{"title":"The open court principle in Zimbabwe: A language rights perspective","authors":"Eventhough Ndlovu","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2226176","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2226176","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractThis article examines the open court principle in Zimbabwe from a language rights perspective. Data were collected through an analysis of the statutes which enshrine this principle to examine their adequacy (or lack thereof). Court observations and semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled key participants were used to corroborate data from document analysis. Findings of this study show that Zimbabwean courts are not open courts in the true sense of the word because members of the public in the gallery are not guaranteed the right to an interpreter or translator. Legally represented litigants or those who express comfort with English are not offered interpretation services, which is a clear indication that interpretation services are primarily meant for litigants and not members of the public in the gallery. Consequently, Zimbabwean courts merely guarantee physical access, and deny members of the public linguistic access. English is the language of the proceedings and record, yet the majority of the members of the public are functionally illiterate in English. Based on this, I therefore argue that opening up the physical space of courts and guaranteeing physical access to the court documents is of little or no use if the citizens are linguistically excluded.","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135425089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Premodifiers and a scarcity-productivity hypothesis in Yorùbá: Does the scarcity of adjectives influence productivity of the premodification slot?","authors":"Mayowa Akinlotan","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2229024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2229024","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractThe notion that the Yorùbá language operates only a small, closed class of adjectives is well noted in the literature. However, this hypothesis of scarcity of adjectives in the Yorùbá language is yet to be examined in light of how such scarcity may influence the creativity of speakers in creating new functional adjectives, influence the placement of ‘created’ adjectives and the productivity of the premodification slot in the noun phrase structure. Combining theoretical concepts from construction grammar with corpus evidence drawn from a major source of contemporary Yorùbá, the article shows how speakers of Yorùbá negotiate between scarcity, creativity, placement and complexity in modifying their referents. The article identifies different forms of premodifiers, especially a sort of ‘creative premodifier’ with which a complex syntactic-semantic behaviour is built into the ensuing NP structure. It is argued that a scarcity of attributive adjectives in the language is a crucial variable with which relations between premodifiers and postmodifiers can be explored.","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136153192","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Pragmatic functions of deixis in Nigerian newspaper editorials","authors":"Isaiah I Agbo, Oyazi J Odinakachi","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2195885","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2195885","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractThe focus of this study is on the pragmatic functions of deixis in selected Nigerian newspaper editorials. It aims at identifying and classifying the occurrence of deixis in the editorials. This includes finding the most dominant type of deixis in the text and analysing the reasons behind the use of these types of deixis according to the context and their contributions to cohesion and coherence in the text. This is qualitative research, in which the process of data analysis involved organising the editorials as raw data for categorisation, based on the three types of deixis identified by Levinson and which were employed in the 12 editorials selected for analysis. Data for the analysis hinged on Halliday and Hasan’s theory of cohesion which focuses on how linguistic items, of which a text is composed, are meaningfully connected to one another in a sequence on the basis of the grammatical rules of a language.","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135306778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of reading: Can they perpetuate inequalities in reading?","authors":"Belden Liswaniso","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2226175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2226175","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractWhat teachers know about a subject that they teach and how well informed they are about the effective ways to teach it can affect the performance of learners in their classes. The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ and principals’ perception about reading to examine possible factors that contribute to inequalities in reading. This study was conducted in four poorly resourced schools with low academic performance in the Zambezi region of north-eastern Namibia. The schools cater for learners from pre-primary to Grade 9, and most learners are from a low socio-economic background. Drawing on a componential interactive view of reading derived from the science of reading, a qualitative research method was used with two semi-structured interview guides (one for seven Grade 5 teachers and one for four school principals) in four schools, to investigate what the participants know about reading and how to teach it. The interview results show that the teachers and the principals had limited knowledge about teaching reading comprehension. The teachers tended to ‘do’ reading rather than teach it, and they did not provide necessary reading support to learners because they did not have enough knowledge and skills about teaching reading. The findings suggest that the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture needs to strengthen teacher development programmes and that teacher training institutions need to examine the quality of their training.","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135306782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Connecting lexical bundles and moves in medical research articles’ Methods section","authors":"Chen Liu, Fan Pan","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2226171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2226171","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractThis study employs a corpus-driven approach to identify the four-word lexical bundles in the Methods section of 1 000 medical research articles (MRAs) from ten leading medical journals representing ten medical sub-fields. The bundles are first structurally and functionally analysed and further connected to rhetorical moves to fill the form-function gap of lexical bundle studies. Results showed that, structurally, the Methods section is dominated by clausal bundles (types and tokens). Functionally, the Methods section is dominated by research-oriented bundles (types and tokens). Our analysis of the bundle-move connection in the Methods section showed that all move-specific bundles (i.e. bundles occurring in only one move) are strongly associated with the rhetorical function of the moves they occurred in, while most cross-move bundles (i.e. bundles occurring in multiple moves) seem to display no clear associations with moves. In addition, the structural and functional analysis of move-specific bundles and cross-move bundles showed apparent structural and functional similarities. Our study may have valuable pedagogical implications for medical academic writing.","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135306786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Articles in Zimbabwean English: A corpus-based analysis","authors":"Faith Chiedza Chapwanya, J. Nel","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2213738","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2213738","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44718163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"L1 influence on stress placement by English language teachers in Anambra State (Nigeria)","authors":"Omotosho Moses Melefa, Amarachi Calister Okenmuo","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2213291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2213291","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47867318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sesotho ideophones as personal names: A systemic functional linguistics approach","authors":"M. Mokhathi-Mbhele","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2022.2136726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2022.2136726","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article explores Sesotho ideophones as personal names. These ideophones are described with a systemic functional linguistics (SFL) theory framework as they were awarded as enacted messages that explicate social functions. The study is a further alleviation of the problem of complacency of taking personal names for granted, a problem facing Sesotho speakers, unaware that these names arise from their daily discourse and have social functions. It is a qualitative study and data was collected from academic institutions – their enrolment, pass and graduation lists – and from radio and TV broadcasts, telephone directories, neighbours and many other sources. The aim is to establish that Sesotho ideophones deployed as onomastics reflect as the context of reference, the semiotic view that Basotho functionally capture their socio-cultural context to portray their experiences and views. The names employ various linguistic qualities to display the interpersonal ‘social fabric’ among speakers. Their application displays the name givers skill to realise an ideophone as a permanent onomastic inscription that reveals the name givers’ modality or evaluation of a birth context. It is concluded that these ideophones significantly illuminate the aspired form-meaning description of functional Sesotho normally overlooked by Sesotho grammarians. The study finds that a ideophone-onomastic feature supersedes the verb quality of ideophones and makes the verbal group and the nominal group interrelate. Further, it magnifies SFL in the description of Sesotho grammar and strengthens that Sesotho names are context-based texts. Further research could establish the real contexts that describe these ideophone choices as personal names. This study has implications for linguistics, language education, media and advertising and applied linguistics.","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44041960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discourse Structuring Markers in English (A historical constructionalist perspective on pragmatics)","authors":"Yuanyuan Zhong, Yumei Liu","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2213271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2213271","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49532440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discourses, Modes, Media and Meaning in an Era of Pandemic: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Approach","authors":"Rong Wei, Yanlan Hu","doi":"10.2989/16073614.2023.2213744","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2023.2213744","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54152,"journal":{"name":"Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43692652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}