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)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/17616 |
| Date | 09 1900 |
| Creators | Ribbens, Irene Rita |
| Contributors | Cluver, August D. de V. (August Dawid de Villiers) |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (226, iii, 9 leaves) |
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