Academic literature on the topic 'Nubi (African people) – Languages'

SUMMARY A central question in Creole studies has been to ascertain to what degree the structure of creole languages is determined by universal processes, as opposed to inheritance from super/substratal sources. The universalist position has been most strongly advocated by Derek Bickerton, who sees a subclass of creole languages, early-creolizing creoles, as being determined by a universal bioprogram. His evidence has been based entirely on creoles with an European lexifier source. The present paper shows that East African Nubi, an Arabic -lexified creole, qualifies on extra-linguistic grounds as such an early-creolizing creole, yet fails to exhibit Bickerton's predicted bioprogram features to any significant degree. It is thus concluded that inheritance played the most important role in the evolution of Nubi. Further, it is suggested that inheritance from Sudanic Arabic played the most important role of all. RÉSUMÉ Une question essentielle dans la créolistique consiste à savoir jusqu'à quel degré des facteurs universels, ou un héritage des langues sub- et superstrates peuvent déterminer le développement des langues créoles. La contribution détaillée et influente de Bickerton en vue d'une explication universelle suppose que les langues créoles sont déterminées, sous certaines conditions historiques, à travers un 'bioprogramme'. Jusqu'à présent, l'hypothèse de Bickerton a été vérifiée uniquement en rapport avec les langues créoles ayant une source lexicale européenne. Dans la présente communication il sera démontré que le Nubi est-africain, qui est une langue créole qui est lexicalement arabe et qui s'est développé sous les conditions historiques pertinentes, n'a toutefois pas les caractéristiques structurelles prédites par l'hypothèse de Bickerton. Il y est d'ailleurs suggeré que les origines du Nubi remontent en particulier à une langue superstrate arabe. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Eine zentrale Frage der Kreolistik ist, in wieweit universelle Faktoren, z.B. Vererbung aus den Sub- und Superstratsprachen die Entwicklung dieser Sprachen bestimmen. Der bis dahin detaillierteste und einfluBreichste Beitrag zur universellen Erklärung hat Bickerton geliefert, der behauptet, daB Kreolspra-chen, unter bestimmten historischen Bedingungen, durch ein 'Bioprogramm' determiniert werden. Bickertons Hypothèse wird bis jetzt nur anhand von Kreolsprachen geprüft, die eine europäische lexikalische Quelle haben. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird gezeigt, daß das ostafrikanische Nubi, eine arabisch lexikalisierte Kreolsprache, die sich unter den zutreffenden historischen Bedingungen entwickelt, die erwarteten strukturellen Ziige Bickertons Bioprogramm nicht hat. Es wird ferner angedeutet, daB der Ursprung des Nubi vor allem in der Superstratsprache Arabisch zu suchen sei.

Near the center of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan lies a tract of broken, elevated terrain about the size of South Carolina. The region, by common convention, is called the Nuba Mountains, and the people who live there, through a familiar if misleading generalization, the Nuba. The inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains have long attracted the attention of students of African languages and cultures, for in these respects they exhibit very great diversity among themselves as well as distinctiveness in relation to the Arab and Nilotic cultural traditions that dominate the surrounding lowlands on every side. No scholar has yet deliberately undertaken to write a history of the Nuba, but many have found themselves constrained to make tangential statements or assumptions about Nuba history in the course of constructing studies with some other primary focus. The sum of these tangential comments and assumptions may read as the current state of Nuba historiography. The present study addresses a stimulating clash of opinion among those whose interests have led them to comment peripherally on the more remote Nuba past. The issue at stake is the existence, or non-existence, of a state form of government among the Nuba in precolonial times.Students of the Nuba during the colonial and post-colonial periods have seldom failed to assign considerable importance to the role of successive Sudan governments in directing the destiny of the Nuba, however they may differ in assessing the quality of this intervention.

AbstractThis article outlines the history of a people known as ‘Nubi’ or ‘Nubians’, northern Ugandan Muslims who were closely associated with Idi Amin's rule, and a group to which he himself belonged. They were supposed to be the descendants of former slave soldiers from southern Sudan, who in the late 1880s at the time of the Mahdi's Islamic uprising came into what is now Uganda under the command of a German officer named Emin Pasha. In reality, the identity became an elective one, open to Muslim males from the northern Uganda/southern Sudan borderlands, as well as descendants of the original soldiers. These soldiers, taken on by Frederick Lugard of the Imperial British East Africa Company, formed the core of the forces used to carve out much of Britain's East African Empire. From the days of Emin Pasha to those of Idi Amin, some Nubi men were identified by a marking of three vertical lines on the face – the ‘One-Elevens’. Although since Amin's overthrow many Muslims from the north of the country prefer to identify themselves as members of local Ugandan ethnic groups rather than as ‘Nubis’, aspects of Nubi identity live on among Ugandan rebel groups, as well as in cyberspace.

This paper examines the presence of African languages and spiritual practices of Candomblé, Santería and Vodou religions in Brazil, Cuba and Haiti respectively. The three religions are known to have been originated by African slaves that were mostly captured in- and transferred from West and Central Africa to Latin America. Currently, the three religions are not only followed by African descendants, but also by people of various ethnic backgrounds worldwide. Thus, people flock to the three countries regularly to be initiated into this African-based religions and cultures. On the other hand, similar spiritual practices on the African continent seem to be generally stigmatized if not demonized. Findings presented in this paper are as a result of direct observations and open interviews over a four months of fieldwork, as well as desktop reviews of existing literature. The findings demonstrate etymologies of terms and expressions that are of various African languages origin and are used in the three religions. The paper calls for integral comparative studies of parts in Africa with parts of Latin America to auxiliary identify linguistic and spirituality similarities, and significance roles of African slaves in maintaining African traditions.

AbstractThe communication revolution has made texts and languages available to people who, it is here suggested, might not have the cultural components needed to use them in the same way as native speakers. Introduced languages have in much of Africa eclipsed indigenous knowledge from opportunity for home grown development. Africans flocking to Western languages supported by numerous Western subsidies, leaves African ways of life concealed from the West. Western languages can be used to undermine the West. The inadequacy of English in Africa is illustrated by the contrast between the holistic and dualistic worldviews; English being dualistic is a poor means for expressing African holism. This makes the use of English in and for Africa inherently confusing. It is proposed that indigenous development be encouraged through challenging and encouraging African theology on its own terms, by encouraging some Western missionaries to use African languages and resources in their task.

<p>Most of the existing high level programming languages havehitherto borrowed their lexical items from human languages including European and Asian languages. However, there is paucity of research information on programming languages developed with the lexicons of an African indigenous language. This research explored the design and implementation of an African indigenous language-based programming language using Yoruba as case study. Yoruba is the first language of over 30 million people in the south-west of Nigeria, Africa; and is spoken by over one hundred million people world-wide. It is hoped, as established by research studies, that making computer programming possible in one’s mother tongue will enhance computer-based problem-solving processes by indigenous learners and teachers. The alphabets and reserved words of the programming language were respectively formed from the basic Yoruba alphabets and standard Yoruba words. The lexical items and syntactic structures of the programming language were designed with appropriate regular expressions and context-free grammars, using Backus-Naur Form (BNF) notations. A prototype implementation of the programming language was carried out as a source-to-source, 5-pass compiler. QBasic within QB64 IDE was the implementation language. The results from implementation showed functional correctness and effectiveness of the developed programming language. Thus lexical items of a programming language need not be borrowed exclusively from European and Asian languages, they can and should be borrowed from most African native languages. Furthermore, the developed native language programming language can be used to introduce computer programming to indigenous pupils of primary and junior secondary schools.</p>

AbstractElicitation materials like language portraits are useful to investigate people’s perceptions about the languages that they know. This study uses portraits to analyse the underlying conceptualisations people exhibit when reflecting on their language repertoires. Conceptualisations as manifestations of cultural cognition are the purview of cognitive sociolinguistics. The present study advances portrait methodology as it analyses data from structured language portraits of 105 South African youth as a linguistic corpus from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The approach enables the uncovering of (a) prominent underlying conceptualisations of African language(s) and the body, and (b) the differences and similarities of these conceptualisations vis-à-vis previous cognitive (socio)linguistic studies of embodied language experiences. In our analysis, African home languages emerged both as ‘languages of the heart’ linked to cultural identity and as ‘languages of the head’ linked to cognitive strength and control. Moreover, the notion of ‘degrees of proficiency’ or ‘magnitude’ of language knowledge emerged more prominently than in previous studies of embodied language experience.

Language is generally not perceived as playing a significant role in the causes of underdevelopment in Africa, and therefore not thought of or mentioned in trying to work out solutions to this situation. The absence of linguistic input in development planning in Africa is one of the key reasons why the majority of the African people are left “on the edge of road.” This paper argues for a language sensitive and linguistically informed approach to technology transfer and development problems. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can serve to promote African languages much better than religion ever did, and language policies and language-in-education policies in Africa need to be cog­nisant and take advantage of the opportunities the digital era offers the Continent. Whilst, according to Ferguson, “religion has been one of the most powerful forces leading to language change and language spread,” African languages have yet to overcome the linguistic barrier to participation in knowledge societies, and most of them have no interface with science and information technology (e.g. the Internet). Why can’t African languages be languages of technology? How can this be achieved?

Language policies are the cornerstone that establish and maintain communication amongst people. Proper communication, particularly amongst speakers of many languages in a country such as South Africa hinges heavily on perceptions regarding the status of the languages used in that specific country. According to the Republic of South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), South Africa has eleven official languages. Nine of these official languages (the indigenous African languages), are regarded as historically disadvantaged, while the remaining two, viz. English and Afrikaans enjoyed official recognition under the then ‘apartheid’ era that lasted until 1994. The previously disadvantaged African languages still lag in terms of development, when compared to English and to a lesser extent, Afrikaans. To address this challenge and reverse the status quo, several measures have been undertaken by government, including the passing of an Act called, Use of Official Languages Act, 2012. This Act aims at managing the use of the official languages optimally, with special emphasis on the previously marginalised languages. South Africa is known for developing good language policies but often criticised for producing such good policies for one good purpose only - to display them in office shelves. Following this state of affairs, this article therefore examines the implementation challenges regarding this Act and suggest what could be done to successfully implement it in South Africa. Second, the article also seeks to alleviate the perceived apathy in implementing language policies, particularly in South Africa, and with implications for Africa as a whole.

With the colonization of Africa, the language of the colonial masters has taken precedence over the indigenous languages of the Africans to the extent that the latter seems to be going into extinction. Yet, education is better founded on the native language of a people which also preserves their culture and tradition and gives them their own separate identity. Meanwhile, the world has turned into a global village and there now exist international languages with the owners’ ways of life. The latter seems to have subsumed the culture and tradition of others who are borrowers of the international language. Where then lays the fate of Africans, between the preservation of their indigenous languages and the risk of being left out and behind the rest of the world if they do not simultaneously come to terms with international languages. It is these issues of language and education, as well as globalization and African territorial integrity that this study examines separately and jointly with a view to juxtaposing them. The study then recommends balanced ways out of the dilemma one of which is the compulsory use of the mother tongue by Africans as the medium of instruction at the foundational level of education. Key words: African languages, education, globalization, preserving, territorial integrity.

Les Nubi, une communauté musulmane répartie principalement entre l'Ouganda, le Kenya et la Tanzanie, sont originaires du Sud du Soudan. Ils sont arrivés à la fin du 19ème siècle en Afrique de l'Est, mais ils sont conservé leurs traditions et surtout leur langue :le kinubi. Il s'agit d'un créole arabe, proche du parler de Juba (Soudan), fortement influencé par le kiswahili (et l'anglais). Le but de cette recherche est de comparer le parler de Mombasa à ceux de Kibera (Kenya) et de Bombo (Ouganda), et d'analyser l'importance et les causes de l'influence du kiswahili sur cette langue, sur le plan du vocabulaire et de la grammaire.

The Nubi, a Muslim community living mainly in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, originate from Southern Sudan, which they left at the end of the 19th century. They kept their traditions alive, as well as their language :the Kinubi. This language is an Arabic based Creole, related to Juba Arabic (Sudan) but strongly influenced by Swahili (and English). Our aim is to compare the Kinubi spoken in Mombasa with the one of Kibera (Kenya) and Bombo (Uganda), and to analyze the way Swahili influences this language, in both vocabulary and grammar, as well as the reasons of this phenomenon.
Doctorat en philosophie et lettres, Orientation langue et littérature
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Bibliography: pages 131-146.
There is presently considerable debate as to the forms of relationships established between hunter-gatherers and their non-forager neighbours and whether relationships which are documented as having been established significantly affected these hunter-gatherer societies. In southern Africa, particular attention has been paid to the effects of such contact on hunter- gatherer communities of the south-western Cape and the Kalahari. The aim of this thesis has been to assess the nature and extent of relationships established between the south-eastern San and southern Nguni and Sotho communities and to identify the extent to which the establishment of these relationships may have brought about changes in the political, social and religious systems of south- eastern hunter-gatherers. General patterns characterising interaction between a number of San and non-San hunter-gatherer societies and farming communities outside the study area are identified and are combined with archaeological and historiographical information to model relationships between the south-eastern San and southern Nguni and Sotho communities. The established and possible effects of these relationships on some south-eastern San groups are presented as well as some of the possible forms in which changes in San religious ideology and ritual practice resultant upon contact were expressed in the rock art. It is suggested that the ideologies of many south-eastern San communities, rather than being characterised by continuity throughout the contact period, were significantly influenced by the ideological systems of the southern Nguni and Sotho and that paintings at the caves of Melikane and upper Mangolong, as well as comments made upon these paintings by the 19th century San informant, Qing, should be interpreted with reference to the religious ideologies and ritual practices of the southern Nguni and Sotho as well as those of the San. Other rock paintings in areas where contact between the south-eastern San and black farming communities was prolonged and symbiotic may need to be similarly interpreted.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
The purpose of this study is to examine message production and image restoration in the narratives of isiXhosa-speaking farming communities. According to Gergen (1994), narrative forms – such as the stability narrative, progressive narrative and regressive narrative – are linguistic tools that have important social functions to fulfil. Gergen (1994) further indicates that self-narratives are social processes in which individuals are realised on the personal perspective or experience. The self-narratives used and analysed in this study portray the contemporary, truth-based elements of a well-formed narrative. Narrative accounts are also embedded within social action; they render events socially visible and typically establish expectations for future events because the events of daily life are immersed in narrative. The study starts by laying the foundation for the reasons why human beings tell stories and why stories are so important in people’s daily lives, since most people begin their encounters with stories at childhood. Possibly because of this intimate and long-standing acquaintance with stories from childhood, stories also serve as critical means by which human beings make themselves intelligible within the social world. This study further examines the motivations and conditions for account-giving in isiXhosa. Accounts are similar to narratives and can be retained at the level of private reflections for others to read, to be educated and to learn from and to refer to from time to time. Gergen (1994) considers self-narratives as forms of social accounting or public discourse. In this sense, narratives are conversational resources, their construction open to continuous alteration as interaction progresses. The study elaborates on this phenomenon, especially in the narrative accounts of the various isiXhosa stories that were collected and analysed. What emerges from the analyses is that the individual characters whose stories are told are portrayed as moving through their experience, dealing with some conflict or problem in their lives and, at the same time, searching for a resolution. It also emerges from the collection of these various isiXhosa narratives that they sharpen our understanding of the major stressful situations in each person’s mind and how the individual reasons about the difficulties encountered in life. The narratives prove, in this regard, to be a cultural resource that serves social purposes, such as self-identification, self-justification, self criticism and social solidification. In this sense then, for an account to be true, it has to be goal-orientated and relate to people’s day-to-day lives. The study finds that the social-interactive aspects of account-giving involve severe reproach forms, including personal attacks and derogatory aspects, which elicit defensive reactions resulting in negative interpersonal and emotional consequences.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Issues relating to persuasive-message production motivated this study to investigate the extent to which married Xhosa men use persuasive messages in their conversations. The study also explored the influence goals that married Xhosa men wish to attain when they engage in persuasive interactions. The study furthermore aimed to determine the persuasive strategies used by married Xhosa men in their persuasive messages. Dillard and Marshall (2003) defined persuasion as an occurrence that comprises longer, naturally impromptu messages concentrating mainly on a large body of discussion with preferred topics of social, political and commercial importance. Goals have been given much attention, since they play a major role in persuasive messages. Dillard and Marshall (2003) distinguished between two types of goals: primary goals and secondary goals. Primary goals are also referred to as influence goals and are defined as the state of affairs that people wish to bring about (Dillard & Marshall, 2003). The two authors mentioned also identified different types of primary goals, referring to them as motivations behind the source’s influence attempt. Different types of primary goals have been found in various works, including the works of Dillard (2003), Wilson and Sabee (2003), Wilson (2002), Cody et al. (1994), Dillard et al. (1989), Wilson and Kunkel (2000) and Schrader and Dillard (1998). This study examined the approaches, such as directness or indirectness, that married Xhosa men use when conveying their messages. It endeavoured to discover the persuasive problems encountered by these men and other issues related to the production of a persuasive message. In this study, the goal of giving advice appeared to be the one used most by the men. The study revealed that the main reason for the men giving advice was to help people in their society to lead healthy lifestyles. It also showed that the common use of the advisory goal is valued in Xhosa culture and that it is, to a certain extent, appreciated by those who are being advised.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kwessies wat verband hou met die skep van oorredende boodskappe was die dryfveer agter hierdie studie wat ondersoek ingestel het na die mate waartoe getroude Xhosamans oorredende boodskappe in hulle gesprekke gebruik. Die studie het ook die invloed van doelstellings wat getroude Xhosamans graag wil bereik wanneer hulle by oorredende interaksies betrokke raak, verken. Die studie het verder ten doel gehad om die oorredende strategieë wat deur getroude Xhosamans in hulle oorredende boodskappe gebruik word, te bepaal. Dillard en Marshall (2003) het oorreding gedefinieer as gebeurtenis wat langer boodskappe, wat van nature impromptu is, behels en wat hoofsaaklik op groot massa bespreking met verkose onderwerpe van sosiale, politieke en kommersiële belang konsentreer. Heelwat aandag is aan doelstellings gegee aangesien dit belangrike rol in oorredende boodskappe speel. Dillard en Marshall (2003) onderskei twee soorte doelstellings: primêre doelstellings en sekondêre doelstellings. Primêre doelstellings word ook invloeddoelstellings genoem en dit word gedefinieer as die toedrag van sake wat mense teweeg wil bring (Dillard & Marshall, 2003). Genoemde twee outeurs noem ook geïdentifiseerde verskillende soorte primêre doelstellings, en beskryf hierdie soort as motiverings agter die bron se poging tot invloed. Verskillende soorte primêre doelstellings is in verskeie werke aangetref, met inbegrip van die werk van Dillard (2003), Wilson en Sabee (2003), Wilson (2002), Cody et al. (1994), Dillard et al. (1989), Wilson en Kunkel (2000) en Schrader en Dillard (1998). Hierdie studie het die benaderings, soos direktheid of indirektheid, ondersoek wat getroude Xhosamans gebruik wanneer hulle boodskappe oordra. Daar is probeer om die oorredende probleme wat deur hierdie mans teëgekom word en ander kwessies wat met die produksie van oorredende boodskap verband hou, vas te stel. In hierdie studie lyk dit asof die doel om raad te gee dié is wat die meeste deur die mans gebruik word. Die studie het aan die lig gebring dat die hoofrede waarom die mans raad gee, is om mense in hulle gemeenskap te help om gesonde lewenstyle te handhaaf. Dit het ook getoon dat daar aan die gewone gebruik van die raadgewende doel in die Xhosakultuur waarde geheg word en dat dit, tot sekere mate, deur diegene wat raad gegee word, gewaardeer word.
ISISHWANKATHELO: Imicimbi enxulumene nokuveliswa kwemiyalezo yotshintsho lwengqondo iye yaphembelela ukuba kuphandwe ubungakanani bokusetyenziswa kwemiyalezo etshintsha ingqondo kwincoko ngamadoda amaXhosa atshatileyo. Esi sifundo sikwaphonononga ezona njongo zoxinzelelo la madoda athi abe nomnqweno wokuzifezekisa xa ezibandakanya kwiinkqubo zotshintsho lwengqondo. Ngaphezu koko, esi sifundo sikwajolise ekufumaniseni amaqhinga okutshintsha ingqondo athi asetyenziswe ngamadoda amaXhosa atshatileyo kwimiyalezo yawo yokutshintsha ingqondo. Njengoko kuchaziwe ngu Dillard no Marshall (2003), utshintsho lwengqondo sisenzeko esiquka imiyalezo emide, engalungiselelwanga kwangendalo, egxila ngakumbi kwiingxoxo ezinemiba eliqela enemixholo engentlalo, ezopolitiko nezingokubaluleka korhwebo. Iinjongo abantu abathi bafune ukuzifezekisa zinikwe ingqwalasela enkulu nanje ngoko zidlala indima ephambili kwimiyalezo etshintsha ingqondo. UDillard no Marshall bangowama-(2003) bohlula phakathi kweentlobo ezimbini zeenjongo abantu abanazo nabathi banqwenele ukuzifezekisa; iinjongo ezisisiseko (Primary goals) kunye neenjongo zenqanaba lesibini (Secondary goals). Iinjongo ezisisiseko zikwabizwa ngokuba ziinjongo ezinoxinixelelo (influence goals) kwaye zichazwa ngokuba ziinjongo abathi abantu banqwenele ukuzifezekisa ngu Dillard no Marshall bangowama-(2003). Bakwalatha iintlobo ezahlukeneyo zeenjongo ezisisiseko abakwazibiza ngokuba ziimpembelelo ezithi ziphembelele umzamo wokutshintsha ingqondo womvelisi womyalezo lowo. Ezi ntlobo zahlukeneyo zeenjongo ezisisiseko zifunyaniswe kwimisebenzi eyahlukeneyo, misebenzi leyo equka umsebenzi ka- Dillard no Marshall bangowama-(2003), ka-Wilson no Sabee bangowama-(2003), ka- Wilson wangowama-(2002), ka-Cody et al. bangowama-(1994), ka-Dillard et al. bangowama-(1989), ka-Wilson no Kunkel bangowama-(2000), kwakunye noka Schrader no Dillard bangowama-(1998). Esi sifundo sikwaphonononga nendlela athi amadoda amaXhosa atshatileyo ayisebenzise xa egqithisa imiyalezo yawo, umzekelo ukuthi ngqo (Directness) okanye ukungathi ngqo (Indirectness) kwimiyalezo yawo. Esi sifundo sikwazama ukufumanisa iingxaki zotshintsho lwengqondo ezithi zifunyanwe ngala madoda kuquka neminye imiba enxulumene nokuveliswa kwemiyalezo yotshintsho ingqondo. Kwesi sifundo injongo yokunika icebiso ibonakala iyeyona isetywenziswa kakhulu ngamadoda amaXhosa atshatileyo. Esi sifundo sivelisa ukuba iyonke injongo yokucebisa kula madoda kukunceda abantu ekuhlaleni ukuba babenobomi obusempilweni. Ukusetyenziswa kakhulu kwenjoko yokucebisa kwesi sifundo kukwabonakalisa ukuba injonjo yokucebisa ixatyiswe kakhulu kwinkcubeko yamaXhosa kwaye ngokwezinga elithile ikwathakazelelwa ngabo banikwa icebiso

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
The aim of this study is to explore and encourage the use of accounts in the sense that events occur in our societies that compel those who are victims of those circumstances to give account of their experiences. The theme of this study is based on statements about events such as abuse, cheating, death and being HIV positive and on answers to such events. In respect of the theory of image restoration, Benoit (1995) discusses why people should give account of their wrongdoings and narrate such events. He states that language and communication practitioners as well as the great philosophers in communities have an interest in how image restoration works in our communities. This research focuses on the Benoit theory. People give account in everyday life of their wrongdoings or of accusations of wrongdoing, since this helps to restore their reputations. The focus of this study is on the use of accounts in Xhosa culture as a strategy in the narration of life stories. According to Benoit (1995), accounts are excuses and justifications that are responses to offence or failure events such as requests for an account of the violation of a norm, of the rebuke of another person and of the expression of surprise or disgust at certain behaviours. This study illustrates how to give account of your own experience. In this regard, Gergen (1994) states that the term “self-narrative” refers to an individual’s account of the relationship of self-relevant events across time, while White and Epston (1990) state that people give meaning to their lives and relationships by narrating stories about their experience of life.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
This study explores the theoretical work in the articulation of the motivations and conditions for account-giving in isiZulu. In this context, accounts are similar to narratives and can be retained at the level of private reflections or written diary entries or for others to read and refer to from time to time. The account-giving process, according to Waldron (1997), is like a “life in motion” in which individual characters are portrayed as moving through their experiences, dealing with conflicts or problems in their lives and, at the same time, searching for resolutions. It is the quest to understand the major stresses in each individual’s mind that is at the core of this study. The why-questions that are the result of the daily experiences of destitution, depression, death, disability, etc. are also addressed here. Narrative accounts form the basis of moral and social events and, as such, stories have two elements through which they are explored. They are explored from the point of view of, firstly, the way in which they are told and, secondly, the way in which they are lived within a social context. These stories follow a historically or culturally based format and, to this effect, Gergen (1994) suggests narrative criteria that constitute a historically contingent narrative form. Narrative forms are linguistic tools that have important social functions to fulfil satisfactorily, such as stability narrative, progressive narrative and regressive narrative. According to Gergen (1994), self-narratives are social processes in which individuals are realised on the personal perspective or experience and, as such, their emotions are viewed as constitutive features of relationship. The self-narratives used and analysed in this study portray the contemporary culture-based elements or segments of a well-formed narrative.

This thesis reports on the bonds that unify imagined communities (Anderson 1983) that are created in 40 letters prominently displayed on the opinions pages of the Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, and The Times, a daily offshoot of the mainstream national Sunday Times. An APPRAISAL analysis of these letters reveals how the imagined communities attempt to align their audiences around distinctive couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning. Such couplings represent the bonds around which community identities are co-constructed through affiliation and are evidence of the shared feelings that unite the communities of readership. Inferences drawn from this APPRAISAL information allow for a comparison of the natures of the two communities in terms of how they view their agency and group cohesion. Central to the analysis and interpretation of the data is the letters’ evaluative prosody, traced in order to determine the polarity of readers’ stances over four weeks. Asymmetrical prosodies are construed as pointing to the validity of ‘linguistic ventriloquism’, a term whose definition is refined and used as a diagnostic for whether the newspapers use their readers’ letters to promote their own stances on controversial matters. Principal findings show that both communities affiliate around the value of education, and dissatisfaction with the country’s political leaders, however The Times’ readers are more individualistic than the Daily Sun’s community members, who are concerned with the wellbeing of the group. The analysis highlights limitations to the application of the APPRAISAL framework, the value of subjectivity in the analytical process, and adds a new dimension to South African media studies, as it provides linguistic insights into the construction of imagined communities of newspaper readership.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to explore interpersonal persuasive messages of Xhosaspeaking women. The findings suggest that the majority of attempts at interpersonal persuasion take place in close and often personal relationships. The findings further show that the majority of Xhosa-speaking women tend to persuade those they are familiar with, such as husbands, children, siblings and friends. Specific cultural aspects also influence the persuasive messages of these women, such as collectivism, indirectness, politeness and ubuntu (caring). Research conducted by Cody et al. (1994), Dillard (1989) and Rule et al. (1985) suggests that individuals seek to persuade others for a variety of reasons. They discovered that the most sought-after influence goals are the following: give advice, gain assistance, share activity, change orientation, change relationship, obtain permission and enforce rights and obligations. These seven influence goals cover a large portion of the persuasive landscape, and were dealt with considerably in this research. The data for this research were collected from Xhosa-speaking women situated in the Eastern Cape, specifically in the region of East London. A total of 20 women in the age range of 30 to 45 participated by writing self-reports in which they attempted to influence their friends, colleagues or family members. Participants also had to relate persuasive incidents that recently took place. In addition, they were asked to mention whether the process of gaining compliance was successful or not. The research data were analysed and evaluated against the following: 1. Different types of influence goals 2. Message dimensions (explicitness, dominance and argument) 3. Evidence in a persuasive message 4. Emotional appeals (threat and guilt appeals) 5. Cultural and conversational constraints The data analysis revealed that the findings of this study among Xhosa-speaking women are on par with the findings of the study by S.R. Wilson (2002) on culture and conversational constraints, as well as with other research conducted by Dillard (1998) in the field of message production.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie was om interpersoonlike oorredingsboodskappe van ’n aantal Xhosasprekende vroue te ondersoek. Die bevindinge doen aan die hand dat die meerderheid pogings tot interpersoonlike oorreding in nabye en dikwels persoonlike verhoudings plaasvind. Die bevindinge van die navorsing toon ook dat die meerderheid Xhosasprekende vroue daartoe geneig is om diegene waarmee hulle vertroud is, te oorreed. Dit sluit gades, kinders, broers en susters en vriende in. Sekere kulturele aspekte beïnvloed ook die oorredingsboodskappe van hierdie vroue, soos kollektivisme, indirektheid, beleefdheid en ubuntu (omgee). Navorsing uitgevoer deur Cody et al. (1994), Dillard (1989) en Rule et al. (1985) voer aan dat individue ander mense om verskeie redes probeer oorreed. Hulle het uitgevind dat die algemeenste doelwitte van beïnvloeding die volgende is: gee advies, verkry bystand, deel aktiwiteit, verander oriëntasie, verander verhouding, verkry toestemming, dwing regte af en verpligtinge. Hierdie sewe doelwitte van beïnvloeding dek ’n groot gedeelte van die gebied van oorreding, en word omvattend in hierdie studie behandel. Die data vir die navorsing is ingesamel van Xhosasprekende vroue in die Oos-Kaap, spesifiek in die Oos-Londen-gebied. Twintig vroue tussen die ouderdom van 30 en 45 het deelgeneem deur verslae te skryf waarin hulle gepoog het om hul vriende, kollegas of familielede te beïnvloed. Die deelnemers moes ook verslag doen van oorredingsinsidente wat onlangs plaasgevind het. Hulle is gevra om te meld of die proses om toegewing te verkry suksesvol was al dan nie. Die navorsingsdata is ontleed en teen die volgende geëvalueer: 6. Verskillende soorte doelwitte van beïnvloeding 7. Boodskapdimensies (uitdruklikheid, dominansie en argument) 8. Bewyse in ’n oorredingsboodskap 9. Emosionele beroepe (dreigemente en beroepe om skuldgevoelens) 10. Kulturele en gespreksbeperkings Die data-ontleding het aangetoon dat die bevindinge van hierdie studie onder Xhosasprekende vroue ooreenstem met dié van ’n studie deur S.R. Wilson (2002) oor kulturele en gespreksbeperkings, asook met navorsing deur Dillard (1998) op die gebied van boodskapproduksie.

The Commercial High School of Venice was created just when the Suez Canal was opened. Its aim was to prepare young people for international trade or a consular career. Thus, also some languages spoken in the East began to be taught (Arabic, Turkish and Japanese) but the idea was to enlarge this offer with Chinese, Persian and also Amharic. The first years were difficult: courses were opened and closed according to the presence of students or professors who could teach them.

This chapter reports the pilot work with the “Minimum Income Standards” (MIS) methodology in South Africa. It talks about the studies in South Africa that present some challenges relating to cultural factors, such as the different connotations of the term “minimum” and “decent standard of living.” It also describes the difficulties of bringing together people with different backgrounds, ethnicities, and languages for reference budget research in the “Rainbow Nation.” The chapter also emphasizes other ethical challenges involved in the study, such as bringing together very wealthy people and very poor people to discuss minimum standards in a highly unequal country context. It reviews important lessons taken from forward budget research in diverse settings where there are often major challenges to overcome.

The aim of this chapter is to lay a foundation so as to consider the issue of language endangerment in the world. Approximately 30 years ago, various scholars stated that in the worst-case scenario, 90%–95% of the present living languages of the world would become defunct by the end of the 21st century. The assumption of this argument was that minority languages may become defunct easily. However, in this chapter, this thesis is questioned by taking into account the language situations in Africa where most languages, whether small or large, are vigorously spoken. In African countries, people do not impose majority languages on other people. More importantly, African people in general esteem others because they understand their value to them.

South Africa is a multi-lingual country with a population of about 40.5 million people. South Africa has more official languages at a national level than any other country in the world. Over and above English and Afrikaans, the eleven official languages include the indigenous languages: Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele, Tsonga, and Venda (Pretorius & Bosch, 2003). Figure 1 depicts the breakdown of the South African official languages as mother tongues for South African citizens. Although English ranks fifth (9%) as a mother tongue, there is a tendency among national leaders, politicians, business people, and officials to use English more frequently than any of the other languages. In a national survey on language use and language interaction conducted by the Pan South African Language Board (Language Use and Board Interaction in South Africa, 2000), only 22% of the respondents indicated that they fully understand speeches and statements made in English, while 19% indicated that they seldom understand information conveyed in English. The rate of electrification in South African is 66.1%. The total number of people with access to electricity is 28.3 million, and the total number of people without access to electricity is 14.5 million (International Energy Agency, 2002). Although the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” is narrowing, a significant portion of the South African population is still without the basic amenities of life. This unique environment sets the tone for a creative research agenda for HCI researchers and practitioners in South Africa.

Police officers frequently work with people of different cultures and those who speak different languages, thus needing to learn cultures (Navarro, 2001). The purpose of this case is to examine the self-perceptions of African-Americans regarding their ability to distinguish deception in interpersonal communication. RQ1: How do African-Americans self-report their ability to detect interpersonal communication deception? RQ2: What behaviors do African-Americans believe are indicators of interpersonal communication deception? The method of study is survey research conducted through SurveyMonkey.com. Participants (n=57) discuss their perceptions of deception in their lives. The results suggest that respondents (80%) believe they are better than others at detecting deception. The literature findings also suggest that African-Americans believe themselves to be more effective at detecting deception within their own ethnic group compared to other ethnic groups. Commensurate with previous deception studies, the current study finds that an array of communication behaviors, believed to be indicative of deceit by other ethnic groups, are also used by African-American respondents.

South Africa's recent higher education protests around fees and decolonizing institutions have shone a spotlight on important issues and have inspired global discussion. We witnessed similar resistance during apartheid, where African languages and ideas were limited. The educational space was the most affected by clashes between languages and ideas; we saw this in the prioritizing of English and Afrikaans over indigenous African languages and the prioritizing of Western medicine, literature, arts, culture, and science over African ones. This chapter will show how formal education and knowledge production in South Africa has been used as a tool to repress Black people, while discrediting their knowledge systems. This discussion will draw from impepho, which is rejected by Christians because its main use is for communicating with ancestors. The herb has many other medicinal uses, but it is still rejected. African practices are used and revitalized by AIC like the Shembe Church and revolutionary movements like FMF.

This chapter reports on Rufino’s life as a cook on the Ermelinda, a slave ship whose name changed more than once, usually to to fool the domestic and foreign authorities who were combating the illegal slave trade. The Ermelinda was a much larger vessel than the Paula and São José, on which Rufino had previously worked. The Ermelinda had to be carefully prepared in order to avoid unnecessary incidents and losses. Captains, masters, supercargoes, cooks, and sailors in general had specific tasks to fulfill. The Ermelinda’s crewmen included people from several nationalities—Africans, Brazilians and Europeans. Africans were employed in several tasks, and their knowledge of indigenous languages was greatly valued in the African trading ports.

Governments the world over are increasingly implementing e-government systems as part of public sector reforms to enhance good governance and service delivery. This chapter reviews successful e-government projects in South Africa. E-governance is seen as a panacea to country’s several challenges of service delivery, poverty, inequality, democracy, respect for human rights, and corruption. The South African government understands the urgency of addressing poverty and improving service delivery to majority of citizens who were marginalized during white majority rule. Most of South Africa’s black majority, for example, lives in poverty compared to their white counterparts. To address these imbalances, projects are guided by the principle of public service for all under the brand Batho Pele (meaning people first). Some e-government projects in South Africa have borne fruits; they empowered people to overcome development obstacles, have helped fight poverty, and uplift the socio-economic and living standards of citizens. The challenges facing the e-government projects include high costs of broadband access, diversity of languages that need to be converted to the language of the Internet, red tape and bureaucratic system, as well as financial sustainability and the use of top down design approaches in projects with little or no initial user involvement.

The Republic of Niger is a landlocked country found in West Africa. It is bordered by Libya, Chad, Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Algeria. Its location places it in a turbulent region rife with political and religious violence, separatist and armed movements, intercommunal violence, and state collapse. Niger is over 1 million square kilometres (km) making it the largest country in West Africa and sixth largest in Africa. Its population in 2017 was estimated to be 21.5 million. Over 80 per cent of the land area lies in the Sahara Desert. Most people, around three-quarters of the population, live in the southern part of the country (around 12 per cent of the land area) where agriculture is possible. The capital and largest city, Niamey, has over 1 million inhabitants. Other important cities are: Agadez, Arlit, Tillabéry, Dosso, Tahoua, Maradi, Zinder, and Diffa. The population is, however, mainly rural with only 18 per cent of the population living in urban areas. The currency used is the West African franc (CFA). The official language is French and there are ten national languages. Before the courts, French is the admissible written language. Sentences are rendered in French.

In this chapter we turn to themes of race, space, environmental justice, and indigenous reassertions in the post-colonial city. We will use as examples: services and urban planning in Singapore; riots in Sydney; and a comparative discussion of parks and public symbols. Although the location of cities had largely been fixed in the colonial period, they were undergoing rapid change by the mid-twentieth century as communities from the surrounding countryside poured into the urban areas. At the beginning of the twentieth century, one tenth of the world’s population lived in cities; by its end more than half did so. In 1900 the ten largest cities were located in Europe and the US, with the exception of Tokyo at seventh. By the early twenty-first century no European urban agglomerations were in this league. The balance shifted from the West to the rest, especially after 1950. Of former colonial cities, Greater Mumbai with about 16 million people, Kolkata (13 million), and Delhi (13 million) were in this group. Mumbai had housed around one million people in 1911. Cities in non-settler states became increasingly dominated, demographically, by the descendants of rural communities from their hinterlands. While English often served as a common medium of communication, regional languages also urbanized with their speakers. Overall, urbanization was linked with rising living standards. But, especially in mega-cities, the gap increased between the rich and overwhelming numbers of urban poor, most of whom were not able to make it into formal employment. Rates of growth in former settler cities were usually less sudden, but they also became increasingly culturally diverse. Canadian cities are one example. The small migrations of indigenous people were only one reason for this. Their increasing multi-ethnicity resulted largely from new sources of global migration: for example, the movement of people from non-British parts of Europe, from the Caribbean, as well as African Americans, Indians, and East Asians. Post-colonial conflict created new diasporas: some of the 80,000 Ugandan Asians expelled by Idi Amin in 1972 went to Canada, and Toronto became home to the single largest population of expatriate Somalis.