Languages & Literature

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On the syntax of derived nominals in English and Greek.
(2009) Papadakis, Dimitrios.; Zeller, Jochen Klaus.
This study exammes different approaches to analysing the syntactic derivation of nouns from verbs within the theoretical framework of Principles and Parameters (PP phrases by presenting a contrastive study of English and Greek derived nominal expressions. The thesis discusses the well-known distinction between result nominals and process nominals, and it demonstrates that, in contrast to result nominals, process nominals license argument structure obligatorily and can be modified by aspectual adverbials. It is shown that the role of functional categories is crucial for an explanation of the differences between these two noun classes of derived nominals. In particular, it is suggested, following a proposal by Alexiadou (2001), that the verbal functional categories vP and AspectP are projected with process nominals, but not with result nominals. This analysis also accounts for the derivation of Greek nouns from ergative/unaccusative verbs, but it also explains the projection of the patient/theme as the internal argument of a result nominal and the aspectual modification of passive nominals.
Le mythe de Robinson Crusoe de Daniel Defoe dans Vendredi ou les limbes du pacifique de Michel Tournier et Foe de J.M. Coetzee.
(2007) Esobe, Lete Apey.; De Meyer, Bernard Albert Marcel Sylvain.
The title of our thesis is The Myth of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe in Michel Tournier's Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique and J.M. Coetzee's Foe. We intend to show how Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe story has become a renewed, transformed myth in the fictional works of Michel Tournier and J.M. Coetzee. In the first chapter, we will analyse the attitude of critics to Daniel Defoe, Michel Tournier and J.M. Coetzee's works, and we shall review the pertinent aspects of the three novelists' life. In the second chapter, we will define the concept of myth according to the African and European thinkers. We shall also stress the types, functions and myth's expressions in literary work. In the third chapter, we shall analyse and compare the characters of the three novels following the theory of A.J. Greimas which will be enriched by Evgueni Meletinski. We will divide the characters into protagonists, accessories, opponents, neutrals and absents. Analysis and comparison of the fictional characters will identify two major groups: colonizer and colonized. There will also be an examination of the meaning of characters' names used by the three novelists as well as our opinion on the fictional characters of Defoe, Tournier and Coetzee. Analysis of plot structures will show how the three novels are composed according to a cyclical pattern. The fourth chapter will be devoted to a comparative thematic analysis of solitude, sexuality and education. This will reveal the two faces of each theme as well as the hidden philosophy of the three novelists. And the fifth chapter will identify the narrative and stylistic techniques of the novels. It will show the kind of genre used by Defoe, Toumier and Coetzee as well as the letter and journal. It will also show the types of stylistic aspects of the three novels which are present in the novels. We will examine in the sixth chapter the spaces and the time framework of the three novels.
An investigation into the factors exerting a subtractive influence on Telegu and its culture.
(2005) Naidoo, Kista Applesamy.; Sitaram, Rambhajun.; Ramsay-Brijball, Malini.
In this study, I investigate the sociolinguistic factors that exert a subtractive influence on the Telugu language and Andhra culture. This study focuses on the sociolinguistic features of the Telugu Community and Telugu speaking Hindus in Natal. The majority of the Telugu speaking immigrants settled in the vicinity where they served during indentureship, for e.g. in Kearsney and Tongaat on the North Coast and, 1II0vo, Esperanza, Umzinto, Sezela and Port Shepstone on the South Coast. The contents of this study are largely based on the findings of the survey conducted among the Andhras living in Durban and surrounding areas. As a Telugu home language speaker and concomitantly, an Andhra, my concern about other Andhras moving away from our language and culture has stimulated me to investigate the factors exerting a subtractive influence on the Telugu language and Andhra Culture. My participation in the Andhra community has afforded me a unique opportunity to view the occurrences in the community. I have enjoyed vast experience as an executive member of the Andhra Maha Sabha of South Africa (hereafter AMSSA). The study aims to respond to the following key questions: • Why is there an erosion of the Telugu language and culture? • Is AMSSA fulfilling its aims and objectives in the nurturing of the Telugu language and Andhra culture in South Africa? • Does the Andhra Eisteddfod help in the maintenance of the Telugu language and Andhra culture in South Africa? • What is the community's attitude towards the Telugu language and Andhra culture? This study applies to the sociolinguistic phenomenon of language shift (L.S.) to determine the status of the TeLugu language.
Somewhere in the double rainbow : representations of bisexuality in post-apartheid novels.
(2005) Stobie, Cheryl.; Jacobs, Johan Uys.
This thesis examines the middle ground between dual strands of sexuality/gender and race/ethnicity, which I refer to metaphorically as a fluid space of possibility between the rainbows of the pride flag, which celebrates sexual diversity, and the image of the rainbow nation, which celebrates multiculturalism. I discuss ways in which lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and rights have been discursively treated in the West as well as Africa, most particularly South Africa. I note that a substantial number of novels which appeared after 1994 and have a South African setting or were authored by South Africans, employ the trope of bisexuality. This new preoccupation with bisexuality is parallel to attitudes towards change, the future, and progressive politics, including gender politics. Representations of bisexuality in each of the texts I examine vary; however, together they form a crucial cartography of a liberalization of the imagination in post-apartheid South Africa: a space of anxiety and hope, a space particularly revealing the ongoing evolution of a national identity, and newly part of a global community. Reading bisexuality accurately contributes to the disruption of binaries and illumination of the interstitial associated with the post-apartheid moment in general, and contemporary South African literature and literary criticism in particular. This method of reading, which I call "biopia," allows for a fresh understanding of sexuality, gender, race, citizenship and authority.
Mise Eire : national and personal identity in two recent Irish memoirs.
(2001) Stobie, Melissa Lauren.; Arnott, Jill Margaret.
Chapter One will outline the way I will be using the constructs of "national" and "personal" identity, and will then move on to provide a brief contextual setting for the creation and importance of certain literary conventions of Irish topography and character, in particular by examining the cultural nationalism in Yeats's poems. In doing so, I will outline the metaphor of evolution which is crucial in this dissertation, and will examine some of the ethical implications of employing this metaphor. Chapter Two will examine the 1996 memoir Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, outline McCourt's employment of various stock Irish tropes, and show how this leads to a conflation of "personal" and "national" identity, to the detriment of the memoir. Chapter Three will turn to critique Are You Somebody?, the memoir by Nuala O'Faolain which was also published in 1996. I will argue that, in contrast to Angela 's Ashes, Are You Somebody? offers a constructive fusion of both kinds of identity national and personal. In Chapter Four, I will compare and contrast key issues in the texts, in relation to their both being memoirs of (Irish) national significance, published at the same time in a changing Ireland, and I will conclude by arguing that the process of invention which is necessary for the writing of a memoir is equally necessary for the creation of a national identity.
Challenges in cross-cultural translation : a discussion of S.E.K. Mqhayi's Ityala Lamawele.
(2002) Scina, Engelbrecht Mxozolo.; Attwell, David.
This thesis is structured into four sections. The first section is a brief statement on the choice of the text chosen for the purpose of translation. Ityala Lamawele is one of the old and classic Xhosa texts and after seeing some translated texts either from Xhosa to English or English to Xhosa such as Uhambo Lomhambi (The Pilgrim's Progress) Ingqumbo Yeminyanya (The Wrath of the Ancestors), Akusekho Konwaba (No Longer at Ease) and having not seen any translation of Ityala Lamawele, I felt an attempt at translating Ityala Lamawele was long overdue. This first section also looks at the theoretical aspects of translation that will inform the translation of ltyala Lamawele. The second section is the actual translation (the process and the product) of selected extracts which deal specifically and exclusively with the case of the twins. Though the translation of the whole text is not a remote possibility or consideration, for the purpose of this thesis, selected extracts will be dealt with. The third section of this thesis is the reflection on and the discussion of the choices I have made. This section looks at the process of translating ltyala Lamawele, the challenges and obstacles that I have come across, the way I have put and expressed issues and why.
A balanced reading approach for grade one and two English L1 and EAL learners.
(2003) Gounden, Janakie.; Wildsmith-Cromarty, Rosemary.
This study reports on a balanced reading approach (BRA) designed for a multi-cultural classroom, including both Ll ( first language) and EAL ( English additional language ) Foundation phase learners. The purpose of this study is to explore how interactive reading approaches develop literacy skills for six African learners. The teacher as researcher developed a theoretical model, which informed her pedagogic practices in the balanced reading programme. She also engaged in action research to gain an insight into what teaching approaches, methodologies and resources make EAL learners learn more effectively. This information was disseminated to other educator colleagues. This study also examines parents' views on the BRA and their perceptions of the reading process. Data was drawn from the following sources: teacher observations and interactions with learners, semi-structured interviews with parents of learners, analysis of learner assessment and parental questionnaires. It was concluded that a balanced reading approach which values mother tongue instruction in a supportive learning environment enhances the self concepts and cognitive growth of EAL learners. This study has also demonstrated that collaborative active learning, extensive independent reading, language experience approach, home support , community support, high levels of intrinsic learner motivation and high teacher expectations of learners can positively impact on the EAL learners' academic progress and social growth at school. Keywords: Foundation phase English Additional Language Balanced Reading Approach III Additive Bilingualism Communicative Language Teaching Whole Language
Brothers in arms? : a linguistic analysis of four documents from the UDW "fees crisis" of May 2000.
(2002) Consterdine, Richard.; Geslin, Nicole.
This dissertation is a sociolinguistic study that applies the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis and Systemic Functional Grammar to written discourse generated in the context of student unrest at a South African tertiary educational institution in May 2000. The unrest was triggered by management's de-registration of students for non-payment of fees due, and hence the local press dubbed it the "fees crisis". Four one-page texts, each representing a major participant in the events of the "fees crisis", were selected for detailed analysis. The principal finding from the four analyzed texts is that they exhibit widely divergent discoursal styles that vividly express equally divergent ideologies and attitudes. Some of these ideological schisms are caused by the immediate situational context, where the groupings are competing for access to and control of resources, or to gain strategic advantages in a power struggle. The four texts are divided equally into two discoursal types: two employ the hegemonic, 'schooled' literacy; the other two use the marginalized, topic associative, oral literacy based style. This illustrates the radically different contexts of culture that inform the ideologies of the four participant groupings. Power struggle is inherent in all discoursal exchanges, but it is an element made especially prominent in discourse by the uncertainties associated with social transition such as that taking place currently in postapartheid South Africa. The frequency of the word "community" and its shifting semantic load in the four texts has been clearly demonstrated to encapsulate the vacillations in the groups' self-identities and inter-group relations already suggested by the broader stylistic variations between the four discourses. Uncertainty breeds fear, and like other primates, hominids display the greatest aggression when afraid. Discoursal analysis of the four "fees crisis" texts uncovers the reasons for the intense affect which characterized the events of the May 2000 "fees crisis".
A cross-linguistic analysis of finite rasing constructions.
(2011) Ademola-Adeoye, Feyisayo Fehintola.; Zeller, Jochen Klaus.
This thesis provides and discusses a comprehensive collection of empirical data that show that many languages of the world manifest long A-movement of the subjects of embedded finite clauses to the subject position (Hyperraising) or object position (Hyper-ECM) of the main clause. The main theoretical claim of the thesis is that all these instances of long A-movement leave behind resumptive pronouns and should therefore be analysed on a par with related Copy Raising and Copy ECM constructions. My thesis therefore demonstrates that resumption is not restricted to Abar movement contexts, but is also attested in A-movement constructions. Instead of the various language-particular analyses previously proposed in the literature, the thesis focuses on those aspects of long A-movement that all respective constructions in the different languages have in common and therefore provides a unified crosslinguisic analysis of long A-movement constructions. An important empirical generalisation, first noted by Ura (1994), which is empirically supported by the data discussed in this thesis, is that if a language has Hyperraising or Hyper-ECM, it is also a pro-drop language. On the basis of this generalisation, it is argued that Hyperraising and Hyper-ECM constructions involve the use of resumptive pro in the embedded subject position, while languages with Copy Raising and Copy ECM use overt pronouns. Apart from this difference, it is argued that these Amovement constructions are identical in all crucial respects. Furthermore, it is claimed that agreement inside the embedded finite clauses from which long A-movement takes place is indicative of the ability of embedded T to license nominative case on the embedded subject. Hence, no deviation from standard Minimalist assumptions is required. It is suggested that the role of the resumptive subject pronoun is to receive the case assigned by the probing T-head inside the embedded clause. It is also argued that it is the existence of a resumptive pronoun which causes the coreferential subject DP to be without case, which in turn creates a context in which long A-movement of this DP becomes both necessary and possible. This analysis is based on the idea that at first merge, the raised subject is merged with the null/overt resumptive pronoun in the embedded subject position to form one vii complex constituent (which is known in the literature as a „big? DP). While the pronoun remains in the embedded subject position to absorb the case in the embedded finite clause, the raised subject is attracted into the matrix subject position to absorb the case in the matrix clause.
An annotated and glossed English translation of memory, memorisation and memorisers in Ancient Galilee by Marcel Jousse : a study of the origin, nature, analysis and recording of mnemonic rhythmo-stylistic texts.
(2000) Conolly, Joan Lucy.; Sienaert, Edgard Richard.
This study focuses on the work of Marcel Jousse, the 20th century French anthropologist, linguist, educationist and theologian who discovered and developed the Anthropology of Language, the study of human memory and expression, and their mutual transation. As central underpinning theory of the Anthropology of Language, Jousse identified the anthropology of Geste and Rhythm manifest in the Oral Style as gestual-visual/oral-aural mnemonic. In Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee, the account of the transmission of the Besorah-Gospels in the intra-ethnic and extra-ethnic Galilean-Hellenic diaspora. Jousse demonstrates (I) the fidelity and accommodating fluidity of mnemonic Oral Style expression as support of human memory; (2) the role of the Metourgeman-Sunergos as interpreter-translator and scripter of the Besorah-Gospels; (3) the role of the Counting-necklaces constructed by Kepha-Peter and Shaoul-Paul as ordering and mnemonic support in the recounting the Deeds and Sayings of the Rabbi Ieshou"a of Galilee. In this thesis three kinds of translation are addressed. (I) It is about the translation of invisible and visceral memory into the visible and audible expression thereof in speech and movement for the purposes of learning, understanding and recording of the oral socio-cultural archive: Stylology manifest in rhythmo-stylistics, rhythmo-pedagogy and rhythmo-catechism; (2) it is about the translation of speech and movement into writing of two kinds: the recording of dictated texts in writing, (Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee) and the putting-into- writing of memorised formulaic recitation, viz. rhythmo-stylistics, rhythmo-pedagogy and rhythmo-catechism; (3) it is about the translation of a specific and specialised technical texts from one (kind of) language to another: Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee and Glossary of Joussea Concepts, Terms and Usage. The products of this study are: (I) a critical investigation and contextualised account of the perspective of Marcel Jousse on the operation of the invisible visceral metaphor called memory into the visible and audible expression thereof in speech and movement for the purposes of learning, understanding and recording of the oral socio-cultural archive in rhythmo-mnemonic expression (2) a proposed work-in-progress model for the presentation and analysis mnemonic Oral-style texts, viz. rhythmo-stylistics, rhythmo-pedagogy and rhythmo-catechism; (3) an annotated translation of Dernieres Dictees Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee; (4) a glossary of specialised technical terms to be used in the interpretation of the works of Marcel Jousse compiled from Jousse's texts already translated into English: Jousse developed a specialised and complex terminology to explain his view of the origin and operation of mnemonic human expression. The Glossary documents this terminology, and demonstrates the translation of the concepts, and their usage by Jousse. This study is presented in three parts: Part One: Translations on and at the oral-literate interface; Part Two: Memory, Memorisation and Memorisers in Ancient Galilee - an annotated translation; Part Three: Glossary of Joussean Concepts Terms and Usage .
Aantekeninge by Skakering (1991) : 'n omgewingsopvoedingsbenadering tot die gedigteks.
(2001) Motaung, Ruth Mathomane.; Reddy, Vasu.
This article has as focus an environmental education analysis of ten selected poems from the book Skakering (Opperman and Coetzee 1991) to associate the problem of environmental education with the teaching of a humanities subject like Afrikaans, and specifically in the light of the poem as text. It has as its aim the teaching of a genre, to relate in this regard the single text (the poem text) to the environment and environmentally associated problems. In this respect an approach which is aimed at selected texts in Skakering (Opperman and Coetzee 1991) shall possibly accentuate both teachers and pupils' relationship with nature. This article will concentrate on the following: a definition of environmental education as phenomenon which links up the concept ecology, general overview of the important and relevant sources, a theoretical explanation of the concept environmental education, a brief discussion of existing studies that pays attention to the environment and environmental education in the literature, the analysis of the contents of poems that represent certain environmental problems, and an awareness of the pedagogical implications for the teacher. OPSOMMING Hierdie artikel het as fokus 'n ' omgewingsopvoedingsanalise van tien geselekteerde gedigte uit die bundel Skakering (Oppenman en Coetzee 1991 ) om die probleem van omgewingsopvoeding in verband te bring met die onderrig van 'n geesteswetenskaplike vak 5005 Afrikaans. en spesifiek aan die hand van die gedigteks. Oit het as doel die onderrig van 'n genre, om in die verband die enkelteks (die gedigteks) in verband te bring met die omgewing en omgewingsverwante probleme. In hierdie opsig sal 'n benadering wat op geselekteerde tekste in Skakering (Opperman en Coetzee 1991 ) gerig is, beide ondervvysers en leerlinge se verhouding met die natuur aksentueer. In hierdie artikel word op die volgende gekonsentreer: die omskrywing van omgewingsopvoeding as verskynsel wat aansluit by die konsep ekologie, In oorsig van die belangrike en retevante bronne, 'n toeretiese uiteensetting van die konsep omgewingsopvoedingsbenadering, 'n kortlikse bespreking van bestaande studies wat aandag gee aan die omgewing en omgewingsopvoeding in die letterkunde, 'n analise van die inhoud van gedigte wat bepaalde omgewingsopvoedingsprobleme representeer, en 'n bewustheid van die pedagogiese implikasies vir die onderwyser.
Cattle praises of the Kwamthethwa area of Empangeni, Kwazulu-Natal as a reflection of some socio-cultural norms and values of the area.
(2000) Mathaba, Jetros Muzomusha.; Sienaert, Edgard Richard.; Conolly, Joan Lucy.
No abstract available.
The anthropology of geste and the eucharistic rite of the Roman mass.
(1994) Fanning, Rosalie Patricia.; Sienaert, Edgard Richard.; Allard, Maxime.
For sixty-five years hardly anyone in the English-speaking world was aware of the anthropological theories of Marcel Jousse, a twentieth century Jesuit scholar. In 1990, Jousse's seminal work, Le style oral rythmique et mnemotechnique chez les verbo-moteurs. (The rhythmic and mnemotechnique oral style of the verbo-motors), was translated into English and given the name The Oral Style. His anthropologie du geste, called in this study the anthropology of geste, presented his discovery of the universal anthropological laws governing human expression: mimism, bilateralism and formulism. Jousse had sought to understand the anthropological roots of oral style, in particular the phenomenal memory of oral style peoples. In this dissertation, Jousse's theories are summarised and his anthropological laws are used to determine whether three eucharistic prayers of the Roman rite contain elements of oral style expression. The Roman Canon, Eucharistic Prayer 1 and Eucharistic Prayer for Children 1 are set out in binary and ternary balancings. An attempt is made to show that written style expression, an inheritance from the Greeks, houses in its extraordinary complexity the very oral style elements it appears to have superseded. The assertion made is that written style, with its predilection for subordination, actually conserves, preserves and perpetuates oral style balancings, not only in the simple sentence (what Jousse calls the propositional geste), but also in clauses, phrases, words, and sound devices. Support is given to T. J. Talley's view that the Jewish nodeh lekah (thanksgiving) and not the berakah (blessing) is the prayer source that influenced the structure of the early Christians' eucharist (thanksgiving in Greek). The expressions of thanksgiving that are a distinguishing feature of anaphoras from the 1st century AD onwards, continue to shape the eucharistic prayers today. This is offered as one reason why, in a reconstruction of Eucharistic Prayer for Children 1 presented at the end of Chapter 5, it is possible to balance one recitative with another, and the recitation of one prayer component with another. The dissertation concludes by recommending that oral studies of the Christian liturgies of East and West be pursued as they have much to contribute to the orality-literacy debate not only in the matter of liturgical language but also in gaining an appreciation of other gestes of worship.
The opaqueness of chinese compounds : in search of conceptual motivations underlying traditional exocentric compounds and contemporary neologisms in Chinese.
(2011) Xu, Man.; Tappe, Heike Magdalena Elfriede.
AIM The aim of this study is to investigate the opacity of Chinese compounds in search of conceptual motivations for traditional exocentric compounds and contemporary neologisms in Chinese. METHODOLOGY This research may be characterised as an empirical investigation within the quantitative paradigm. The study contains three tasks. The design of Task 1 and Task 2 replicates the experiment concerning the classification of compound transparency which Libben, Gibson, Yoon and Sandra (2003) used to test English compounds. Task 3 is a kind of word association task that is designed following a suggestion by Gleason and Ratner (1998: 215). A sample of 95 Chinese native speakers for Task 1 & Task 2 is used. A sample of 50 Chinese native speakers for Task 3 is used. None of them has participated in either Task 1 or Task 2. FINDINGS The findings are presented with regard to the two types of compounds investigated in the study: ‘semantically free’ compounds and neologisms. In summary, ‘semantically free’ compounds may process through their constituents in the mental lexicon. Meanwhile, for some certain reasons ‘semantically free’ compounds may be recognized from the mental lexicon as whole. In the research, it found that the frequency effect is stronger than the effect of ‘semantic transparency’ in ‘semantically free’ compounds, it could mean that lexico-semantic distance (semantic freedom) is much smaller in Chinese exocentric compounds than anticipated by Scalise and Guevara (2006). Neologisms may process through their constituents in the mental lexicon. The effect of semantic transparency may be stronger than the frequency effect in neologisms when compounds are semantically transparent and their constituents’ meanings are similarity. KEY CONCEPTS Exocentric compounds, endocentric compounds, ‘semantically free’ compounds, neologisms, opaqueness, semantic transparency, frequency effect, word-superiority effect.
Stages on pages : a comparative study of Pieter-Dirk Uys' one man shows as an autobiographical alternative to memoir.
(2011) Campbell, Sheldon Troy.; Coullie, Judith Lutge.
In this dissertation I seek to analyse the use of autobiographical monologues and elements in selected scenes from the political revues Foreign Aids (2001) and Elections and Erections (2009) by South African playwright-performer Pieter-Dirk Uys. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the use of autobiographical writing in revue performance as an alternative method for presenting autobiography to spectators. My argument is that the unique style and format of the revue-form provides a distinct approach to the live performance of autobiography. The analyses centre on the revues Foreign Aids and Elections and Erections in a literary comparison with Uys’ two prose narrative memoirs, Elections and Erections: A Memoir of Fear and Fun (2002) and Between the Devil and the Deep: A Memoir of Acting and Reacting (2005). These two book-length print memoirs have passages of text that correspond with the autobiographical monologues and other dramatic elements in the revues that I have selected. The aim of providing the comparative analysis of Uys’ revues with his memoirs is to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of these genres insofar as Uys has employed each to attempt to write and perform aspects of his life-story. In order to facilitate these analyses, I have researched international studies on the interdisciplinary field of performance autobiography. I have come to rely on two key theorists of performance autobiography, Sherrill Grace and Deirdre Heddon, and I have applied their theories to my study of Uys’ revues. I discuss several autobiographical scenes in Foreign Aids, comparing them with passages from Elections and Erections: A Memoir of Fear and Fun, and I compare a selected monologue in Elections and Erections, the revue, with a passage containing the same material in Between the Devil and the Deep: A Memoir of Acting and Reacting. The comparison between the revues and the memoirs reveals the narrative and stylistic similarities and differences between Uys’ writing and performance of the self in performance narrative as opposed to prose narrative. The study identifies the most salient features of Uys’ autobiographical performances, including the thematic links between the individual life-story and the concern with social welfare, the sharing of intimate anecdotes regarding his own sex-life and the sexual practices of South Africans, and the relationality between the self and other represented in dialogues where he portrays himself and other characters speaking to each other.
Linking private and public personal and political transition in Sindiwe Magona's forced to grow.
(2004) Moodley, Logambal.; Coullie, Judith Lutge.
No abstract available.
The rhythmo-melodic Geste as agent of spiritual communion and/or affirmation of identity : an investigation into the performance of selected tamil and zulu marriage rituals and ceremonies in South Africa.
(2002) Govender, Rajendran Thangavelu.; Zungu, Phyllis Jane Nonhlanhla.; Conolly, Joan Lucy.
This study examines the similarities and differences between the historical background and the current performance of Tamil and traditional Zulu marriages. After presenting an account of the historical development of Tamil and Zulu marriage ceremonies, a chronological account of the performance of each of these marriage ceremonies is presented. This account includes a detailed description of the rituals performed during the pre-marriage ceremonies, the actual marriage ceremonies and the post-marriage ceremonies. The incidence and significance of The Anthropology of Geste and Rhythm in each of these ceremonies are demonstrated. Selected Tamil and Zulu Marriage songs are then analysed and interpreted rhythmo-stylistically to demonstrate the incidence of the mnemonic laws of Bilateralism, Rhythmism and Formulism, which account for the transmission of traditions over generations, and which demonstrate the anthropological and psycho-biological nature of memory, understanding and expression as evident in the performance of Tamil and Zulu marriages in KwaZulu-Natal.
La réécriture de l'histoire du Rwanda à travers la littérature post-génocide. Etude de cas de trois romans africains d'expression francaise.
(2012) Abubakar, Innocent Hakizimana.; De Meyer, Bernard Albert Marcel Sylvain.
After the Rwandan genocide in 1994 which irrefutably imposed itself as a reference in history, many books (researches and fiction) were published exposing varied opinions and views. It is an important source which is studied by different fields of knowledge, such as linguistics, literary studies, sociology, psychology and politics. Our study aimed to analyse ties between post-genocide fictional novels on Rwanda and the history of Rwanda. The main objectives of this dissertation (La réécriture de l’histoire du Rwanda à travers la littérature post-génocide. Etude de cas de trois romans africains d’expression française) are to study how knowledge of the history can help to understand these narratives and how these narratives can shed new light on history. In order to analyse this, we did a case study of three representative novels from Francophone Africa which we analysed confronting them to some historical sources. The novels are: - Ndwaniye, Joseph, (2007), La Promesse faite à ma soeur. Bruxelles: Les impressions nouvelles; - Monénembo,Tierno, (2000), L'Aîné des orphelins. Paris: Seuil, and - Diop, Boubacar Boris, (2000), Murambi, le livre des ossements. Paris: Stock. This study is a literary analysis and used a qualitative research method though an interpretive paradigm. As a main output and an answer to one of our research questions about common points between the post-genocide literature on Rwandan and the History of Rwanda, we discovered that in fact by the treatment of time and other writing processes used by the writers, they actually rewrote six important periods in the history of Rwanda: Pre-colonial absolute monarchy, the colonialism, the first and second Republics, the genocide and the post-genocide. These periods are clearly represented in the three novels, even if this may not be the intension of the writer and may be independent to his point of view on history. Matching the present with the past helps to revisit history. It shows how the historical context plays an important role in understanding post-genocide literature on Rwanda, and seen that this literature is discussing the genocide, it ends up delivering some points of view which are important for historians. This may assist in using literature for historical purposes and vice-versa.
The African languages in South African education 2009–2011.
(Cambridge University Press., 2012) Wildsmith-Cromarty, Rosemary.
No abstract available.
The self in and through the other : a Bakhtinian approach to Little Dorrit and Middlemarch.
(2013) Adkins, Lorraine Dalmae.; Arnott, Jill Margaret.
The thesis explores how readings of two nineteenth century English novels, Little Dorrit and Middlemarch, can be enhanced by using key elements of Mikhail Bakhtin’s ‘prosaics’ as a lens through which to examine them. Additionally, the readings are used to provide a platform from which to explore the Bakhtinian notion that language is inextricably connected to selfhood. The Introduction (1.1.) offers a brief discussion on Bakhtin and, in particular, to his formulation of a ‘prosaics’, offered in opposition to traditional linguistics (or ‘poetics’) which, he feels, is unable adequately to do justice to the social, ethical and ideological complexity of a dialogised heteroglossia, such as is found in the novel. An explanation follows (1.2.) of why the ‘word’ should not be conceived of as static lexical element but rather as an ‘utterance’. Invested with both clear and distinct meanings as well as dialogic overtones, the word forms the basis of all human communication. As the primary means of expressing the ‘self’, it cannot be heard in isolation but is always responsive and dependent upon “another’s reaction, another’s word – the two ‘interpenetrating’ the single utterance, establishing, as a result, its specific locus of meaning” (Danow 22). Likewise, it follows that the ‘self’ cannot exist purely in and for the individual but is irrevocably linked to the ‘other’. Chapter Two begins with a discussion on the way in which ‘centripetal’ and ‘centrifugal’ forces work simultaneously to shape language (2.1.). It looks at the Bakhtinian idea that language cannot ever have been monologic and unmediated, being instead ever-changing and evolving as a result of numerous influences brought to bear on it such as context, ideology and the discourses of others. The nature of heteroglossia is discussed (with particular reference to ‘dialogized heteroglossia’), as is ‘hybridization’ in which, although a statement appears to emanate from one voice, another parodic or ironic voice will also be evident in refracted form. 2.2. and 2.3 engage in a detailed analysis of selected passages from Books I and II respectively of Little Dorrit with a view to exploring ways in which a Bakhtinian reading is able to provide heightened appreciation of the text. With particular regard to the overtly parodic style of Dickens, I aim to show how Bakhtin’s prosaics, which militates against privileging one ‘voice’ over another, enables the voice of a relatively neglected character, such as Fanny Dorrit, to be adequately heard. Although the emphasis in this chapter is on language, I broach the Bakhtinian notion that both the ‘word’ and the ‘self’ are inscribed through the ‘other’. In Chapter Three the focus shifts to Middlemarch and to Bakhtin’s notion that selfhood can only be properly located in its dialogic relations to ‘another’. The chapter is offered in four parts, beginning with a brief discussion on some similarities between Bakhtin’s and Eliot’s philosophical thinking, particularly in regard to the ethical nature of the self (3.1.). The next three parts provide detailed thematic analyses of selected passages from Middlemarch. Particular attention is paid to Rosamond Vincy and Tertius Lydgate, whose relationship is explored in some detail. In order adequately to chart their development in the novel I begin by situating each of these characters in his or her various ‘fields of action’, or, as Bakhtin would have it, ‘character zones’. Character zones take into account not only the characters’ direct discourses but also other aspects of their being, including their backgrounds, ideologies and the various attitudes held by both the narrator and other characters towards them (3.2.). The next section (3.3.) explores, in dialogical terms, the rise and fall of Rosamond’s and Lydgate’s difficult alliance and it is suggested that their relationship represents the antithesis of the Bakhtinian notion of ‘finding the self in and through the other’. In the final section (3.4.), Rosamond’s and Lydgate’s possibilities for ‘real becoming’ are canvassed when each enters into dialogic relation with Dorothea Brooke. The Conclusion (4) offers a brief discussion of some of the ways in which the novel, as a genre, is open-ended. As such, it affords ongoing discussion in which completeness and conclusiveness is replaced with unfinalizability because “the final word has not yet been spoken” in the ongoing search for meaning (EaN 30).

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