DOCSLIB.ORG

Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian Literatures

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian Literatures THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITY IN ZIMBABWEAN AND TRINBAGONIAN LITERATURES A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial FuWllment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon BY Edmund Olushina Bamiro Fall 1997 (C) Copyright Edmund 0. Bamiro, 1991. All rights reserved. National Library Bibliottkque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington WONKtAON4 Ortawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prster, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique . The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d' auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts £?om it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN College of Graduate Studies and Research SUMMARY OF DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfiUmnt of the requirements for the DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PEILOSOPHY by EDMUND OLUSHINA BAMIRO Department of English College of Arts md Science University of Saskatchewan Fall 1997 Examining Committee: Dr. Patrick Renihan X8tW)QJslS~~Dean's Designate, Chair College of Graduate Studies and Research Dr. Doug Thorpe Chair of Advisory Committee, Dept. of English Dr. Susan Gingell Research Supervisor, Dept. of English Dr. Carol Morrell Dept. of English Dr. T.J. Matherion Dept. of English Dr. Mary MP~O Dept. of Anthropology and Archaeology Extemal Examiner: Professor Clement Wyke Depafmt of English University of Widpeg Winnipeg. Manitoba R3B 2E9 TBE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF CULTURAL AND SOCIAL IDENTITY IN TWO AFRICAN AND WEST INDIAN LITERATURES The present study employs the fhmeworks of post-colonial literary theory, sociolinguistics, and the social psychology of language use to compare the nature, hction, and meaning of English in the delineation of cultural and social identities in anglophone Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian literatures. The construction of cultural and social identities in these literatures inheres in how certain Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian novelists use various linguistic devices to contextualize the English language in their respective cultures, and how they employ the English language to articulate and reinforce colonial, counter-colonial, and other hetmglossic social discourses arising from confiicts of race, class, and gender in the Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian contexts. Chapter One outlines the nature of the research and sets up the terms and categories that will feature prominently in the analysis. Chapter Two examines the place of English in the sociwconomic and cultural history of Zimbabwe and of Trinidad and Tobago, and offers a description of the indigenous or other national languages which play prominent roles in the linguistic configuration of the two nations. The chapter also critically reviews the attitudes of some prominent postcolonial writers, particularly from the African and Caribbean regions, to the use of English as a medium of artistic creativity. Chapter Three engages with narrative idiom and characters' idioms and comments as they relate to (a) the nativization of English in selected Zimbabwean novels and the use of English and other indigenous languages for articulating social nonns and certain situational imperatives, and (b) the power and politics of English as an insaument for domination, manipulation, oppression, the coastruction of elitist identity, the reproduction of unequal power relations, and of resistance to such social injustia. Chapter Four addresses issues discussed in Chapter Three, but with reference to the Trinbagonian literary context. Chapter Five, the conclusion, synthesizes the arguments by pointing out the sociolinguistic similarities and differences between Zimbabwe and Trinbagonian literatures analyzed in the study. Furthermore, the concluding chapter not only indicates the values of an interdiscipIinary projectsuch as this one for both linguistics and literary studies, but it also delineates certain research options for tbe future. The dissertation generally concludes that the construction of Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian identities in and through language can be nad as a mode of resistance to the homogenizing, assimilative practices of colonialism and neocolonialism Thus, the detailed documentation in this study of the range of Iinguistic and socio- cultural differences between Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian literatures on the one hand, and other works of English (especially the acrolectal varieties) on the other, establishes that while there is no single, stable Zimbabwean or Trinbagonian identity that is constituted in the language of literary texts to set up in contrast to an imperial British or American one, the fact of differences is indisputable. BIOGRAPEICAL Born in Lagos, Nigeria Bachelor of Arts, University of Maiduguri Master of Arts, University of Lagos Doctor of Philosophy in Education, International Christian University In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it klyavailable for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of English University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N SA5 ABSTRACT The present study employs the frameworks of postcolonial literary theory, sociolinguistics, and the social psychology of language use to compare the nature, function, and meaning of English in the delineation of culturaI and social identities in anglophone Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian literatures. The construction of cultural and social identities in these literatures inheres in how certain Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian navelists use various linguistic devices to contextualize the English language in their respective cultures, and how they employ the English language to articulate and reinforce colonial, counter-colonial, and other heterogiossic social discourses arising hmconflicts of race, class, and gender in the Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian contexts. Chapter One outlines the nature of the research and sets up the terms and categories that will feature prominently in the analysis. Chapter Two examines the place of English in the socio-economic and cultural history of Zimbabwe and of Trinidad and Tobago, and offers a description of the indigenous or other national languages which play prominent roles in the linguistic configuration of the two nations. The chapter also critically reviews the attitudes of some prominent postcolonial writers, particularly from the African and Caribbean regions, to the use of English as a medium of artistic creativity. Chapter Three engages with narrative idiom and characters' idioms and comments as they relate to (a) the nativization of English in selected Zimbabwean novels and the use of English and other indigenous languages for articulating social norms and certain situational imperatives, and (b) the power and politics of English as an instnunent for domination, manipulation, oppression, the construction of elitist identity, the reproduction of unequal power relations, and of resistance to such social injustice. Chapter Four addresses issues discussed in Chapter Three, but with refenence to the Trinbagonian literary context. Chapter Five, the conclusion, synthesizes the arguments by pointing out the sociolinguistic similarities and differences between Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian literatures analyzed in the study. Furthermore, the concluding chapter not only indicates the values of an interdisciplinary project such as this one for both linguistics and literary studies, but it also delineates certain research options for the hture. The dissertation generally concludes that the construction of Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian identities in and through language can be read as a mode of resistance to the homogenizing, assimilative practices of colonialism and neocolonialism. Thus, the detailed documentation provided in this study of the range of linguistic and socio- cultural differences between Zimbabwean and Trinbagonian literatures on the one hand, and other works of English (especially
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Amakhosi Theatre Ako Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
    AN EXAMINATION OF AN AFRICAN POSTCOLONIAL EXPERIENCE OF LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY:AMAKHOSI THEATRE AKO BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE Violet B. Lunga B.A.(Hons.), University of ZimbabweJ982 Grad. CE., University of Zimbabwe,l987 M.A., University of Zimbabwe,l990 THESIS SUBMITIED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Education O Violet B. Lunga 1997 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY October 1997 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. National Library '. Bibliotheque nationale of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliograph~ques 395 Weilfngton Street 395. we Wellmgton Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON K 1A ON4 Canada Canada Ymr hb Vorre reference Our file Kolre reference The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non + exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of ~anadato Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prster, dstnbuer ou copies of hsthesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelfilm, de ' reprodwtion sur papier ou sur format electronique. , The .author retains ownership of the auteur conserve la propnete du copyright in hsthesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent Ztre imprimes .reproduced . without the author's ou autrement reprohits sans son permission.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics &A
    Online Appendix for Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue (2014) Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics & Change Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue The following document lists the languages of the world and their as- signment to the macro-areas described in the main body of the paper as well as the WALS macro-area for languages featured in the WALS 2005 edi- tion. 7160 languages are included, which represent all languages for which we had coordinates available1. Every language is given with its ISO-639-3 code (if it has one) for proper identification. The mapping between WALS languages and ISO-codes was done by using the mapping downloadable from the 2011 online WALS edition2 (because a number of errors in the mapping were corrected for the 2011 edition). 38 WALS languages are not given an ISO-code in the 2011 mapping, 36 of these have been assigned their appropri- ate iso-code based on the sources the WALS lists for the respective language. This was not possible for Tasmanian (WALS-code: tsm) because the WALS mixes data from very different Tasmanian languages and for Kualan (WALS- code: kua) because no source is given. 17 WALS-languages were assigned ISO-codes which have subsequently been retired { these have been assigned their appropriate updated ISO-code. In many cases, a WALS-language is mapped to several ISO-codes. As this has no bearing for the assignment to macro-areas, multiple mappings have been retained. 1There are another couple of hundred languages which are attested but for which our database currently lacks coordinates.
    [Show full text]
  • 12 English Dialect Input to the Caribbean
    12 English dialect input to the Caribbean 1 Introduction There is no doubt that in the settlement of the Caribbean area by English speakers and in the rise of varieties of English there, the question of regional British input is of central importance (Rickford 1986; Harris 1986). But equally the two other sources of specific features in anglophone varieties there, early creolisation and independent developments, have been given continued attention by scholars. Opinions are still divided on the relative weight to be accorded to these sources. The purpose of the present chapter is not to offer a description of forms of English in the Caribbean – as this would lie outside the competence of the present author, see Holm (1994) for a resum´ e–b´ ut rather to present the arguments for regional British English input as the historical source of salient features of Caribbean formsofEnglish and consider these arguments in the light of recent research into both English in this region and historical varieties in the British Isles. This is done while explicitly acknowledging the role of West African input to forms of English in this region. This case has been argued eloquently and well, since at least Alleyne (1980) whose views are shared by many creolists, e.g. John Rickford. But the aim of the present volume, and specifically of the present chapter, is to consider overseas varieties of English in the light of possible continuity of input formsofEnglish from the British Isles. This concern does not seek to downplay West African input and general processes of creolisation, which of course need to be specified in detail,1 butrather tries to put the case for English input and so complement other views already available in the field.
    [Show full text]
  • Dimension 2008
    Dimension 2008 Languages for the Nation Dennis R. Miller, Jr. David Alley Denise Overfield Edwina Spodark Patricia Early Peter B. Swanson Marat Sanatullov Rosalie Cheatham Elvira Sanatullova-Allison Lisa F. Signori Editors C. Maurice Cherry Furman University Carol Wilkerson Western Kentucky University Selected Proceedings of the 2008 Joint Conference of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching and the South Carolina Foreign Language Teachers’ Association ii Dimension 2008: Lauguages for the Nation © 2008 Southern Conference on Language Teaching Lynne McClendon, Executive Director 165 Lazy Laurel Chase Roswell, GA 30076 Telephone 770-992-1256 Fax 770-992-3464 http://www.scolt.org [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher. ISBN 1-883640-22-9 Carolyn L. Hansen DLLC-Spanish Program University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Review and Acceptance Procedures ............................................................ iv 2008 SCOLT Editorial Board ..........................................................................v Introduction ................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgments......................................................................................... x Drama in the Classroom 1 and Improved Academic Performance …………………....………………….....1 Dennis R. Miller, Jr. An Analysis of the Teaching Proficiency 2 Through Reading
    [Show full text]
  • APPENDIX. Philip Baker (1940-2017) Bibliography of His Publications, 1969-2017
    Coversheet This is the accepted manuscript (post-print version) of the article. Contentwise, the accepted manuscript version is identical to the final published version, but there may be differences in typography and layout. How to cite this publication Please cite the final published version: Bakker, P. (2018). Obituary Philip Baker. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 33(2), 231-239. DOI: 10.1075/jpcl.00014.obi Publication metadata Title: Obituary Philip Baker Author(s): Peter Bakker Journal: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages DOI/Link: 10.1075/jpcl.00014.obi Document version: Accepted manuscript (post-print) General Rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognize and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. If the document is published under a Creative Commons license, this applies instead of the general rights. This coversheet template is made available by AU Library Version 2.0, December 2017 Obituary Philip Baker (with a bibliography of his writings, not included in the printed version).
    [Show full text]
  • Multicultural London English
    Multicultural London English Multicultural London English Below are links to two recent newspaper articles about Multicultural London English. Text A is from The Guardian’s Education pages, first published in 2006. Text B is from The Daily Mail, first published in 2013. Text A: www.theguardian.com/education/2006/apr/12/research.highereducation Text B: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2498152/Is-end-Cockney-Hybrid- dialect-dubbed-Multicultural-London-English-sweeps-country.html Task one – the titles Looking closely at the titles of the two articles, compare how language is used to present the topic. Complete the table with examples and comments on the differences. Text B: ‘Is this the end of Text A: ‘Learn Jafaikan in two Cockney? Hybrid dialect dubbed minutes’ ‘Multicultural London English’ sweeps across the country’ Sentence functions Name used for new variety of English Lexis with negative connotations Discourse: what does each title suggest the article’s stance on MLE will be? © www.teachit.co.uk 2017 28425 Page 1 of 7 Multicultural London English Task two – lexical choices Both texts use the nickname ‘Jafaikan’. Text A mentions the term in the title and later in the body of the article: ‘One schoolteacher has used the term ‘Jafaikan’ to describe the new language, but the researchers insist on more technical terminology: ‘multicultural London English’.’ Text B states ‘It was originally nicknamed Jafaican - fake Jamaican - but scientists have now said it is a dialect that been influences [sic] by West Indian, South Asian, Cockney and Estuary English.’ 1. What is the effect of Text A’s attribution (even though it is done anonymously) for the origin of the name compared to Text B’s use of a passive sentence ‘It was originally nicknamed …’? 2.
    [Show full text]
  • •Chadic Classification Master
    Paul Newman 2013 ò ê ž ŋ The Chadic Language Family: ɮ Classification and Name Index ɓ ō ƙ Electronic Publication © Paul Newman This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License CC BY-NC Mega-Chad Research Network / Réseau Méga-Tchad http://lah.soas.ac.uk/projects/megachad/misc.html http://lah.soas.ac.uk/projects/megachad/divers.html The Chadic Language Family: Classification and Name Index Paul Newman I. CHADIC LANGUAGE CLASSIFICATION Chadic, which is a constituent member of the Afroasiatic phylum, is a family of approximately 170 languages spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The classification presented here is based on the one published some twenty-five years ago in my Nominal and Verbal Plurality in Chadic, pp. 1–5 (Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1990). This current paper contains corrections and updates reflecting the considerable amount of empirical research on Chadic languages done since that time. The structure of the classification is as follows. Within Chadic the first division is into four coordinate branches, indicated by Roman numerals: I. West Chadic Branch (W-C); II. Biu-Mandara Branch (B-M), also commonly referred to as Central Chadic; III. East Chadic Branch (E-C); and IV. Masa Branch (M-S). Below the branches are unnamed sub-branches, indicated by capital letters: A, B, C. At the next level are named groups, indicated by Arabic numerals: 1, 2.... With some, but not all, groups, subgroups are distinguished, these being indicated by lower case letters: a, b…. Thus Miya, for example, is classified as I.B.2.a, which is to say that it belongs to West Chadic (I), to the B sub-branch of West Chadic, to the Warji group (2), and to the (a) subgroup within that group, which consists of Warji, Diri, etc., whereas Daba, for example, is classified as II.A.7, that is, it belongs to Biu-Mandara (II), to the A sub-branch of Biu-Mandara, and within Biu-Mandara to the Daba group (7).
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of the Classroom Language Of
    AN ANALYSIS OF THE CLASSROOM LANGUAGE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENT-TEACHERS WITH REFERENCE TO ITS INTERLANGUAGE FORMS, COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES AND INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES WITH IMPLICATIONS OF THESE FOR TEACHER TRAINING IN ZIMBABWE by P. H. MHUNDWA THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SEPTEMBER 1987 2 ABSTRACT This study was designed to analyse and to describe the language of non-native student-teachers who use English as a medium of instruction and who also teach it as a subject. The aim was to describe the formal and functional features of the variety of English they use and to discover whether it constitutes a language system that applies identifiable and descriptively adequate sets of rules. In his analysis, the researcher discussed definitions and 'general properties' of communication to establish criteria within which communicative activities were described in terms of information structuring by student-teachers and information processing by learners. He observed that student-teachers' language generally consists of systematically occuring features that constitute a spoken interlanguage that can be described as a language in its own right. He also observed that the interlanguage variety consists of syntactical and stylistic features some of which are identical to those that characterise native-speaker discourse. At the level of communication, the reseacher observed that student-teachers' and pupils' communicative utterances tend to be defective in situations where higher order thinking processes and ideas need to be articulated in the L2. Another important observation was that student-teachers do not adequately use their interlanguage to realise the important pedagogical functions of explaining, elaborating and classifying key concepts and issues that arise in teaching/learning situations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Conference Program
    INTERNATIONAL LINGUISTIC ASSOCIATION ENGLISH—GLOBAL AND LOCAL 58th Annual Conference Kingsborough Community College April 12-14, 2013 On behalf of the International Linguistic Association, we extend a warm welcome to all the participants in this conference. We acknowledge with gratitude the generosity of Kingsborough Community College in hosting it and the College’s Department of English in officially sponsoring it. We owe special thanks to Kingsborough’s Associate Provost Reza Fakhari and Professor Martha Cummings for taking care of the on-site organization. Alice Deakins Cathy McClure Kate Parry Conference Co-Chairs CONFERENCE OVERVIEW Individual presentations are identified by abstract number. The numbers are listed in proposed order of presentation. The letters A, B, and C indicate rooms. Each presentation will last 20 minutes with 5 minutes for questions. FRIDAY, April 12 A B C 2:30-3:45 LINGUISTIC HISTORICAL ENGLISH IN HIGHER LANDSCAPES PERSPECTIVES EDUCATION 14, 90, 86 38, 21, 27 22, 77, 6 4:00-5:40 DIGITAL DISCOURSE MORPPHOLOGY AND WRITING IN ENGLISH 9, 37, 18, 64 SYNTAX 30, 29, 31, 49, 69, 56, 33, 34 6:00-7:00 PLENARY - Luis H. Francia: Philippine English: burden or benediction? 7:00-8:30 RECEPTION SATURDAY, April 13 A B C 8:30-9:45 ROLE OF ENGLISH IN ENGLISH IN LINGUISTIC TEACHER TRAINING FOR A IDENTITY HYBRIDIZATION GLOBAL WORLD CONSTRUCTION 63, 36, 53 74, 4, 5 82, 40,,66 10:00- ATTITUDES TOWARDS SEMANTICS AND VOICE AND IDENTITY IN 11:15 ENGLISH PRAGMATICS THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM 68, 57, 51 91,16, 35 26, 61 (panel with two papers) 11:30- PLENARY 12:30 Janina Brutt-Griffler: Encounters with English: present-day English in a multilingual world.
    [Show full text]
  • 17 World Englishes and Their Dialect Roots
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2020 World Englishes and their dialect roots Schreier, Daniel Abstract: This chapter investigates the persistence and development of so-called dialect roots, that is, features of local forms of British English that are transplanted to overseas territories. It discusses dialect input and the survival of features, independent developments within overseas communities, including realignments of features in the dialect inputs, as well as contact phenomena when English speakers interact with those of other dialects and languages. The diagnostic value of these roots is exemplified with selected cases from around the world (Newfoundland English, Liberian English, Caribbean Englishes), which are assessed with reference to the archaic/dynamic character of individual features in new-dialect formation and language-contact scenarios. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108349406.017 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-198161 Book Section Published Version The following work is licensed under a Publisher License. Originally published at: Schreier, Daniel (2020). World Englishes and their dialect roots. In: Schreier, Daniel; Hundt, Marianne; Schneider, Edgar W. The Cambridge Handbook of World Englishes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 384-407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108349406.017 17 World Englishes and Their Dialect Roots Daniel Schreier World Englishes developed out of English dialects spoken throughout the British Isles. These were transported all over the globe by speakers from different regions, social classes, and educational backgrounds, who migrated with distinct trajectories, for various periods of time and in distinct chronolo- gical phases (Hickey, Chapter 2, this volume; Britain, Chapter 7,thisvolume).
    [Show full text]
  • Corpus of Zimbabwean English at the University of Zimbabwe Computer Centre
    The African e-Journals Project has digitized full text of articles of eleven social science and humanities journals. This item is from the digital archive maintained by Michigan State University Library. Find more at: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/ Available through a partnership with Scroll down to read the article. Zambezia (1993), XX (H). RESEARCH REPORT CORPUS OF ZIMBABWEAN ENGLISH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE COMPUTER CENTRE W. E. LOUW Department of English, University of Zimbabwe and JOSEPHINE JORDAN Department of Psychology, University of Zimbabwe Abstract A corpus of Zimbabwean English comprising Dawson's Structures and Skills in English and Grant et al, English for Zimbabwe: an English course for secondary schools is available on computer tapes at the University of Zimbabwe Computer Centre. Also on tape is the dictionary hie which lists in alphabetical order all the words contained in the books, together with a frequency Hie, which lists the words in order of use. The corpus provides a readily accessible source of lexical items encountered in Zimbabwe secondary schools and demonstrates the employment of these lexical items in grammatical structure and idiom. BETWEEN OCTOBER 1987 and December 1993 a partial corpus of Zimbabwean English was captured and installed at the University of Zimbabwe Computer Centre. The corpus contains two sets of secondary school English Language textbooks, each comprising four volumes. The series are Dawson, Structures and Skills in English and Grant et al., English for Zimbabwe. The corpus is housed on a 2 400 foot magnetic tape which occupies 3,5 megabytes when fully loaded and has 592 994 words (tokens) of running text.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effects of the Language of Instruction on the Perfomance of the Tsonga (Shangani) Speaking Grade
    THE EFFECTS OF THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION ON THE PERFOMANCE OF THE TSONGA (SHANGANI) SPEAKING GRADE SEVEN PUPILS IN ZIMBABWE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY D MAKONDO 2012 THE EFFECTS OF THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION ON THE PERFOMANCE OF THE TSONGA (SHANGANI) SPEAKING GRADE SEVEN PUPILS IN ZIMBABWE By DAVISON MAKONDO Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Humanities (School of Education) At the UNIVERSITY OF LIMPOPO SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR LILY CHERIAN 2012 i DECLARATION I declare that, ‘The Effects of The Language of Instruction on the Performance of the Tsonga (Shangani) Speaking Grade Seven Pupils In Zimbabwe”, hereby submitted to the University of Limpopo, for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology has not previously been submitted by me for a degree at this or any other university; that it is my work in design and execution, and that all material contained herein has been duly acknowledged. Makondo D Dr. 16 May 2012 i DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to all minority language speaking children of Zimbabwe and the whole world who were compelled to do school work using unfamiliar languages. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While I claim authorship of this thesis, I also acknowledge that this study was a result of the contribution of many people and institutions. I would particularly like to express my heartfelt thankfulness to my supervisor Professor Lily Cherian of the University of Limpopo. I feel greatly indebted to her, particularly for her insight and support during the writing of this thesis.
    [Show full text]