scholarly journals Cognate objects of weather verbs in African languages of South Africa – from synchronic variation to a grammaticalization path

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Andrason ◽  
Marianna Visser
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
African Languages

scholarly journals The Evaluation of Harm and Purity Transgressions in Africans: A Paradigmatic Replication of Rottman and Young (2019)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeyemi Adetula ◽  
Patrick S. Forscher ◽  
Dana Basnight-Brown ◽  
Jordan Rose Wagge ◽  
Takondwa Rex Namalima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Training Method ◽  
African Countries ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Training Materials ◽  
Moral Transgressions ◽  
Preparatory Work

Improving the generalizability of psychology findings to a culture requires sampling participants in that culture. Yet few psychology studies sample Africans. We believe we can expand the capacity of African psychology researchers by giving them freely available, cutting-edge research tools and workflows. We used a training method developed by the Collaborative Replication and Education Project (CREP) to support and train 23 African collaborators to conduct a paradigmatic replication of the psychology of moral transgressions (Rottman & Young, 2019) in 6 African countries (Egypt, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania). We completed extensive preparatory work, including developing training materials in African languages, assessing our collaborators’ current research capacity, and conducting a re-analysis of Rottman and Young’s original data. This project has the potential to improve research capacity in Africa and provide empirical evidence on Africans' moral judgment of purity transgressions.

Revisiting the African Renaissance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
International Economic Order ◽  
Unfinished Business ◽  
African Countries ◽  
African Languages ◽  
African People ◽  
African Renaissance ◽  
Wide Range

The concept of the African Renaissance was popularized by Cheikh Anta Diop in the mid-1940s. But in 1906 Pixley ka Isaka Seme had introduced the idea of “regeneration” of Africa, while in 1937 Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria had engaged with the idea of a “renascent Africa,” both of which formed a strong background to the unfolding of the idea of African Renaissance. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa made it the hallmark of his continental politics in the 1990s. Consequently, in 1998 South Africa became a host to an international conference on the African Renaissance and by October 11, 1999, Mbeki officially opened the African Renaissance Institute in Pretoria in South Africa. Scholars such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o picked up the theme and defined the African Renaissance as a “re-membering” of a continent and a people who have suffered from “dismembering” effects of colonialism and “coloniality.” “Coloniality” names the underside of Euro-North American-centric modernity, which enabled mercantilism accompanied by the enslavement of African people. The reduction of African people into tradable commodities (thingification and dehumanization) and their shipment as cargo across the Transatlantic Ocean formed the root cause of the underdevelopment of Africa. The rise of a capitalist world economic system involved the forcible integration of Africa into the evolving nexus of a structurally asymmetrical world system with its shifting global orders. The physical colonial conquest was accompanied by genocides (physical liquidation of colonized people), epistemicides (subjugation of indigenous knowledges), linguicides (displacement of indigenous African languages and imposition of colonial languages), culturecides (physical separation of African people from their gods and cultures and the imposition of foreign religions and cultures), alienations (exiling African people from their languages, cultures, knowledges, and even from themselves), as well as material dispossessions. The African Renaissance emerged as an anti-colonial phenomenon opposed to colonialism and coloniality. As a vision of the future, the African Renaissance encapsulated a wide range of African initiatives such as Ethiopianism, Garveyism, Negritude, pan-Africanism, African nationalism, African humanism, African socialism, Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), the demands for a New International Economic Order (NIEO), the various African economic blueprints including the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) and New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) as well as the regional integration economic formations such as the Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) and the Southern Africa Economic Development Community (SADC), among many others. These liberatory initiatives have been framed by five waves of popular African movements/protests, namely: (a) the decolonization struggles of the 20th century that delivered “political decolonization”; (b) the struggles for economic decolonization that crystallized around the demands for NIEO; (c) the third wave of liberation of the 1980s and 1990s that deployed neoliberal democratic thought and discourses of human rights to fight against single-party and military dictatorships as well imposed austerity measures such as structural adjustment programs (SAPs); (d) the Afro-Arab Spring that commenced in 2011 in North Africa, leading to the fall some of the long-standing dictatorial regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya; and finally (e) the Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) movements (Fallism discourse of liberation) that emerged in 2015 in South Africa, pushing forward the unfinished business of epistemological decolonization.

scholarly journals Funksionele meertaligheid in Suid-Afrika: 'n onbereikbare ideaal?

Literator ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Verhoef
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Final Report ◽  
North West ◽  
African Languages ◽  
The North ◽  
Mother Tongue Instruction ◽  
Education Act ◽  
Regional Languages

Functional multilingualism in South Africa: an unattainable ideal? Although much has been done on an official level to establish true multilingualism in South Africa, a tendency towards English monolingualism seems to exist in the country. The aim of this article is to describe the official stipulations in pursuit of multilingualism, as they appear in the Constitution (Act 108 of 1996), the School Act (Act 84 of 1996) and the final report of Langtag. In addition to the present demands, the article also responds to previous demands for multilingualism in the South African context, particularly as stated in the Bantu Education Act of 1953. It is argued that, because of the negative connotations associated with mother-tongue instruction in the past, contemporary mother-tongue instruction will also be contaminated. Apart from the theoretical investigation into multilingualism, the article reports on empirical research that has been done in this regard in the North West Province where the attitudes and perceptions of the school population towards the regional languages were measured. Although the subjects reacted positively to the official status granted to several South African languages, they expressed a preference for English as working language because of the access it gives to personal, economic and social development and empowerment. The article concludes with brief recommendations regarding language planning opportunities that derive from this situation.

scholarly journals Conveying hypertension message: An investigation into the language and content used in primary health clinics in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nokuthula G. Nkosi-Mafutha ◽  
Hester C. De Swardt ◽  
Sophie Mogotlane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Lifestyle Modifications ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Health Clinics ◽  
Quantitative Content ◽  
Quantitative Descriptive ◽  
Heath Education ◽  
Audio Recorder

Background: Hypertension is a global health burden affecting developed and developing countries, and South Africa is no exception.Aim: This article aims to highlight the language and content used in health education on hypertension in primary healthcare (PHC) by health promoters and in pamphlets.Methods: The study design was quantitative descriptive. The population comprised a purposive selected sample of 12 health promoters in 12 PHC clinics and 50 pamphlets relating to health education on hypertension. An audio recorder was used to record health education provided by health promoters. Quantitative content analysis and frequency distribution was used to analyse the data.Results: The health promoters used various South African languages mixed with English (code switching). Patients were taught about lifestyle modifications and encouraged to adhere to management therapy. The switching in language usage may affect the understanding of those who do not speak the local language and that may explain the reason for lack of hypertension-suited life modification required by health education.Conclusion: It is important that heath education on hypertension should be standardised so that the content of health education in clinic A is similar to that in clinic B. Information contained in pamphlets should be summarised and standardised to the content presented by health promoters.

scholarly journals The Participation of Children with Intellectual Disabilities: Including the Voices of Children and Their Caregivers in India and South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6706
Author(s):  
Shakila Dada ◽  
Kirsty Bastable ◽  
Liezl Schlebusch ◽  
Santoshi Halder
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
South African ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Child Reports ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Child Assessments ◽  
Children's Participation

There is a shortage of research on the participation of children with intellectual disabilities from middle-income countries. Also, most child assessments measure either the child’s or the caregiver’s perceptions of participation. Participation, however, is an amalgamation of both perspectives, as caregivers play a significant role in both accessing and facilitating opportunities for children’s participation. This paper reports on both perceptions—those of children with intellectual disabilities and those of their caregiver, in India and South Africa. A quantitative group comparison was conducted using the Children’s Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) that was translated into Bengali and four South African languages. One hundred child–caregiver dyads from India and 123 pairs from South Africa participated in the study. The results revealed interesting similarities and differences in participation patterns, both between countries and between children and their caregivers. Differences between countries were mostly related to the intensity of participation, with whom, and where participation occurred. Caregiver and child reports differed significantly regarding participation and the enjoyment of activities. This study emphasises the need for consideration of cultural differences when examining participation and suggests that a combined caregiver-and-child-reported approach may provide the broadest perspective on children’s participation.

14. SOCIAL CHANGE AND LANGUAGE SHIFT: SOUTH AFRICA

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 225-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Language Shift ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Language Maintenance And Shift ◽  
History Of

Studies of social change and language maintenance and shift have tended to focus on minority immigrant languages (e.g., Fishman, 1991; Gal, 1979; Milroy, 2001; Stoessel, 2002). Very little is known about language shift from a demographically dominant language to a minority but economically dominant one (e.g., Bowerman, 2000; de Klerk, 2000; Kamwangamalu, 2001, 2002a,b, & in press; Reagan, 2001). This chapter contributes to such research by looking at the current language shift from majority African languages such as Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu to English in South Africa. In particular, it examines to what extent the sociopolitical changes that have taken place in South Africa (i.e., the demise of apartheid and its attendant structures) have impacted everyday linguistic interaction and have contributed to language shift from the indigenous African languages to English, especially in urban Black communities. It argues that a number of factors, among them the economic value and international status of English, the perceived lower status of the indigenous African languages, the legacy of apartheid-based Bantu education, the new multilingual language policy, the linguistic behaviors of language policy makers, etc., interact in complex ways to accelerate language shift in urban Black communities. In conclusion, the chapter explores ways in which the observed language shift can be curbed to prevent what Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) has termed “linguistic genocide,” particularly in a country that has a well-documented history of this phenomenon (Lanham, 1978; Prabhakaran, 1998).

scholarly journals Identifying phonological processing deficits in Northern Sotho-speaking children: The use of non-word repetition as a language assessment tool in the South African context

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carien Wilsenach
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
South African Context ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Word Repetition ◽  
Northern Sotho ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
African Context

Diagnostic testing of speech/language skills in the African languages spoken in South Africa is a challenging task, as standardised language tests in the official languages of South Africa barely exist. Commercially available language tests are in English, and have been standardised in other parts of the world. Such tests are often translated into African languages, a practice that speech language therapists deem linguistically and culturally inappropriate. In response to the need for developing clinical language assessment instruments that could be used in South Africa, this article reports on data collected with a Northern Sotho non-word repetition task (NRT). Non-word repetition measures various aspects of phonological processing, including phonological working memory (PWM), and is used widely by speech language therapists, linguists, and educational psychologists in the Western world. The design of a novel Northern Sotho NRT is described, and it is argued that the task could be used successfully in the South African context to discriminate between children with weak and strong Northern Sotho phonological processing ability, regardless of the language of learning and teaching. The NRT was piloted with 120 third graders, and showed moderate to strong correlations with other measures of PWM, such as digit span and English non-word repetition. Furthermore, the task was positively associated with both word and fluent reading in Northern Sotho, and it reliably predicted reading outcomes in the tested population. Suggestions are made for improving the current version of the Northern Sotho NRT, whereafter it should be suitable to test learners from various age groups.

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