NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF HUMAN SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION A CORPUS LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE NATIVISATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BY NANCY NATSE KAMATI STUDENT NUMBER: 212093762 THESIS PRESENTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER OF ENGLISH AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS AT THE NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Supervisor: Prof Haileleul Zeleke Woldemariam October 2019 Authentication of the Thesis I certify that this candidate has successfully completed all the research work for this degree and that: 1. the thesis conforms to NUST postgraduate rules as stipulated in the Year Book 2019 and submission of theses for higher degrees; 2. the thesis includes a certificate indicating the extent to which the research has been conducted by the candidate; 3. the thesis is properly presented and is prima facie worthy of submission; 4. instances of inadequate presentations were pointed out to candidate for corrections before the thesis was bound; 5. the candidate has completed an approved program of study and research as required; 6. an abstract of not more than 300 words has been included in the thesis; 7. both hard bound and soft copies of the thesis have been submitted to NUST library’s open access digital archive. Name of supervisor…………………………………………………………… Signature ……………………………………………………………………… Date …………………………………………………………………………… ii Declaration I, Nancy Natse Kamati, hereby declare that the work contained in the thesis, entitled, “A Corpus Linguistic Study of the Nativisation of the English Language at the Namibia University of Science and Technology”, is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or part submitted it at any university or other higher education institution for the award of a degree. Signature……………………………………………….…… Date………………………………………. iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my loving parents, my father Mr. Shali Wilnauman Kamati, and my mother Ms. Hilya Nangula Ngonga, for their relentless love, support and inspiration throughout my life journey. Know that your hard work and the dedication you put into everything you do has been transferred to me and given me courage to do to my best. iv Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude is expressed to a number of people who have assisted me in one way or another in this endeavour. Firstly, I thank my Lord, for always being with me in all that I am and all that I do; I can testify that this thesis is only the beginning of my life’s educational journey ahead. My loving parents; no words can express how thankful I am to have you both, your support throughout my life is highly appreciated. Let me give you both my deepest gratitude for making me who I am today; you have allowed me to spread my wings and explore the universe in all avenues. To all my lovely husband John; your daily compliments, praises and encouragement, brought me here today; especially when I felt low and discouraged, and you gave me all the reason to carry on and the audacity to face my challenges head-on. Finally, I would like to leave the remaining space in memory of Papa Charles Richard Kremer Schmitt JNR (1944-2013) a brilliant and loving man that put others first and believed in my dream. “To soar like an eagle”. I thank you. v Retention and Use of Thesis I, Nancy Natse Kamati, being a candidate for the Master of English and Applied Linguistics in the Department of Communication, accept the requirements of the Namibia University of Science and Technology relating to the retention and use of a master thesis deposited with the Library and Information Services. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis, deposited with the Library and Information Services, will be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of theses. Signature: ..................................... Date: ......................................... vi Abstract The major purpose of this thesis was to examine the nativisation of the English language in Namibia with a specific study conducted at the Namibian University of Science and Technology during the 2018 academic year. The 13 official indigenous languages in Namibia have an impact in the nativisation process. The English language in Namibia has been nativised and made local to such an extent that it is used in official settings. The study was guided by the World Englishes model formulated by Kachru in the early 1980s, which allocates the presence of English into three concentric circles. Namibian English, called (Namlish), one of the non-native varieties of English, has reached the nativisation phase (Schneider, 2003, 2007) where lexicon-grammatical restructuring mostly occurs. This study sought to explore the processes of nativisation and how this new variant has had an effect on standard English and different linguistic levels. The methodology involved a generation of corpus of words, phrases and sentences derived from participants obtained through the International Corpus of English (ICE) sampling methodology with a focus on Namibian students only. Data was mostly composed through casual recordings, and transcripts of conversations and interviews, which constituted the oral corpus. Findings gathered from the data analysed showed that most students use nativised words, phrases and sentences. Triggered by the inference of the mother tongue and borrowing, code-switching and code-mixing of the English language has become common and acceptable. However, the nativisation of a language is a process; therefore, more corpus studies are needed to explore this language phenomenon. It is believed that this thesis will arouse the desire for an in-depth research in the area of nativisation of the English language in Namibia by other future researchers. Keywords: bilingual; borrowing; code-switching; code-mixing; corpus study; indigenous; linguistics; localisation; morphology; native/non-native; nativisation; phonology, semantic; world Englishes vii Certification I declare that Nancy Natse Kamati, from the Department of Communication at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia carried out this work. SUPERVISOR Dr HAILELEUL ZELEKE WOLDEMARIAM (PhD) NAMIBIA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA viii Table of Contents Authentication of the Thesis ............................................................................................. ii Declaration ..................................................................................................................... iii Dedication ....................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... v Retention and Use of Thesis ............................................................................................. vi Abstract ......................................................................................................................... vii Certification .................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... 4 List of figures .................................................................................................................... 5 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms .................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Preamble ..................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Background of the study .............................................................................................. 7 1.3 Statement of the problem ............................................................................................ 9 1.4 Research objectives ................................................................................................... 10 1.5 The significance of the research .................................................................................. 11 1.6 The delimitation of the study ..................................................................................... 11 1.7 The limitations of the study ........................................................................................ 11 1.8 Definition of key concepts .......................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................ 15 Literature Review ........................................................................................................... 15 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 15 2.2 Review of the related literature ................................................................................. 15 2.2.1 The processes of the nativisation of the English