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Browsing Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French by Author "Bessinger, Johanna Elizabeth Cornelia"
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Item Open Access Grammatikale en leksikale verskynsels in die Afrikaans van 'n groep Tswanastudente in Kimberley(University of the Free State, 2001-05) Bessinger, Johanna Elizabeth Cornelia; De Wet, A. S.; Jenkinson, A. G.English: This study examines the Afrikaans of a group of Tswana students (TswaA) at Phatsimang College of Education in Kimberley. The sample group live in a language situation in which they are constantly exposed to contact with various languages and varieties. A study of grammatical and lexical phenomena in their usage reflects this contact. The aim of this study is to produce a morphological, syntactical and lexical description of the TswaA variety, to determine its typical characteristics and to compare it with Standard Afrikaans and with other languages, such as English, and dialects such as Griqua Afrikaans and Cape Afrikaans. The data base thus compiled can be used in the teaching situation at the college. A short historical background of the Tswana is provided in Chapter 2 in order to explain the influence of the course of their history on their use of language and language preferences. Some socio-economic and linguistic information regarding the Tswana language community is also provided. Chapter 3 outlines the research procedure. The TswaA variety is predominantly the product of language contact; therefore special attention is paid in Chapter 4 to language modification with specific reference to language contact processes, namely borrowing and interference resulting from incomplete language assimilation. After this, interlanguage theory, mother tongue interference in L2 acquisition, language shifts and pidginisation are discussed. Then the reasons for language shifts, as well as the processes by which language modifications spread through a community, are examined. Finally, the effect of this contact situation on TswaA is briefly reviewed. In Chapters 5, 6 and 7 the written and spoken data obtained from the sample group are examined and described from the perspectives of morphology, syntax and semantics. Significant differences from Standard Afrikaans, as well as points of correspondence with Griqua Afrikaans and Cape Afrikaans are indicated. With regard to morphology, the formation of plurals, diminutives and compounds, flexion and derivation are examined. Syntatic variation is discussed with reference to prepositions, pronouns, negation, the infinitive, the article and certain striking phenomena in verb use and word order within sentences. With regard to compounds and derivations, the creation of new words is characteristic of the semantic variation in TswaA, as is ingenuity in the creation of own expressions. Existing South African lexical items undergo broadening of meaning in TswaA to compensate for limited vocabulary. Typical characteristics found in TswaA reflect the influence of contact with other variaties and languages. Contact with Griqua Afrikaans is evident in morphological and syntactic correspondence, for example, the double diminutive, the hypercorrect ge- in the formation of the past tense, foregrounding of the te in the infinitive construction and the heaping up of the connectives loop and gaan. Constructions which are typical of Cape Afrikaans, but also occur in GA, and which have a high frequency in TswaA, are the use of is and hel in infinitive constructions instead ofwees and hê and the weak past tense form gehel instead of gehad. The influence of English is apparent in numerous grammatical phenomena, such as the omission of the second nie in negative constructions, the use of prepositions, the use of was in place of is in the past tense of passive constructions, as well as in the many instances of derivation and borrowing and arbitrary code switches that occur. TswaA is also a learner variety and reveals typical interlanguage characteristics, for example periphrastic marking in the indication of number and diminution, elevation of gender differentiation in the pronominal system, typical periphrastic forms such as prepositional division and the high frequency of unaltered SVO word order. However, from the absence of other typical interlanguage characteristics such as a high frequency ofpassive and copulatory constructions, it would seem that this variety has already undergone development and extension Mother tongue interference leads, for example, to direct translation of the mother tongue pattern, as can be seen in the anaphoric use of the pronoun and noticeable differences in word order from Standard Afrikaans. These findings can serve as a data base and as guidelines in the teaching situation at the Phatsimang College. of Educati on.