Doctoral Degrees (General Linguistics)

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Language discordant HIV and AIDS interactions in Lesotho health care centres
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013-03) Sobane, Konosoang Mabafokeng; Anthonissen, Christine; Huddlestone, Kate; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This PhD study investigated the organisational structure of medical communicative facilities and the related communicative experiences of health care providers and patients in HIV and AIDS care centres where there is language discordance between physicians and patients. Such discordance refers specifically to communication in contexts where patients and health care providers speak a number of different, mostly mutually unintelligible first languages (L1s) and where speakers have varying levels of proficiency in a lingua franca such as English. This study considers key moments within the organisational communication structure to assess how well the structure meets its communicative aims. The sites of care that provided empirical data in this study, were a public health clinic which is a division of a state hospital, and a privately run day care clinic both located near Maseru, the capital city of Lesotho. The participants were drawn from four categories, namely physicians, nurses, lay interpreters and patients. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and direct observations of the study sites. The data was later transcribed interpreted and analysed according to insights gained from Organisation Theory on the one hand and Thematic Analysis and Qualitative Data Analysis on the other hand. The most important result of the study is the recognition of organisational fragmentation of care into different units which helps to facilitate communication where patients and physicians show marked language discordance. Further results illuminate several challenges that are encountered by participants in mediating and making meaning where language diversity is such that physicians’ linguistic repertoire does not match the repertoires of patients and local HCPs. The study highlights several institutional and interpersonal strategies that are used to overcome these challenges and to assure effective communication in the particular institutions. It also shows how some of these strategies fail to fully address the communicative challenges identified. The findings of this study suggest that in multilingual clinical contexts there is a need for more dedicated attention to interpreting practices, to the kinds of material distributed among patients and, more generally, to make consultative decisions on improved systems to put in place in order to facilitate communication related to quality health care.
Mother tongue education and transition to English medium education in Uganda : teachers perspectives and practices versus language policy and curriculum
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Ssentanda, Medadi Erisa; Huddlestone, Kate; Southwood, Frenette; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation I report on an ethnographic survey study undertaken on bi-/multilingual education in ten primary schools in Uganda. The primary aim of this study was to explore how teachers understand and manage the process of transitioning from mother tongue (MT) education to English as a language of learning and teaching (LoLT). In this study I used a multi-method approach involving questionnaires, classroom observations, follow-up interviews and note taking. Data was analysed using a theme-based triangulation approach, one in which insights gleaned from different sources are checked against each other, so as to build a fuller, richer and more accurate account of the phenomenon under study. This data was gathered firstly from teachers and classes in the first three years of formal schooling (P1 to P3) in order to understand the nature of multilingualism in the initial years of primary schooling and how teachers use MT instruction in preparation for transition to English-medium education that occurs at the end of these three years. Secondly, data from P4 and P5 classes and teachers was gathered so as to examine the manner in which teachers handle transition from MT instruction in P4 and then shift into the use of English as LoLT in P5. The study has identified discrepancies between de jure and de facto language policy that exist at different levels: within schools, between government and private schools in implementing the language-in-education policy, and, ultimately, between the assumptions teachers have of the linguistic diversity of learners and the actual linguistic repertoires possessed by the learners upon school entry. Moreover, the study has revealed that it is unrealistic to expect that transfer of skills from MT to English can take place after only three years of teaching English and MT as subjects and using MT as LoLT. Against such a backdrop, teachers operate under circumstances that are not supportive of effective policy implementation. In addition, there is a big gap between teacher training and the demands placed on teachers in the classroom in terms of language practices. Moreover, teachers have mixed feelings about MT education, and some are unreservedly negative about it. Teachers’ indifference to MT education is partly caused by the fact that MTs are not examined at the end of primary school and that all examination papers are set in English. Furthermore, it has emerged that Uganda’s pre-primary education system complicates the successful implementation of the language-in-education policy, as it is not monitored by the government, is not compulsory nor available to all Ugandan children, and universally is offered only in English. The findings of this study inform helpful recommendations pertaining to the language-ineducation policy and the education system of Uganda. Firstly, there is a need to compile countrywide community and/or school linguistic profiles so as to come up with a wellinformed and practical language policy. Secondly, current language-in-education policy ought to be decentralised as there are urban schools which are not multilingual (as is assumed by the government) and thus are able to implement MT education. Thirdly, the MT education programme of Uganda ought to be changed from an early-exit to a late-exit model in order to afford a longer time for developing proficiency in English before English becomes the LoLT. Fourthly, government ought to make pre-primary schooling compulsory, and MT should be the LoLT at this level so that all Ugandan children have an opportunity to learn through their MTs. Finally, if the use of MT, both as a subject and as a LoLT, is to be enforced in schools, the language of examination and/or the examination of MTs will have to be reconsidered. In summary, several reasons have been identified for the mentioned discrepancies between de jure and de facto language-in-education policy in Uganda. This policy was implemented in an attempt to improve the low literacy levels of Ugandan learners. It therefore appears as if the policy and its implementation will need revision before this achievable aim can be realised as there is great difficulty on the teachers’ side not only in the understanding but also in managing the process of transitioning from MT education to English as LoLT.
Multilingual acquisition of determiner phrases in L2 English and L3 French by L1 Swahili speakers in Tanzania
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Nyakana, Deniza Joash; Huddlestone, Kate; Byllund, Emmanuel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examined the concurrent multilingual acquisition of second language (L2) English and third language (L3) French Determiner Phrases (DPs) headed by articles, by Tanzanian first language (L1) Swahili speakers. The participants recruited for this study were learning L3 French side by side with L2 English, having started learning English prior to starting to learn French, but before attaining a high level of competency in the L2 English. Therefore, this study is taken as a concurrent multilingual acquisition study as opposed to consecutive multilingual acquisition. In so doing, the study addressed three issues: the effect of the concurrent multilingual acquisition on (in)definiteness marking in L2 English and L3 French, number marking transfer and L3 French interlanguage characteristics of learners who learn English and French concurrently. Regarding the assumptions of the Fluctuation Hypothesis (FH), the prediction was that learners who learn both English and French would not face difficulties in L3 acquisition of DPs headed by articles since L2 English can transfer positively to L3 French as these languages (unlikethe L1,Swahili) both have articles. On the contrary, it was predicted that these learners would fluctuate in the use of definite and indefinite articles in the same fashion in both L2 English and L3 French, as the two languages are being acquired side by side. Moreover, transfer of L3 number marking structures were expected to be non-facilitative either from L1 Swahili, L2 English or both. In addition, the L3 French interlanguage was expected to reveal a number of complex characteristics given the presupposed difficulty entailed in multilingual acquisition. 120 L1 Swahili speaker participants from three secondary and advanced public schools in Tanzania were recruited. These participants were distributed in four groups as follows: 30 form five learners of both L2 English and L3 French,30 form three learners of both L2 English and L3 French, 30 form two learners of L2 English and L3 French and 30 form two learners of L2 English only. Participants completed an elicitation test composed of cloze, truth value judgement and picture description tasks. The test was composed in both English and French in the same format, although these were not a direct translation of each other. Form two learners who were learning both English and French did both versions. Through a mirror image method, the form two, L2 group (those who were learning only English) and the L3 group (those who were learning both L2 English and L3 French) were compared using statistical methods. In addition, a cross-sectional analysis across the L3 groups (form two, three and five) was done to determine the role of the year of instruction and the L3 French interlanguage characteristics. Results revealed that the L2 group (learners who acquire only the L2 English) were more accurate in the use of definite and indefinite articles than the L3 group (those who acquire the L2 English and the L3 French concurrently). Moreover, the L3 group performed in the same fashion in the use of both L2 English and L3 French definite and indefinite articles. In the analysis of number marking transfer, L2 English did not show any privileged positive transfer. Instead, there was evidence of negative transfer from the L1 Swahili on both the L2 English and the L3 French interlanguages, from both the L1 Swahili and L2 English on the L3 French interlanguage, and the L2 English and the L3 French on each other. Finally, the L3 French interlanguage characteristics revealed the over use of the zero article and indefinite articles in places where the definite article was obligatory. However, these characteristics were shown to reduce as years of exposure increased. In addition, in the lower levels, the use of other forms and omission were also revealed as part of the L3 interlanguage characteristics of a multilingual learner. These results were interpreted as the effect of concurrent multilingual acquisition of two foreign languages. Thus, apart from the linguistic and other external factors, the type of multilingual acquisition process, in terms of the number of languages involved,can also determine the type of interlanguage produced by a multilingual learner. In addition, the current results have shown that transfer in multilingual acquisition is not necessarily facilitative in cases where there are two or more target languages involved in the multilingual acquisition process.
Pragmatic markers in L1 Luganda-L2 English bilingual spoken discourse : a relevance-theoretic approach
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Nakijoba, Sarah; Huddlestone, Kate; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation, I examine the manifestation of Luganda and English pragmatic markers as embedded elements, and analyse the procedural roles they play in facilitating interaction in bilingual spoken discourse. Pragmatic markers (PMs) are procedural expressions such as so, but, and kubanga (because), which facilitate interaction by guiding the hearer towards an interpretation intended by the speaker. Spoken interactions involving bilingual speakers of L1 Luganda and L2 English are characterised by spontaneous code-switching, in which certain Luganda PMs are used in English utterances as though they were native PMs, and vice versa. By focusing on the English PM so and the Luganda PM kubanga as code-switched PMs in Luganda and English respectively, the study aims to analyse their manifestation as single PM occurrences and as PMs occurring in monolingual and bilingual combinations. The study examines the contextual, operational and domain status of PMs as embedded elements, assesses their procedural roles in facilitating interaction within their contexts, and establishes whether the procedural roles they play as embedded elements in bilingual discourse are similar to, or different from, the roles they would play in related monolingual contexts. The analysed PMs are extracted from a Luganda-English bilingual spoken corpus of 192 000 words. The corpus was obtained from verbatim transcriptions of 23 hours of audio recordings of interviews and discussions with 41 adult L1 Luganda-L2 English bilingual speakers. The analysis is theoretically informed by two approaches. The first is Blakemore’s (1987, 2002) Relevance-theoretic (RT) notion of procedural encoding, which assumes that PMs constrain the implicatures of the utterances they introduce by guiding the hearer to the relevant contextual assumptions, thereby reducing their processing effort. The second approach is Myers-Scotton’s (1993a, 2002) Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model, which explains the structural configurations of embedded PMs within bilingual clauses. The findings show that, as expected, the Luganda and the English PM systems are in contact. During bilingual communication situations, bilingual speakers take advantage of the availability of the extra resources and they employ PMs from both systems. To enhance communication, speakers select PMs which they judge to be more relevant in encoding certain procedural relations from either language. So and kubanga are examples of such PMs. As embedded PMs, so and kubanga operate predominantly as code-switches, which occur singly and in monolingual and bilingual PM combinations. Coexistence of Luganda and English PMs is evidenced in functional overlaps in which more than one procedurally identical PM from Luganda and English co-occur in the same environment and in literal translation where PMs in functional competition are partially or completely translated. So and kubanga are multifunctional PMs and they operate on different planes and domains to signal context-dependent procedural information. In general, the procedural roles they encode as embedded elements are not significantly different from the roles they play in similar contexts in monolingual discourse. To achieve more universal conclusions about the nature, manifestation and procedural underpinnings of the contested aspects related to PMs, the study recommends a comprehensive analysis based on multi-modal and cross-linguistic data, as well as integrative synchronic and diachronic approaches to the analysis of PMs.
A relevance-theoretic analysis of selected South African English pragmatic markers and their cultural significance
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Gauche, Ana Maria; Huddlestone, Kate; Stellenbosch Universtiy. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study examines the development and contemporary functions of three pragmatic markers (PMs), shame, hey and is it, common in South African English (SAfE). The analyses of these PMs were undertaken using the combined approaches of Grammaticalisation theory and Relevance theory. Each marker was found to manifest pragmatic meanings and functions that are atypical of its use in other English varieties. The development of these meanings and functions are explained as resulting from historical and linguistic factors that are unique to South Africa. Firstly, shame is shown to have broadly-developed pragmatic functions that are not only inoffensive but appreciative to the hearer; a distinct softening compared to its traditional sense. This meaningful change is attributed to both its widespread use as hyperbole and a functional and pragmatic association with specific Afrikaans items. Tokens from the SAfE data suggest an extrasentential occurrence on par with that of sentential adverbs and exclamatives. Secondly, tag hey, a linguistic item that has long been used in English in general, demonstrates atypical functions in SAfE. Although it is similar to tags eh and huh used in other varieties of English, it is argued that tag hey has functionally developed from its associations with specific Afrikaans and English lexical items. To this end, tag hey functions in attitudinal ways that are identifiable to SAfE speakers. Finally, the non-paradigmatic, invariant follow-up is it is argued to have developed from an association with the similarly functioning and sounding Afrikaans expression, is dit. Invariant follow-up is it is used where a variety of similarly constructed canonical responses (e.g., were they, could you) would be expected and demonstrates pragmatic functions unique to SAfE. It is furthermore argued that the PMs shame, hey and is it have resulted from contact-induced grammaticalisation, having developed in South Africa’s high-contact, multi-cultural environment in which English continues to serve as a lingua franca. Several historical factors are shown to have created conditions in which linguistic influences from English and Afrikaans have contributed towards the development of these PMs. Pragmatic strengthening, proceduralisation and obligatorification are the most apparent changes in the development of these PMs, resulting from (inter)subjectivity and leading to functions that trigger higher-level explicatures. During their development, each PM has gone through a stage in which it assisted in navigating toward inferential understanding of a communicative event, thereby benefitting interlocutors during intercultural interactions. In their contemporary use, each PM demonstrates manifest social identity and signals solidarity within the context of SAfE.

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