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Meaning in Small, Snyders and Pearce: an Application of Lotman's University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) Meaning in Small, Snyders and Pearce: an application of Lotman’s semiotics to ‘coloured’ literature by DAVID SOLOMON HAROLD ERNEST Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in English UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH in the FACULTY OF HUMANITIES PRETORIA OCTOBER 2004 SUPERVISORS: PROFESSOR R.A. GRAY MRS I. NOOMÉ University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) ii To my wife Tilly, for all the love and support she has shown me throughout our marriage. I also dedicate this research document to my son Jacques Pierre Marcel Ernest, who entered God’s kingdom on 15 May 2004, in the service of his country. University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I thank God for providing me with the strength I needed and His blessing in allowing me to complete this research. The input and contributions of the following persons are gratefully acknowledged: Prof. Rosemary Gray, the supervisor of this study, for her knowledgeable guidance, insight, kindness and patience. I thank her for the incentive, trust and confidence she placed in me. She has my sincere and everlasting gratitude. Mrs Idette Noomé, joint supervisor of this research document, for assisting, guiding and maintaining the deadlines set for this dissertation. I also thank her for her friendship, encouragement, motivation and tolerance. Mr Robert Pearce, author of Die Laaste Supper in Marabastad, for his lifelong friendship, the motivation and the impetus to undertake this study. I thank him especially for assisting me with much of the research for this document and his permission for the use of his plays and poetry. Messrs Adam Small and Peter Snyders (authors of Joanie Galant-hulle and Political Joke respectively) for their friendship over the years and for their permission to use their writing. I am also grateful for the opportunity that was afforded me to do a semiotic analysis of their work. Last but not least, I thank my wife Tilly and my children for their constant love, support and encouragement throughout the time I spent researching this dissertation. University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) iv ABSTRACT In this study, a semiotic point of view of selected literature written by ‘coloured’ writers is examined, using some of the semiotic theories of Jurij M. Lotman, one of the leading Soviet semioticians of the school of Tartu. Selected theories of Lotman are applied to ‘coloured’ literature. These include an examination of poetic language (based on Lotman’s theory of a primary and secondary modelling system), the iconicity of the text, the aesthetics of identity and opposition, the distinction between text and extra-text, and the relationship that exists between the extra- text, culture and code. The literary texts chosen for analysis are works by three contemporary ‘coloured’ writers, namely Adam Small, Peter Snyders and Robert Pearce, who have all contributed poetry, prose and drama to Afrikaans literature in general, and original Afrikaans literature in particular. The selected dramas are Joanie Galant-hulle (Small 1978), Political Joke (Snyders 1983) and Die Laaste Supper in Marabastad (Pearce 1988b)*. These writers’ works span approximately three consecutive decades and their work can be examined for commonality and differences. The three chosen dramas were written five years apart respectively; yet they reveal thematic similarities. The dramas also feature a common ‘deviant’ language code used by ‘coloured’ people and discussed in this study as original Afrikaans. This code, which is juxtaposed with standard Afrikaans, is one of the basic areas of interest that motivated the choice of subject for this study. The primary objective of this study is to examine the differentiation that Lotman makes between the various sign systems that operate in natural language (the primary modelling system) and poetic language (a secondary modelling system), and to determine whether these sign systems can be detected and are functional in ‘coloured’ literature. In addition, an investigation is made of the iconicity that operates in poetic language (which, according to Lotman, is the basis for differentiation), and to ascertain whether iconicity occurs in these examples of ‘coloured’ literature and to what extent it influences meaning. In the process, intratextual relations within the poetic text were scrutinised to establish whether the manipulation of language, devices and codes raises any particular expectation in the poetic plays * Pearce’s drama Die Laaste Supper in Marabastad is itemised as 1988b to maintain the chronology of his University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) vi text, and also to detect whether oppositionally constituted code-systems which set up their own patterns of expectation within the syntactic and lexical levels of the poetic text clash with and contradict prior expectations. In addition, an analysis has been made to determine whether a new understanding of the texts can be reached, based on Lotman’s aesthetics of identity and opposition, and to what extent the reader is forced to collaborate in the modelling process of the texts when the reader’s expectations are undermined by an aesthetics of opposition. The study has successfully corroborated and substantiated all the selected aspects of Lotman’s theory. The differentiation that Lotman makes between the primary and secondary language model is demonstrated especially by the iconicity that operates in poetic language. Examples are abundant in the selected literature and are conspicuous, especially through the manipulation of the language, devices and codes employed by the authors to defamiliarise objects so that they transcend their familiar characteristics and perceptions, and sometimes signify a totally new concept. In this way, readers’ expectations are subverted and they are invited to collaborate in the modelling process of the texts. These techniques are also an integral part of both the text and the extra-text, and their presence justifies Lotman’s claims that the meaning of a literary text cannot be understood outside its cultural or historical context. In retrospect, it can be argued that this research has opened up some additional avenues for an analysis of meaning in ‘coloured’ literature. KEY TERMS: Adam Small original Afrikaans aesthetics of identity and opposition Peter Snyders deviant devices poetic language dialect Political Joke Die Laaste Supper in Marabastad primary modelling system defamiliarise Robert Pearce extra-text secondary modelling system iconicity signified Joanie Galant-hulle signifier Lotman semiotics University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) vii CONTENTS DEDICATION i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv CHAPTER 1 ‘COLOURED’ LITERATURE AND SEMIOTICS: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 1.2 DEFINING THE TERMS ‘COLOURED’ AND ‘COLOURED’ LITERATURE 6 1.3 SEMIOTICS 9 1.3.1 Semiotic theory 10 1.3.2 Lotman’s semiotic theory 11 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION AND OBJECTIVES 14 1.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 15 1.5.1 Adam Small 16 1.5.2 Peter Snyders 17 1.5.3 Robert Pearce 17 1.6 SYNOPSES OF THE SELECTED DRAMAS 18 1.6.1 Adam Small’s Joanie Galant-hulle 18 1.6.2 Peter Snyders’s Political Joke 19 1.6.3 Robert Pearce’s Die Laaste Supper in Marabastad 20 1.7 OUTLINE OF THE STUDY 21 1.7.1 Chapter One: ‘Coloured’ literature and semiotics: Introduction 21 1.7.2 Chapter Two: Poetic language in ‘coloured’ literature 21 1.7.3 Chapter Three: Iconicity in ‘coloured’ literature 22 1.7.4 Chapter Four: The aesthetics of identity and opposition 22 1.7.5 Chapter Five: Extra-text – culture – code 22 1.7.6 Chapter Six: Conclusion 23 University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) viii 1.8 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 23 University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) ix CHAPTER 2 POETIC LANGUAGE IN ‘COLOURED’ LITERATURE 25 2.1 LANGUAGE USAGE IN THE SELECTED DRAMAS 25 2.2 POETIC LANGUAGE 27 2.3 DEVICES IN ‘COLOURED’ LITERATURE 29 2.3.1 Lexical devices 30 2.3.1.1 Lexical elisions 30 2.3.1.2 Lexical addenda 33 2.3.1.3 Vulgarism as a lexical device 35 2.3.1.4 Summative comments 46 2.3.2 Devices used in a syntactic context 48 2.3.2.1 The mixing of language codes as a poetic device 49 2.3.2.2 Metaphoric, idiomatic and derogatory devices 58 2.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 75 CHAPTER 3 ICONICITY IN ‘COLOURED’ LITERATURE 77 3.1 ICONICITY 77 3.1.1 Peircean iconicity 77 3.1.2 Lotman’s theory of iconicity 81 3.2 ICONICITY IN THE SELECTED LITERATURE 82 3.2.1 Icons in the texts 83 3.2.1.1 ‘Meneer’ [Mister] and related terms 85 3.2.1.2 ‘Die man met die notice’ [the man with the notice] and related concepts 87 3.2.1.3 ‘Skollies’ [Gangsters] and ‘tsotsis’ 90 3.2.1.4 ‘Wittes’ [Whites], ‘Whiteys’ and Boere 91 3.2.1.5 ‘Haitie-taitie Bruinmense’ [Hoity-toity Brown people] and related terms 93 3.2.1.6 ‘Poelies’ [Police] and related iconic signs 96 3.2.1.7 ‘Ambulance’ 99 3.2.1.8 ‘Bulldozers’ 101 3.3 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 104 University of Pretoria etd – Ernest, D S H (2005) x CHAPTER 4 THE AESTHETICS OF IDENTITY AND OPPOSITION 106 4.1 INTRODUCTION 106 4.2 LOTMAN’S AESTHETICS OF IDENTITY 109 4.2.1 Language and characterisation 112 4.2.1.1 Standard Afrikaans usage 11 2 4.2.1.2 Characterisation 116 4.3 LOTMAN’S AESTHETICS OF OPPOSITION 122 4.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 128 CHAPTER 5 EXTRA-TEXT – CULTURE – CODE 131 5.1 INTRODUCTION 131 5.2 EXTRA-TEXT 132 5.3 LOTMAN’S SEMIOTIC MECHANISM OF CULTURE 140 5.3.1 Religious beliefs among ‘coloured’ people 142 5.3.2 Food and
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