A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of General Linguistics and Modern Languages at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / The study explored strategies that can be used to promote the use of indigenous African languages for teaching and learning in the General Education and Training (GET) and (Further Education and Training (FET) phases of schooling in South Africa. The motivation for the study came from the constitutional recognition given to indigenous African languages as official languages in South Africa with the advent of democracy in 1994 as well as subsequent education related legislation that was passed to enact this constitutional milestone; namely the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Language-in-Education Policy of 1997. In spite of the constitutional recognition and the accompanying legislation, the researcher observed that the provisions made in the Language-in-Education Policy were not interpreted and implemented in a uniform way in all South African schools. An exploration of existing research indicated that the issue of language in teaching and learning is not a new problem nor is it unique to South Africa. It is a problem that permeates almost the whole of the African continent. A large body of research has highlighted the value of a learner’s home language for teaching and learning, but, despite this evidence very little has been achieved in terms of promoting African languages in education across the continent. The study followed a qualitative case study approach in which isiZulu, one of the indigenous African languages was used as an example. Data for the study was collected in the province of KwaZulu-Natal which is one of the nine provinces that constitute South Africa where isiZulu is the predominant language. Schools which were used as data collection sites were purposively sampled from rural, peri-urban and urban based schools. Respondents were sampled from educators and learners in primary and secondary schools. For triangulation purposes data was also collected from specialists in institutions of higher learning within the KwaZulu-Natal province. Questionnaires, interviews and observations were used to collect data. The major findings of the study indicated that schools in all geographic dispensations do experience language related problems. In different ways responses indicated that the major cause of the language problem centered on the fact that the language of learning and teaching, namely English is not a home language for the majority of the learners. The language problem similarly affects teaching and learning in institutions of higher learning as well. In terms of strategies that can be used to promote the indigenous African languages for teaching and learning purposes, the study found that the four key areas which need to be the focus of any plan of promoting indigenous African languages are policy revision, language development, materials development and teacher training and development.

This study examines the current state of advertising in Cameroon and South Africa; two multilingual and multicultural societies with rich historical and linguistic backgrounds. Advertising in Douala, Cameroon, is not given enough attention and the inhabitants, not only of the city but the country as a whole, feel rejected and not taken on board in the discourse of advertising. The study identified personal characteristics of participants and their degree of satisfaction with the current state of advertising in Douala and Mafikeng. The research design is mainly qualitative with a minor supporting component from the quantitative approach. A purposive sampling approach was used to select fifty participants in Douala and fifty in Mafikeng as well as five interviewees (three in Douala and two in Mafikeng). Data collected was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The qualitative analysis involved presenting the findings in major themes using information provided by participants in the open-ended items of the questionnaire and verbatim quotations from the interviews. Excerpts from the questionnaires and interviews were used to support identified themes emanating from the participants. Quantitative data was captured and analysed through Excel. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages were used to identify important and relevant characteristics about participants. Descriptive statistics were also used to summarise, compare data and enhance readability of results. The study revealed that Douala city-dwellers are not satisfied with the dominant use of French and English in advertising as it deprives citizens of vital and useful information in their own languages. In Mafikeng, even though there is moderate use of Setswana, respondents apparently felt justified in recommending the exclusion of languages prevalent during the apartheid era (Afrikaans and English) in advertising. The researcher therefore suggests that policy and decision-makers, advertisers and stakeholders involved in advertising consider the local population in the selection of languages to be used in the sector and for Cameroonian advertising to take a leaf from the multilingual advertising practices of South Africa. / Thesis (PhD) North-west University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-03-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:40:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 gava_aa_dr_sjrp.pdf: 2016825 bytes, checksum: 3e32d45e8e474596cb0ebc8cd87687cd (MD5) / O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal propor um modelo de dicionário terminológico onomasiológico multilíngue para crianças, com o propósito de divulgar as línguas indígenas. Tal dicionário é composto de 258 termos da fauna brasileira, organizados em anfíbios, aves, mamíferos, peixes e répteis, com equivalentes nas línguas indígenas Arara, Kadiwéu, Karitiana, Parintintín, Xavante e Zoró. Os termos foram coletados a partir dos corpora compilados de dicionários e vocabulários nas línguas empregadas. O protótipo é fundamentado no modelo de dicionário terminológico onomasiológico proposto por Babini (2001b), no qual esse autor trata a recuperação da informação lexical em um dicionário onomasiológico. Para que seja possível efetuar buscas de tipo onomasiológico foram utilizados semas costumeiramente existentes na fala infantil, em língua portuguesa, que descrevem as características dos animais. Além da busca onomasiológica o dicionário permite também buscas de tipo semasiológico, tradicionalmente implementadas na maioria dos dicionários eletrônicos. O dicionário foi realizado em uma plataforma eletrônica que poderá ser futuramente utilizada para a confecção de outros dicionários terminológicos eletrônicos / The main objective of this thesis is to propose a model of a terminological onomasiological multilingual dictionary for children, aimed at promoting the indigenous languages. Such dictionary is composed of 258 terms of the Brazilian fauna, categorized into amphibians, birds, mammals, fish and reptiles, with equivalents in these indigenous languages: Arara, Kadiwéu, Karitiana, Parintintín, Xavante e Zoró. The terms were collected from corpora compiled from dictionaries and vocabularies in the studied languages. The prototype relies on a model of onomasiological terminological dictionary, proposed by Babini (2001), in which the author tackles lexical information retrieval in an onomasiological dictionary. In order to perform onomasiological searches, existing semes in children´s speech were used, in the Portuguese language, which describe animal features. Besides the onomasiological search, the dictionary also allows semasiological searches, traditionally implemented in most electronic dictionaries. The dictionary was developed in an electronic platform that may be used in the future so as to build other eletronic terminological dictionaries

The Pacific coast of Russia on the Kamchatka peninsula is home to a small indigenous group of traditional fishermen who call themselves Itelmens. The total population of Itelmens is a little over 3,000 people. Over the last three decades Itelmens have been successful in revitalizing their culture and maintaining traditional subsistence activities, cuisine, crafts, and dance. Sadly, this cannot be stated about the Itelmen language- “a severely endangered language-- which has about 5 native speakers left. Despite the language revitalization measures that have been actively undertaken by Itelmen language specialists since the 1980s, Itelmens continue to lose their speakers with no new speakers appearing. This sociolinguistic research aims to analyze the history of language loss, contemporary state of the language, spaces that the language is taught and practiced, and the circumstances that work for or against the active language revitalization among Itelmens. The intellectual merits of this study include gaining a better understanding of the nature of the reversing language shift processes and language vitality that occur in communities with a small number of speakers. The ultimate goal of this community-oriented research was to search for language revitalization initiatives that might work in the Itelmen case under the given social, political, and economic circumstances. Therefore, this study is offering multiple language revitalization initiatives that should be implemented both in rural and urban areas for fruitful development of the Itelmen language. These initiatives include the participation of all generations in the process and the introduction of multi-media and technology.

Orientador: Maurizio Babini / Banca: Maria Aparecida Barbosa / Banca: Marieta Prata de LIma Dias / Banca: Marilei Amadeu Sabino / Banca: Adriane Orenha Ottaiano / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal propor um modelo de dicionário terminológico onomasiológico multilíngue para crianças, com o propósito de divulgar as línguas indígenas. Tal dicionário é composto de 258 termos da fauna brasileira, organizados em anfíbios, aves, mamíferos, peixes e répteis, com equivalentes nas línguas indígenas Arara, Kadiwéu, Karitiana, Parintintín, Xavante e Zoró. Os termos foram coletados a partir dos corpora compilados de dicionários e vocabulários nas línguas empregadas. O protótipo é fundamentado no modelo de dicionário terminológico onomasiológico proposto por Babini (2001b), no qual esse autor trata a recuperação da informação lexical em um dicionário onomasiológico. Para que seja possível efetuar buscas de tipo onomasiológico foram utilizados semas costumeiramente existentes na fala infantil, em língua portuguesa, que descrevem as características dos animais. Além da busca onomasiológica o dicionário permite também buscas de tipo semasiológico, tradicionalmente implementadas na maioria dos dicionários eletrônicos. O dicionário foi realizado em uma plataforma eletrônica que poderá ser futuramente utilizada para a confecção de outros dicionários terminológicos eletrônicos / Abstract: The main objective of this thesis is to propose a model of a terminological onomasiological multilingual dictionary for children, aimed at promoting the indigenous languages. Such dictionary is composed of 258 terms of the Brazilian fauna, categorized into amphibians, birds, mammals, fish and reptiles, with equivalents in these indigenous languages: Arara, Kadiwéu, Karitiana, Parintintín, Xavante e Zoró. The terms were collected from corpora compiled from dictionaries and vocabularies in the studied languages. The prototype relies on a model of onomasiological terminological dictionary, proposed by Babini (2001), in which the author tackles lexical information retrieval in an onomasiological dictionary. In order to perform onomasiological searches, existing semes in children's speech were used, in the Portuguese language, which describe animal features. Besides the onomasiological search, the dictionary also allows semasiological searches, traditionally implemented in most electronic dictionaries. The dictionary was developed in an electronic platform that may be used in the future so as to build other eletronic terminological dictionaries / Doutor

This study sought to identify problems concerning Pan South African Language Board spelling rules in respect of Tshivenga orthography. A qualitative descriptive research method was chosen. The study population consisted of Pan South African Language Board spelling rules. The rules dealt with nine indigenous languages that were Tshivenga, isiZulu, Siswati, Sesotho, Setswana, Xitsonga, isiXhosa, isiNdebele and Sesotho sa Leboa. Each of the nine indigenous languages had between 12 and 56 rules. Altogether there were 255 rules which constituted the study population of this project. A small but sufficient sample of about twenty rules in Tshivenga orthography was selected. Data were collected by means of unstructured interviews with forty-four purposely selected participants which include linguists as well as document analysis. Ethical considerations were ensured in order to protect participants from any harm or discomfort that might arise from being involved in an investigation. The researcher explained the aim and nature of the study to respondents, to get their informed consent before the interviews. Several strategies to prevent defects, challenges and problems in Tshivenga orthography were recommended based on the results. The strategies focused on aspects which deal with spelling and orthography rules.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) --University of Limpopo, 2014 / Refer to the document

In this study, the transfer of culture in the translation of the isiNdebele New Testament has been investigated. This has been done on the basis of the hypothesis of this study that the transfer of cultural entities from the source text into the South African indigenous languages has not been satisfactorily dealt with. The methodology followed is a literary study, analysing the existing literature by comparing the source text i.e. the Good News Bible and the target text i.e. the isiNdebele New Testament. This was done through the Descriptive Translation Studies theory. Personal interviews were also conducted with different informants. The information to support this hypothesis is expounded in five chapters. Chapter one explains the background to the research and the research problem. Chapter two deals with the historical overview of Bible translation with specific reference to the translation of the Bible into the South African indigenous languages. This chapter puts the Good News Bible as the source text and the isiNdebele New Testament as the target text in their respective historical and literary context in order to compare them. The historical overview of Bible translation is discussed in two categories. The first category deals with the general overview of Bible translation from the first Great Age when the Bible was translated for the first time into the Greek language. The second category includes the Second up to the Fourth Great Age including the missionary period in South Africa in the early 19th century. Chapter three discusses the cultural context, translators and the intended readership of the source text by comparing them with those of the target text. This is done in terms of the Descriptive Translation Studies theory whereby the source text and the target text need to be put in their respective historical, social and cultural contexts in order to examine what transpired in the translation. Furthermore the translation theories and strategies employed in the translation of the isiNdebele New Testament have been discussed with illustrative examples from the text. Chapter four concentrates on the cultural entities and how they are transferred into the isiNdebele New Testament. Based on the Descriptive Translation Studies theory the following tertium comparitionis has been used: A comparison between the Good News Bible and the isiNdebele New Testament in terms of: - Aspects of culture used as the tertium comparitionis (basis for comparison) <ul> <li>1. Ecology</li> <li>2. Material culture</li></ul> <ul> <li>2.1 clothing</li> <li>2.2 utensils and artefacts</li></ul> <ul> <li>3. Social culture</li></ul> <ul> <li>3.1 gestures</li> <li>3.2 idiomatic expressions</li> <li>3.3 naming</li> <li>3.4 lifestyle</li> <li>3.5 way of showing respect</li></ul> <ul> <li>4. Social organizations-political, administrative and religious</li></ul> <ul> <li>4.1 political terms</li> <li>4.2. economic terms</li> <li>4.3 religious terms</li> <li>4.4 historical names</li></ul> Chapter five is a general conclusion which broadly deals with the hypothesis of this research; namely that the transfer of cultural entities has not been thoroughly dealt with in the translation of the Bible into the South African indigenous languages, with specific reference to the isiNdebele New Testament. Suggestions for the way forward have been expounded. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / African Languages / unrestricted

El presente trabajo utiliza la data “Peruvian Young Lives International Study” referente al nivel escolar de pobreza infantil para investigar el efecto de la presencia de lenguas distintas al Castellano en el logro cognitivo de los niños de Educación Primaria. Se encontró que la presencia de una lengua distinta al Castellano en la Educación Primaria disminuye en 2.22 puntos el puntaje en las pruebas cognitivas. No existe evidencia de este efecto visto por el lado de factores de oferta. Estos hallazgos sugieren también que la educación en lenguas distintas al Castellano en el nivel primario, para aquellos niños cuyos padres hablan una lengua distinta al Castellano, mejoran sus resultados cognitivos. / The present work uses the Peruvian Young Lives International Study of Childhood Poverty’s School Level data to investigate the effect of the presence of different languages, except Spanish, on the cognitive knowledge of primary school children. It was found that the presence of a specific language, excepto the Spanish language, in primary education reduce at 2.22 points the score on cognitive tests. There is no evidence of this effect from the supply factors. These findings also suggest that education in languages different than Spanish at the primary level, for those children whose parents speak a language different than Spanish, it improves their cognitive results. / Trabajo de investigación

A pesar del carácter multiétnico y multilingüe del Perú, el español es considerado como la lengua predominante tanto en lo público como en lo privado. Esta situación de desigualdad genera conflictos sociales entre los peruanos y afecta, sobre todo, a aquellos que poseen el español como segunda lengua. En un intento de revertir esta injusticia para los hablantes de lenguas indígenas, el Estado creó un programa de intérpretes y traductores. La presente investigación busca documentar la experiencia de algunos traductores e intérpretes empadronados en dicho programa. / Despite the multiethnic and multilingual character of Peru, Spanish is considered to be the most predominant language in both the public and the private spheres. This inequality has sparked many social conflicts in Peru affecting, above all, those who do not speak Spanish as their native language. As an attempt to reverse this injustice for speakers of indigenous languages, the State created a program of interpreters and translators. This investigation seeks to document the experience of some translators and interpreters registered in said program. / Tesis