Department of African Languages

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Browsing Department of African Languages by browse.metadata.advisor "Dlali, Mawande"

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    An analysis of persuasive messages in Shona family set-up
    (2018-12) Mutsvairo, Jack; Dlali, Mawande; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Persuasion is an interesting, integral yet complicated communication field that has received little research in Shona. Persuasion in Shona family set-ups has shown that conversation partners engage in arguments and counterarguments that result in either the success or failure of the compliance-gaining attempts. Of much interest are the message dimensions of explicitness, dominance and argument which characterise these persuasive messages. An understanding of how and why compliance-seeking and -resisting strategies are used may help persuaders like advertisers, politicians, family counsellors, teachers, and evangelists to promote cohesion in families. Findings in this study will be useful to the study of persuasion by future students. Also, the knowledge of Shona persuasion may come in handy when non-Shona speakers engage in persuasive conversations with Shona-speaking people. This qualitative research study analyses interview notes, audio recording transcripts and observation persuasive messages in Shona family set-ups. For the first two, content analysis is done. For persuasive messages, source arguments and target arguments are identified and compared, and then the clinching compliance-seeking argument or compliance-resisting argument for the influence goal is identified, followed lastly by an analysis of the message dimensions. The study found out that a range of compliance-seeking and -resisting strategies are used by different members of both nuclear and extended families when they pursue certain influence goals. It also found that the sequencing of compliance-seeking strategies differs depending on the influence goal the source will be pursuing and the relationship of the influence interactants. The study also found that proverbs, clan praise names, reference to the Bible and silent treatment are strategies used habitually by Shona persuaders. My hope is that my research findings will stimulate interest among persuaders to improve their persuasive skills since it has shed light on the use of persuasive strategies among the Shona. Students of persuasion will find it as pioneer work from which they will launch further investigation in this area.
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    Argument quality in Tanzanian parliamentary discourse in Kiswahili in budget speeches and debates
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2016-12) Nyanda, Davis; Dlali, Mawande; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.
    ENLGISH SUMMARY: The present study examines the nature of argument quality properties in Tanzanian parliamentary discourse in Kiswahili. The study applies the pragma-dialectical theory to analyse two Annual Budget Speeches (ABS) and debates about the speeches. The study focuses on the manifestation of three arguments in the ABS and the related debates: argument from cause and effect, argument from authority, and argument from example. The corpus of two ABS and the related debates in the Tanzanian parliament included in the analysis is based on the 2011/2012 Tanzanian annual budget parliamentary sitting. The data analysed was obtained from the Tanzanian National Assembly Hansard records (both printed and electronic versions). In the pragma-dialectical theory, there are stipulated criteria for evaluating whether arguments are properly applied in argumentative discourse such as parliamentary speeches and debates. The study specifically examines the extent to which ministers and MPs utilise the three arguments in the ABS and the related debates, and the extent to which these arguments conform to, or deviate from, the criteria established in the pragma-dialectical theory. The research further investigates the strategic manoeuvring the ministers and MPs make in the ABS and the related debates in their efforts to influence their target audience. The study covers several facets of the pragma-dialectical theory in the analysis of the ABS and the related debates. However, a flexible application of the criteria postulated in the pragma-dialectical theory for evaluating the three arguments is demonstrated, rejecting strict application of the criteria as proposed in the theory. The study reveals that the three arguments vary in the extent to which the ministers and MPs apply them. Argument from authority appears in a few instances in one of the speeches and the debates. In the case of argument from example, it is applied to a certain extent in one of the speeches and the debates. The analysis further indicates that argument from cause and effect is frequently utilised in the ABS and the related debates. In addition, the analysis shows that the ministers and MPs (re)package their arguments in such a way that would convince their target audience to accept them. The ministers and MPs achieve this by manoeuvring strategically in terms of topical potential, adaptation to audience demand and presentational devices. The current study suggests various dimensions of the pragma-dialectical theory could be enriched. These include making the theory less prescriptive in the evaluation of arguments, expansion of the evaluation criteria related to argument from authority, and expansion of the theory to recognise variation in the extent to which arguments are utilised in argumentative discourse such as parliamentary discourse.
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    The effects of persuasion in W.K. Tamsanqa's (1958) Buzani Kubawo and A.M. Mmango's (1964) UDike noCikizwa
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Nozewu, Asithandile Esona; Dlali, Mawande; Kondowe, Zandile; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This is a study that looks at the way in which parents persuade their children into arranged marriages as well as the psychological effects that such an act has on the children in selected isiXhosa literary texts, namely Tamsanqa’s (1958) Buzani kubawo and Mmango’s (1964) UDike noCikizwa. The first Chapter of this this study includes the introduction, which divulges what the study is about. In this chapter, the researcher reveals the aims as well as the purpose of the study. Also, the researcher discloses the methodology that will be used to approach the study as well as the significance, the scope and delimitations and the organization of the study. In the second chapter, the researcher engages with the theoretical background of the study. Here, the researcher looks at different theories that are relevant for the heightening of every premise that the researcher makes. Theorists such as Gass and Seiter (2011) who define what persuasion is and Masina (2000) who engages the concept of traditional marriage are the backbone of the study. In Chapter 3, the researcher does an intense analysis of the selected texts; Buzani kubawo and UDike noCikizwa and applies some of the theories that are in chapter two (2). The focus is to do a psychoanalysis of selected characters, namely Sando, Dike, Gugulethu and Nomampondomise, who play a pivotal role in enhancing the arguments that the researcher makes. Chapter 4 engages intensely with the selected texts of analysis and looks at the psychological factors that lead to suicide. Theorists such as Steel, Doey (2007) play an important role in airing the psychology behind the final acts of the selected characters who end up either killing themselves or dying. Chapter 5 is the general conclusion of the study, which includes the summary, the findings as well as the recommendations.
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    Persuasion in compliance-gaining messages in Tshivenda drama texts : A communication theoretic approach to interpersonal interactions
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Sadiki, Masindi Francina; Dlali, Mawande; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of African languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of the study was to explore compliance-gaining messages during interpersonal interactions that garner persuasion by critically analysing discourses excerpts from selected Tshivenḓa drama texts. Although the focus of the study was on discourses extracted from drama texts, analysis of one example from prose texts from literature in the same decade was included to capture the relative linguistic features that fit the theoretical perspective employed. Motivation for the choice of this research study was on grounds of the thematic properties of several drama and prose works which give evidence on how communication with goal attainment intentions occur in Tshivenḓa social-cultural life. The primary considerations in the selection of these texts were exemplification of persuasion communication in the respective texts whereby a range and variation in language-related socio-cultural values and norms can be identified from traditional to more modern society. However, readers and prospective researchers could observe that the study demonstrates interpersonal interaction and the choice of influence messages of participants involved in communication. It reflects how rational conditions dictate compliance or resistance by characters through dialogues in the form of verbal and nonverbal expressions during various discourses. Since the study was focusing on how persuaders and persuadees use linguistic resources, it became evident that human beings are created with the capacity to interact through language which is part of the social structure that defines communities, for, during influence interactions, elements of persuasion are consciously or unconsciously threaded from one individual to the other through compliance-seeking efforts embroiled with social appropriateness to save positive face. Literature reviewed dwelt upon great minds of respective proponents of persuasion in compliance-gaining messages, to name but a few: Dillard (1990, 2004, 2008); Cody, Canary and Smith (1994); Wilson (1997, 2002, 2009, 2010); Schrader and Dillard (1998); O’Keefe (2002); Heller (2004); Koerner and Floyd (2009); Polomares (2009, 2011); Hess and Cofelt (2012); whose arguments were based on theories of persuasion especially the Goal-Plan-Action (GPA) which this research focused upon. The design and methodology adopted for the study is discourse-textual analysis coupled with the mixed method (qualitative-quantitative) which employed purposive sampling that involved an in depth random selection of Tshivenḓa drama and prose texts, as well as cluster sampling whereby sampling of drama and prose texts are clustered in terms of their periods of publication reflecting the thematic properties of the time. Data analysis and interpretation involved identification of compliance-seeking messages excerpts that display the general interpersonal influence goals types namely: primary and secondary goals from all selected drama and prose texts over 1960-2009 in terms of the GPA model in persuasive message production stipulations. The discursive features of messages were examined and analysed following their influence attempts plans scrutinising tactics, strategies and persuasive appeals of message sources generated for compliance-gaining. The study also included analysis of the cognitive compliance-resistance strategies during goal detection, formulation of constraints and obstacles to compliance, including topic-avoidance message features by the goal targets during interpersonal influence attempts. It finally, presented interaction goal categories occurring in Tshivenḓa drama and prose texts from the discourses elaborating on issues of social importance addressed during goal pursuit episodes as thematic properties that propelled persuasive communication in the study. The study attested that the GPA theory applications may be employed to a range and variation in language-related socio-cultural values and norms identified from traditional to more modern society through persuasive communication evolving throughout successive generations.