Lezandra Grundlingh | University of South Africa (original) (raw)
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Papers by Lezandra Grundlingh
Cogent Education, 2020
Research in computer mediated communication and sociolinguistics, have increasingly highlighted t... more Research in computer mediated communication and sociolinguistics, have increasingly highlighted the concept of establishing an “online identity” through specific language use. However, while emojis or common netspeak abbreviations are often the focus of research concerned with cyber language, no studies have considered the function laughter might play in establishing an online language identity. Furthermore, no studies have considered the possible significance of online laughter in terms of language acquisition. Researchers now have the opportunity to study laughter from a linguistic perspective since laughing online is illustrated through the use of emojis or typed text. The present study considers how the data and research in previous studies on written laughter and language identity can be combined to support arguments that laughing in a specific language online not only expresses the language identity of an individual, but should be considered an important aspect of second language acquisition.
Suicide as a mental state has fascinated psychologists and psychiatrists for many years. Although... more Suicide as a mental state has fascinated psychologists and psychiatrists for many years. Although there are different theories surrounding the suicidal state of mind, some believe that a suicide note could provide insights when determining whether the suicide was genuine or staged. Linguistic analyses since the 1950s on both fabricated and authentic suicide notes have shown that, to some extent, it is possible to determine the characteristics of suicide notes. The current study is influenced by previous linguistic research on suicide notes but approaches the analysis from a slightly different perspective. The argument is that using appraisal theory categories as the main method of analysing both authentic and fabricated suicide notes provides another way of distinguishing between these two sets of notes. Two corpora of suicide notes are analysed. The first corpus represents authentic suicide notes and consists of 33 suicide notes. The second corpus consists of 66 fabricated suicide notes. The analysis indicates that even with limited corpora there is a possibility of using appraisal theory to distinguish between authentic and fabricated suicide notes. Since only small corpora are used in this study, drawing definite conclusions are not possible. Nonetheless, it appears that appraisal theory has potential.
AN ENGLISH VERSION FOLLOWS THE AFRIKAANS VERSION Elke teksgenre het bepaalde eienskappe. Hierdie ... more AN ENGLISH VERSION FOLLOWS THE AFRIKAANS VERSION
Elke teksgenre het bepaalde eienskappe. Hierdie eienskappe sluit strukturele aspekte asook taalgebruik in. Taalgebruik word nie net met ’n spesifieke genre geassosieer nie, maar soms ook met ’n bepaalde gender. Die huidige studie ondersoek die grammatikale en leksikale eienskappe in enkele Afrikaanse gedigte wat van 2002 tot 2010 gepubliseer is, asook die moontlike taalgebruik- en genderverskille in hierdie korpora. Deur die ontleding van die korpora vanuit ’n korpuslinguistiekperspektief kan bepaal word hoe frekwent spesifieke leksikale en grammatikale woorde in hierdie gedigte is in vergelyking met ander genres. Dit is ook moontlik om vas te stel of bepaalde woorde meer gereeld deur manlike of vroulike digters gebruik word. Verder kan bepaal word hoe hierdie woorde in konteks gebruik word. Die korpusprogram Antconc is gebruik om die data in die twee korpora van manlike en vroulike digters te ontleed. Sleutelwoordontledings en konkordansiesoektogte is uitgevoer om die moontlike grammatikale en leksikale eienskappe van die korpora as ’n geheel, maar ook in die poësie van die manlike en vroulike digters vas te stel. Die resultate dui aan dat bepaalde taalkundige eienskappe met die Afrikaanse gedigte in hierdie korpora en moontlik met manlike of vroulike digters geassosieer kan word.
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The current study explores language use in selected Afrikaans poems from a corpus linguistics perspective. The aim is to determine whether the poems can be distinguished from other general Afrikaans texts, other Afrikaans literature texts and from one another (poems written by men versus poems written by women). By analysing the corpora from a corpus linguistics perspective it is possible to determine whether the poets make use of specific grammatical or lexical characteristics that are unique to the corpora as a whole, but also to the male and female poets. Thus, language use and gender are investigated within the genre of Afrikaans poetry.
Language Matters, 2017
Objectivity is a key aspect of hard news reporting. Ideally, the reporter should only provide the... more Objectivity is a key aspect of hard news reporting. Ideally, the reporter should only provide the reader with the facts and not allow his/her personal feelings about a specific event or crime to be identifiable in a report. However, journalists sometimes use both obvious and subtle ways to increase the entertainment value of a specific event or crime in order to grab and keep the attention of the readers. The use of sensationalism influences the reader to form certain opinions about a crime or the individuals involved in the crime. In this study, I attempt to identify the techniques used to incorporate both subtle and obvious sensationalism in online reports of four murders that took place in South Africa between 2009 and 2016. While subtle sensationalism is incorporated in different ways in media reports, appraisal theory is used to identify obvious sensationalism in this study.
Memes are a common way for individuals to communicate online. Internet users often use memes to r... more Memes are a common way for individuals to communicate online.
Internet users often use memes to reply to each other on social
networking sites or other online forums. This research argues that
memes are successfully used for communication purposes
because certain memes (specifically image macros) are essentially
speech acts and are also understood as being speech acts by
internet users. When creating a meme, choices are made
concerning the specific semiotic resources to be used and the
internet community then interprets these resources to facilitate
communication between the meme creator and the internet
community. Memes can be recreated for different purposes and
therefore it is possible to group memes under already existing
speech acts and speculate about the ways in which these might
correspond to speech acts in the future. To accomplish this, a
limited amount of specific meme types are analysed and discussed.
In June 2015, Spar published a series of advertisements for its liquor store, TOPS at Spar. One o... more In June 2015, Spar published a series of advertisements for its liquor store, TOPS at Spar. One of the advertisements used the slogan 'Grab a drink and show off those PJ Powers'. The singer, PJ Powers, was informed of this advertisement and Powers accused Spar not only of using her name without her permission but also of poking fun at her past struggle with alcohol addiction. Taking into account the main assumptions of relevance theory and the possible general knowledge of the average South African as well as the co-text and context of the advertisement, I will illustrate that consumers in South Africa are highly likely to associate the lexical co-occurrence 'PJ Powers' with the singer and not with a 'pyjama party theme' suggested by Spar in its apology. A small corpus based on newspaper texts, two different corpus analysis tools, Antconc and Leximancer, and a Google search are used to support my arguments.
Author identification: A forensic-linguistic research study in Afrikaans SMS language Forensic li... more Author identification: A forensic-linguistic research study in Afrikaans SMS language Forensic linguistics is a field of study that has gained popularity in many countries around the world (Blackwell 2012). In South Africa forensic linguistics is not a well-known field of study, but academics and postgraduate students are beginning to explore research and study opportunities within this field. Author identification, which is the focus of this article, is only one of the subcategories within forensic linguistics. A very basic definition of forensic linguistics is that it is a section of applied linguistics where a variety of both written and spoken texts is analysed for judicial purposes. The field is roughly divided into two main categories: language use and its judicial implications and the analysis of forensic texts (written or spoken).
Thesis Chapters by Lezandra Grundlingh
Thesis, 2020
Analyses of suicide notes have been conducted from varied perspectives in both linguistics and ps... more Analyses of suicide notes have been conducted from varied perspectives in both linguistics and psychology. Not only have these studies added considerable value to the study of suicide, but they have also enriched the field of forensic linguistics. By analysing suicide notes, researchers are able to speculate about the state of mind of a suicidal individual from a psychological perspective, as well as gain insight into the characteristics of this genre from a linguistic perspective. Studies of suicide notes that are most relevant to forensic linguistics are those that compare authentic and fabricated suicide notes to determine whether these types of suicide notes may be distinguished from one another. Although the literature on suicide notes includes multiple studies that consider the differences between authentic and fabricated suicide notes, none seems to consider the fact that there might not be distinct differences between these types of suicide notes. Past studies also do not seem to consider that it might not be possible to determine whether a single suicide note is authentic or not. The present study fills this gap by considering authentic and fabricated suicide notes as indistinguishable texts. In this study, appraisal theory is used as the main theory of linguistic analysis to prove that authentic and fabricated suicide notes do not have distinct linguistic characteristics that can be used to differentiate them and that aiming to authenticate suicide notes might be a very risky and problematic undertaking. The results indicate that based on the theories and methods discussed in this thesis, it is not possible to successfully distinguish between authentic and fabricated suicide notes. It appears that, overall, the suicide notes included here would be more suited to analyses aimed at determining authorship identification or verification than analyses aimed at authenticating suicide notes. Accordingly, the study contributes not only to research concerned with the analysis of suicide notes, but also to that concerned with forensic linguistics. Furthermore, the study includes analyses of South African suicide notes, and specifically Afrikaans suicide notes, which has not been attempted in previous research.
Cogent Education, 2020
Research in computer mediated communication and sociolinguistics, have increasingly highlighted t... more Research in computer mediated communication and sociolinguistics, have increasingly highlighted the concept of establishing an “online identity” through specific language use. However, while emojis or common netspeak abbreviations are often the focus of research concerned with cyber language, no studies have considered the function laughter might play in establishing an online language identity. Furthermore, no studies have considered the possible significance of online laughter in terms of language acquisition. Researchers now have the opportunity to study laughter from a linguistic perspective since laughing online is illustrated through the use of emojis or typed text. The present study considers how the data and research in previous studies on written laughter and language identity can be combined to support arguments that laughing in a specific language online not only expresses the language identity of an individual, but should be considered an important aspect of second language acquisition.
Suicide as a mental state has fascinated psychologists and psychiatrists for many years. Although... more Suicide as a mental state has fascinated psychologists and psychiatrists for many years. Although there are different theories surrounding the suicidal state of mind, some believe that a suicide note could provide insights when determining whether the suicide was genuine or staged. Linguistic analyses since the 1950s on both fabricated and authentic suicide notes have shown that, to some extent, it is possible to determine the characteristics of suicide notes. The current study is influenced by previous linguistic research on suicide notes but approaches the analysis from a slightly different perspective. The argument is that using appraisal theory categories as the main method of analysing both authentic and fabricated suicide notes provides another way of distinguishing between these two sets of notes. Two corpora of suicide notes are analysed. The first corpus represents authentic suicide notes and consists of 33 suicide notes. The second corpus consists of 66 fabricated suicide notes. The analysis indicates that even with limited corpora there is a possibility of using appraisal theory to distinguish between authentic and fabricated suicide notes. Since only small corpora are used in this study, drawing definite conclusions are not possible. Nonetheless, it appears that appraisal theory has potential.
AN ENGLISH VERSION FOLLOWS THE AFRIKAANS VERSION Elke teksgenre het bepaalde eienskappe. Hierdie ... more AN ENGLISH VERSION FOLLOWS THE AFRIKAANS VERSION
Elke teksgenre het bepaalde eienskappe. Hierdie eienskappe sluit strukturele aspekte asook taalgebruik in. Taalgebruik word nie net met ’n spesifieke genre geassosieer nie, maar soms ook met ’n bepaalde gender. Die huidige studie ondersoek die grammatikale en leksikale eienskappe in enkele Afrikaanse gedigte wat van 2002 tot 2010 gepubliseer is, asook die moontlike taalgebruik- en genderverskille in hierdie korpora. Deur die ontleding van die korpora vanuit ’n korpuslinguistiekperspektief kan bepaal word hoe frekwent spesifieke leksikale en grammatikale woorde in hierdie gedigte is in vergelyking met ander genres. Dit is ook moontlik om vas te stel of bepaalde woorde meer gereeld deur manlike of vroulike digters gebruik word. Verder kan bepaal word hoe hierdie woorde in konteks gebruik word. Die korpusprogram Antconc is gebruik om die data in die twee korpora van manlike en vroulike digters te ontleed. Sleutelwoordontledings en konkordansiesoektogte is uitgevoer om die moontlike grammatikale en leksikale eienskappe van die korpora as ’n geheel, maar ook in die poësie van die manlike en vroulike digters vas te stel. Die resultate dui aan dat bepaalde taalkundige eienskappe met die Afrikaanse gedigte in hierdie korpora en moontlik met manlike of vroulike digters geassosieer kan word.
***********************************************
The current study explores language use in selected Afrikaans poems from a corpus linguistics perspective. The aim is to determine whether the poems can be distinguished from other general Afrikaans texts, other Afrikaans literature texts and from one another (poems written by men versus poems written by women). By analysing the corpora from a corpus linguistics perspective it is possible to determine whether the poets make use of specific grammatical or lexical characteristics that are unique to the corpora as a whole, but also to the male and female poets. Thus, language use and gender are investigated within the genre of Afrikaans poetry.
Language Matters, 2017
Objectivity is a key aspect of hard news reporting. Ideally, the reporter should only provide the... more Objectivity is a key aspect of hard news reporting. Ideally, the reporter should only provide the reader with the facts and not allow his/her personal feelings about a specific event or crime to be identifiable in a report. However, journalists sometimes use both obvious and subtle ways to increase the entertainment value of a specific event or crime in order to grab and keep the attention of the readers. The use of sensationalism influences the reader to form certain opinions about a crime or the individuals involved in the crime. In this study, I attempt to identify the techniques used to incorporate both subtle and obvious sensationalism in online reports of four murders that took place in South Africa between 2009 and 2016. While subtle sensationalism is incorporated in different ways in media reports, appraisal theory is used to identify obvious sensationalism in this study.
Memes are a common way for individuals to communicate online. Internet users often use memes to r... more Memes are a common way for individuals to communicate online.
Internet users often use memes to reply to each other on social
networking sites or other online forums. This research argues that
memes are successfully used for communication purposes
because certain memes (specifically image macros) are essentially
speech acts and are also understood as being speech acts by
internet users. When creating a meme, choices are made
concerning the specific semiotic resources to be used and the
internet community then interprets these resources to facilitate
communication between the meme creator and the internet
community. Memes can be recreated for different purposes and
therefore it is possible to group memes under already existing
speech acts and speculate about the ways in which these might
correspond to speech acts in the future. To accomplish this, a
limited amount of specific meme types are analysed and discussed.
In June 2015, Spar published a series of advertisements for its liquor store, TOPS at Spar. One o... more In June 2015, Spar published a series of advertisements for its liquor store, TOPS at Spar. One of the advertisements used the slogan 'Grab a drink and show off those PJ Powers'. The singer, PJ Powers, was informed of this advertisement and Powers accused Spar not only of using her name without her permission but also of poking fun at her past struggle with alcohol addiction. Taking into account the main assumptions of relevance theory and the possible general knowledge of the average South African as well as the co-text and context of the advertisement, I will illustrate that consumers in South Africa are highly likely to associate the lexical co-occurrence 'PJ Powers' with the singer and not with a 'pyjama party theme' suggested by Spar in its apology. A small corpus based on newspaper texts, two different corpus analysis tools, Antconc and Leximancer, and a Google search are used to support my arguments.
Author identification: A forensic-linguistic research study in Afrikaans SMS language Forensic li... more Author identification: A forensic-linguistic research study in Afrikaans SMS language Forensic linguistics is a field of study that has gained popularity in many countries around the world (Blackwell 2012). In South Africa forensic linguistics is not a well-known field of study, but academics and postgraduate students are beginning to explore research and study opportunities within this field. Author identification, which is the focus of this article, is only one of the subcategories within forensic linguistics. A very basic definition of forensic linguistics is that it is a section of applied linguistics where a variety of both written and spoken texts is analysed for judicial purposes. The field is roughly divided into two main categories: language use and its judicial implications and the analysis of forensic texts (written or spoken).
Thesis, 2020
Analyses of suicide notes have been conducted from varied perspectives in both linguistics and ps... more Analyses of suicide notes have been conducted from varied perspectives in both linguistics and psychology. Not only have these studies added considerable value to the study of suicide, but they have also enriched the field of forensic linguistics. By analysing suicide notes, researchers are able to speculate about the state of mind of a suicidal individual from a psychological perspective, as well as gain insight into the characteristics of this genre from a linguistic perspective. Studies of suicide notes that are most relevant to forensic linguistics are those that compare authentic and fabricated suicide notes to determine whether these types of suicide notes may be distinguished from one another. Although the literature on suicide notes includes multiple studies that consider the differences between authentic and fabricated suicide notes, none seems to consider the fact that there might not be distinct differences between these types of suicide notes. Past studies also do not seem to consider that it might not be possible to determine whether a single suicide note is authentic or not. The present study fills this gap by considering authentic and fabricated suicide notes as indistinguishable texts. In this study, appraisal theory is used as the main theory of linguistic analysis to prove that authentic and fabricated suicide notes do not have distinct linguistic characteristics that can be used to differentiate them and that aiming to authenticate suicide notes might be a very risky and problematic undertaking. The results indicate that based on the theories and methods discussed in this thesis, it is not possible to successfully distinguish between authentic and fabricated suicide notes. It appears that, overall, the suicide notes included here would be more suited to analyses aimed at determining authorship identification or verification than analyses aimed at authenticating suicide notes. Accordingly, the study contributes not only to research concerned with the analysis of suicide notes, but also to that concerned with forensic linguistics. Furthermore, the study includes analyses of South African suicide notes, and specifically Afrikaans suicide notes, which has not been attempted in previous research.