The Vhavenḓa are a conservative society and although they admire and follow other people’s cultures, they do not do this at the expense of their own traditions. Most Vhavenḓa are found in the far north of South Africa. The second largest group of Vhavenḓa is found in Gauteng Province. Vhavenḓa first met with the Europeans in the 19th century. The greatest influence on Tshivenḓa culture was brought about by the missionaries, who came with the aim of colonizing Africa and discouraging Africans from following their own culture and traditions, which the missionaries regarded as paganism. They forced Africans to change their African personal names and replace them with European ones, especially if they wanted to attend mission schools or when they sought employment. Traditionally, Tshivenḓa personal names were chosen by the male grandparent or another senior male person, or the role was played by the father of the child. The mother of the child did not have any say in the selection or bestowal of a personal name (Herbert, 1986; Moyo, 1996; Nkumane, 1999; Ndimande, 1998). Whenever Africans choose a personal name, it bears a particular meaning or it is the name of a deceased member of the family (Raper, 1983; Stayt, 1931; Thipa, 1986; Yanga, 1978). They do this in order to pacify the deceased. Africans believe that there are always connections between the living and the dead and that the dead have great influence on the lives of the living. Vhavenḓa practice teknonymy. The parents and the grandparents are addressed by the personal names of their children and grandchildren respectively. The name that is commonly used in this instance is the name of the firstborn. It happens that at times the personal names of the parents and grandparents are never used: some members of the community might never know these people by their real names (Arensen, 1988; Thipa, 1987). African personal names should all have meanings. They are used as a short history of the family or the community. Whenever personal names are used in communication, friction between people is minimized. Morphologically, Tshivenḓa personal names are derived from various Tshivenḓa word categories. They are formed using different morphemes that are available in the language. These morphemes assign meaning to the personal name. / African languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African languages)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates how gratitude expressions may be expressed in Tshivenda. Studies on the expressions of gratitude have been conducted in various languages. Politeness is a pragmatic mechanism in which a variety of structures work together according to the speaker's intention of achieving smooth communication. Speech acts on the other hand is the same as an illocutionary act (intention of the sender). The same world can be used to perform different speech acts. The findings in this study is based on situations in which gratitude is expressed in response to receiving a reward, gift, favour, service and compliment (Eisentein and Bodman 1986). Gratitude is expressed when a person benefits from another person. In this study the data shows consistent use of expressions of gratitude within specific contexts. The results of this study are consistently interpretable in that the bigger the imposition on the giver, the more polite expressions are employed. Gratitude expressions have been analysed from gratitude functions. These functions include the following: Thanking, appreciations, liking, surprise, generosity, pleasure, indebtedness, relief, desire, caring, enthusiasm, reciprocate, reason, reassurance and compliment. In Tshivenda thanks, pleasure and appreciation have a high frequency and these gratitude functions show extreme politeness of the Venda people. There are also certain functions in Tshivenda which have a very low frequency, i.e. reason, desire, enthusiasm, reciprocate, generosity and caring. Therefore, they are not considered as possible gratitude functions in Tshivenda and are also unfamiliar in Tshivenda. / AFRRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe uitdrukkings van dankbaarheid in Tshivenda uitgedruk kan word. Studies oor uitdrukkings van dankbaarheid is gedoen in verskeie tale. Beleefdheid is 'n pragmatiese meganisme waarin 'n verskeidenheid strukture saamwerk volgens die spreker se bedoeling om gladde kommunikasie te bewerkstellig. Spraakhandelinge, aan die anderkant, is dieselfde as illokusionere handelinge (bedoeling van die spreker). Dieselfde woord kan gebruik word om verskillende Spraakhandelinge uit te voer. Die bevindinge in hierdie studie is gebaseer op situasies waarin dankbaarheid uitgespreek word as antwoord op die ontvangs van 'n beloning, geskenk, guns en kompliment (Eisenstein en Bodman, 1986). Dankbaarheid word uitgedruk wanneer 'n persoon voordeel trek uit 'n ander persoon. In hierdie studie toon die data eenvormige gebruik van uitdrukkings van dankbaarheid binne spesifieke kontekste. Die resultate van hierdie studie is telkens interpreteerbaar soos volg: hoe grater die druk op die gewer, hoe meer beleefd is die dankbaarheids- uitdrukkings. Suike uitdrukkings is geanaliseer vanaf dankbaarheidsfunksies, naamlik bedanking, waardering, voorkeur, verrassing, vrygewigheid, plesier, skuld, verligting, begeerte, entoesiasme, wederkerigheid, rede, versekering en kompliment. In Tshivenda het bedanking, plesier en waardering 'n hoe frekwensie van voorkoms en hierdie dankbaarheidsuitdrukkings toon die besondere beleefdheid van die Venda. Daar is ook sekere funksies in Tshivenda wat 'n bate lae frekwensie het, naamlik rede, begeerte, entoesiasme, wederkerigheid, vrygewigheid en sorg. Dus kan hulle nie beskou word as moontlike dankbaarheidsfunksies in Tshivenda nie.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: 1.1 AIM OF THE RESEARCH Relational nouns are those nouns which have the characteristic of being related in some other way. These nouns also show us that there is always equality and inequality in status amongst the people. It is in this research where I am going to show this difference amongst tshivenda nouns. At the end of this study tshivenda relational nouns, with the involvement of vertical relations of dependency and horizontal relations with no dependency, will be explained. Focus on this issue will be paid to different kinship terms with dependency and no dependency. 1.2. ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY Chapter 2 is going to focus on the tshivenda relational nouns. In this chapter vertical relations of dependency and horizontal relations with no dependency will be clearly explained. Kinship terms and non-kinship terms are also going to be illustrated. In the illustration of non-kinship terms, different situations in which they occur are also given. Venda antonyms and synonyms as words that occur in horizontal relations with no dependency are distinguished and classified. Chapter 3 will basically be doing with the kikinship terms. Anthropological views on kinship will also be looked at. Anthropologists Radcliffe – Brown and Fortes give their different views on the concept of kinship. This chapter goes further by showing the linquistic views on kinship. Here Doodenough comes with two relationships that lead to lineal descent. Lounsburry also shows the structural analysis of lexical set of covers and partitions a semantic field. The chapter proceeds by defining marriage and also shows how the Vhavenda boys choose their partners, pay lobola and marry. A Venda lineal descent has also been illustrated. Different generations, from the fourth ascending generation to the third descending generation are explained. Chapter 4 will be showing the outcome of the research. This will be based on chapters 2 and 3.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines data from advice-giving in Tshivenda relating to pragmatic theorist's argument that every human interaction, to a large extent carries with it an element of threatening to one or both participant's face. The speech act of politeness has been identified as one of the most effective speech acts to be employed in giving as well as soliciting advice. Every speech acts is influenced by contextual, cultural and many other background factors associated to age, gender and rank which contribute towards how a speech is composed. The issues relating to the theory of politeness prompted this study on the extent to which politeness plays a role in giving advice in an educational context of Tshivenda speaking learners. The study has employed Brown and Levinson's theory of politeness as a universal phenomenon against the findings of my data, in that universality of these theorists does not quite fit with this study. In this study, politeness in Tshivenda school context has demonstrated that it has been employed as a strategy for encoding distance between speaker and the solicitor. The purpose of advising teachers and students through politeness behavior is to mitigate face and to create a favourable context anticipated by the solicitor. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek data van adviesgewing in Tshivenda in verband tot die pragmatiekteoretikus se argument dat elke menslike interaksie tot 'n groot mate daarmee saamdra 'n element van bedreiging vir een of beide deelnemers se gesig ('face'). Die spraakhandeling van beleefdheid is geïdentifiseer as een van die mees effektiewe spraakhandelinge wat gebruik word in die gee en vra van advies. Elke spraakhandeling word beïnvloed deur kontekstuele kulturele en talle ander agtergrondfaktore wat verband hou met ouderdom, gender, en rang, wat bydra tot die kernposisie van die spraakhandeling. Die vraagstukke rakende die teorie van beleefdheid het hierdie studie gemotiveer, wat handelaar die mate waartoe beleefdheid 'n rol speel in adviesgewing in Tshivenda in opvoedkundige kontekste deur leerders. Die studie het Brown en Levinson se teorie van beleefdheid aangewend en geevalueer teenoor die bevindinge van die data van Tshivenda. Daar is bevind dat die universaliteits-aansprake van Brown en Levinson nie volledig strook met die data uit Tshivenda nie. In hierdie studie, het beleefdheid in Tshivenda in skoolkontekste gedemonstreer dat dit ingespan word om afstand te kodeer tussen spreker en hoorder. Die doel van adviesgewing aan onderwysers en leerders deur beleefdheidsgedrag is om gesig te verminder en om 'n gunstige konteks te skep, soos geantisipeer deur die adviesvraer.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focuses on two phonological processes occurring in Venda, i.e. on palatalization and labialization. Two phonological models are applied to describe these phenomena: a traditional (linear) phonological model, the Transformational Generative model of Chomsky and Halle (1968), and a non-linear Feature Geometry model of Clements (1985). This was done in order to ascertain which model would be more effective in its coverage of these sound changes. The core concepts of each model were described and the sound system of Venda was analysed in terms of distinctive features. The application of the two models led to the conclusion that a linearly structured model seem to be more effective to account for both these phenomena in Venda than its nonlinear counterpart. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie fokus op twee fonologiese prosesse in Venda, tewete palatalisasie en labialisasie. Twee fonologie modelle word toegepas om hierdie verskynsels mee te beskryf: 'n tradisionele liniêre model, die sg Transformasioneel Generatiewe model van Chomsky an Halle (1968), en 'n nie-liniêre model van Clements (1985). Die doel hiermee was om te bepaal welke model hierdie verskynsels die beste kan beskryf. Die hoofkomponente van elke model is vireers bespreek waarna die klanke van Venda ontleed is in terme van distinktiewe kenmerke. Uit die toepassing van die twee modelle het dit duidelik geblyk dat die liniêre model "n veel beter beskrywing moontlik maak van die verskynsels as die meer kontemporêre nie-liniêre model.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis employs the theoretical framework of text construction advanced by Grabe and Kaplan (1996) for the analysis of sports articles in BONA magazine. The theory employed in this study includes linguistic elements, which can be included in teaching methodology for developing the learner's analytical skills in analyzing the discourse structure of written texts. These kinds of analytical skills are strongly reflected in Curriculum 2005 for Language Literacy and Communication (LLC). The thesis employs a range of textlinguistic strategies for analyzing written texts on sports issues. It is argued that the incorporation of these strategies by teachers in the process of language teaching in Curriculum 2005 will enable the learners to analyse texts successfully and to gain an awareness about how language is used in texts. For the purpose of analysis in this thesis, text from BONA magazine with contents ranging from sports issues were collected. The thesis demonstrates that text analysis involves a large extent, an investigation of generic factors such as the communicative purpose, the culture and community in which the text is produced. Following the discussion of the generic features of texts, a broad definition of the term text is explored, and the text linguistic construction and certain levels of analysis are identified. In addition to this, the study demonstrates that analysis of the linguistic structure of texts needs to incorporate the discussion of the parameters of the ethnography of writing advanced by Grabe and Kaplan (1996). The ethnography of writing entails that a detailed analysis of texts should address the following questions: "Who writes what to whom, for what purpose, why, when, and how?". The study explores the implications and rationale for incorporating text analysis in language teaching and learning. Lastly, the relationship between the theoretical underpinnings assumed in this study, and the learning Outcomes of Curriculum 2005 are explored. The study demonstrates that the theoretical framework of Grabe and Kaplan (1996) which underlies in the construction of written texts, will not only introduce the learner to an inclusive language pedagogy, but can be employed for effective text analysis of Tshivenda Genre texts on Sports articles in popular magazines like BONA. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis maak gebruik van teoretiese model van Grabe en Kaplan (1996) vir die analise van sport tydskrif artikels in Tshivenda. die teorie wat aangewind word in die studie sluit linguistiese elemente in wat ingesluit kan word in taalonderrigmetodologie vir die ontwikkeling van leerders se analitiese vaardighede in die analise van diskoers strukture van skriftelike tekste. Hierdie soort analitiese vaardighede word sterk gereflekteer in Kurrikulum 2005 vir die leer area van tale. Die tesis wend 'n verskeidenheid teklinguistiese strategiee aan vir die analise van geskrewe genre tekste oor menseregte en burgerlike regte vraagstukke. Daar word beoog in die studied at die insluiting van hierdie strategiee deur onderwysers in die proses van taalonderrig in Kurrikulum 2005 leerders in staat sal stelom tekse suksesvol te ontleed en 'n bewussyn te kry van hoe taal in tekste gebruik word. Vir die doeleindes van analise is hierdie tesis in tekste gebruik uit BONA tydskrif met 'n inhoud oor menseregte en gemmenskps en burgerlike regte. Die tesis demonstreer dat teksanalise tot 'n groot mate 'n ondersoek behels van generiese faktore soos kommunikatiewe doelstelling, die kultuur en die gemeenskap waarin die teks geproduseer word. Na 'n bespreking van die generiese faktore van tekste word in bree definisie van die term "teks" ondersoek, en die tekslinguistiese konstruksie en bepaalde vlakke van analise word geidentifiseer. Hierbenewens, demonsteer die studie dat die linguistiese analise van die tekste die bespreking moet insult van die parameters van die etnografie van geskrewe tekste soos voorgestaan deur Grabe en Kaplan (1996). Die etnografie van geskrewe tekste behels dat die analise van tekste die volgende vrae ondersoek: "Wie skryf wat vir watter doel, waarom, wanneer, en hoe?". Die studie ondersoek die implikasies en motivering vir die insluiting van teknalise en taalonderrig. Laastens, word die verhouding tussen die teoretiese grondslae, wat aanvaar word in hierdie studie, en die leeruitkomste van Kurrikulum 2005 ondersoek. Die studie toon aan dat teoretiese raam werk van Grabe en Kaplan (1996) wat onderliggend is aan die konstruksie van geskrewe tekste kan aanvaar word om leerders in te lei in 'n meer inklusiewe taalonderrig en kan aangewend word vir effektiewe teks analise van Tshivenda genre tekste gebaseer op die Sport tydskrifte soos BONA.

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) -- University of the North, 1976 / Refer to the document

Theis (M.A. ) --University of the North, 1999 / Refer to document

Thesis (M.A. (African Languages)) --University of the North, 1983 / Refer to the document

Thesis (Ph. D. (Tshivenda)) -- University of Limpopo, 2010 / Refer to document