| dc.description.abstract | Deviations in the language used by a target group of Northan Sotho pupils from
Mamelodi.
A preparatory study indicated that the pupils of the target group do not speak Standard
Northern Sotho in the classroom situation.
The aim of this study was to discover in a Socio-Linguistic framework in which
language situation the target group might be placed and to which extent the structure
of the Northern Sotho used in the classroom and environment corresponds with
Standard Northern Sotho.
Chapter one consists of an introduction to this study in which emphasis is placed on
the selection of respondents in the target group as well as the manner in which
personal information and linguistic data was obtained. Male and female respondents
between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one, who all received instruction in Northern
Sotho as subject, were selected. Though all pupils in the target group attended the
same school, they represent the whole spectrum of the linguistic situation prevalent in
this area.
Specimens of the language used in the target area were obtained from written
paragraphs and tape-recordings of monologues.
The following concepts were defined in this chapter:
1. Socio-linquistics
2. Language
3. Northern Sotho
4. Dialect
5. Standard Language
6. Vernacular
7. Slang
8. Language community
In chapter two the questionnaire, which the respondents were expected to complete,
is discussed as well as the information related to the language situation which they
experience daily.
In this township, which is divided into ethnical regions, respondents live in close contact
with Northern Sotho, Tswana, Zulu, Southern Sotho, Afrikaans, English and also a kind
of "street language" which functions as vernacular. Even at home, the respondents
have contact with more than one language. The language of instruction at school is
English. Only Northern Sotho is taught through the medium of Northern Sotho.
It is however significant, that both the teachers and the pupils communicate in a non- •
Standard form of Northern Sotho. Pupils are furthermore confronted at school with
Tswana, Zulu and also Southern Sotho. The major language of informal communication
at school therefore, seems to be this type of "street language" as vernacular.
Even in church respondents are also influenced by a wide variety of languages through
television, radio, newspapers, magazines and books.
The majority of respondents revealed an integrative predisposition towards English and
Northern Sotho as Standard languages, and towards "the street language as non-Standard.
language. It was also clear that the language environment was also
influenced by political and demographical factors as well as cultural contact.
In chapter three Phonology as Linguistic discipline is used as framework within which
the phonological characteristics of the non-Standard language are compared to those
of Standard Northern Sotho.
The non-Standard language was found to contain vowels and consonants which
corresponded with those of Northern Sotho whereas other vowels and consonants
corresponded mainly with those of either Afrikaans or English.
A particular characteristic of Northern Sotho and other African languages as Standard
languages, is the total absence of diphthongs which are so characteristic of Afrikaans
and English. Diphthongs are however, used . to remarkable extent in non-Standard
Northern Sotho.
Syllabic structure which correspond with those in Standard Northern Sotho, are also
found in non-Standard Northern Sotho, although as result of the use of loan words and
also foreign words, syllabic structures which are distinctively characteristic of both
Afrikaans and English are also found in the non-Standard fonn of Northern Sotho.
The morphological and syntactic characteristics of non-Standard Northern Sotho are
compared to those of Standard Northern Sotho in chapter four, within the framework
of morphology and syntax as Unquistic disciplines. Morphological and syntactic
deviations were primarily concerned with the suffixing of morphemes to particularly
nouns and verbs, as well as in the use of loan words and foreign words. These
deviations occured as a result of the direct infusion of words from other languages
without any consideration of the corresponding Standard Northern Sotho words and
without the adapting of these foreign words to the morphological and syntactical
structure of Standard Northern Sotho. Quite an amount of code-switching was
generally prevalent.
In chapter five, words of Standard Northern Sotho origin are differentiated from loan
words and foreign words within the framework of Semantics as Linguistic discipline.
The spoken language used by respondents reveal a concurrent use of words of
Standard Northern Sotho origin together with loan words and other foreign words which
resulted in a non-Standard Northern Sotho usage.
The use and structure of Northern Sotho in the classroom situation did not, therefore
correspond to that of Standard Northern Sotho. The deviations which occured can
thus be attributed to the influence of Afrikaans, English and other African languages
which are spoken in the target area. This classroom language can therefore be judged
to be a form of vernacular.
It is therefore quite clear that the language environment of the respondents can be
termed to be the major cause of the use of a form of vernacular in the target area,
which resulted in the development of a non-Standard Northern Sotho. | en_US |
