This study focuses on the comparison of medical and health terms with special reference to
Sesotho sa Leboa and Western languages. The study was conducted in the communities of
Zebediela, Groblersdal and Marble Hall. From time immemorial, traditional medical and health
terms were associated with certain types of diseases and health problems among Africans. With
the introduction of Western civilisation, most of the medical and health terms which were used
in the past by the Basotho ba Leboa, are no longer in use, as Western languages are regarded
as prestige languages compared to the indigenous African languages. This perception led to a
shortage of Sesotho sa Leboa documents that explain medical and health terms. The literature
review revealed that traditional medicine is used for healing by many communities. Scholars
further revealed that Western health terminology is more developed than traditional health
terminology. The study uses the qualitative approach to explain concepts, and coding schemes
were used to categorise medical and health terms. Ethnographic and historical theories were
used to analyse data. The similarities and differences between the Sesotho sa Leboa terms and
their Western counterparts were discussed and assessed. The study found that a relationship exists between diseases and the body parts in both Sesotho sa Leboa and Western terminology,
and that the diseases were classified according to the affected body parts. The medical terms
of both languages have similar and different semantic properties. Most of the differences were
brought about by the cultural differences of the two communities. As the Sesotho sa Leboa
medical terms are inimitable, the culture specific terms used in this study are discussed in
Sesotho sa Leboa rather than in Western terminology. Conversely, as most of the recent
outbreaks of diseases are named in Western terminology, they are translated into Sesotho sa
Leboa. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/26660 |
| Date | January 2019 |
| Creators | Tembane, Seleka Maria |
| Contributors | Mafela, M. J., Mojapelo, Mampaka Lydia |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (ix, 209 leaves : illustrations, graphs and color photos, application/pdf |
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