An immense degree of linguistic diversity exists in the work force where it is possible for speakers of twenty-three home languages to come into contact on the work floor. The language of management in industry is predominantly English; while supervisors are primarily English- or Afrikaans-speaking. Misinterpretation of speaker intent plays a significant role in communication breakdown that occurs when management or foremen/supervisors communicate directly with workers who do not understand the two erstwhile official languages sufficiently or not at all. Reagan ( 1 986) hypothesized that the greatest number of problems are caused by what might be termed mutual ignorance, rather than by language difficulties. The aim of the thesis was therefore to establish what constitutes the mutual ignorance that leads to misinterpretation of speaker intent. The Hymesian model, the ethnography of speaking, was used as a model for an analysis of sociolinguistic features in factories in the Pretoria-WitwatersrandVereeniging area. For data collection a process of triangulation was used and qualitative and quantitative methods used. The Free Attitude Interview technique was used for unstructured interviews. Other methods include observation, and elicitation procedures such as the Discourse Completion Test, which were used in structured interviews. Language preference, forms of address and politeness markers were examined. Findings revealed that the major differences were found to be in the area of non-verbal behaviour. Speakers of Afrikaans and English are, on the whole, unaware of politeness markers used by speakers of African languages. Afrikaans and English speakers are unaware of offensive non-verbal behaviour used by them. It is revealing that speakers of the official languages believe this to be the very area that makes communication possible, but it is the area in which they may cause offence. It was also found that speakers of African languages have adopted many of the features of the power dominant group at work. The findings of the research are important for the development of strategies for overcoming misinterpretation of speaker intent and negative stereotyping. This research was undertaken as part of the Human Sciences Research Council's programme entitled Language in the labour situation. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

This study investigates the role of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) in the development of the Oromo language. The main aim of the study is to provide an account of the contribution of this particular church to the maintenance and development of Oromo, which is spoken by the largest speech community in Ethiopia. The study draws on theoretical and methodological frameworks from the field of language planning and development. The main source of data was interviews and focus group discussions conducted with church leaders at different organisational levels and other members of the church community. In addition, documents found in the church archives were analysed. The findings indicate that a number of church activities have contributed to the maintenance and development of the language. These activities include translation and transliteration work of the Bible and other religious literature, literacy and educational programmes, media work as well as use of Oromo in the liturgy and church services. This study also examined the obstacles that hindered the development of Oromo. The main obstacle was the conflict within the EECMY that arose in 1995 over the use of the language. The study unearths the roots of the controversy through a brief historical examination of the church’s attempts to develop the language, despite opposition from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and earlier regimes, which proscribed the use of the vernacular languages in Ethiopia. Thereafter it focuses on the internal conflict after the change to a democratic government when the situation in Ethiopia became more favourable towards use of vernacular languages. It identifies the causes of the conflict, the way in which it was resolved and the effects which it had on the development of the language. Recommendations are made for further research and some suggestions are given regarding ways to promote the future development of the Oromo language. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Esta pesquisa foi desenvolvida na comunidade lingüística ítalo-brasileira de Nova Pádua, situada Nordeste do Rio Grande do Sul, fundada em 1885 por imigrantes italianos. Esse grupo etnolingüístico convive com uma situação de línguas em contato e bilingüismo. O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar atitudes lingüísticas dos bilíngües em relação aos sistemas de fala utilizados pelo grupo étnico-social: a língua portuguesa standard, o dialeto italiano (Coiné) e a variedade de fala de língua portuguesa local. A investigação partiu do pressuposto de que os bilíngües adotam atitudes positivas ou negativas, de prestígio ou estigma, em relação às variedades lingüísticas. Além disso, pressupõe-se que o comportamento dos bilíngües é regulado por valores atribuídos às línguas. Os resultados mostraram uma gama de valores positivos e negativos atribuídos e percebidos nas variedades lingüísticas, e esses valores orientam o uso dessas variedades. Não só a avaliação positiva ou negativa orienta o comportamento lingüístico dos bilíngües, mas também fatores extralingüísticos como situações de interação formal ou informal e a solidariedade ao interlocutor. Inesperadamente, a pesquisa mostrou um conflito de valores e de identidade lingüísticos entre os participantes da amostra. Esse conflito revelou-se na contradição existente nos juízos de valor atribuídos às variedades lingüísticas, nas duas situações de avaliação propostas pela pesquisa. Na primeira, em que o falante seria uma terceira pessoa e não o sujeito da pesquisa, o dialeto italiano é o sistema de fala de maior prestígio, e a língua portuguesa standard, a língua de menor prestígio. As atitudes positivas em relação ao dialeto italiano ou dialeto vêneto (Coiné) apontam para uma ligação afetiva entre o sentimento étnico italiano e a identidade lingüística da amostra. Contraditoriamente, para uma situação interpessoal, em domínios usuais como: casa, Capela, escola, em que o próprio bilíngüe deveria falar, os valores divergiram. Isto é, os sistemas de fala de língua portuguesa, local e standard, receberam maior prestígio do que o dialeto italiano. Essas atitudes foram justificadas, entre outros motivos, pela necessidade de domínio da língua portuguesa, pela solidariedade ao interlocutor e pelo reconhecimento de uma forma lingüística de língua portuguesa local, língua portuguesa com marcas italianas. Dessa forma, os dados mostraram que a identidade lingüística italiana é mais idealizada e/ou nostálgica do que real. Em contrapartida, parece surgir um latente reconhecimento de uma prática lingüística ítalo-brasileira local. / This reasearch was developed in an Italo-Brazilian linguistics community of Nova Pádua, located in the northeast of Rio grande do Sul, which was founded in 1885 by Italian imigrants. This etnolinguisitcs group lives with a situation of bilinguism and languages in contact with each other. The aim of our work was to investigate the linguistics attitudes of the bilingual speakers in relation to the used speaking systems by the ethnic-social: the standard Portuguese language, the Italian dialect (Coiné) and the variety of the local speaking Portuguese language. The investigation began with the presupposition that bilingual speakers have positive or negative attitudes, prestige or stigma, in relation to the linguistics varieties. Besides this, we presupposed that bilingual speakers behaviour is measured by the values given to the languages. The results showed a series of positive and negative values related and perceived in the linguistics varieties. Not just the positive and negative evaluation guides the linguistics behaviour of bilingual speakers, but also extra-linguistics factors as a formal interation situation or the speaker s solidarity. Surprisingly, the research showed a conflict of values and linguistics identity in the sample. This conflict was revealed in the contradiction of the values judgement given to the linguistics varieties in the two evaluation proposals suggested by the research. In the first proposal, where the speaker is a third person, not the one belong to the research, the Italian dialect is the speaking system of the greatest prestige and the standard Portuguese language, the language of minor prestige. The positive attitudes in relation to the Italian dialect direct to an afective link between the Italian ethnic feeling and the sample s linguistic identity. Contradictorily, for an interpersonal situation, in usual dominions as house, school, chapel where the own bilingual should speak, the values differ. It means that the regional and standard Portuguese language speaking systems receive more prestige than the Italian dialect. Among other aspects, these attitudes were justified by the necessity of the Portuguese language dominium, by the speakers solidarity and by the recognition of a linguistics form of a local Portuguese language, Portuguese with Italian marks. By all these, the dates showed that the Italian linguistics identity is more idealized and/or nostalgic than real.On the other side, it seems appearing a latent recognition of a local Italo-Brazilian linguistcs practice.

Sociolingvistiska studier visar att kontakten mellan den brasilianska portugisiskan och afrikanska språk under kolonialtiden ledde till att afrikanska ord assimilerades in i det brasilianska talspråket. Vissa ord är idag en del av det brasilianska vardagsspråket, medan andra används enbart inom den afro-brasilianska religiösa kontexten. Den brasilianska populärmusiken kan ses som en viktig faktor för spridningen av ord med afrikanskt ursprung. Musiken är ett instrument med vilket det brasilianska samhället kan medvetandegöra sig om hur essentiellt Afrika var i det brasilianska samhällsskapandet. Samtidigt ges kännedom om de afrikanska orden och olika afro-brasilianska kulturella element. I de musikaliska verken av Gilberto Gil, en brasiliansk kompositör, musiker och artist, används ofta ord med afrikanskt ursprung. I den här studien analyseras dessa ord, och med hjälp av ett förslag till klassificering från den brasilianska etno-lingvisten Yeda Pessoa de Castro, görs ett försök att klassificera de afrikanska orden utifrån dess användning, beroende av dess sociokulturella nivå. Analysen visar att det förkommer ord med afrikanskt ursprung i stor del av kompositörens verk, majoriteten av dessa kommer ifrån de afrikanska språkgrupperna bantu och kwa. Orden kommer ifrån olika semantiska fält som till exempel mat, musik och kultur, och en majoritet är benämningar som kommer ifrån den Afro-brasilianska religiösa kontexten. Just det Afro-brasilianska religiösa temat är vanligt förekommande inom brasiliansk populärmusik, men i Gilberto Gils sångtexter ses också teman från den Afro-brasilianska sfären i användandet av välkända afrikanska ord, men det förkommer också ord som är för okända för den större publiken. Ett medvetet användande av de afrikanska orden ses som förstärkande i skapandet av en samhörighet med den Afro-brasilianska världen. / The sociolinguistic studies show that during the inter-linguistic contact between the Brazilian Portuguese and the African languages during the colonial period, many words were assimilated in the vernacular Portuguese of Brazil. Some of the words are today a part of the vernacular language, while others are used exclusively in Afro-Brazilian religious communities. For the diffusion of the words with African origins, the popular music could be an important factor. With this musical theme, the Brazilian society is reminded of the importance that Africa had in the forming of the Brazilian society, and the music brings awareness of the African words and the Afro-Brazilian cultural elements. There is a frequent use of these African words in the musical accomplishments of the Brazilian composer, musician and artist Gilberto Gil. In the present work these words are analyzed, and with the proposal for classification made by the Brazilian ethno-linguist Yeda Pessoa de Castro, the aim is to classify the words, depending on their sociolinguistic level. The analysis shows that the African words can be found in a great part of the composers work, and the majority comes from the banto and kwa languages. The words are being classified in various semantic fields, for an example food, music and culture, and the majorities are designations that come from Afro-Brazilian religion. The Afro-Brazilian religious theme is a common element in the Brazilian popular music, but in the song lyrics of Gilberto Gil the African theme is also showing in the use of well-known African word. Whereas others words with African origin are not that well known, but in the conscious use of Gilberto Gil words of African origin reinforce a connection to the Afro-Brazilian universe. / Pesquisas sociolinguísticas mostram que no contato linguístico entre o português brasileiro e as línguas africanas durante o tempo da colonização, muitas palavras africanas foram assimiladas à língua falada no Brasil. Certas palavras fazem hoje parte da língua cotidiana, enquanto outras são utilizadas exclusivamente nas comunidades de religião afro-brasileira. Para a difusão das palavras de matriz africana, as músicas populares podem ser um fator importante. Com a ajuda da música, a sociedade brasileira lembra-se da importância que teve a África na formação da sociedade brasileira, e leva para o conhecimento palavras africanas e elementos culturais afro-brasileiros. Na obra musical do compositor, músico e artista Gilberto Gil pode-se observar um uso frequente de palavras de matriz africana. Neste trabalho analisa-se este vocabulário, e com uma proposta de classificação feita pela etnolinguista Yeda Pessoa de Castro, procura-se classificar as palavras conforme o nível sociocultural no qual se encontram. A análise mostra que em grande parte da obra do compositor acham-se palavras africanas, a maioria de origem banto e kwa. As palavras vêm de campos semânticos diferentes como culinária, música, cultura e a maioria são designações derivadas de religiões afro-brasileiras. Justamente o tema da religião afro-brasileiro aparece como elemento comum na música popular brasileira, mas nas letras de Gilberto Gil é possível ver temas do universo afro-brasileiro também através do uso de palavras africanas. A análise mostra que algumas são bem conhecidas, outras nem tanto. O uso tão elaborado do léxico de origem africana por Gilberto Gil em suas letras de canções manifesta uma identificação com o universo afro no Brasil.

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The thesis covers sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic aspects of Czech and Slovak language relations. To both fields, it contributes in the form of own empirical research. At the centre of attention are native speakers of Slovak living long-term in Czechia and their language behaviour under this setting in relation to Czech and Slovak. Given that two languages in question are genetically very close and mutual intelligible, the actual language behaviour of the described population is not strictly predetermined by the social norms (Dickins, 2009). However, there are also conditions supporting the accommodation to Czech (Sloboda, 2005). The thesis focuses on the identification of factors influencing language choice and on the impacts of such factors on the psychlinguistic processing of Slovak and Czech words. The sociolinguistic part builds on questionnaire-based surveys, such as those conducted by Sloboda (2006). The own questionnaire survey was carried out via web. The data from 651 respondents were assessed, all from native speakers of Slovak having grown up in Slovakia and commencing their stay in Czechia after the age of 18. The data revealed that Slovak is used more than Czech, that Czech is more often perceived, that the use of Czech is more common in the communication with strangers or in...

ABBREVIATION IN CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN LANGUAGE IN COMPARISON WITH THE CZECH LANGUAGE Dissertation work is aimed at confrontation study of abbreviation in Bulgarian in comparison with Czech and at the description of abbreviations as specific language symbols. Contemporary language tendencies and the changes in the field of abbreviation in relation to the language typology are taken into account. The work is dedicated to the grammatical, stylistic and semantic characteristics of the abbreviations, while a substantial part of the confrontation description addresses the graphical and initial abbreviations, which create a central part of the partial system of abbreviation formations. From the confrontational aspect, there is also described the ability of abbreviations to serve as word-formation base for derivatives. The dissertation work also includes the results of socio-linguistic research made by questionnaire method, where the respondents evaluated the abbreviations of an international character and the words containing abbreviated bases implemented into the text written in Cyrillic.

Satire and counsel recur together in the secular literature of the High and Late Middle Ages. I analyze their collocation in Latin, Old Occitan, and Middle English texts from the twelfth to the fifteenth century in works by Walter Map, Alan of Lille, John of Salisbury, Daniel of Beccles, John Gower, William of Poitiers, Thomas Hoccleve, and John Skelton. As types of discourse, satire and counsel resemble each other in the way they reproduce scenarios of social interaction. Authors combine satire and counsel to reproduce these scenarios according to the protocols of real-life social interaction. Informed by linguistic pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics and cultural anthropology, I examine the relational rhetoric of these texts to uncover a sometimes complex and reflective ethical discourse on power which sometimes implicates itself in the practices it condemns. The dissertation draws throughout on sociolinguistic methods for examining verbal interaction between unequals, and assesses what this focus can contribute to recent scholarly debates on the interrelation of social and literary practices in the later Middle Ages. In the first chapter I introduce the concepts and methodologies that inform this dissertation through a detailed consideration of Distinction One of Walter Map’s De nugis curialium . While looking at how Walter Map combines discourses of satire and counsel to negotiate a new social role for the learned cleric at court, I advocate treating satire as a mode of expression more general than ‘literary’ genre and introduce the iii theories and methods that inform my treatment of literary texts as social interaction, considering also how these approaches can complement new historicist interpretation. Chapter two looks at how twelfth-century authors of didactic poetry appropriate relational discourses from school and household to claim the authoritative roles of teacher and father. In the third chapter, I focus on texts that depict relations between princes and courtiers, especially the Prologue of the Confessio Amantis which idealizes its author John Gower as an honest counselor and depicts King Richard II (in its first recension) as receptive to honest counsel. The fourth chapter turns to poets with the uncertain social identities of literate functionaries at court. Articulating their alienation and satirizing the ploys of courtiers—including even satire itself—Thomas Hoccleve in the Regement of Princes and John Skelton in The Bowge of Court undermine the satirist-counselor’s claim to authenticity. In concluding, I consider how this study revises understanding of the genre of satire in the Middle Ages and what such an approach might contribute to the study of Jean de Meun and Geoffrey Chaucer.

Satire and counsel recur together in the secular literature of the High and Late Middle Ages. I analyze their collocation in Latin, Old Occitan, and Middle English texts from the twelfth to the fifteenth century in works by Walter Map, Alan of Lille, John of Salisbury, Daniel of Beccles, John Gower, William of Poitiers, Thomas Hoccleve, and John Skelton. As types of discourse, satire and counsel resemble each other in the way they reproduce scenarios of social interaction. Authors combine satire and counsel to reproduce these scenarios according to the protocols of real-life social interaction. Informed by linguistic pragmatics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics and cultural anthropology, I examine the relational rhetoric of these texts to uncover a sometimes complex and reflective ethical discourse on power which sometimes implicates itself in the practices it condemns. The dissertation draws throughout on sociolinguistic methods for examining verbal interaction between unequals, and assesses what this focus can contribute to recent scholarly debates on the interrelation of social and literary practices in the later Middle Ages. In the first chapter I introduce the concepts and methodologies that inform this dissertation through a detailed consideration of Distinction One of Walter Map’s De nugis curialium . While looking at how Walter Map combines discourses of satire and counsel to negotiate a new social role for the learned cleric at court, I advocate treating satire as a mode of expression more general than ‘literary’ genre and introduce the iii theories and methods that inform my treatment of literary texts as social interaction, considering also how these approaches can complement new historicist interpretation. Chapter two looks at how twelfth-century authors of didactic poetry appropriate relational discourses from school and household to claim the authoritative roles of teacher and father. In the third chapter, I focus on texts that depict relations between princes and courtiers, especially the Prologue of the Confessio Amantis which idealizes its author John Gower as an honest counselor and depicts King Richard II (in its first recension) as receptive to honest counsel. The fourth chapter turns to poets with the uncertain social identities of literate functionaries at court. Articulating their alienation and satirizing the ploys of courtiers—including even satire itself—Thomas Hoccleve in the Regement of Princes and John Skelton in The Bowge of Court undermine the satirist-counselor’s claim to authenticity. In concluding, I consider how this study revises understanding of the genre of satire in the Middle Ages and what such an approach might contribute to the study of Jean de Meun and Geoffrey Chaucer.

Comment les locuteurs kabyles vivent-ils la diversité linguistique de leur région ? Dans quellemesure les discours épilinguistiques (discours proférés sur les langues) de nos informateursproduisent-ils une hiérarchisation des langues et des espaces dans le contexte kabyle ? Quelleattitude adoptent-ils et comment réagissent-ils face à cette hiérarchisation sociolinguistique età la relation langue/dominance dans leur imaginaire sociolinguistique ? À quel point lesdiscours épilinguistiques de nos informateurs énoncent-ils le statut et la légitimité d’emploi dukabyle comparativement aux autres systèmes linguistiques (il s’agit dans ce cas de l’arabe etdu français) posés en complémentarité ou en concurrence ? Nous verrons en quoi les discoursépilinguistiques de nos informateurs leur permettent de poser et de décliner leur identitésociale par une appropriation ou un rejet de ce qui est dit sur leur langue et leur territoire.Nous entendons par territoire non seulement la Kabylie en tant qu’entité géographique maisaussi en tant qu’espace linguistique et social. En effet, nous verrons comment se produisentl'appropriation symbolique de l'espace et le marquage sociolinguistique du territoire kabylepar le biais des représentations de nos informateurs. L’objectif de notre travail est de menerune réflexion théorique sur la question de l’articulation entre l’identité, le langage, l'espace etles représentations sociolinguistiques. / How do Kabyle speakers live their region’s linguistic diversity? To what extent do ourinformants’ epilinguistic discourses made about languages produce a hierarchy of bothlanguage and geographical space in the Kabyle context? What attitude do they adopt and howdo they react to this sociolinguistic prioritization and to the matter of language Vs dominancein their sociolinguistic imagination? To what extent do the informants’ epilinguisticdiscourses portray the status and the legitimacy of the use of Kabyle language compared toother linguistic systems (in that case Arabic and French languages), put in a complimentary orin a competing relationship? In fact, we will demonstrate how the epilinguistic discourses ofour informants allow them to state and convey their social identity through appropriation orrejection of what is said about their language and territory. By territory, we mean not onlyKabylie as a geographical entity but as a linguistic and social space as well. Indeed, we shallexpose how both the symbolic appropriation of space and the Kabyle sociolinguistic markingof territory are produced through the representations of our informants. The purpose of ourwork is to conduct a theoretical reflection on the relationship between identity, language,space and sociolinguistic representations.