The study investigated language policy and planning in relation to minority languages and specifically Tshwao, a Khoisan language, in Zimbabwe. The purpose of the study was to establish its impact on the current sociolinguistic status of Tshwao. The ultimate goal was to suggest guidelines for the implementation of the Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment No. 20) Act, 2013 which officially recognised sixteen languages including ‘Koisan’ and to make recommendations for future language planning for endangered languages in general. The study is qualitative in nature. It used interviews, document analysis, observation and focus groups to gather data. Critical Discourse Analysis and Ethnolinguistic Vitality were the main theories which guided the study. The study showed that even though Tshwao is the Khoisan language that is popular, there are several other varieties such as Jitshwa, Xaise, Cirecire and Ganade and they are all endangered with very low demographic, status and institutional support. The Khoisan people have shifted to Ndebele and Kalanga, languages which are spoken by their neighbours. Both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors were shown in the study to have affected the maintenance of Khoisan languages. Numerical domination of the Khoisan by the Bantu people, subjugation by Mzilikazi during his conquests as well as selective development of languages by missionaries led to assimilation and language marginalisation. The implementation of discriminatory land, wildlife and language polices by the colonial government also resulted in relocations, language contact situations and dispersed settlements, all of which affected language maintenance. In the post-independence era, political instability, official and unofficial language policies were shown as having perpetuated the plight of Khoisan languages, including Tshwao. The constitution emerged as a milestone towards upholding minority languages. Its effectiveness is however compromised by inaccuracies and ambiguities in the manner in which provisions are crafted. The study concludes that Khoisan language endangerment spans from history. Formal and informal language policies contributed to the current state of endangerment. It further concludes that if effective revitalisation is to be done in line with implementing the constitution, all the factors which contributed to endangerment have to be taken into account. The study also suggests a separate guideline for the promotion of minority languages in general and displaced and endangered languages like Tshwao in particular. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Phil. (Linguistics)

This study explored the development of new texts by fluent non-native speakers of Chinuk Wawa, an endangered indigenous contact language of the Pacific Northwest United States. The texts were developed as part of the language and culture program of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon for use in university-sponsored language classes. The collaborative process of developing 12 texts was explored through detailed revision analysis and interviews with the materials developers and other stakeholders. Fluent non-native speakers relied on collaboration, historical documentation, reference materials, grammatical models, and their own intuitions and cultural sensibilities to develop texts that would be both faithful to the speech of previous generations and effective for instruction. The texts studied were stories and cultural information developed through research-based composition, translation from interlinear and narrative English in ethnographic sources, and editing of transcribed oral narrative. The revision analysis identified points of discussion in the lexical development and grammatical standardization of the language. The preferred strategy for developing new vocabulary was use of language-internal resources such as compounding although borrowing and loan translation from other local Native languages were also sometimes considered appropriate. The multifunctionality of the lexicon and evidence of dialectal and idiolectal usage problematicized the description of an “ideal” language for pedagogical purposes. Concerns were also expressed about detailed grammatical modeling due to potential influence on non-native speaker intuitions and the non-utility of such models for revitalization goals. Decisions made in the process of developing texts contributed to the development of a written form of Chinuk Wawa that would honor and perpetuate the oral language while adapting it for the requirements of inscription. The repeated inclusion of discourse markers and the frequent removal of nominal reference brought final versions of texts closer to oral style, while inclusion of background information and the avoidance of shortened pronouns and auxiliaries customized the presentation for a reading audience. The results of this study comprise a sketch of one aspect of the daily work of language revitalization, in which non-native speakers shoulder responsibility for the growth of a language and its transfer to new generations of speakers.

Even though language formed part of the post-apartheid agenda which was set out to redress the ills of the pre-democratic South Africa, there are still concerns that the status of indigenous languages has not been elevated. Using decolonial work of Steve Biko, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Frantz Fanon as theoretical lens, I aimed at exploring perceptions of key informants on post-apartheid language policies, young South Africans and parents /guardians toward indigenous languages. In-depth and narrative interviews were used to collect data from language policy key informants and young South Africans who started schooling after 1994 and focus group discussions with parents/guardians were held. Thematic, narrative and discourse analyses were used to analyse the data. Indigenous languages were perceived by participants as having an inferior status compared to languages of oppression and that was attributed to inferiority complex, lack of will from government to promote these languages and absent voice of indigenous language speakers in the fight for the status of indigenous languages. South Africa’s language diversity was also perceived as a challenge believed to contribute toward the difficulty of properly implementing post-apartheid language policies. The study results suggest a need for a stronger civil society which would assist in the dismantling of categorising languages as superior and inferior. Furthermore, the results point to a need for a more humanising approach which treats indigenous languages with respect. / Psychology / D. Phil. (Psychology)

Even though language formed part of the post-apartheid agenda which was set out to redress the ills of the pre-democratic South Africa, there are still concerns that the status of indigenous languages has not been elevated. Using decolonial work of Steve Biko, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Frantz Fanon as theoretical lens, I aimed at exploring perceptions of key informants on post-apartheid language policies, young South Africans and parents /guardians toward indigenous languages. In-depth and narrative interviews were used to collect data from language policy key informants and young South Africans who started schooling after 1994 and focus group discussions with parents/guardians were held. Thematic, narrative and discourse analyses were used to analyse the data. Indigenous languages were perceived by participants as having an inferior status compared to languages of oppression and that was attributed to inferiority complex, lack of will from government to promote these languages and absent voice of indigenous language speakers in the fight for the status of indigenous languages. South Africa’s language diversity was also perceived as a challenge believed to contribute toward the difficulty of properly implementing post-apartheid language policies. The study results suggest a need for a stronger civil society which would assist in the dismantling of categorising languages as superior and inferior. Furthermore, the results point to a need for a more humanising approach which treats indigenous languages with respect. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)

La présente thèse propose une étude comparative des langues bantu A80 (aussi appelées « makaa-njem »). Celle-ci répond à un double objectif : proposer une synthèse des connaissances linguistiques (et des disciplines connexes) sur les langues du groupe A80, en apportant des données et analyses nouvelles pour le bekwel du Gabon, d’une part et présenter les résultats d’une étude comparative sur deux niveaux – synchronique et diachronique – d’autre part. La comparaison prend en compte huit langues A80 : le shiwa, le kwasio, le bekol, le makaa, le konzime, le njem, le bekwel et le mpiemo. Cette étude comparative adopte en premier lieu une perspective synchronique (correspondances « horizontales ») pour ensuite aborder les données sous un angle diachronique (correspondances « verticales », reconstructions et réflexes). Elle porte sur la phonologie et plus marginalement sur la morphologie nominale et verbale. L’étude se base également sur un lexique de 1029 cognats établis à partir de données de premières mains pour le bekwel et de données issues de la littérature spécialisée pour les autres langues. Les données ont été traitées à l’aide des outils du site du projet RefLex. La première partie de la thèse constitue une synthèse globale des connaissances sur les langues A80 et sur le bekwel en particulier. La deuxième partie présente le corpus (modalités de constitution, puis nature, provenance et traitement des données) et une série d’esquisses phonologiques (et morphologiques) synthétiques pour les huit langues élaborées sur la base des données collectées et/ou rassemblées. La troisième et dernière partie présente les résultats de l’étude comparative. Celle-ci met en lumière les processus morphologiques et phonologiques qui ont façonné les langues du groupe makaa-njem au cours de leur évolution. Au niveau morphologique, on relève une simplification du système des classes nominales (due à l’intégration de plusieurs anciens préfixes aux bases démultipliant le nombre de préfixe zéro), de nombreux cas de reclassement, le rôle d’anciens préfixes nasals dans le dévoisement des occlusives en initiale de base nominale ainsi que l’émergence de mi-voisées en bekwel. Au niveau de la phonologie, on observe une tendance au monosyllabisme plus ou moins avancé selon les langues. Celle-ci s’explique par l’étude diachronique qui met en évidence que les langues A80 ont souvent subi la chute de la voyelle finale (V2) ou parfois même de la syllabe finale. La voyelle initialement en V2 est généralement maintenue d’une manière ou d’une autre par des anticipations qui peuvent prendre plusieurs formes : diphtongaisons, séquences V11-V12 (parfois avec dévocalisation de V11), nouveaux timbres par coalescence, etc. Enfin, la conclusion de la thèse récapitule les principaux résultats concernant la morphologie, la phonologie et le lexique, et montre comment ces résultats pourront être utiles pour l’analyse et la description (futures) des langues A80. / This thesis presents a comparative study of the Bantu languages of the A80 group (also known as Makaa-Njem). The goal of the thesis is two-fold: (i) offer a synthesis of the state of knowledge in linguistics (and related disciplines) about the languages of the Bantu A80 group by adding new data and analysis for the Bekwel language of Gabon ; (ii) present the results of a comparative study at the synchronic and diachronic levels. The comparative study includes eight A80 languages: Shiwa, Kwasio, Bekol, Makaa, Konzime, Njem, Bekwel and Mpiemo. The study adopts in the first place a synchronic perspective ("horizontal" correspondences) then approaches the same data from a diachronic point of view ("vertical" correspondences, reconstructions and reflexes), focusing mainly on phonology, and to a lesser extent, on nominal and verbal morphology. It is based on a 1029 cognate lexicon established on the basis of first-hand data for Bekwel and published data for the other languages. Data was processed using the online tools of the RefLex project.The first part of the thesis establishes a general summary of the knowledge on the Bantu A80 languages and on Bekwel in particular. The second part presents the corpus (gathering methods then nature of the data, sources and processing) and a series of concise phonological (and morphological) sketches for all eight languages constituted on the basis of the collected and/or compiled data. The third and final part presents the results of the comparative study. It brings into light the morphological and phonological processes that have shaped the languages of the Makaa-Njem group through their evolution. At the morphological level, it reveals a process of simplification of the noun class system (due to the assimilation of old prefixes into the stems leading to an increase in the number of zero prefixes), numerous cases of re-classification and the role of old nasal prefixes in occlusive devoicing stem initially as well as the mergence of semi-voiced consonants in Bekwel. At the phonological level, a tendency to monosyllabicity can be observed, at a greater or lesser extent depending on the language. This finds an explanation in the diachronic analysis that shows that the languages of the A80 group often were subject to final vowel dropping (V2), in some cases even the whole final syllable. The vowel originally in V2 is generally preserved thanks to anticipations of various types: emergence of diphthongs, V11-V12 sequences (sometimes including devocalization of V11), new vowel quality by fusion, etc. Finally, the conclusion of the thesis summarizes the main results with regards to morphology, phonology and the lexicon, illustrating how these results will be useful for (future) analyses and descriptions of languages of the A80 group.

This dissertation investigates the revitalisation of Tonga, an endangered minority language in Zimbabwe. It seeks to establish why the Tonga people embarked on the revitalisation of their language, the strategies they used, the challenges they encountered and how they managed them. The Human Needs Theory propounded by Burton (1990) and Yamamoto’s (1998) Nine Factors Language Revitalisation Model formed the theoretical framework within which the data were analysed. This case-study identified various socio-cultural and historical factors that influenced the revitalisation of the Tonga language. Despite the socio-economic and political challenges from both within and outside the Tonga community, the Tonga revitalisation initiative was to a large extent a success, thanks to the speech community’s positive attitude and ownership of the language revitalisation process. It not only restored the use of Tonga in the home domain but also extended the language function into the domains of education, the media, and religion. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Sociolinguistics)

This dissertation presents the first full grammatical description of unprompted (spontaneous) speech in pidgin Chinook Jargon [synonyms Chinúk Wawa, Chinook]. The data come from a dialect I term ‘Kamloops Chinúk Wawa’, used in southern interior British Columbia circa 1900. I also present the first historical study and structural analysis of the shorthand-based ‘Chinuk pipa’ alphabet in which Kamloops Chinúk Wawa was written, primarily by Salish people. This study is made possible by the discovery of several hundred such texts, which I have transliterated and analyzed. The Basic Linguistic Theory-inspired (cf. Dixon 2010a,b) framework used here interprets Kamloops Chinúk Wawa as surprisingly ramified in morphological and syntactic structure, a finding in line with recent studies reexamining the status of pidgins by Bakker (e.g. 2003a,b, forthcoming) among others. Among the major findings: an unusually successful pidgin literacy including a widely circulated newspaper Kamloops Wawa, and language planning by the missionary J.M.R. Le Jeune, O.M.I. He planned both for the use of Kamloops Chinúk Wawa and this alphabet, and for their replacement by English. Additional sociolinguistic factors determining how Chinuk pipa was written included Salish preferences for learning to write by whole-word units (rather than letter by letter), and toward informal intra-community teaching of this first group literacy. In addition to compounding and conversion of lexical roots, Kamloops Chinúk Wawa morphology exploited three types of preposed grammatical morphemes—affixes, clitics, and particles. Virtually all are homonymous with and grammaticalized from demonstrably lexical morphs. Newly identified categories include ‘out-of-control’ transitivity marking and discourse markers including ‘admirative’ and ‘inferred’. Contrary to previous claims about Chinook Jargon (cf. Vrzic 1999), no overt passive voice exists in Kamloops Chinúk Wawa (nor probably in pan-Chinook Jargon), but a previously unknown ‘passivization strategy’ of implied agent demotion is brought to light. A realis-irrealis modality distinction is reflected at several scopal levels: phrase, clause and sentence. Functional differences are observed between irrealis clauses before and after main clauses. Polar questions are restricted to subordinate clauses, while alternative questions are formed by simple juxtaposition of irrealis clauses. Main-clause interrogatives are limited to content-question forms, optionally with irrealis marking. Positive imperatives are normally signaled by a mood particle on a realis clause, negative ones by a negative particle. Aspect is marked in a three-part ingressive-imperfective-completive system, with a marginal fourth ‘conative’. One negative operator has characteristically clausal, and another phrasal, scope. One copula is newly attested. Degree marking is largely confined to ‘predicative’ adjectives (copula complements). Several novel features of pronoun usage possibly reflect Salish L1 grammatical habits: a consistent animacy distinction occurs in third-person pronouns, where pan-Chinook Jargon 'iaka' (animate singular) and 'klaska' (animate plural) contrast with a null inanimate object/patient; this null and 'iaka' are non-specified for number; in intransitives, double exponence (repetition) of pronominal subjects is common; and pan-Chinook Jargon 'klaksta' (originally ‘who?’) and 'klaska' (originally ‘they’) vary freely with each other. Certain etymologically content-question forms are used also as determiners. Kamloops Chinúk Wawa’s numeral system is unusually regular and small for a pidgin; numerals are also used ordinally in a distinctly Chinook Jargon type of personal name. There is a null allomorph of the preposition 'kopa'. This preposition has additionally a realis complementizer function (with nominalized predicates) distinct from irrealis 'pus' (with verbal ones). Conjunction 'pi' also has a function in a syntactic focus-increasing and -reducing system. / Graduate