Makala hii inabainisha vitendoneni katika ngano za Kinyankole na athari za vitendoneni hivyo kwa wasikilizaji. Wanyankole wa jadi walizoea kusimuliana ngano na usimulizi wao ulitumia vitendoneni ambavyo viliathiri hadhira na kuichochea kutenda. Hata hivyo, vitendoneni hivi vilikuwa havijabainika. Makala hii, kwa hiyo, inabainisha, inachanganua na inawasilisha vitendoneni vinavyojitokeza katika ngano za Kinyankole na jinsi vinaathiri hadhira. Uchambuzi wa vitendoneni hivi umeongozwa na nadharia ya Kitendoneni ya Austin (1962). Data ya utafiti imekusanywa kwa kutumia mbinu ya mahojiano na uchunguzi shirikishi na imetoka kwa watafitiwa 36 ambao tumewateua kimaksudi. Kutoka kwa ngano ishirini tulizokusanya nyanjani, tumechambua ngano saba ambazo tumeteua kinasibu. Uchanganuzi wa data umejikita kwa mkabala wa kiethnografia wa muundo wa kithamano ambao unawasilisha data kiufafanuzi na kimaelezo. Utafiti umegundua kuwa usimulizi wa ngano za Kinyankole unatumia mitindo kisanaa na mitindo hiyo inatumia vitendoneni vinavyoathiri wasikilizaji na kuwachochea kuitikia kwa kutekeleza majukumu mbalimbali. Vitendoneni ambavyo vimebainika ni vya maamuzi, vya maagizo, maagano, maelezo, hisia na vya hulka. Vitendoneni hivi vinaathiri wasikilizaji kwa njia chanya na kwa njia hasi. Kichanya, vinachochea hadhira kutekeleza majukumu kama vile kufanya kazi kwa bidii na kuendeleza maadili ya kitamaduni. Kihasi, vinaibua mihemuko, huzuni, chuki na hamu ya kulipiza kisasi. Makala hii imehitimisha kwamba vitendoneni vinavyotumiwa katika usimulizi wa ngano za Kinyankole vinachangia uimarishaji wa maadili na utekelezaji majukumu fulani.
Makala hii inachunguza mkakati wa tafsiri mkopo wa istilahi za Kiingereza katika Kiswahili na athari zake kwa kuangazia uga wa biolojia, fizikia na kemia kupitia vidahizo teule vya Kamusi ya Biolojia, Fizikia na kemia (2012). Azma kuu ya uchunguzi huu ni kutathmini mchango wa tafsiri mkopo wa msamiati wa Kiingereza katika suala zima la kukuza lugha ya Kiswahili. Kwa mujibu wa makala hii eneo hili halijapewa aula miongoni mwa mada mbalimbali za tafsiri zilizokwishachunguzwa. Hii imemuhamasisha mtafiti kulishughulikia eneo hili. Data ya makala hii ilikusanywa uwandani katika idara na taasisi zilizo katika jiji la Dar es Salaam kwa njia ya usaili, hojaji na chanzo cha data cha maktabani. Idara na taasisi zilizohusishwa katika ukusanyaji wa data ni: Idara ya Lugha za Kigeni na Isimu, TATAKI kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam pamoja na BAKIZA. Idara na taasisi hizi zinapatikana mkoani Dar es Salaam Wilaya ya Ubungo ambapo mtafiti alifanikiwa kudodosa na kufanya mahojiano ya ana kwa ana kwa wataalamu wa tafsiri. Aidha, data ilikusanywa kutoka katika matini mbalimbali kutoka chanzo cha data cha maktabani. Mathalani, kamusi, tasinifu, majarida na vitabu kadhaa kulingana na mada ya makala hii. Malengo ya makala hii yametimizwa kwa kuongozwa na Nadharia ya Istilahi za Kisayansi iliyoasisiwa na Kiingi (1989) na kuendelezwa na Kiingi (1992) na Kiingi (1998) na Mwaro-Were (2000, 2001). Halikadhalika, data ya makala hii imechambuliwa kwa kutumia mkabala wa maelezo. Aidha, matokeo yameonesha kuwa Kiswahili kimejipatia istilahi lukuki katika tasnia ya biolojia, fizikia pamoja na kemia kupitia mkakati wa tafsiri mkopo. Makala hii ni muhimu kwa wanaisimu kwani inabainisha istilahi mbalimbali za lugha ya Kiingereza katika uwanja wa biolojia, fizikia pamoja na kemia zilizoingizwa katika Kiswahili kupitia tafsiri mkopo. Inapendekezwa kuwa watafiti wa lugha wachunguze njia nyinginezo za ukopaji zinazokiendeleza Kiswahili kama vile utohozi na uasilishaji.
This article explores praise poems as biographical documents. Antjie Krog’s poem “pryslied” (“praise poem”), written in reaction to Nelson Mandela’s presidential inauguration, is compared to two Xhosa praise poems performed at the inauguration. This comparison makes an appreciation of her poem as praise poem possible. The three praise poems are specifically analysed as texts in which the biography of Mandela is both reproduced and created. From this analysis it becomes clear to what extent Krog applies the conventions and means of the traditional Xhosa praise poem in her poem. Ultimately the focus of the article is on the contribution Krog’s poem makes not only to the biography of Mandela, but also to the genre of the praise poem in South Africa and to South African literature. However, problematic aspects of Krog’s use of the izibongo tradition are also addressed, and a possible solution is suggested.
Shaykh Yusuf Al-Khalwati Al-Maqassari has made his mark in Southeast Asia as a heroic figure who fought valiantly against the Dutch. However, it was his position as a Sufi shaykh that catapulted him into prominence. Before and during his period of exile, the shaykh wrote a number of important texts on tasawwuf (Sufism) that have circulated among and influenced many of his companions and students. In this article we have translated three short treatises that had been attributed to him. Although none of them was written whilst he was in exile at the Cape of Good Hope between the time of his arrival there in1694 and the time of his death in 1699, he was able to disseminate its contents to members of the nascent Cape Muslim community who had come into contact with him.
Clear research questionnaires ultimately help to ensure the reliability and comparability of the data that they gather (Fowler 1992; Lenzner 2012; Moroney and Cameron 2016). This paper explores the intersection of best practices in the fields of questionnaire design and intralingual translation as a means to ensure clarity and comprehensibility in research questionnaires. The questionnaire design perspective on comprehensibility (as represented by the 2010, 2011 and 2012 studies by Lenzner and colleagues, and work done by Knäuper et al. (1997) and Krosnik (1991)) essentially requires intralingual translation for questionnaires that do not meet the clarity requirement. To illustrate how intralingual translation in the form of plain language practice can operationalise comprehensibility (Nisbeth Jensen 2015), a short case study is presented. It chronicles a case of interlingual translation that has evolved into an intralingual translation endeavour. A client had a copyrighted medical research questionnaire, originally in American English, translated into Afrikaans and isiXhosa. Initially, the language service provider was not allowed any interventions in the source text. Testing of this questionnaire and its translations then revealed that the questionnaires were incomprehensible to their respondents. In this paper, the intralingual interventions required to improve comprehensibility of the questionnaire are classified in terms of the four parameters that Zethsen (2009) has identified in this regard, namely knowledge, time, culture and space. In addition, a fourfold text assessment checklist for ensuring clarity in questionnaires is proposed. This checklist may prove valuable for highlighting areas in questionnaires that need intralingual translation – whether used as motivation for a client or as a starting point for an intralingual intervention itself.
Philology. Linguistics, African languages and literature
Cognitive and generative approaches to linguistics have taken a different perspective on grammatical polysemy and grammaticalization. While the former see polysemy as a core characteristic of language and a necessary result of grammaticalization within idiolects, the latter see it as a less interesting phenomenon peripheral to linguistics proper. Grammaticalization is seen as a phenomenon of language acquisition which does not disturb the homogeneity of idiolects. These differing perspectives have generated much debate between the two approaches and are even in large part responsible for the different programmatic focuses of each. While the disagreement over grammatical polysemy between these two approaches to language is rooted in entrenched commitments on each side that are perhaps irreconcilable, at least some common ground does seem to be possible. Specifically, when it comes to inter-generational corpora, it seems that both cognitive and generative approaches to linguistics can agree that the universal phenomenon of grammaticalization would result in polysemy at least at the language community level. This can serve as a common ground on which both generative and cognitive linguists can join efforts in describing and explaining usage profiles of grammatically polysemous forms at the corpus level according to prototypicality, even if disagreement persists on the nature of the idiolect.
Kristoffer Friis Bøegh, Aymeric Daval-Markussen, Peter Bakker
Lexical comparison has long dominated the study of West African language history. Ap-proaching the subject from a different perspective, this paper compares a sample of West African languages based on a selection of typological features proposed to be temporally stable and hence possible markers of historical connections between languages. We utilize phylogenetic networks to visualize and compare typological distances in the language sample, in order to assess the extent to which the distributional properties of the selected features reflect genealogy, areality, or no plausible historical signal. Languages tend to cluster in accordance with genealogical relationships identified in the literature, albeit with a number of inconsistencies argued to reflect contact influences and chance resemblances. Results support the contention that typology can provide information about historical links between West African languages.
Some teachers find it uninteresting and difficult to teach isiXhosa phonemes and syllables to grade one to three learners. This has a negative impact as the literacy results are low because learners’ reading and writing skills are poor. The linguistics terms featuring in the title, namely; consonants, vowels and syllables as found in words facilitate reading, and thus improve literacy standards in every language. IsiXhosa is one of the eleven official languages in South Africa. Phonemes include clicks and/or click cluster and vowels. On the other hand, there are people who are interested in learning to speak isiXhosa, but the difficulties encountered during the pronunciation of clicks discourage many of them. This study believes that the knowledge of phonemes and syllables will boost the literacy standard in isiXhosa. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to show that clicks and click clusters are found in major word categories which are in life circles. Secondly, if words are divided into segments, it becomes easy to produce them in print and reading skills. Thirdly, reading is possible in every language, and most importantly, skills are transferable. The current study therefore, argues that the knowledge of phonemes and syllables facilitates reading and creative writing skills. The data used in this study were taken from a novel written by Sidlayi (2009). Few examples have been given by the researchers themselves with an objective to clarify some ideas.
Language and Literature, African languages and literature