The Dynamics of Language: A Linguistic Analysis of the Framing of COVID-19 in Eswatini

IF 0.5 3区文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Language Matters Pub Date : 2022-01-02 DOI:10.1080/10228195.2022.2067215

Phindile G. Dlamini

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract COVID-19 has drastically disrupted the lives of many people globally, and the havoc it has wreaked has shattered world economies. The effects of COVID-19 in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) are threatening the very foundations of the country. Referenced in the national language, its effects manifest in the perceptions and experiences shared among Swazis (emaSwati) about the scourge. This article investigates the pandemic's impact on Swati (siSwati) and the ways in which Swazis adapted their language-related tropes in the face of unprecedented social and economic disruptions. Data are drawn from government briefings, news bulletins, media interviews and addresses. The findings demonstrate that COVID-19 has produced neologisms and expressions that index Swazis cultural views. While a morpho-syntactic analysis of the neologisms demonstrates that they derive from varied word-building mechanisms and exhibit COVID-19's distinctive characteristics of transmissibility, pathology, and annihilation, the measures to contain COVID-19 are presented aesthetically to dispel the anxiety associated with the pandemic.

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语言的动态：斯威士兰新冠肺炎框架的语言学分析

摘要新冠肺炎严重扰乱了全球许多人的生活，其造成的破坏摧毁了世界经济。新冠肺炎在斯威士兰（前斯威士兰）的影响正在威胁着国家的根基。在国家语言中，其影响体现在斯威士兰人（emaSwati）对这一祸害的看法和经验中。这篇文章调查了疫情对斯瓦蒂语（siSwati）的影响，以及面对前所未有的社会和经济混乱，斯威士兰人如何调整他们与语言相关的比喻。数据来自政府简报、新闻公报、媒体采访和讲话。研究结果表明，新冠肺炎产生了新的词汇和表达方式，这些词汇和表达反映了斯威士兰的文化观点。虽然对这些新词的形态语法分析表明，它们来源于不同的造字机制，并表现出新冠肺炎的传播性、病理性和毁灭性的独特特征，但遏制新冠肺炎的措施是从美学角度提出的，以消除与大流行相关的焦虑。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Language Matters Multiple-

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The purpose of Language Matters is to provide a journal of international standing with a unique African flavour focusing on multilingualism in Africa. Although the journal contributes to the language debate on all African languages, sub-Saharan Africa and issues related to multilingualism in the southern African context are the journal’s specific domains. The journal seeks to promote the dissemination of ideas, points of view, teaching strategies and research on different aspects of African languages, providing a forum for discussion on the whole spectrum of language usage and debate in Africa. The journal endorses a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language and welcomes contributions not only from sociolinguists, psycholinguists and the like, but also from educationalists, language practitioners, computer analysts, engineers or scholars with a genuine interest in and contribution to the study of language. All contributions are critically reviewed by at least two referees. Although the general focus remains on multilingualism and related issues, one of the three issues of Language Matters published each year is a special thematic edition on Language Politics in Africa. These special issues embrace a wide spectrum of language matters of current relevance in Southern Africa.