themes. The results revealed that African languages are admired by most educators. The findings of this study revealed that it is possible to introduce African languages as media of teaching and learning in South Africa, but it will require an extensive preparation, which involves effective training of teachers and the acquisition of teaching and learning materials in African languages. The study also revealed that the current use of English and Afrikaans as media of teaching and learning contributes to poor academic performance of learners. The findings of the study have important implications for both learners and educators. The study will provide the National Department of Education with information it might need to review its language policy with regard to instructional languages. The study will also contribute towards knowledge of African languages as media of instruction, and will help school administrators and policy makers to understand challenges associated with the current medium of instruction and learner performance in schools in South Africa. All education stakeholders might be able to identify the causal factors of language failure rate in grade 12

This study investigates the possibilities of incorporating African languages in skills development and training in South Africa as part of functional multilingualism. This investigation is done in relation to the Skills Development Act (Act No.97 of 1998) promulgated by the South African government, through parliament in order to address skills shortage among workers in South Africa the majority of whom are black whose education and training needs can be more effectively addressed through mother-tongue instruction than through English or Afrikaans. A literature review of global trends in skills-development initiatives and strategies indicates that the use of indigenous languages in skills development ensures success in skills transference and also enhances language development and language promotion. Empirical research was done in the mining and minerals industry at Beatrix Gold Mine, Free State. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

“The fundamental reality in the ontology of African people” is an effort to alert the reader to a crucial omission in most contemporary studies on the religion or culture of African people. The majority of the current anthropologists (scholars in the field of contemporary religions) only make a passing reference to the spirit beings that infest the world of traditional Africa. Apart from inadequate attempts to psychologize the religions of pre-literary man, investigators of pre-scientific cultures have for the most part been unable to account for the unflinching loyalty and meticulous devotion of traditional man to spirit beings. The reason was found to be two-fold, namely: ethnocentrism on the part of the western scholar, and his bias against supernaturalism in favor of empiricism and evolution. The present investigation further showed that affirming or rejecting the reality of supernatural beings does not belong to the field of science because by definition supernatural beings are incorporeal. Therefore, there can be no scientific (set up) or apparatus that can verify such propositions. The appropriate fields were found to be those of metaphysics and epistemology. Further investigation showed that there is no metaphysical or epistemological ground for rejecting the reality of supernatural beings (spirit beings). Belief in spirit beings was shown to be quite consistent with reason and logic. In the ontology of traditional Africa, the highest being is God (the supreme being). He is the same as the Christian God. He created all living things in both the spirit world of lesser “deities” and the physical world of mortal man. He also created both the spirit world and the physical world. The lesser spirits or deities exercise control over man in his physical environment. At death, man becomes an ancestral spirit who then gravitates into the spirit world. As an ancestor, he is worshipped by the living. In return he offers them protection, guidance and care. That is why priests and witch doctors play a dominant role in such societies. They possess special knowledge about the spirit world. They have the power to contact and to manipulate spirit beings. These specialists provide the ordinary man with varying degrees of charms, amulets, magic, and several such devices that enable the latter to ward off the influence of malevolent spirit beings, mischievous humans, and to guarantee success in life. Such is the set up that controls the nerve center of traditional Africa from the cradle to the grave. Herein lies reality to which the physical world of man must remain subservient.

In this thesis I attempt to model, that is, computationally reproduce, the natural transmission (i.e. inflectional regularities) of twenty present tense Amharic verbs (i.e. triradicals beginning with consonants) as used by the language’s speakers. I root my approach in the linguistic theory of network morphology (NM) and model it using the DATR evaluator. In Chapter 1, I provide an overview of Amharic and discuss the fidel as an abugida, the verb system’s root-and-pattern morphology, and how radicals of each lexeme interacts with prefixes and suffixes. I offer an overview of NM in Chapter 2 and DATR in Chapter 3. In both chapters I draw attention to and help interpret key terms used among scholars doing work in both fields. In Chapter 4 I set forth my full theory, along with notation, for generating the paradigms of twenty present tense Amharic verbs that follow four different patterns. Chapter 5, the final chapter, contains a summary and offers several conclusions. I provide the DATR output in the Appendix. In writing, my main hope is that this project will make a contribution, however minimal or sizeable, that might advance the field of Amharic studies in particular and (computational) linguistics in general.

MASTERS FACULTY OF HUMANITIES SCHOOL OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE STUDIES STUDENT NO: 0111542N / The study deals with term creation in translation comparing isiXhosa and isiZulu in relation to paraphrasing, borrowing, compounding, semantic transfer and derivation as five major processes used by translators in African Languages to compensate for terminology gap. The study is conducted within the Descriptive Translation Studies approach and it deals with how translator’s strategies are influenced by norms. The extracted source text terms in this study are from the English Constitution as the source text whilst the isiXhosa and isiZulu terms are extracted from the isiXhosa and isiZulu Constitutions respectively. The study has indicated that out of the five selected processes, paraphrasing is the most frequently chosen strategy in African Languages. With regard to borrowing, it has been shown that not all types of borrowing (as discussed by Cluver 1989) are possible in these languages and that every borrowed term has to be modified according to phonological, morphological and orthographical rules of these two languages. The study is concluded by arguing that term creation processes in translation are universal features of translated texts in African languages and they are effective translation strategies in languages of limited diffusion. In addition, translated texts are sources/ depositories of terminology and consequently they can play a role in language development activities.

As relações entre as línguas africanas e o português brasileiro é tema recorrente nos estudos linguísticos produzidos no Brasil, desde o século XIX (cf., por exemplo, Macedo Soares 1942[1874/1891]) e parece estar em evidência no panorama contemporâneo, como o demonstra o número de trabalhos recentemente publicados. Ao analisar a história desta produção linguística, Bonvini (2009) propõe que os trabalhos produzidos podem ser distinguidos em duas tendências: influência e crioulização. Segundo ele, ambas as hipóteses sobre essas relações apresentam deficiências, especialmente quanto a dois aspectos: o tratamento das fontes e a metodologia de estudos empregada. Quanto às fontes, os trabalhos teriam sido formulados sem apoio em dados linguísticos precisos e identificados. Quanto à metodologia, as análises estariam centradas em aspectos léxico-semânticos ou morfossintáticos, níveis que Bonvini julga inadequados para tratar a questão. A partir dessas críticas, cumpre indagar: quais foram as fontes usadas nos trabalhos sobre as relações entre as línguas africanas e o português brasileiro? Toda a produção sobre o tema desenvolveu-se a partir dos mesmos princípios metodológicos? Houve mudanças no tratamento do tema: da hipótese da influência à crioulização? Nosso projeto teve como objetivos mapear e analisar a produção que investigou as relações entre o português brasileiro e as línguas africanas no Brasil e discutir a periodização para a história dessa produção. Tal análise foi baseada no conceito de programa de investigação, proposto por Swiggers (1981a, 1991a, 2004). Esse conceito permite distinguir e agrupar trabalhos produzidos sob diferentes teorias e em épocas distintas, uma vez que destaca sua natureza interna, isto é, a maneira de os estudiosos lidarem com um mesmo objeto de investigação. Assim analisamos essa produção a partir dos parâmetros de análise que definem um programa de investigação: visão (concepção de linguagem adotada, tipos de materiais de destaque e modos de conceber as relações entre linguagem e sociedade, linguagem e cultura, etc.), técnica\' (conjunto de princípios e métodos adotados) e incidência (formas linguísticas de análise privilegiadas e a natureza e função preferencialmente atribuídas a essas formas). O estudo desses três aspectos permitiu sinalizar tendências gerais na área do século XIX ao XXI: uma tendência sociocultural baseada na análise lexical e uma tendência híbrida, sociocultural e descritivista, cujo centro da análise é a sintaxe e a morfossintaxe. O percurso de pesquisa ainda permitiu elaborar uma bibliografia de textos fundamentais para o tratamento do tema nesses séculos. / The relations between African languages and Brazilian Portuguese are recurrent in the linguistic studies conducted in Brazil since the 19th century (cf., for example, Macedo Soares 1942[1874/1891]) and they are in evidence in the current scenario, as many works in the field have been recently published. When analysing the history of this linguistic production, Bonvini (2009) proposes that his work can be categorised into two trends: influence and creolization. According to him, both hypotheses on those relations present inaccuracies, especially regarding two aspects: the treatment of the sources and the research methodology adopted. As for the sources, the works would have been carried out without the support of identified accurate linguistic data. With regard to the methodology, the analyses revolved around lexical-semantic or morphosyntactic aspects, level considered inadequate by Bonvini to approach the subject. Based on those criticisms, the following questions are raised: what were the sources adopted in the investigations on the relations between African languages and Brazilian Portuguese? Has all the production on the subject been developed from the same methodological principles? Have there been changes in the treatment of the subject: of the hypothesis from the influence to the creolization? Our project aimed at tracking and analysing the production that investigated the relations between Brazilian Portuguese and the African languages in Brazil, and also the discussion on the periodization for the history of this production. Such an analysis was based on the concept of research program, put forward by Swiggers (1981a, 1991a, 2004). This concept enables the historiographer to distinguish and group research works produced under different theoretical approaches and from different periods, as it highlights their inner aspects, that is, the way in which scholars deal with the same object of investigation. By doing so, we analysed this production based on the parameters of analysis which define our \'research program\': view (view of language adopted, types of materials and ways of conceiving the relations between language and society, language and culture, etc.) technique (combination of principles and methods adopted) and incidence (linguistic forms of analysis which were privileged, as well as the nature and function preferably attributed to those forms. The study of those three aspects allowed us to point out the general trends in the field from the 19th to the 21st century: a sociocultural trend based on lexical analysis and a hybrid trend, sociocultural and descriptivist, the center of the analysis is the syntax and morphosyntax. The research course have also allowed it to prepare a bibliography of fundamental texts in order to discuss the topic in these centuries.

Este trabalho propõe uma análise preliminar de aspectos da fonologia e da morfologia da língua lembaama2, que pertence ao subgrupo banto, B.62 (Guthrie, 1971), do grupo Benuê- Congo, phylum Niger-Congo. Como esta língua não apresenta ainda nenhum estudo deste gênero, espera-se que esta primeira análise possibilite estudos posteriores mais aprofundados neste e em outros campos lingüísticos. A análise fonológica revelou de um lado, a existência de consoantes palatalizadas, labializadas, pré-nasalizadas, e pré-nasalizadas-palatalizadas, de outro, mostrou a existência de vogais longas. A análise de processos fonológicos demonstrou que a nasalidade é uma propriedade das consoantes que se transmite às vogais adjacentes aos segmentos nasais. Quanto à análise nominal, ela definiu a composição dos nomes da seguinte maneira: Prefixo Nominal (PN) + raiz, e os classificou em 12 classes. Foram também identificados em lembaama fenômenos fonológicos como a semivocalização, o alongamento vocálico, o apagamento vocálico, a variação livre e a palatalização que servem para evitar a ditongação e manter a estrutura CV desta língua. A análise dos tons evidenciou dois tons pontuais: um alto [´] e um baixo [`] e uma regra de apagamento do primeiro tom quando dois tons se encontram. / This work proposes a preliminary analysis of the phonological and morphological aspects of the lembaama language (B62) according to Guthrie (1971). This language is officially called obamba in Gabon. Lembaama is a Bantu language, from the Benue-Congo group and Niger-Congo phylum. As far as we know this language has not received any detailled study yet. Lembaama shows some interesting features. Endeed, the phonological analysis shows the existence of palatalized, labialized, and prenasalized consonants and of long vowels in the phonemic inventory. The analysis of phonological processes shows that nasality is a property of nasal or of prenasalized consonants which is transmitted to adjacent vowels.

As relações entre as línguas africanas e o português brasileiro é tema recorrente nos estudos linguísticos produzidos no Brasil, desde o século XIX (cf., por exemplo, Macedo Soares 1942[1874/1891]) e parece estar em evidência no panorama contemporâneo, como o demonstra o número de trabalhos recentemente publicados. Ao analisar a história desta produção linguística, Bonvini (2009) propõe que os trabalhos produzidos podem ser distinguidos em duas tendências: influência e crioulização. Segundo ele, ambas as hipóteses sobre essas relações apresentam deficiências, especialmente quanto a dois aspectos: o tratamento das fontes e a metodologia de estudos empregada. Quanto às fontes, os trabalhos teriam sido formulados sem apoio em dados linguísticos precisos e identificados. Quanto à metodologia, as análises estariam centradas em aspectos léxico-semânticos ou morfossintáticos, níveis que Bonvini julga inadequados para tratar a questão. A partir dessas críticas, cumpre indagar: quais foram as fontes usadas nos trabalhos sobre as relações entre as línguas africanas e o português brasileiro? Toda a produção sobre o tema desenvolveu-se a partir dos mesmos princípios metodológicos? Houve mudanças no tratamento do tema: da hipótese da influência à crioulização? Nosso projeto teve como objetivos mapear e analisar a produção que investigou as relações entre o português brasileiro e as línguas africanas no Brasil e discutir a periodização para a história dessa produção. Tal análise foi baseada no conceito de programa de investigação, proposto por Swiggers (1981a, 1991a, 2004). Esse conceito permite distinguir e agrupar trabalhos produzidos sob diferentes teorias e em épocas distintas, uma vez que destaca sua natureza interna, isto é, a maneira de os estudiosos lidarem com um mesmo objeto de investigação. Assim analisamos essa produção a partir dos parâmetros de análise que definem um programa de investigação: visão (concepção de linguagem adotada, tipos de materiais de destaque e modos de conceber as relações entre linguagem e sociedade, linguagem e cultura, etc.), técnica\' (conjunto de princípios e métodos adotados) e incidência (formas linguísticas de análise privilegiadas e a natureza e função preferencialmente atribuídas a essas formas). O estudo desses três aspectos permitiu sinalizar tendências gerais na área do século XIX ao XXI: uma tendência sociocultural baseada na análise lexical e uma tendência híbrida, sociocultural e descritivista, cujo centro da análise é a sintaxe e a morfossintaxe. O percurso de pesquisa ainda permitiu elaborar uma bibliografia de textos fundamentais para o tratamento do tema nesses séculos. / The relations between African languages and Brazilian Portuguese are recurrent in the linguistic studies conducted in Brazil since the 19th century (cf., for example, Macedo Soares 1942[1874/1891]) and they are in evidence in the current scenario, as many works in the field have been recently published. When analysing the history of this linguistic production, Bonvini (2009) proposes that his work can be categorised into two trends: influence and creolization. According to him, both hypotheses on those relations present inaccuracies, especially regarding two aspects: the treatment of the sources and the research methodology adopted. As for the sources, the works would have been carried out without the support of identified accurate linguistic data. With regard to the methodology, the analyses revolved around lexical-semantic or morphosyntactic aspects, level considered inadequate by Bonvini to approach the subject. Based on those criticisms, the following questions are raised: what were the sources adopted in the investigations on the relations between African languages and Brazilian Portuguese? Has all the production on the subject been developed from the same methodological principles? Have there been changes in the treatment of the subject: of the hypothesis from the influence to the creolization? Our project aimed at tracking and analysing the production that investigated the relations between Brazilian Portuguese and the African languages in Brazil, and also the discussion on the periodization for the history of this production. Such an analysis was based on the concept of research program, put forward by Swiggers (1981a, 1991a, 2004). This concept enables the historiographer to distinguish and group research works produced under different theoretical approaches and from different periods, as it highlights their inner aspects, that is, the way in which scholars deal with the same object of investigation. By doing so, we analysed this production based on the parameters of analysis which define our \'research program\': view (view of language adopted, types of materials and ways of conceiving the relations between language and society, language and culture, etc.) technique (combination of principles and methods adopted) and incidence (linguistic forms of analysis which were privileged, as well as the nature and function preferably attributed to those forms. The study of those three aspects allowed us to point out the general trends in the field from the 19th to the 21st century: a sociocultural trend based on lexical analysis and a hybrid trend, sociocultural and descriptivist, the center of the analysis is the syntax and morphosyntax. The research course have also allowed it to prepare a bibliography of fundamental texts in order to discuss the topic in these centuries.