Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the phenomenon of obligatory reflexivity in Afrikaans. Despite a considerable literature on this phenomenon as it is reflected in other languages, the Afrikaans data have not received any systematic attention. Hence, a first major aim is to address this empirical gap. Secondly, informed by the Afrikaans data, the study aims to develop an analysis that can provide a conceptually adequate account for the facts, and that is amenable to extension beyond Afrikaans. The proposed nominal shell analysis (of obligatory reflexivity) (NSA) is developed within, on the one hand, the general framework of Minimalist Syntax and, on the other hand, the specific framework of proposals about word order and linearisation phenomena in Germanic languages worked out in, amongst others, Holmberg (2000), Biberauer (2003), Biberauer & Richards (2006), Biberauer & Roberts (2006), and Biberauer et al. (2009, 2011). The basic idea underlying the NSA is that two expressions which enter into an obligatory coreferential relationship are initially merged into a nominal shell structure headed by an identity focus light noun n. It is argued that the identity focus n belongs to a natural class of identificational elements which also includes a contrastive focus n, a presentational focus n, a possessor focus n, and a quantity focus n. In terms of the NSA, the identity focus n takes a reflexive pronoun as its complement, with such a pronoun being analysed as a syntactic compound that is derived by merging a category-neutral lexical root √PRON with a D constituent containing unvalued φ-features. This means, then, that a reflexive pronoun is defined in syntactic terms and not in terms of special lexical features. The reflexive is subsequently raised to the identity focus n – which forms the locus of the suffix -self associated with morphologically complex reflexive pronouns – where it is spelled out as part of the compound n that is derived in this manner. The antecedent expression is next merged as the specifier of the compound light noun, resulting in a configuration where the antecedent can value the φ-features of the reflexive, with the n serving as mediator. In this configuration, the φ-valued pronoun is semantically interpreted as an anaphor and the nominal expression in the specifier position of the nP as its antecedent; that is, the pronoun is interpreted as obligatorily coreferential with this nominal expression. The details of the NSA and its empirical and conceptual consequences are worked out with reference to six constructions in which reflexive pronouns can occur: verbal object constructions, prepositional object constructions, double object constructions, infinitival constructions, small clause constructions, and possessive constructions. Brief attention is also given to the possibility of extending the ideas underlying the NSA to (i) languages of the Southern Bantu family, where the reflexive element surfaces as a verbal affix, and (ii) two further types of construction in Afrikaans which seem amenable to such a nominal shell approach, namely floating quantifier constructions and expletive daar (“there”) constructions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op die verskynsel van verpligte refleksiwiteit in Afrikaans. Ten spyte van ’n aansienlike literatuur oor die realisering van hierdie verskynsel in ander tale, is daar nog geen sistematiese aandag gegee aan die Afrikaanse data nie. ’n Eerste hoofoogmerk van die studie is derhalwe om hierdie empiriese leemte te vul. ’n Tweede hoofoogmerk is om, in die lig van die Afrikaanse data, ’n analise te ontwikkel wat ’n konseptueel toereikende beskrywing en verklaring van die feite kan gee, en wat hopelik na ander tale uitgebrei kan word. Die voorgestelde nominale skulp-analise (van verpligte refleksiwiteit) (NSA) word ontwikkel binne, enersyds, die algemene raamwerk van Minimalistiese Sintaksis en, andersyds, die spesifieke raamwerk van voorstelle oor woordvolgorde en lineariseringsverskynsels in Germaanse tale soos uiteengesit in, onder meer, Holmberg (2000), Biberauer (2003), Biberauer & Richards (2006), Biberauer & Roberts (2006), and Biberauer et al. (2009, 2011). Die basiese idee onderliggend aan die NSA is dat twee uitdrukkings wat in ’n verhouding van verpligte koreferensie staan, inisieel saamgevoeg word in ’n nominale skulpstruktuur met ’n identiteitsfokus-ligte naamwoord n as hoof. Daar word geargumenteer dat hierdie n tot ’n natuurlike klas van identifikatoriese elemente behoort, waaronder ook ’n kontrasfokus-n, ’n presentasiefokus-n, ’n besittersfokus-n, en ’n kwantiteitsfokus-n. Volgens die NSA neem die identiteitsfokus-n ’n refleksiewe voornaam-woord as komplement, waar so ’n voornaamwoord ontleed word as ’n sintaktiese samestelling wat afgelei word deur die samevoeging van ’n kategorie-neutrale leksikale wortel √PRON met ’n D wat beskik oor ongewaardeerde φ-kenmerke. ’n Refleksiewe voornaamwoord word dus in sintaktiese terme gedefinieer en nie in terme van spesiale leksikale kenmerke nie. Die refleksief word vervolgens gehys na die identiteitsfokus-n – die lokus van die suffiks -self wat geassosieer word met morfologies komplekse relatiewe voornaamwoorde – waar dit uitgespel word as deel van die n-samestelling wat op dié manier afgelei word. Die uitdrukking wat as antesedent dien, word op sy beurt saamgevoeg as die spesifiseerder van die n-samestelling. Dit lei tot ’n konfigurasie waarin die antesedent waardes aan die φ-kenmerke van die refleksief kan toeken – via die n, wat dus as ’n tussenganger optree. In hierdie konfigurasie word die φ-gewaardeerde voornaamwoord semanties geïnterpreteer as ’n anafoor en die nominale uitdrukking in die spesifiseerderposisie van die nP as sy antesedent; met ander woorde, die voornaamwoord word geïnterpreteer as verplig koreferensieel met dié nominale uitdrukking. Die besonderhede van die NSA en die empiriese en konseptuele konsekwensies daarvan word uitgewerk aan die hand van ses konstruksies waarin refleksiewe voornaamwoorde kan voorkom: verbale-objekkonstruksies, preposisionele-objekkonstruksies, dubbelobjekkonstruksies, infinitiefkonstruksies, beknopte-sinkonstruksies, en besitskonstruksies. Daar word ook kortliks aandag gegee aan die moontlikheid om die idees onderliggend aan die NSA uit te brei na (i) tale van die Suidelike Bantoe-familie, waar die refleksiewe element voorkom as ’n verbale affiks, en (ii) twee verdere konstruksies in Afrikaans wat moontlik aan die hand van so ’n nominale skulp-benadering ontleed kan word, nl. swewende-kwantifiseerderkonstruksies en ekspletiewe-daar-konstruksies. / National Research Foundation (NRF)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study investigates the acquisition of vocabulary and passive constructions by 11 four-year-old children simultaneously acquiring South African English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa in low socio-economic status areas in South Africa, with specific focus on the role that input plays in this process. Input is measured in terms of quantity of exposure (at the time of testing and cumulatively over time) and in terms of quality (as determined by the proficiency levels of the speaker(s) providing the input). Results revealed a significant positive correlation between input and proficiency levels in the case of all three the trilinguals’ languages. The interaction between these variables seems to be narrower at lower levels of input, and the effect of reduced quantity of exposure stronger in the case of lexical development than in grammatical development. The proficiency levels of the early developing trilinguals are furthermore compared to those of 10 age-matched monolingual controls for each language. Trilinguals are found to be monolingual-like in their lexical development in the language to which, on average, they have been exposed most over time, i.e. isiXhosa. Thus, as previously found for bilingual development, necessarily reduced quantity of exposure does not hinder lexical development in the input dominant language. Whilst the trilinguals lag behind monolinguals significantly in terms of lexical development in their languages of less exposure, no developmental delay is found in their acquisition of the passive, regardless of the language of testing. This is despite their lower lexical proficiency in English and Afrikaans and their lesser amount of exposure to all three their languages. Although the passive is considered a typically later-developing construction type across languages, research has shown it to be acquired earlier in Bantu languages (of which isiXhosa is an example) than in Germanic languages such as English and Dutch (from which Afrikaans stems). Consequently, the fact that the trilinguals do not exhibit delay in their acquisition of the passive, despite sometimes drastically reduced levels of input, is interpreted as evidence of cross-linguistic bootstrapping: trilinguals seem to be transferring their knowledge of the passive in isiXhosa to English and Afrikaans, enabling the earlier acquisition of this construction in the latter two languages. The study is the first on the trilingual acquisition of English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa by young children, and will hopefully encourage additional research on multilingual language acquisition within the African context. / AFRIKKANSE OPSOMMING: Die studie ondersoek die verwerwing van woordeskat en passiefkonstruksies deur 11 vierjarige kinders wat in lae sosio-ekonomiese areas in Suid-Afrika gelyktydig Suid-Afrikaanse Engels, Afrikaans en isiXhosa verwerf. Die fokus van die studie is op die rol van toevoer in hierdie spesifieke verwerwingsproses. Toevoer word gemeet in terme van hoeveelheid blootstelling (ten tyde van toetsing en kumulatief oor tyd heen) en in terme van kwaliteit (soos bepaal deur die vaardigheidsvlakke van die persone wat die toevoer verskaf). Die resultate toon ’n beduidende positiewe verhouding tussen toevoer en vaardigheidsvlakke in geval van al drie die drietalige kinders se tale. Die interaksie tussen hierdie veranderlikes blyk nouer te wees by laer vlakke van toevoer, en die effek van afname in hoeveelheid toevoer sterker in geval van leksikale teenoor grammatikale ontwikkeling. Die vaardigheidsvlakke van die jong ontwikkelende drietalige kinders is verder ook vergelyk met, in die geval van elkeen van die afsonderlike tale, díé van 10 eentalige sprekers van soortgelyke ouderdom. Die drietalige kinders vertoon soos eentaliges in terme van leksikale ontwikkeling in die taal waaraan hulle gemiddeld die meeste blootgestel is oor tyd heen, d.i. isiXhosa. Dus, soos vantevore bevind vir tweetalige ontwikkeling, vertraag noodwendig verminderde hoeveelhede toevoer nie leksikale ontwikkeling in die toevoer-dominante taal nie. Alhoewel die drietaliges in geval van hulle tale van minder blootstelling beduidend stadiger leksikale ontwikkeling toon as die eentaliges, is daar geen blyke van vertraagde ontwikkeling in terme van hulle verwerwing van die passief nie, ongeag die taal van toetsing ̶ dít ten spyte van hulle laer leksikale vaardigheidsvlakke in Engels en Afrikaans en verminderde toevoer in al drie tale. Die passief word oor tale heen beskou as ’n tipies laat-ontwikkelende konstruksietipe, maar navorsing het bewys dat dit tog vroeër verwerf word in Bantoetale (waarvan isiXhosa ’n voorbeeld is) as in Germaanse tale soos Engels en Nederlands (die taal waarin Afrikaans sy oorsprong het). Die feit dat die drietaliges nie vertraagde ontwikkeling toon in hulle verwerwing van die passief nie, ten spyte van soms drasties verminderde toevoer, word gevolglik beskou as bewyse van kruis-linguistiese ondersteuning (“bootstrapping”): die drietaliges blyk hulle kennis van die passief in isiXhosa oor te dra na Engels en Afrikaans, wat sodoende die verwerwing van hierdie konstruksie in laasgenoemde twee tale bespoedig. Die studie is die eerste oor die drietalige verwerwing van Engels, Afrikaans en isiXhosa deur jong kinders, en die hoop is dat dit sal lei tot verdere navorsing oor veeltalige taalverwerwing binne die Afrika-konteks.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 1934. / No Abstract Available

M.Ed. / It is the task of curricular planning and syllabus design in non-formal fields of education to make available to adults the possibilities for learning the language they need for the purposes for which they need it. A decisive answer should be found to the question about what type of syllabus or course would be able to provide for the real operation needs of adult learners, to translate these needs into learning objectives and at the same time justify the semantic and structural components of the target language...

M.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Litt. et Phil. / The matter of ill-equipped black Afrikaans teachers still remains a topical issue but it appears as though little progress has been made to remedy the situation. In the present research a literature study as well as an empirical investigation, conducted from a number of angles, were undertaken in order to identify the most irksome problems and to accordingly make recommendations towards the development of an in-service program. The literature study serves as the backdrop against which the empirical study was undertaken. The empirical study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the process of triangulation, i.e. deductions were only made after the data presented by each of the empirical components was diagonally compared and verified. The overarching purpose of the empirical study was to pinpoint the shortcomings in the professional outfit of both the teachers and the learning facilitators, and to subsequently determine to what extent the Free State Department of Education succeeds in rectifying them. The study revealed that the teachers experience a number of teaching-related problems and that their interaction with the learning facilitators does not bear much fruit. The learning facilitators are not sufficiently empowered to fulfil their duty as in-service trainers and they consequently experience difficulty in providing effective and purposeful in-service training. It is the duty of the Free State Department of Education to relieve the existing need for in-service training.

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This thesis sets out to test the Full Transfer Full Access hypothesis (FTFA), which claims (i) that second language (L2) learners start out with the parameter settings instantiated in their first language (L1) grammars ('full transfer') and (ii) that they can subsequently reset parameters to the target L2 settings where these differ from the L1 settings, provided the required (triggering) positive evidence is available in the L2 input ('full access'). / Three studies on the L2 acquisition of two verb movement parameters, the V2 parameter and the Split-IP parameter (SIP), are reported. The first study investigates 'full access', testing whether English-speaking learners of Afrikaans, who started acquiring the L2 in early childhood and are thus child L2 learners, can reset the two parameters. The second study investigates 'full transfer' and 'full access' by testing whether English-speaking and German-speaking learners start out with different settings of the two parameters and whether the English-speaking learners can reset the parameters. All participants in this study are adult L2 learners, which facilitates a comparison of child L2 acquisition (first study) with adult L2 acquisition. The third study investigates whether Afrikaans-speaking learners of French can acquire knowledge of the ungrammaticality of certain construction types that are allowed in their L1 but not in the L2 (although the languages share the same parameter setting), despite the fact that there seems to be no positive evidence to this effect in the L2 input. It is argued that, taken together, the studies provide evidence in support of the FTFA. / The original contribution of this thesis lies in (i) investigating both verb movement parameters (instead of only one), (ii) providing a thorough discussion of the relevant syntactic properties of Afrikaans, (iii) investigating the L2 acquisition of Afrikaans, and (iv) addressing the question of how learners go about acquiring a parameter setting ([+SIP]) in cases where both the L1 and the L2 share the parameter setting but the L1 exhibits a superset of the properties exhibited by the L2.

Thesis (M. A.(Afrikaans))-University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Communication Pathology)--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2000. / Summary in English and Afrikaans.