African languages Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

... E-mail: luangak@yahoo.fr ª 2006 The Author. ... This, however, may not have a significant impact on the possibility or not of transfer of strategies from one language to the other. ... Please! Sit! Sit! Table 1. DCT-elicited SeL... more

- by Luanga Kasanga
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- Pragmatics, Syntax, World Englishes, Linguistics
- by Charlyn Wessels Dyers
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- Cognitive Science, Migration, Linguistics, African languages

191 S. HOWIE & COLLEAGUES: EFFECT OF MULTILINGUAL POLICIES ON READING LITERACY IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS The effect of multilingual policies on performance and progression in reading literacy in South African primary schools Sarah Howie,... more

- by Sarah HOWIE
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- Assessment, Educational evaluation, Education Policy, Comparative Study
- by Jim Harries
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- Theology, Missiology, Missiology and Mission Theology, Swahili
- by Jana Moller
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- Cultural Studies, English, African languages, Communication and media Studies
- by Vladimir Plungian
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- Passive, African languages, Dogon, Verbal Categories
- by George Starostin
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- Morphology, Khoisan languages, African languages

The Hadza are one of the last true hunter-gatherers in the world, and there is a great deal we can learn about early human behavior and culture by studying their modern-day ways of life. In this brief paper, we will look at an overview of... more

- by Seth R Chagi
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- Anthropology, Culture, African Indigenous Cultures, African languages

The optimal language for literature and educational materials is not the same for all Zay areas. The data gathered during the current study points to Zay as optimal for the islands on Lake Ziway and Oromo as optimal for the lakeshores. However, the Zay people living on the islands would probably be well served by Amharic literature and educational materials until most of them immigrate to the shore or the Oromo educational system causes a shift in preference to Oromo. Zay’s case is one of an endangered language that could prove to be a development success story, but only if the level of motivation for a language development project is high enough to initiate and sustain the effort.

- by Linda Jordan
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- Multiculturalism, Languages and Linguistics, Semitic languages, Multilingualism

Despite its inaccessibility (it remains untranslated and copies are hard to obtain), Vinigi Grottanelli’s Pescatori dell’Oceano indiano (1955) is generally agreed to be one of the best studies of a rural Swahili-speaking community. It’s our principal ethnographic source on the Bajuni (aka Gunya, aka Tikuu), whose traditional territory comprised a long string of coastal settlements and islands between Kismayu (Somalia) in the north and the Lamu archipelago (Kenya) in the south. And the political turmoil of recent decades in Somalia has turned it into a valuable historical document, a record of a way of life that for thousands of Bajuni has been shattered by persecution and conflict.

- by Martin Walsh
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- African Studies, Bantu Linguistics, Refugee Studies, East Africa
- by Innocent Maja
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- Political Science, African languages, Text
- by Michael R Marlo
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- Bantu Linguistics, African languages, African Linguistics, Dictionary

An introduction to African languages is a somewhat atypical work that serves, on the one hand,
as a kind of extended scholarly review of a selection of significant linguistic research on African
languages from as for back as Koelle (1854) to the present day, while, on the other hand,
adopting a tone and format more along the lines of an introductory textbook than a book for
specialists.

- by Jeff Good
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- Bantu Linguistics, African languages, African Languages and linguistics

"Urban varieties in South Africa are developing rapidly in the multilingual townships of major cities such as Durban, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. They are characterized by a high incidence of innovation, code switching and style variation impacting on both lexicon and syntax. These patterns can be viewed as the interaction and interface between different local languages (both African and colonial) with additional influences arising from the penetration of global phenomena into these complex urban contexts.
The lexicon in urban language forms is responsive to a number of influences –inter alia: globalization, multilingualism, youth slang and the media. This paper is based on an ongoing analysis of the lexical content of the urban language phenomenon broadly termed ‘tsotsitaal’. A number of data sets are examined to determine a ‘core’ lexicon for the phenomenon. This lexicon is then considered in terms of the influences upon it, and what can (and cannot) be said about the urban form tsotsitaal on the basis of existing research into its lexical content.
The analysis highlights some ambiguities; for example, what can usefully be said about any variety on the basis of lexical identification by researchers? To what extent can claims be made about lexical items ‘belonging’ to particular varieties? It is shown that lexical contributions ‘bleed’ into different language contexts in an urban situation (for example a term considered to be ‘tsotsitaal’ can actually be commonly used in international media as well as by speakers of a ‘non-tsotsitaal’ urban variety in a South African township). This can complicate our picture of the reality and status of urban languages, and make it difficult for linguists to identify and describe these phenomena, particularly if we are not careful in our theorisation of language itself.
The research ultimately leads towards the complexity of language practices in an age of super-diversity. Work by theorists such as Blommaert, Pennycook and Makoni provides a framework by which to begin to approach such phenomena.
"

- by ellen hurst
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- African languages, Urban Youth languages, Urban informal languages

В статье суммированы результаты пятилетней работы автора над материалом койсанской семьи языков в сравнительно-историческом освещении. После краткого изложения основных проблем, связанных с койсанской реконструкцией
(недоказанность существования койсанской семьи как таковой; уникальность фонологических систем современных койсанских языков; нехватка новых языковых данных и неадекватная транскрипция старых), автор приходит к выводу, что только тщательная реконструкция ряда промежуточных праязыков (северно-койсанский, южно-койсанский, центрально-койсанский и т. п.) может позволить приблизиться к окончательному ответу на вопрос о возможном родстве всех языков этой предположительной макросемьи.

This paper presents a model of size and shape depiction in the manual modality, based on a micro-level analysis of the lexicon of Adamorobe Sign Language (Ghana). The model combines strong elements of previous models, such as a dyadic labeling system separating form and meaning as suggested in Taub (2001, Language from the body: Iconicity and metaphor in American Sign Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), and the category of distance for size (Sowa and Wachsmuth 2003, Coverbal iconic gestures for object descriptions in virtual environments: An empirical study. In M. Rector, I. Poggi & N. Trigo (eds.), Gestures: Meaning and use, 365–376. Porto: Edicous Universidade Fernando Pessoa). It systematically describes depiction at the parameter level, viewing size and shape depiction as compositional in nature. The model is innovative in distinguishing two main categories for the expression of size and shape, i. e., shape for shape depiction, and distance for size depiction. The role of movement is seen as secondary to these two categories, and either signals extent (when combined with shape for shape depiction) or a change in it (when combined with distance for size depiction). Applying the model to a set of lexical data of Adamorobe Sign Language revealed the need for a new sub-category for distance for size depiction, i. e., of body-based distance for size depiction as found in so-called measure stick signs. Parameter-level analysis is indispensable for cross-linguistic comparisons. To this end, frequency data are presented as well. Keywords: descriptive model for size and shape depiction, Adamorobe Sign Language, gestural/manual depiction, measure stick signs, patterned iconicity, embodiment

- by victoria nyst
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- West Africa, Ghana, African languages, Sign Language Linguistics
- by Nancy Kula
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- African languages, Language Policy

Content Questions often display a similar structure to that of focus constructions. A possible reason could be that focus constructions are mostly used in the corresponding answers where the interrogative phrase is replaced by new information. Thus, interrogative phrases are often focused in the same way – to stress, that exactly this constituent indicates the need of new information. In Fula, Hausa and Yoruba, three major languages of West Africa, exactly this is the case. To focus the interrogative phrase, not only a displacement occurs, but also a particle that is as well used in copula constructions. Several discussions have arisen about the question if this particle is a copula and if the constructions should be analysed as cleft sentences. These discussions emerged about each of the languages separately but no comparative study has been conducted. Hence, this thesis shall compare the three languages and classify the constructions somewhere between the prototypes of cleft sentences and plain left dislocation.

- by Jonas Lau
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- Hausa, African languages, Linguistic Typology, Fulani
- by IOSR Journals
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- Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics, African languages, Language Planning
- by victoria nyst
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- Demography, Sign Language, Deaf studies, Endangered Languages
- by IOSR Journals
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- African languages, Language Planning, Language Policy, Medium of Instruction

@Book{LaTeCH-SHELTR:2009, editor = {Lars Borin and Piroska Lendvai}, title = {Proceedings of the EACL 2009 Workshop on Language Technology and Resources for Cultural Heritage, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education (LaTeCH -- SHELT\&R 2009)}, month = {March}, year = {2009}, address = {Athens, Greece}, publisher = {Association for Computational Linguistics}, url = {http://www.aclweb.org/anthology/W09-03} } @InProceedings{goerz-scholz:2009:LaTeCH-SHELTR, author = {Goerz, Guenther and Scholz, Martin}, title = {Content ...

- by Marco Passarotti
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- African languages, Language Technology, Bantu languages
- by Don Osborn
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- Localization, African languages

An overview of the sign languages in use in West Africa.

- by Anna Belew
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- Language Documentation, Endangered Languages, African languages, African Linguistics

Slides from my presentation at the workshop, Tone in African Languages, at Kenyatta University, May 16-17, 2016.

Language is an extremely important tool in any society. Its’ indispensability nature
always necessitates the continuous development. Apart from using language for
communication, language is also used for education. In fact, without language, there is
no education. A library is one of the tools that thus preserves and keep language for
education. The objective of this paper is to examine the role libraries play in the
preservation and development of languages in any society. This paper explains how the
library functions as “language bank” by preserving the linguistically
documented/recorded information, ideas, history etc. The paper laid much emphasis on
the crucial roles of libraries in preserving languages, especially the endangered ones.

The present paper provides a cognitive-grammaticalization analysis of the morpheme NA in Xhosa, discussing the categorial status of NA as a con-junctive coordinator (CC) and its range of polysemy and/or polyfunctionality. First, the study demonstrates that, when used in a coordinating function, NA approximates the CC prototype to a significant extent, as it complies with most of the features associated with CCs cross-linguistically. Second, the analysis of polysemy/polyfunctionality shows that NA spans large parts of the typological map posited for CC constructions. The conceptual and diachronic center of the map of NA corresponds to a prepositional comitative sense from which the other values (e.g. 'carry', possessive, temporal, modality, 'even', concessive, 'also, as well' and 'illness') and functions (e.g. predicative and adverbial) have emerged through a series of semantic extensions connected via family resemblance. In this map, the uses of NA as a nominal coordinator, comitative preposition, possessive predicator, and focal-adverbial 'also, as well' are the most prototypical. The results of the research contribute to the typological theory of CCs and their semantic-map modeling.*

This little book is a big granary of knowledge and wisdom. Whoever has the opportunity to read Lusoga and discern the messages within these pages will receive eternal peace. What the Musoga says in these few pages is what makes our society to thrive. Universal truths such as these are shared by many people regardless of their ethnicity. For translations into other languages please contact Lusoga language Academic Board.

- by Cornelius W Gulere
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- Sociology, Languages and Linguistics, Ethnography, Proverbs
- by Heather Winskel
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- Reading, African languages
- by Inge Brinkman
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- African Studies, African History, Africa, Translation and Interpretation

This dissertation offers a grammatical description and analysis of Manda (N.11), a Bantu language spoken
along Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) in southern Tanzania. The study focuses on the “wider” TAM domain,n how tense, aspect, mood but also modality and negation are expressed in the language, offering a
description of the form and function of the various markers employed. In addition, this work sets out to
unravel the historical background of these markers and the diachronic processes of change - particularly
grammaticalization - through which they have evolved. As Manda is a basically undescribed language,
the thesis also includes a brief socio-historical account - focusing on the issues of contact - as well as a
grammar sketch describing the fundamentals of the language.
This study draws on a combination of methods consisting of both more prototypical field work as well as
methods facilitating grammatical reconstruction. The vast bulk of the Manda data have been collected in
the field. Hypotheses of change – but also of retention – are based on the synchronic variation found in
this data, in comparison to the data of existing older sources as well as from neighboring languages.
Furthermore, the Manda data has been compared to Proto-Bantu reconstructions and cross-Bantu as well
as cross-linguistic generalizations on functional and formal change.
The study shows that Manda in many ways adheres to the general traits of an (Eastern) Bantu language.
Fundamentally, the language is highly agglutinative, with e.g. an elaborate noun class system and a rich
set of both prefixes and suffixes on the verbal word, marking nominal indexation, derivations as well as
TAM. With regard to TAM, the study argues that much of the synthetic linguistic material found in
Manda can be traced to Proto-Bantu and thus most likely is inherited. In contrast, many innovations and
indications of ongoing change are displayed in the periphrastic constructions of the language. These
include a set of auxiliary constructions used for expressing aspect, modality but also (non-standard)
negation, a borrowed persistive marker and two particles being employed as standard negators.

Adamorobe Sign Language is the sign language used in the village of
Adamorobe in
Ghana. This sign language has evolved as a result of the high hereditary
deafness incidence in this village. Adamorobe has approximately 1400
inhabitants, more than 30 of whom are deaf.
The main spoken language in the village is Akan, a Kwa language. This
thesis aims to give a description of aspects of Adamorobe Sign Language
(AdaSL) and to compare these with other sign languages as well as with
Akan. It attempts thus to contribute to our knowledge of possible structures
in human language and in languages in the visual modality in particular.
More than spoken languages, the sign languages studied so far show
structural similarities.
These corresponding structures seem to be motivated by the
communicative channel used by sign languages – that is, the visual-spatial
modality. However, the well-studied sign languages not only share their
modality, but they also occur in corresponding, rather specific social
conditions. Thus, most of well-studied are relatively young, they are used by
rather large Deaf communities, have an atypical acquisition pattern and a
history of suppression. Home sign languages –sign languages of deaf people
who do not regularly communicate with other deaf people- arise in radically
different circumstances and are therefore much more divers in structure. It is
commonly assumed that large sign languages have arisen from the merger of
several home sign languages as documented in the case of Nicaragua Sign
Language.
The considerable structural variety in home sign languages and the
relatively great similarity between large sign languages suggest that
languages develop along a unidirectional path leading to structural
convergence. Sign languages arisen and used in hearing communities also
appear to have a different structure. However, the differences in the social
settings of these three types of sign languages differ to such an extent that it
is hard to establish which ones are really relevant. The differences in social
settings between AdaSL and large sign languages are relatively small and
enable us to evaluate the influence of these differences. Thus like the large
sign languages AdaSL has a community of deaf people and a comparable
time depth.
A significant but well defined difference concerns the
intergenerational transmission. In large deaf communities transmission is
hampered by the fact that most deaf children are born in hearing families. In
Adamorobe a deaf child is surrounded by signing relatives from early on. In addition, there seems to be a difference in the experience of deafness, in
particular in the lack of a distinct Deaf community.
The chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this thesis give a comparative description of a
number of AdaSL aspects. In chapter 2 it becomes clear that if we compare
AdaSL to NGT, a large sign language, the former uses considerable sign
space, has many lexical signs with a non manual element and a small set of
unmarked hand shapes. AdaSL rather resembles home sign and young sign
languages in these respects.
Chapter 3 deals with the lexicon, specifically the semantic fields of
relationship, colour, numbers, time and names. The lexicon appears to be
strongly influenced by Akan considering the frequent use of mouthings and
loan translations.
Chapter 4 describes various ways of expressing form and size in
AdaSL. In a number of ways AdaSL diverts significantly from what is
common in the large sign languages so far studied. This is particularly
notable in the use of so called measure stick signs. These measure stick signs
are also used by hearing people in Ghana and other parts of Africa.
Moreover AdaSL has standard signs to indicate a relative size which do not,
as seems to be the case in other sign languages, adapt to the absolute size of
the entity in question.
Chapter 5 describes expressions of motion. A structure that seems to
be common in almost any large sign language is the so-called classifierconstruction.
Whereas handle classifier constructions typically express
externally controlled motion, entity classifier constructions typically express
internally controlled motion. AdaSL rarely uses handle classifier
constructions to express externally controlled movements. Moreover, AdaSL
appears not to make use of a system of entity classifiers.
In AdaSL the usual way to indicate movement is through ´directionals´.
These movement signs (which can be spatially modified) each express a
basic movement pattern of movement regarding the cause of the movement
e.g. TOWARDS or ENTER. They may occur in a series with a sign expressing
manipulation (e.g. TAKE) or expressing a way of moving (such as RUN), thus
specifying the Cause of the movement.
From the descriptive chapters a pattern of features typical of AdaSL
arises. These are discussed in chapter 6.

- by Victoria Nyst
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- West Africa, African languages, Sign Language Linguistics, West Africa Studies

The paper explores how Nyanja/Chewa proverbs as stores of indigenous knowledge can be used to teach Nyanja/Chewa morphology and grammar, and as a tool to sensitise learners on aspects of academic writing. Using systemic functional linguistics and selected Nyanja/Chewa proverbs, the researchers illustrate how the patterning and the realisation of proverbs as texts in social contexts scaffold interpersonal meanings including appraisal and attitude, and stance. In turn, the researchers argue that proverbs typically have two thematically related parts, which can be used to teach aspects of academic writing in respect to appreciation of textual cohesion and coherence in meaning making. The researchers show that proverbs are typically structured to express evidentially, absolute truth and flawless logic, all of which are characteristic of academic writing. The researchers conclude that proverbs can be used as resources in the teaching aspects of persuasive language and, critical and cognitively demanding analytical skills.

- by Felix Banda and +1
- •
- African Studies, Indigenous Studies, Proverbs, Academic Writing

As was the case with many newly independent African nations, Somalia was beset by a language problem whose complexity had begun well before independence and the unification of British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland in 1960. With three languages (English, Arabic, and Italian) used as media of communication in government offices and in schools, various Somali administrations struggled to contain the impasse but found no tangible solution. Barely three years after Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in October 1969, he had his military regime introduce the Somali orthography in the Latin alphabet. Based on this milestone, Siad Barre's military rule is highly commended for taking a remarkable step forward in what came to be known as the Somalization project. However, officials of the government and Somali scholarship failed to

- by Mohamed A Eno
- •
- Critical Theory, Languages, Cultural History, Cultural Studies

Cet article propose de contribuer à une réflexion théorique sur le « parler jeune » en tant que construction idéologique et modèle réflexif d'utilisation de la langue, dans une perspective d’anthropologie sémiotique, à partir de l’exemple du francanglais (ou camfranglais) au Cameroun. La réflexion est basée sur la théorie de la mise en registre (enregisterment) d’A. Agha (2007), selon laquelle un registre ou un style langagier est un modèle culturel d'action qui résulte de processus socio-historiques de « mise en registre », processus par lesquels ses formes et ses valeurs sont reconnues comme distinctes de celles attribuées à d'autres registres, et sont associées à des types spécifiques de pratiques sociales, de personae (locuteurs et interlocuteurs) et d'activités (Agha 2007 : 168). Il s'agit donc de décrire les processus de mise en frontière à l’œuvre dans les discours métapragmatiques de migrants camerounais résidant en région parisienne, âgés de 25 à 30 ans. À travers l’opposition entre langue et argot, qui recoupe celle entre français et francanglais, les sujets réactualisent les idéologies associées à l'argot qui le définissent comme une sous-variété de la langue standard, associée à des interactions informelles et à des valeurs sociales ambivalentes (Agha 2015). Ainsi, ils tracent des frontières non seulement entre des locuteurs types, mais aussi entre deux types de relations sociales : la relation de proximité affective ou de solidarité, basée sur le partage de caractéristiques sociales communes, et la relation de distance ou de pouvoir. Cette analyse nous amène, en conclusion, à problématiser la relation entre langage et jeunesse pour le francanglais : comme pour les autres « parlers jeunes », les formes langagières associées au francanglais indexeraient d'abord, au niveau de l'interaction, des positionnements tels que la familiarité et la proximité affective, ainsi que des caractéristiques personnelles du locuteur et des activités sociales spécifiques, avant d’indexer, de façon indirecte, l’appartenance à une classe d’âge. La relation entre le francanglais et la catégorie « jeune » n'est donc pas directe et exclusive, mais elle dépend surtout du sens que les locuteurs (qu'ils soient ou non perçus comme
« jeunes ») veulent construire en interaction.