Abstract (from thesis text) From Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, is the study of the politics of reaction and reform in a post-colonial nation-state of Burkina Faso. Since its independence from France on 5 August 1960 to 15 October 1987, Burkina Faso, the "land of the upright" people, has experience five changes in government. All of the coups that took place in this twenty-seven year period were reactionary and reforming. However, the most memorable reforms arrived after the coup of 4 August 1983 which gave rise to a youthful president in a thirty-three year old Captain Thomas Sankara. As the leaders before him, Sankara reacted against a post-colonial government that he and supporters saw as inadequate. Unlike the previous coups in the Upper Volta, this work argues that the 4 August 1983 coup brought class consciousness to the forefront. It aimed to establish its identity by changing the country's name from the colonial name of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso. The revolutionaries appeared to be g6enuine in meeting their words with action by working to create self-sufficient citizens, curb environmental depredation, combat corruption in government and provide women more opportunities. Though the Revolution in Burkina Faso (1983-1987) did not end the country's ambitions for a multi-party democracy, it did elevate the status of women, literacy, mortality and pride for the homeland.

This study titled: “Mourning Cultural Practice Amongst the Zulu Speaking Widows of the KwaNyuswa Community: A Feminist Perspective” explored how mourning cultural practices contribute towards gender discrimination which results to women oppression. The main aim of this study was to document how cultural practices impact negatively to women. It focused on challenges and consequences that the Zulu speaking widows particularly in the rural areas experience during their mourning period. Within feminism as an umbrella theory underpinning this study, radical approach was employed to address the issue to be investigated since it considers patriarchal practices as a primary cause of women’s oppression (Wills and Ellen, 1994:117). This approach enabled the study to extract the gender imbalances inherent in cultural practices, and to expose widow’s experiences, why they experience what they are experiencing and how do they perceive their experiences. This study employed a qualitative research approach embracing the interpretive paradigm and sought to obtain a rich and deep interpretation of participant’s responses on the topic investigated. A combination of three qualitative data collection methods were used, these were: face to face interviews, focus groups discussion and participant observation. Thirty participants were randomly selected from five districts of KwaNyuswa and that include: key informants, women and men, widows and widowers and these were regarded as people who are knowledgeable and have an experience with the phenomenon studied. Thematic data analysis was used in this study through which four themes were emerged. These themes were derived from participant’s perceptions and experiences which made it possible to meet the research objectives. The findings of this study revealed that the majority of people at KwaNyuswa consider mourning cultural practice as an integral part of their lives irrespective of its constraints or challenges it might have to the people involved. It was clear from this study that the people of this community are very much conservative and stereotyped and they do not consider anything of gender transformation or gender equality. Recommendations were made for social and gender transformation and for some means to improve the widow’s plight. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Thesis (MA )--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Given the promise of upward socio-economic mobility that English is currently deemed to hold in South Africa, it is a matter of egalitarian principle that the schooling system provides all learners in this country with a fair chance at acquiring English to a high level of proficiency. There exists a common misconception, however, that such a chance is necessarily provided in the form of English medium education for all learners, regardless of what their mother tongue may be. As a result, the majority of learners are caught in a system that cites English as medium of instruction, despite their and often also their teachers’ low overall proficiency in this language; the little opportunity many have for the naturalistic acquisition of English; and the national Language-in-Education Policy of 1997’s advice to the contrary, in promoting additive bilingualism with the home language serving as foundation through the use thereof as medium of instruction. As an interim solution, it is suggested that English-as-an-additional-language be developed to serve as a strong support subject in explicitly teaching learners the grammar of English. In order to identify grammatical features for explicit instruction, an initial step was taken in analysing the free speech of eight first language speakers of isiXhosa, the African language most commonly spoken in the Western Cape. The grammatical intuitions of these speakers, who had all reached a near-native level of proficiency in English, were tested in an English grammaticality judgement task. Collectively, results revealed syntactic, semantic and morphological features of English, in that order, to prove most problematic to these speakers. More specifically, in terms of syntax, the omission of especially prepositions and articles was identified as a candidate topic for explicit instruction, along with the syntactic positioning of adverbs and particles. In terms of semantics, incorrect lexical selection, especially of prepositions / prepositional phrases and pronouns, proved the most common non-native feature to be suggested for explicit teaching. Lastly, in terms of morphology, inflection proved most problematic, with the accurate formulation (especially in terms of tense and / or aspect forms) of past tense, progressive and irrealis structures being the features suggested for explicit instruction, along with the third person singular feature. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Aangesien Engels tans vir baie Suid-Afrikaners die belofte van opwaartse sosio-ekonomiese mobiliteit inhou, is dit ’n egalitêre beginselsaak dat die skoolsisteem alle leerders in hierdie land voorsien van ’n regverdige kans op die verwerwing van Engels tot op ’n hoë vaardigheidsvlak. Daar bestaan egter ’n algemene wanopvatting dat só ’n kans homself noodwendig voordoen in die vorm van Engels-medium onderrig vir alle leerders, ongeag wat hul moedertaal ook al mag wees. Gevolglik is die meerderheid leerders vandag vasgevang in ’n sisteem wat Engels as onderrigmedium voorhou, ten spyte van hul en dikwels ook hul onderwysers se algehele lae vaardigheidsvlak in Engels én vele se beperkte geleenthede om Engels op ’n naturalistiese wyse te verwerf. Hierdie sisteem is verder ook teenstrydig met die nasionale Taal-in-Onderrigbeleid van 1997 se bevordering van toevoegende tweetaligheid met die huistaal as fondasie in die gebruik daarvan as onderrigmedium. As ’n interim-oplossing word daar voorgestel dat English-as-an-additional-language ontwikkel word tot ’n sterk ondersteunende vak deurdat dit leerders die grammatika van Engels eksplisiet leer. Ten einde grammatikale eienskappe vir eksplisiete instruksie te identifiseer, is ’n eerste stap geneem in die analise van die vrye spraak van agt eerstetaalsprekers van isiXhosa, die Afrikataal wat die algemeenste gebesig word in die Wes- Kaap. Hierdie sprekers, wat almal ’n naby-eerstetaalsprekervlak van vaardigheid bereik het in Engels, se grammatikale intuïsies is deur middel van ’n grammatikaliteitsoordeel-taak getoets. Resultate het gesamentlik daarop gedui dat sintaktiese, semantiese en morfologiese eienskappe van Engels, in hierdie volgorde, die grootste probleme ingehou het vir hierdie sprekers. Meer spesifiek, ten opsigte van sintaksis, is die weglating van veral voorsetsels en lidwoorde as kandidaatonderwerpe vir eksplisiete instruksie geïdentifiseer, tesame met die sintaktiese posisionering van bywoorde en partikels. Ten opsigte van semantiek, was onakkurate leksikale seleksie, veral in die geval van voorsetsels / voorsetselfrases en voornaamwoorde, die algemeenste problematiese eienskap wat gevolglik vir eksplisiete instruksie voorgestel is. Laastens, ten opsigte van morfologie, het infleksie die grootste uitdaging blyk te wees, en is die akkurate formulering (veral ingevolge tempus- en / of aspekvorme) van verledetyds-, progressiewe en irrealisstrukture voorgestel as kandidaatonderwerpe vir eksplisiete instruksie, tesame met die derdepersoon-enkelvoudeienskap.

This paper seeks to understand the relationship between the intellectualisation of African languages and the facilitation of a research approach which will enhance this intellectualisation. The paper examines the legislative language policies and other documents published by government since 1994, which guide language use and practices in higher education, including the Catalytic Project on Concept Formation in indigenous African languages (one of the recommendations contained in the Report commissioned by the Minister of Higher Education for the Charter for Humanities and Social Sciences and the language clauses of the Green Paper for Post-Secondary School Education and Training). These policy documents are analysed against the backdrop of the research work of the newly initiated NRF SARChI Chair in the Intellectualisation of African Languages, Multilingualism and Education hosted by Rhodes University. The paper argues that while policy provides an enabling environment for the promotion and development of indigenous African languages and advocates for promotion of equity and equality, in actual fact, HEIs still grapple in implementing provisions of these policies. The paper further discusses the teaching, learning and research in the African Language Studies Section of the School of Languages at Rhodes University and how the Section adopted the provisions of the national policy and institutional policy on language in turning itself into a source of intellectual vitality in the teaching, learning and research of particularly isiXhosa. Six focus areas of research, linked to the NRF SARChI Chair, will be outlined in order to create a practical link between Policy, Implementation and the Intellectualisation of African Languages. / Ucwaningo lolu luhlose ukuqonda ubudlelwano obuphakathi kokusetshenziswa kwezilimi zesintu emazingeni aphakame kanye nokusetshenziswa kwendlela yocwaningo ezokwengeza amathuba okusetshenziswa kwezilimi lezi (Finlayson & Madiba 2002). Ucwaningo luhlaziya inqubomgomo yolimi esemthethweni neminye imibhalo eshicelelwe uhulumeni elawula ukusebenza nokusetshenziswa kwezilimi kwezemfundo ephakame kusuka ngonyaka wezi-1994, kanye ne-Catalytic Project on Concept Formation in indigenous African languages (esinye seziphakamiso esiqukethwe embikweni owethulwa ngungqonqoshe wezemfundo ephakeme nge-Charter of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSSC 2011) kanye nezinhlamvu zamazwi e-Green paper for Post-secondary School education and training (2012). Imibhalo yenqubomgomo ihlaziywa kubhekwe umsebenzi wocwaningo kasihlalo we- NRF SARChl ekusetshenzisweni kwezilimi zesintu emazingeni aphakeme nobuliminingi kanye nezemfundo e- Rhodes University. Ucwaningo lolu luphakamisa umbono othi noma inqubomgomo isipha amandla okukhuphula nokuthuthukisa izilimi zesintu kanye nokukhuthaza ukulingana nokungacwasi, eqinisweni izikhungo zemfundo ephakeme zihlangabezana nobunzima bokusebenzisa izihlinzeko zenqubomgomo. Ucwaningo lolu luzoxoxa futhi ngokufundisa nokufunda kanye nocwaningo emnyangweni wezifundo zezilimi zesintu esikoleni sezilimi e-Rhodes University kanye nokuthi umnyango lo wamukela njani izihlinzeko zenqubomgomo kazwelonke kanye nezesikhungo eziphathelane nokuguqulwa kwezilimi zibe umthombo wenhlakanipho ekufundiseni nasekufundeni kanye nocwaningo ngolimi lwesiXhosa. Imikhaka emqoka eyisithupha yocwaningo ehlobene nesihlalo se-NRF SARChl izovezwa ukuze kwakhiwe ubudlelwano obenzekayo phakathi kwenqubomgomo, ukusetshenziswa kwayo kanye nokusetshenziswa kwezilimi zesintu emazingeni aphakeme.

A Pragmatic Analysis of Olunyole Idiom examines the functionality of Olunyole idioms in socio-cultural interactional contexts. The study investigates the relationship between the construction and interpretation of Olunyole idioms and the representation of the social reality as reflected in the native speakers’ (Abanyole) world view. The study employs the descriptive qualitative research design and builds on the functional approach to the study of language. The Olunyole idioms are collected from the initial sample of over 240 native speakers through language elicitation tests. The idioms collected are subjected to confirmation through ethnographic observation and questionnaires involving a further 30 native speakers. Interviews and focused discussions with a purposively selected sample of sixteen elderly native speaker informants provide further confirmation and linguistic insight into the functionality of the Olunyole idioms.framework in interrogating the role of language in social structure and organization within contextualised interactional conversations involving Olunyole idioms. The data of idiomatic expressions is analyzed into pragmatic domains that characterize the Abanyole perceptions of their world view as a speech community. It is concluded that the idioms project the people’s cultural beliefs and perpetuate the norms and values of the speakers in their mutual interactive use of language. The Olunyole idiomatic utterances regulate the people’s behaviour for harmonious co-existence. The composition and comprehension of the idioms is therefore context-dependent in realizing deliberate acts that control social interaction. The study contributes to the attempts to preserve and promote the African Languages. It is recommended that studies need to be carried out on the other systems of Olunyole idioms such as the syntactic structure. Furthermore, the investigation between idioms and other levels of indirect language could provide enriching insights in Language and Linguistics. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil.(African Languages)

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:40:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 6977218 bytes, checksum: 34547c965174ece2a95f7154a218cdf5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-23 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Quilombola communities are an invaluable cultural heritage of our country, considered an important historical font of the formation of Brazilian people, and consequently, living archives of linguistic processes that restructured the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil, giving it particular feature. Parallel to the growth of localities considered remnants of Quilombo, the need for research increases in these areas, in order to produce data able to contribute to scientific researches regarding these groups. In the interest of these contributions, we focused on the linguistic aspects of the Quilombola community of Caiana dos Criolos, in the city of Alagoa Grande, Mesoregion of Paraiba Agreste. In this study, we analyzed phonetic, morphological and syntactic peculiarities understood as evidence of contact with African languages, besides that we realized a lexical-semantic analysis of this community orality performance, concluding with the construction of a glossary of some terms of the socio-cultural universe of this Quilombola community, considered relevant for understanding the reality of these people. We used field research as our methodological procedures, where we collected individual interviews oriented under the precepts of sociolinguistic research, constructing the theoretical basis from intersectional links of Dialectology, Sociolinguistics and Ethnolinguistics fields, besides having as bibliographical support important references on the areas of Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax and Lexicology, in order to develop a better construction of the distinct parts of the work. We believe that both phonetic and morphosyntactic data, as well as the data of lexical-semantic nature, resulting from our study, are able to contribute to a better understanding of the current configuration of the popular variation of the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil. / As comunidades quilombolas representam um inestimável patrimônio cultural do nosso país, sendo consideradas verdadeiros celeiros da história da formação do povo brasileiro, e consequentemente, arquivos vivos dos processos linguísticos que reestruturaram a língua portuguesa falada no Brasil, dando-lhe feição particular. Paralelamente ao crescimento de localidades consideradas remanescentes de quilombos, cresce a necessidade de pesquisas nesses espaços, com a finalidade de produzir dados que contribuam para o desvendar científico das lacunas referentes a esses grupos. Com o interesse de contribuir para o preenchimento dessas lacunas, debruçamo-nos sobre os aspectos linguísticos da comunidade quilombola de Caiana dos Crioulos, localizada no município de Alagoa Grande, na Mesorregião do Agreste Paraibano. Nesse estudo, analisamos particularidades fonéticas, morfológicas e sintáticas compreendidas como evidências do contato com línguas africanas, além de realizarmos uma análise léxico-semântica do falar da comunidade em questão, realizando, ao final, um glossário com algumas lexias do universo sociocultural da comunidade, considerados relevantes para a compreensão da realidade caianense. Utilizamos como procedimentos metodológicos, a pesquisa de campo, quando coletamos entrevistas individuais orientadas sob os preceitos da investigação sociolinguística, procurando nos pontos de interseção entre a Dialetologia, Sociolinguística e Etnolinguística, a sustentação teórica necessária a nosso estudo, além de fundamentarmo-nos em bibliografia consagrada das áreas de Fonética, Morfologia, Sintaxe e Lexicologia, para elaboração das distintas partes do trabalho. Acreditamos que tanto os dados fonéticos e morfossintáticos, quanto os dados de natureza léxico-semântica resultantes de nosso estudo podem contribuir para uma maior compreensão da configuração atual da variável popular da língua portuguesa falada no Brasil.

O presente trabalho procura analisar a relação melodia-tom no interior do canto de origem africana nas comunidades-terreiro de candomblé Queto. O caráter estável da palavra cantada conduziu-nos às análises de textos com música. Para a implementação das investigações foram selecionados dez cantos nagôs gravados sem acompanhamento de instrumentos pelo próprio povo do santo e um canto iorubá gravado por um iorubá nativo de Abeokutá. Os cantos foram organizados em tessituras (partituras simplificadas) divididas em versos com vistas à visualização simultânea do canto com a letra; para cada verso do canto, fez-se, com a utilização do programa WinPitchPro, um sonograma com a curva de pitch, espectrograma e medidas de Fo. Inicialmente, por meio de uma primeira comparação entre canto e fala iorubá, observou-se, na relação entre pitch melódico e tom fonológico, que estávamos diante de três possibilidades: (i) ignorar os tons fonológicos e o significado das palavras e utilizar as variações de pitch exclusivamente para marcar a melodia, o que preservaria a musicalidade, mas reduziria a inteligibilidade lírica; (ii) preservar as variações regulares de pitch relacionados aos tons lexicais, ignorando a musicalidade, sacrificando a musicalidade pela inteligibilidade; (iii) tentar manter, mesmo que parcialmente, os contrastes de pitches lexicais sem restringir excessivamente as regras melódicas de Fo. Para o desenvolvimento do nosso trabalho, acatamos, principalmente, a terceira hipótese. Tanto no cotejo da fala e canto iorubá quanto no confronto iorubá/nagô, foi possível identificar a imanência dos supra-segmentos da língua africana. A realização dos tons por meio dos pitches melódicos apresentou a reprodução de fenômenos universais como downdrift, downstep e processos recíprocos de assimilação e propagação. As análises evidenciam a manutenção parcial dos tons lexicais da língua iorubá na palavra sagrada nagô, confirmando o caráter estável de uma palavra condicionado por elementos lingüísticos e extralingüísticos. / This work aims at analyzing the melody-tone relationship in African origin chants in Queto houses of candomble. The stable character of the sung word has led to the analysis of musical texts. In order to implement investigations ten Nago chants have been selected. They have been recorded without instruments by the people of Saint themselves and an Yoruba chant was recorded by a native Yoruba speaker from Abeokuta. Chants have been organized in tessitures (simplified partitures) divided in verses aiming at the simultaneous visualization of the singing and lyrics; one has made, for each chant verse, with the use of the WinPitchPro program, a sonogram with the pitch wave, spectrogram and Fo measures. By comparing the chant and Yoruba speech one has initially observed three possibilities between melody pitch and phonological tone: (i) to ignore phonological tones and the meaning of words and use pitch variations to exclusively designate the melody, which would preserve musicality but would reduce the lyrical intelligibility; (ii) to preserve the regular pitch variations related to lexical tones ignoring musicality and sacrificing musicality in order to achieve intelligibility; (iii) to try to keep, even partially, the contrasts of lexical pitches without excessively restricting Fo melodical rules. In order to develop this work one has mainly followed the third hypothesis. In the analysis of both the Yoruba speech and chants and in the confrontation of Yoruba/Nago, it has been possible to identify the stableness of supra-segments of the African language. The achievement of tones by the use of melody pitches has presented the reproduction of universal phenomena such as downdrift, downstep and reciprocal processes of assimilation and spread. The analyses show the partial maintenance of the lexical tones in the sacred Nago word confirming the stable character of a word conditioned by linguistic and extra linguistic elements.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / The central aim of this study was to explore the identity formation of black African middle class young adults in the context of their educational and language experiences in ex-model C schools. The study was motivated by a need to understand how socio-historical events which play out in language in education policies and practices, affected the identity constructions of young black adults who had been through a schooling system where English was used as the language of instruction. The study adopts social constructionism as the epistemological position, given that it considers individuals’ identities to be socially, historically and culturally constructed. Postcolonial approaches to identity construction were utilised, influenced by the works of Frantz Fanon and Hussein Bulhan. The study utilised a qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews as the method of data collection. Three participants who formerly attended ex-model C schools were interviewed. One interview was conducted for each participant. Thematic analysis was then used as a method of data analysis to identify the ways these young adults make sense of their experiences relating to identity constructions. With regard to the findings of the study, three main themes were identified, namely making sense of the new school environment, identity construction, and the role of language in the participants’ lives. Overall, findings of the study revealed that identity constructions were not static, but instead reflected the historical and social processes in which the participants lived. The participants adapted to the language of the school, and considered themselves to be multilingual as they were able to communicate in the language that was required for economic success. The present hegemonic status of English was accepted by the participants, because the ability to communicate in this language meant job security and an ability to communicate beyond boundaries. The mother tongue was still used by these participants, but it was used in contexts which were deemed appropriate by the participants. Race and class as markers of difference emerged as important constructs for identity formation. In conclusion, it was found that these young adult speakers of indigenous African languages were negating their mother tongue in the school and in social and economic contexts. In some cases, this led to alienation or feelings of inferiority. Indigenous African languages need to be promoted in the educational setting, and further acknowledged in other sectors of society and the economy. If African languages are presented as having some sort of utility in the economic sector, this will hopefully result in a change of attitude amongst indigenous African language speakers towards their own languages, contributing to the construction of multilingual identities which will reflect a truly democratic society.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how mother tongue instruction influences the learner performance in the acquisition of reading and comprehension skills of Khoekhoegowab speaking learners in Grade 2 in comparison with foreign medium of instruction. (p. 1)

Neoliberal globalization can threaten the growth of a global civil society that sanctions power-sharing arrangements. Yet, scholarship that focuses unidirectionally on global processes may in effect eviscerate the transformative power of the local. To counter this tendency, this dissertation examines the interrelationships between contextualized and historically-specific experiences in South Africa and transnational processes through a case study of social entrepreneurship, an emerging global justice movement. Drawing on a 12-months institutional ethnography of Sonke Gender Justice, a transnational social entrepreneurship NGO working to achieve gender equality, prevent gender-based violence and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, this dissertation explores the gendered dimensions of identity construction under conditions of neoliberalism. I look at the ways in which a transnational discourse of masculinity unfolds and is confronted locally as an essential element of the neoliberal project. I argue that, in Africa, the developmentalist agenda of neoliberalism is integrally tied to the demonization of black masculinity, posed as a problem. This acts to elide the ways in which factors of oppression intersect in the manufacture of a patriarchal, sexist, racist and homophobic society, negating any effort to promote healthy gender relations. The dissertation concludes that global discourses and scholarship on African masculinity need to be informed by African women’s lived experiences, survival strategies, and aspirations for gender and racial democracy in order for the development of a truly transformative gendered democracy to occur. This can be accomplished by sound and detailed ethnographic work that engages with the messiness and fluidity of cultures, knowledges, and practices on the ground. This approach opens up spaces of possibilities and visibility for an array of local renegotiations, borrowings, and frank resistances. My conclusion acknowledges the potential for significant contributions to global civil society’s struggle for justice and for transformation when transnational solidarity projects are inserted into local formations. However, these goals can only be accomplished when there is acknowledgement and engagement of the practical ways in which local agents try to negotiate and reformulate transnational discourses and challenge neoliberal representations.