Browsing Research articles (Dept of African Lang & Lit) by Title
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Now showing items 7-12 of 12
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Letsholo, R. (Routledge (Taylor and Francis)/www.routledge.com, NaN, 2009)[more][less]
Abstract: This article reports the findings of a study whose objective was to investigate whether there was a likelihood of a language shift (or loss) from Ikalanga (a minority language spoken in Botswana) to either Setswana or English. The focus of the investigation was 17-25 year olds. The findings indicate that although Ikalanga (unlike indigenous languages like Khoe and Shekgalagadi) is not under imminent threat of loss, there are, nevertheless, clear indications of a gradual shift to Setswana. This conclusion was reached based on informants’ language use patterns and their attitudes towards using their mother tongue, particularly around people with a different mother tongue from them. The results show that informants use Setswana frequently, even in domains where they could use their mother tongue, e.g. when speaking to peers from the same mother tongue. In addition, the responses to a question which required them to indicate which language(s) they would use with their children show that the subjects embrace linguistic diversity (a large majority indicated they would teach their children Ikalanga, Setswana and English), showing no clear conviction to Ikalanga. Some of the subjects also expressed negative feelings towards using their mother tongue around non-native speakers of the language. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/766 Files in this item: 1
Letsholo_IJBEB_2009.pdf (1.261Mb) -
Batibo, H.M.; Kopi, M.M. (University of Botswana, Department of English, http://www.ub.bw, NaN, 2008)[more][less]
Abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate sex-related euphemisms in Setswana. Although sex matters, as embarrassing phenomena, are not usually talked about in Setswana communities, they have recently been brought to the open by the incidence of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The assumption in this study is therefore that, with more open discourse of sex-related matters in Botswana, more euphemisms have been created to camouflage the embarrassing nature of the various referents in this field. The sex-related matters include private parts, sexual activities, sexual secretions, sexual diseases and related phenomena. This study describes the nature, origin, and types of these euphemisms and considers their place and role in the social interaction of the people of Botswana. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/852 Files in this item: 1
Batibo_MJLL_2008.pdf (2.902Mb) -
Magocha, K.; Arua, A.E. (Routledge (Taylor and Francis) www.routledge.com, NaN, 2002)[more][less]
Abstract: This paper examines the patterns of language use and language preference of some children aged 6–15 and their parents at the University of Botswana. The results indicate that the majority of the children speak Setswana and English, despite the fact that they come from different language groups. However, Setswana, the national language, is the more widely spoken. Very few of the children speak languages such as Ikalanga, Otjiherero and Sesotho and other minority languages. The language preferences of the children and their parents differ. Although many of the children speak two or three languages, they prefer only one – Setswana. However, the parents of the children prefer them to speak English rather than Setswana, especially in the school and playground. They also prefer their children not to speak English at home, although the children actually do so. Children from other language groups prefer English to their mother tongues. Generally, the study shows the continued growth of Setswana and English, and the gradual decline of the other local languages, except Ikalanga. The government is reported to be considering introducing a third language as a medium of instruction in the hope that it will stop the decline of minority languages. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/654 Files in this item: 1
Magocha_JMMD_2002.pdf (828.5Kb) -
Kezilahabi, E. (Taylor and Francis, NaN, 2001)[more][less]
Abstract: This article argues that greeting among the Kerebe is a phenomenological project of everydayness in which the concept of being manifests itself in a dialogic manner. This is revealed through the four variables on which greetings are based: time, age, gender and relationship. The variables give us a glimpse of how the Kerebe view the question of temporality of being, the idea of being-for-the-other and the question of truth; and they cast some light on the general concept of a person in Kerebe thought. The article is oriented toward an inquiry into the concept of being-in-the-world from an African point of view. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/421 Files in this item: 1
Kezilahabi_JACS_2001.pdf (1.480Mb) -
Mekgwe, P. (Routledge (Taylor and francis), www.routledge.com, NaN, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: The growing body of literature authored by women in Africa and the African Diaspora over the past four decades has been accompanied by vigorous debates out of which has evolved a body of theories pertaining to African Feminism(s). Theoretical models such as ‘Third World Feminism’, ‘African Feminism’, ‘Womanism’, ‘Stiwanism’, ‘Afrikana Womanism’ and ‘Nego-feminism’, amongst others, have responded to the anomalies exhibited by mainstream feminism, particularly its inability to address the cultural specificities out of which ‘other’ feminisms are theorised. The focus of this article has arisen out of the realisation that while such theories are invaluable to the development of feminist discourse, they have tended to focus predominantly on the politics of naming associated with the term ‘feminism’. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/997 Files in this item: 1
Mekgwe_TT_2010.pdf (311.8Kb) -
Rasebotsa, N.L.; Lederer, M.S. (Indiana University Press, www.iupress.indiana.edu, NaN, 2010)[more][less]
Abstract: This paper examines how place is represented in two Botswana novels, Far and Beyon’ by Unity Dow and The Victims by Mositi Torontle. Conventional notions of rural as the “authentic” experience that is threatened by moral breakdown in modern towns do not fit the experiences that these two novels describe. Instead, place reveals attitudes that influence identity formation, and it does so by foregrounding the importance of human relationships. Thus, the important point is to restore and maintain a person’s sense of belonging to a family and extended community, regardless of whether those communities are rural or urban. Breakdown threatens people when they do not know to whom they belong, regardless of where they live. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/926 Files in this item: 1
Rasebotsa_RAL_2010.pdf (1.231Mb)
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Now showing items 7-12 of 12