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Open Access
Paul Slabolepszy's evocation of empathy in a South African setting: a realisation of the potential of comic technique
(University of the Free State, 1999-01) Van Deventer née Greyling, Maria Aletta; Muller, F. R.
English: A study of comedy reveals its variety and scope, its subjective nature, how we are able to see in it a reflection of life and customs, and how comedy is able to evoke empathy for characters through our laughter of recognition. South Africa's stormy political background is reflected in Slabolepszy's dramas, from the turbulent apartheid years of the 1980s onwards, (for example, in plays such as Saturday Night at the Palace, Packing for Perth I, Sidewalking, R.S.A, Boo to the Moon, Packing for Perth II and Smallholding) through the early 1990s with their uncertainties and turnover of leadership, until full democratization in 1994, and the eventual attempts at forgiveness and reconciliation until the present. Although Slabolepszy's plays are not exclusively political, like some of Fugard's, do not rally people to action as Mda's and the township plays do, or are not as corrosively satiric as most of Pieter-Dirk Uys's work, he provides insight into the South African situation and, through a variety of comic techniques, is able to evoke empathetic understanding for his characters in a South African setting. The sensitive humour and wit in Braait Laaities (1991) evoke empathy for a conservative, white woman, and a streetwise, black male, who are able to communicate on mutual ground, despite a stormy political South African background and personal sorrow. Mooi Street Moves (1992) is a particularly poignant play in which Slabolepszy through a variety of comic devices evokes empathy for a black and a white man who succeed in reconciling their differences, despite their conflicting politics and cultural heritage. His plays also reflect comedy's tragic alter ego, especially in the personal angst of characters in plays such as The Return of Elvis du Pisanie (1992) and Pale Natives (1994). In Fordsburg's Finest (1998), a black woman who has been in exile and returns to a democratic South Africa to redefine her roots after an interim period of almost forty years, becomes the focus of his concern. The play transcends the limitations of politics, race, sex and skin colour. Slabolepszy evokes empathy for present-day South Africans through various comic techniques, and demonstrates with perceptive insight that forgiveness between people is indeed possible. Slabolepszy experiments with various comic devices and techniques, plus varying degrees of comedy, ranging from bitter satire in his earlier plays, for example, Saturday Night at the Palace (1982), to an overall more light-hearted, even farcical approach in his other plays; for example, Under the Oaks (1984), Miles from Machadodorp (1992), Victoria Almost Falls (1994), Tickle to Fine Leg (1995) and Heel Against the Head (1995). Through a comic approach which alternates between dark and light-hearted humour, and low comedy, Slabolepszy is able to touch on contentious issues, for example, white male bonding in Pale Natives (1994). Absurdist elements are introduced in Travelling Shots and Smallholding, which demonstrate his versatility and ability to implement various comic techniques with success. Like his contemporaries, he shows his use of English to function as a "linguafranca ", but uses a distinctly South African "patois", mixed with English, Afrikaans and ZululXhosa expressions and South African slang, as a comic device to evoke both laughter and empathy, and to make his plays more authentic. Slabolepszy's appeal is both national and international, and he is one of South Africa's most popular playwrights. He extends the boundaries of his work by providing peculiar insight into the South African situation, as well as the human psyche. His plays are accessible to people from all walks of life, notwithstanding race, creed or colour, and through humour, he is able to evoke empathy for all individuals within a South African socio-political context. It is clear that Slabolepszy in his plays has been able to realise comedy's potential to evoke empathy for individuals in a South African setting through a variety of comic techniques.
Open Access
A critical study of specific exploded violent hierarchies in five novels by Toni Morrison
(University of the Free State, 2000-01) Strauss, Helene Johanna; Brooks, M.; Lovisa, M.
In a study of Toni Morrison's fiction it is appropriate to consider some of the relevant philosophical insights of Jacques Derrida, particularly Derrida's theory of deconstruction and the way in which it facilitates the explosion of violent hierarchies. Firstly, a general overview of relevant Derridean terminology is given. In his work, Derrida exposes many classical philosophical oppositions in which one pole of the opposition dominates the other. In fact, he questions the very nature of a Western reason which causes difference to be viewed as opposition. He uses the phrase 'violent hierarchy' to show that there is no peaceful co-existence of terms within oppositions but that one term traditionally has the upper hand. Derrida also demonstrates that these hierarchical structures of dominance and oppression not only manifest themselves in language but are also promoted by logocentric language. By insisting on the play of différance in language, Derrida offers a way in which these violent hierarchies can be exploded. The term 'explode' is similar (yet not identical to) the Derridean term deconstruction. However, instead of deconstructing Morrison's texts, the aim of this study is to lay bare Morrison' s treatment of the tensions inherent in specific hierarchical structures of dominance. To explode the chosen violent hierarchies is to expose the contradictions and ironies in certain hierarchic structures which manifest themselves and are reflected in language, whereas deconstruction itself is a complex reading strategy that Derrida uses when revealing discrepancies within certain classical philosophical texts. The term 'explode' is thus a more accurate description of what is aimed at in this research. Next, the study entails an assessment of exploded gender, class and racial hierarchies in five novels by Toni Morrison. In The Bluest Eye and Sula, Morrison's explosions of the male/female violent hierarchy are evaluated, while violent class hierarchies are addressed in Song of Solomon. Finally, the way in which Morrison explodes racial and colourist hierarchies in Beloved and Paradise is researched. By opening up language to the play of différance and consequently undermining traditional metaphysical binary reason Morrison, like Derrida, encourages the perpetual explosion of these violent hierarchies in both literature and society at large.
Open Access
The discourse of the opressed and the language of the abandoned in selected plays of Harold Pinter
(University of the Free State, 2000-10) Jacobs, Edwena; Brooks, M.; MacDonald-Smythe, A.
The focus of this study is to explore the notions of oppression and abandonment and language and discourse as it pertains to the works of Harold Pinter. A selected reading of three psychoanalysts: Erich Fromm, Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan facilitates an explanation of the psychological effects of oppression, violence, victimisation and alienation. According to Fromm, isolation is wo/man's most prodigious fear as being abandoned from society institutes psychological disturbances. In the Pinterian landscape, the characters are subjected to isolation and abandonment due to the oppressive society in which they are positioned. The Freudian concept of unconscious discourse offers an engaging explanation of the way in which Pinter's characters use discourse to signify their ontological fears and repressed desires. Freud's theory on the mechanisms of the id, ego and super-ego, and how these concepts correspond to repression and thus anxiety, highlights the significant themes in Pinter's plays. The Lacanian notion of Other as it relates to the laws and restrictive demands of society is manifested in Pinter' s plays as an omnipresent menace. Thus the characters attempt to retreat from society as it threatens to annihilate them, should they not conform. Ironically the tyrannical society is too powerful for the characters, and consequently destroys them when they endeavour to defy the laws of the Other. Accordingly Pinter's plays end with this final image of oppressed and abandoned characters struggling in vain against the oppressive Other.
Open Access
The high school teacher's role in maximizing learners' initiative in English second language classes in Lesotho
(University of the Free State, 2000-11) Rantsoai, Ntsotiseng Mary-Goretti; Ullyatt, R. C.
English: The introductory chapters of this study explain minimum and maximum learner initiative and the forms in which they can be identified in the language teaching-Ieaming process. In other words, second language learners' and teachers' positions in language classrooms are defined. In so doing the advantages and disadvantages of maximum and minimum learner initiative were shown. The repercussions of the traditional IRF pattern of interaction in English second language classes are discussed in datal Using Bowers (1987) as conceptual framework, the researcher proceeded to identify the most recurrent pattems of interaction in Form E classes in some of the high schools in Lesotho, with specific reference to lingual data. She audiotaped seven pre-counselling lessons and seven interviews between the teachers and her. She also gave a questionnaire to the students so that she could collect more data for validation and triangulation purposes. The transcription of the lingual data, in Bowers' (1987) pre-counselling phase, revealed that most of the teachers adhered to the traditional IRF discourse cycle in English second language classes. The analysis of the lessons, interviews and questionnaires led to Bowers' (1987) counselling/intervention phase. It also made it easy for the teachers to identify their learner initiative-minimizing techniques in language classes. This meant a detailed discussion on maximizing and minimizing learner initiative and their effects in second language learning. The teacher's role in maximizing leamer initiative was thus emphasised. The researcher, then, suggested various ways in which the teachers could maximize leamer initiative. They were also advised to set learning outcomes so as to provide a guide for the implementation of these suggestions. The intervention phase was followed by the post-counselling/intervention phase of Bowers' model. Each of the seven teachers had his or her post-counselling lesson recorded and transcribed. The main purpose was to make it easy for the researcher and the teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention phase. Evidently all the teachers had maximized leamer initiative through different techniques although they could not implement all the suggested techniques. One cannot tell whether the teachers still adhered to the notion of maximizing leamer initiative after the researcher's departure. The researcher therefore recommended, in this study, that second language teachers should receive regular counselling from the inspectors, their colleagues in their schools and from other schools, and lecturers from Lesotho College of Education and the National University of Lesotho. The need for teachers' communicative and pedagogic competences to be developed is also apparent from this study.
Open Access
African writers' use of symbolism, myth and allusion in presenting the ideology of leadership in post-independence Africa: a study of selected novels by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe and Ayi Kwei Armah
(University of the Free State, 2000-11) Sebolai, Kabelo Wilson; Uwah, M.
This dissertation was aimed at examining African writers' use of symbolism, myth and allusion in presenting the ideology of leadership in the post-independence Africa. Specifically, it focussed on Ayi Kwei Armah's The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, Ngugi Wa Thiongo's Petals of Blood and Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah. One of the basic problems of the African continent has been the quality of its political leadership. In most cases, leaders that take over power in Africa after independence are not different from their colonial masters. Having attained power, these leaders exhibit worse oppressive tendencies than their erstwhile colonial masters. The African writers of this period have responded to this harsh reality with works that are critical of the excesses of these leaders. Strange as it seems, although it was fashionable for black writers to pit themselves against the system of apartheid at its peak in South Africa, the same writers have in the main, not yet responded to some of the excesses of the country's leadership in the new dispensation. This research was therefore necessary because of the literary vacuum left by the demise of apartheid in the literary output of South Africa's post-independence period. There is so much the writers have to say in this period especially when one considers the fact that problems experienced in the post-independence Africa in general are beginning to manifest themselves in South Africa as well. While writers in other parts of the continent have produced works that mirror the hopes and aspirations of the masses in the post-independence period, such has not been the case in South Africa. This dissertation was in a small way, intended to serve as a wake-up call to South African writers. It was meant to signal a resuscitation of literary creative writing in the post-apartheid South Africa; a type of literature whose concerns will resemble those of the general post-independence prototype in Africa. The dissertation examined critical novels of other African writers in the post-independence period and presented these as examples for South African writers to follow.
Open Access
South African business-news interview talk : its typicality and implications for materials design in the domain of ESP
(University of the Free State, 2000-11) Brokensha, Susan Iris; Ullyatt, R. C.; Greyling, W. J.
Drew and Heritage (1992) have focused attention on the influential role Conversation Analysis (CA) has played in the study of interaction in institutional settings. One such setting is the news interview, and a number of researchers (e.g. Clayman, 1991; Heritage and Greatbatch, 1991; Greatbatch, 1992) have noted that interviewers (IRs) regularly adhere to the institutionalised language practices that govern the management of topical agendas within the news interview turn-taking system. In this research study, the researcher postulates that the findings of CA studies of news interview talk may be used by language practitioners in the domain of ESP (English for Specific Purposes) to generate meta-communicative and communicative teaching materials for prospective South African news IRs in the field of business. In order to achieve this applied linguistic aim, the role of the IR in managing news interview talk is described in terms of Clayman's (1991) study of news interview openings as well as within the framework of Heritage and Greatbatch's (1991) analysis of news interview talk. Aspects of Clayman's (1992) study of the strategies IRs employ to maintain a neutralistic stance are also included in the description of the IR's role. The researcher posits that, if the generality of the discourse findings of these CA analysts are verified in an analysis of South African news interview talk, the analysis may be regarded as a target-centred needs analysis (Cf. Jordan, 1997: 25). That is, the analysis specifies the areas of knowledge and skills prospective news IRs need to function effectively in the news interview situation. To establish generality, the principles of qualitative research are adhered to in this study. That is, in a preliminary analysis, a corpus of South African business-news interview talk is scrutinised to determine whether the discourse patterns in it replicate those identified by the CA analysts. An exhaustive analysis of the full corpus of lingual data is then made, and finally, the researcher collects and recycles through the data in order to validate the findings (Seliger and Shohamy, 1989: 121-124). This CA study shows that the patterns of discourse reflected in South African business-news interviews replicate those identified by Clayman (1991; 1992) and Heritage and Greatbatch (1991). Based on the analysis, ESP activities that conform to Van Lier's (1996) Awareness, Authenticity and Autonomy curriculum model are designed for prospective news IRs. Next, one of the activities is implemented in the language classroom and a criticalreflective analysis is made of the activity in order to determine whether it simulates South African news interview discourse. The analysis shows that cycles of critical reflection cannot be omitted by language practitioners if they wish to cross-validate the authenticity and credibility of their teaching materials. Finally, future areas of research are considered. An important justification for this research study is that a review of the literature has revealed that most studies of professional contexts are unrelated to the teaching of ESP (Cf. Gunnarsson, Linell and Nordberg, 1997). Moreover, as this study aims to demonstrate, the discourse features characteristic of the activities devised in the materials design phase reflect most of the specific outcomes of OBE (outcomes-based education).
Open Access
The development and implementation of an English language and literature programme for low-proficiency tertiary learners
(University of the Free State, 2001-11) Van Wyk, Arlys Leslie; Greyling, W. J.; Hay, H. R.
The University of the Free State, like most other tertiary institutions in South Africa, is faced with the challenge of establishing a framework within the university for redressing inequalities in education: inequalities such as unequal access and opportunities for both students and staff along racial, gender and class lines. This research attempts to find ways of making tertiary learning accessible to a group of underprepared students who would, traditionally, have been excluded from tertiary learning in the previous apartheid dispensation. The study focuses on the language needs of learners who, for multiple reasons, have low English language proficiency. The problem is compounded for these students in that English is their chosen language of instruction. Thus, without English language proficiency, tertiary learning is inaccessible or, at best, extremely difficult for these students. The main aim of this study is to develop and implement a programme of language learning which will meet the requirements of the Department of English and, simultaneously, improve the English academic literacy skills of this group of SL learners so as to provide them with much-needed support to achieve academic success. The methodology selected to achieve the aim, is emancipatory action Research with its reflective cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting. The action research cycles involve planning to improve the process; acting to implement that plan; observing the effects of the plan and finally, reflecting on the effects which, in turn, become the framework for the next cycle of action research. Two processes are central to action research, viz. data gathering and an action component. Data-gathering occurred over a period of our years and various techniques were used, viz. interviews, classroom observations, samples of students' written work, a journal of facilitator meetings, various monitoring techniques, questionnaires to learners and facilitators, test and examination results. The study describes three action research cycles over a period of four years. Initially, it was intended that the course should include a literature component which, as a result of this research, was abandoned in the second cycle of the action research. The reasons for this decision are documented in the study. The findings of the research have led to the development of an academic literacy course with the following broad goals, viz. to develop the ability to read academic texts with good comprehension and critical attention; to develop thinking and study skills and to develop the ability to express information and ideas clearly, relevantly and logically in expository writing. Several useful guidelines, for the development of an English language course for Iow-proficiency tertiary learners, have emerged from the study. These guidelines encompass the following key issues, viz. prior learning, learner proficiency, learner motivation and interest, comprehensible input, learning context, learning strategies, extensive and intensive reading, teaching approach, language and literature teaching, materials design and research methodology. This study has led to the development and implementation of an academic literacy course founded on the following salient guidelines: • A teaching approach based on a combination of communicative language learning and input processing instruction; • Proficiency should be developed within the context in which students find themselves, viz. the academic context. Thus, academic literacy skills are systematically developed; • Comprehensible input is axiomatic to language learning at tertiary level, thus, reading and writing fluency should be developed through a programme which provides plenty of meaning-bearing input; Classroom instruction should be based on a combination of content-based instruction and task-based language teaching; • Reading and writing skills should be taught through a process of systematic strategy training; and • Contextual support, which facilitates SLA, should be provided in the form of strategy training, continuous evaluation, thorough feedback and activities that replicate real-world tasks.
Open Access
The impact of a discourse-based teacher-counselling model in training language teachers for outcomes-based education
(University of the Free State, 2001-11) De Villiers, Eleftheria; Greyling, W. J.
As outcomes-based education (OBE) is an approach to learning that fosters usable knowledge and skills in learners, with attitudes and values that are aligned with the ideals of the South African Constitution, it was a cause for concern when evidence presented by the Curriculum 2005 Review Committee suggested that the new approach to education was not being implemented successfully. The Committee stated that a lack of appropriate teacher-training and in-service support was one of the primary causes. It was thus decided to attempt to address this issue in a South African context in this research study. The study recruited teacher-trainees using semi-random sampling methods and subjected a final sample of eleven teacher-trainees to a two-year study in which they received counselling on the most effective ways of adapting their teaching styles to an OBE mode. Baseline data was gathered from pre-intervention recordings of their teaching styles in real classroom situations, after which these recordings were viewed and assessed by the trainees themselves, and by peer and counsellor assessment, using standardised assessment forms. Areas in which teaching styles might undergo improvement were identified by the clients themselves, while the counsellor shared theoretical perspectives with the trainees concerning the value of developing their own and the learners' autonomy, establishing low-anxiety classrooms in which learners could feel free to express themselves and could practise uninterrupted speech in a second language, the value of designing their own materials, the strengths of including group work in lessons and ways of enhancing the effectiveness of group work. The relationship between the counsellor and her trainees was of a consistently supportive and empathic nature. Collaboration between the trainees was emphasised, as they were expected to support one another in becoming more effective facilitators. Any judgment on possible improvements had to be phrased in considerate and empathic terms, yet retaining objectivity. It was felt that trainees would be able to replicate the modes they had been taught in their own classrooms, so it was essential that their own development was modelled on critical crossfield and specific outcomes derived from OBE terminology. After much reflection, asd a number of interventions that followed the guidelines posited by Bowers (1987) in his teacher-counselling model within the research framework of an action research spiral (Middiewood, Coleman and Lumby 1999), final video recording were made of trainee-teachers in order to determine if they had indeed succeeded in effecting positive changes to their teaching styles. After each of these recordings had been analysed by the counsellor and the trainees themselves, it was found that major improvements had indeed been effected in the majority of cases. Learners in trainee lessons had been encouraged to speak for much greater periods of time, showing greater initiative. Group work was included in their improved lessons. After discourse had been studied and categorised according to Van Lier's (1996) discourse analysis model, it was found that the quality of classroom Initiation-Response-Feedback had developed from lower-order to higher-order IRF along the Van Lier IRF sub-continuum (1996), indicating that teachers were dominating the structure of classroom discourse to a far lesser extent in their second lessons, opening the classroom interactions to a conversational mode in which the course of the lessons could be determined by learners and thus be more unpredictable. This learner-centeredness was a positive outcome in the study and was further proof that teachers were beginning to apply themselves in an OBE mode. After a year of reflection trainees provided data in a focus interview which showed evidence that they were much more comfortable with OBE and were eager to use the outcomes-orientation in their lessons, as they now understood it as a more effective way to educate learners.
Open Access
Applied linguistic principles and designing CALL programmes for the ESL classroom
(University of the Free State, 2004-05) Muller, Frederick Mark; Greyling, W. J.
Applied Linguistics is largely concerned with teaching English as a second language (TESL) (Cruttenden, 1994, p6). This is not a simple field. There are a number of variables, such as the personalities of the individual students and teachers involved and the approach to learning used. Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has been used for some years in a variety of approaches and learning environments. In these the primary focus of CAI has been on providing materials for learning in methods that stimulate learning more effectively - either by providing enhanced access to texts or by providing rapid feedback to set problems. The one facet of teaching where CAI is not extensively used (except in a facilitatory role) is providing an environment in which students can practise generating texts and have these understood. This dissertation investigates the potential of using computers to process text in such a way as to enable evaluating the cohesion and coherence of texts. It takes an interdisciplinary approach which exploits methods and insights from applied linguistics, artificial intelligence (AI) and computer-assisted language learning (CALL) to explore the potential of automating textual analysis, comparison and evaluation. This dissertation develops the hypothesis that a dependency-based grammar can be used to generate a computerised representation of the sense contained in a text and that this representation is sufficient to allow contextual comparison of texts. This comparison can be used, in turn, to evaluate texts by means of comparing the representation to that of a model answer, thus providing a means of evaluating the cohesion and coherence of the text. The potential of using such a system in constructing CALL programmes and the extent to which it can assist in the process of second language acquisition (SLA) is also discussed. Existing research studied during the writing of this dissertation included an examination of existing uses of computers in language teaching, particularly those associated with developing communicative competence. These studies pointed to a need for a utility that would enable teaching aids to evaluate texts contextually. Various methods of performing this evaluation were considered. This included the examination of a selection of grammatical systems with a view to determining their strengths in building a representation of the sense contained in a text. In addition, current applications using natural language processing (NLP) and AI were examined with a view to how these could be adapted or used to enable CALL programmes to evaluate coher~nce and cohesion in texts. Furthermore, guidelines are proposed for developing CALL programmes using this type of evaluation. These requirements are used as a template for implementing a programme aimed at performing a contextual evaluation by means of a comparison of texts. This programme is discussed in terms of the grammatical model used as well as the implications this holds for future development. Lastly, the implications using this kind of system in CALL programmes would have for teaching and teacher training are examined and suggestions for the future improvement and development of this sort of application are made. The main conclusion of this dissertation is that computerised contextual evaluation of texts is possible, though with the caveat that the evaluation is limited by the extent to which world-knowledge can be represented.
Open Access
Non-morphematic word-formation processes: a multi-level approach to acronyms, blends, clippings and onomatopoeia
(University of the Free State, 2004-05) Fandrych, Ingrid Mina; Greyling, W. J.
Mainstream word-formation looks at how morphemes, which, according to de Saussure, are signs consisting of a signifiant (form) and a signifié (content), form new transparent complex lexemes, which can be analysed in terms of their determinant/determinatum structure. Thus, existing signs form new signs. These new signs are transparent or motivated: speakers can deduce the meanings of these new formations, provided they know the meanings of the constituents. Used frequently, and if there is a need for these new signs (naming function), they can enter the mental lexicon, that is, speakers no longer think of them as composites but store and use them as independent units (lexicalisation). However, not all word-formation processes are that regular, which led to their neglect for a long time, especially when Generative Grammar was the dominant approach in linguistics. These non-morphematic word-formation processes are not characterised by a determinant/determinatum structure; they cannot be analysed in terms of morphemes. They are shortenings (acronyms like Aids consist of the initial letters of word groups; blends like smog 'blend' submorphemic elements, thus forming new unanalysable monemes and clippings like exam shorten existing words arbitrarily) and onomatopoeia (imitations of extralinguistic sounds such as rattle, sound symbolism which approximates movement and/or sounds such as rush, and reduplications such as tick-tock, helter-skelter, girly-girly). A numerical analysis of the OALD4 demonstrates the importance of lexicalised non-morphematic words in the dictionary. The research questions addressed in the study are as follows: a) Are non-morphematic word-formation processes as irregular as previous researchers have claimed? b) How can non-morphematic word-formation processes be integrated into a comprehensive typology of word-formation processes? c) Are there other criteria (in addition to structural ones), which can usefully be applied to the description of non-morphematic word-formation processes, thus ‘rehabilitating’ them and reintegrating them into mainstream word-formation? d) On the basis of these additional, multidisciplinary criteria, is it possible to analyse a corpus of non-morphematic word-formation processes and to establish certain trends and tendencies displayed by these processes? e) What can we learn from non-morphematic word-formation processes for the study of morphematic word-formation processes? The main aim of the study is to ‘rehabilitate’ non-morphematic word-formation processes by re-integrating them into mainstream word-formation. In order to achieve this overarching aim, the ‘niche’ literature on non-morphematic word-formation processes – mostly with a structural and taxonomic slant – is reviewed and critiqued, which results in the first outcome of the study: the xii proposal of a new integrated taxonomy, accompanied by a scale of motivation, both relating non-morphematic word-formation processes to morphematic word-formation processes. Based on the hypothesis that non-morphematic word-formation processes can only be described adequately by taking non-structural aspects into account, such as functional and semantic-motivational levels of language description, the study then programmatically proposes an interdisciplinary, multi-level approach (in the sense of an analytical model) for the description of these word-formation processes and develops a number of criteria for their analysis – the second outcome of the present study. As a third outcome, a corpus of non-morphematic word-formation processes is compiled, in order to test the taxonomies and the interdisciplinary approach. The mutual application of the corpus to the taxonomies and to the multi-level approach in the corpus analysis constitutes the fourth outcome. On the basis of the application in the corpus study, the multi-level approach is critiqued, and this reflective process results in a modified and revised model
Open Access
Un-caging meaning in John Capgrave's Life of Saint Katherine Alexandria: bodies and brides of Christ
(University of the Free State, 2006) Geldenhuys, Katharine Leigh; Raftery, M. M.
English: Katherine of Alexandria, one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages, was acclaimed for her great learning. This investigation focuses on the fraught relationship between knowledge, the feminine and the idea of the body in the predominantly Catholic society of late medieval England as it is revealed in John Capgrave’s fifteenth century Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria. In chapter one the interrelations between Katherine, the Virgin Mary and Eve – particularly with regard to each woman’s relation to knowledge – is considered. Capgrave attempts to associate Katherine with the positive example of the Virgin Mary and her relation to knowledge through Christ, the Word, in order to increase admiration for Katherine as a saint. However, as the conversion scene is set in an enclosed garden it recalls the Garden of Eden and the Fall thus also creating parallels between Katherine and Eve. In this way an underlying uneasiness with Katherine’s exceptional level of education as potentially disruptive and negative is achieved. The centrality of marriage to Capgrave’s text is explored in chapter two. The representation of Katherine and the Church as the brides of Christ and the ways in which this essentially feminine image lends itself to associations with the body, as well as the Church’s simultaneous portrayal as the body of Christ, is considered. It is proposed that Katherine may be perceived as a symbolic representative of the Church and although, both the bride and body images have implications of subservience for those placed in the feminine role they also serve to express the intimacy of the relationship striven for with God. Chapter three examines Katherine’s use of the body of rhetoric. It is demonstrated that the changes in her use of rhetoric after her conversion and mystical marriage indicate that, as a woman making effective use of the body of rhetoric to argue for female rule, she may be perceived as transgressing gender boundaries in medieval patriarchal society. The ‘disciplining’ of Katherine’s ‘transgressive’ behaviour may be seen in her mystical marriage to Christ as this is the decisive event which brings her under patriarchal control. Therefore any threat she might have been seen to pose to the status quo is subtly neutralised. In chapter four the analogies relating to the body are further considered, particularly with regard to the spiritual implications. Parallels between St Katherine’s passion and Christ’s Passion are noted to indicate how the imitatio Christi and sponsalia Christi themes converge in Capgrave’s text to elide Katherine (as the ‘body’ and bride of Christ) with the divine (perceived as male). The incident narrated in Capgrave’s prologue, where an English priest has to consume a book in a dream before he can discover St Katherine’s legend, may be seen to reveal her elision with the divine through the interrelations of Katherine, the book containing her legend, the eucharist, the Passion, the Resurrection, relics, the body and the translation of her legend as an ‘un-caging’ of meaning. Thus Capgrave does not shy away from the issues of gender power-relations that were pertinent to his society. Although he appears to be unique among his peers in allowing for quite a balanced debate of these issues in his text, he includes aspects which subtly undercut Katherine’s strident independence as a woman. In this way he is able to honour the saint while simultaneously confirming the ‘proper’ position of women in medieval patriarchal society by equating it to the position of humanity in the Church vis-à-vis Christ. Consequently, Capgrave is able to openly consider challenges to, and yet subtly affirm, the status quo of his society in this multivalent saint’s legend
Open Access
Critical linguistics and postmodernism: assessment with reference to selected English texts
(University of the Free State, 2006-05) Chaka, Chaka Petrus; Greyling, W. J.; Visagie, J.
This research study sets out to investigate the relationship between critical linguistics and postmodernism and to mount a critical assessment of these two areas. Firstly, it provides an overview of these two areas and offers their comprehensive and detailed discussion. It does so by discussing the works of Fowler et al. (1979), Kress (1989, 1990) and Fairclough (1989, 1992) in the case of critical linguistics and those of Lyotard (1984, 1988), Foucault (1972, 1980) and Derrida (1978, 1982) in the case of postmodernism. Secondly, it presents a critical analysis which foregrounds some of the concerns, shortcomings and weaknesses inherent in these two areas as raised, for example, by Grimshaw (1980) and Widdowson (1998, 2000) regarding critical linguistics, and as raised, on the one hand, by Habermas (1987) and, to a lesser extent, by McCarthy (1993), and on the other hand, by Gross and Levitt (1994) concerning postmodernism. In addition, it provides an appraisal of Habermas’s and Gross and Levitt’s views on postmodernism. Thirdly, the study investigates the extent to which chaos theory can bridge the boundaries between critical linguistics and mainstream linguistics, between postmodernism and modernism, and between critical linguistics and postmodernism. Most significantly, it establishes the similarities and differences characterising critical linguistics and postmodernism. Moreover, it examines – through conducting a textual micro-analysis - the way in which discourse features employed in two texts (one on critical linguistics and the other on postmodernism) do (or do not) reflect instances of discourse and ideological strategies. Concomitantly, the questions this study sets out to answer are as follows: • What does the overview of both critical linguistics and postmodernism reveal? • What scholarly views and observations does a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the proponents of these two areas reveal? • What concerns, shortcomings and weaknesses are inherent in these two areas? • In what way is critical linguistics different from mainstream linguistics and how can the two areas be brought closer to each other? • In what way is postmodernism different from modernism and how can the two areas be brought closer to each other? • What are the similarities and differences between critical linguistics and postmodernism? and • What does the micro-analysis of the discourse features of the two sample extracts selected from both LP and The PC reveal about the discourse and ideological strategies used in these two texts? Two texts, Fairclough’s (1989) Language and Power (LP) – for critical linguistics- and Lyotard’s (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (The PC) – for postmodernism - serve as the two main sources of data in this study. In this regard, the study mounts both a macro-analysis and a micro-analysis of these two texts. Thus, employing a discourse and ideological analysis and chaos theory methodological framework and a textual content analysis and chaos theory model in Chapter Five, the macro-analysis has two sections. The first section focuses on the following aspects of both LP and The PC: their explicit and implicit goals; their respective areas of focus; their underlying theoretical assumptions; the approaches, methods and models of analysis they use; the types of data extracts used in LP and the cited material used in The PC; and the adequacy, trustworthiness and credibility of both the data extracts and the cited material. The second section examines the usage of the concepts (mainstream) linguistics, critical linguistics, language, ideology, power, discourse, text, intertextuality, subject positions (identities), utterances, and postmodernism in the case of LP. It also explores the usage of the concepts modernity/modernism, postmodernity/postmodernism, grand narratives/meta-narratives, language games, utterances, pragmatics, performativity, paralogy/paralogism, incommensurability, knowledge, and legitimation/legitimacy in the case of The PC. The software programme, WordWeb 3. 03, is used as a point of reference to benchmark some of the textual definitions, ideas and views attributed to the conceptual variables cited above. All of the above content variables are accompanied by their respective data exemplars extracted from the two texts. These data exemplars are presented in Appendix A. Using the same framework as cited above, the micro-analysis focuses on two extracts (cf. Appendices B and D) - taken from LP and The PC respectively – and employs a multidisciplinary model of ideological discourse analysis (MIDA) (cf. Figure 4. 2) for analysing these extracts in Chapter Six. In both extracts, it examines the following discourse features: narrative; repetition; rhetoric; pronominalisation (pronouns); modality (modals); topoi; stereotypes; metaphors; implication; presupposition; and conversational maxims. The use of the software programme Tropes V6.2 is enlisted to identify the word counts, content types and language styles the two extracts have. On the basis of the analysis of these features, an attempt is made to establish the discourse and ideological strategies employed in the two extracts (again cf. Figure 4. 2) and the possible inferences that can be made from the use of such discourse and ideological strategies. The use of the software programme WordWeb 3.03 is also enlisted to cross-validate the ideological tendencies or practices inferred from the discourse and ideological strategies employed in the two extracts. Finally, the study presents a summary of its findings, makes recommendations, and suggests further study.
Open Access
Writing for equality: a comparative study of the writings of Wollstonecraft, Schreiner and Woolf on the status of women
(University of the Free State, 2007-08) Morgan, Yvette Margaret; Raftery, M. M.
Patriarchy has tainted the mind of society, thereby creating gender discrimination and inequality. Until recently, this bias against women filtered down to women writers too. This MA dissertation is a comparative study of the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Olive Schreiner and Virginia Woolf in their socio-historical context. While Wollstonecraft and Woo If lived in Britain, Schreiner spent most of her life in South Africa. It is interesting to observe that these three writers, working in two different countries, Britain and South Africa, shared strong ideas on women and education, double standards in society, professions for women and the roles of women in society. While sharing ideas, each writer lived in her own unique milieu and thus held certain beliefs more strongly than others. By evaluating women's literature dating from the late 18th century, this dissertation examines the evolution of women's situation in society and obtains, for the reader, a sense of what social issues were relevant at the time and how these issues have changed and/or stayed the same. The three authors chosen were also influenced by their predecessors' thoughts, which is clear in their literature. By looking at their work in the context of society and the influence of previous feminist literature, the reader can see the power that their thoughts and words hold. Though some of the problems about which these authors wrote so tellingly (for example, inequality under the law) have become redundant in Western society, many of the issues addressed in their writing have formed the baseline of feminist beliefs and are still very relevant today.
Open Access
'n Kultureel-sosiale studie van nagtelike aktiwiteite in antieke Rome, gebaseer op primêre bronne
(University of the Free State, 2007-08-26) Van den Berg, Marlene; Cilliers, L.
English: Not only did the Romans work very hard during the night, but they also enjoyed eating, drinking and partying. Although there were only limited sources of light, they used their evenings and nights optimally. During the first and second centuries A.D., there was a definite renaissance in commercial life, in cities as well as in the country. Basic concepts were standardised, such as the calendar (by Caesar), time reckoning by means of sun dials and water clocks. There were also improvements in the ways of recreation, entertainment and different kinds of artificial light. In this study primary sources of information were used. The chapter on the sources is an endeavour to combine the biographical information of the specific writers and the influence of their milieu on their writing and way of life, with the extracts from their work. Martial and Juvenal give an exaggerated reconstruction, which however contains many apt descriptions of the social milieu. Pliny in his encyclopaedia (Naturalis Historia) gives useful facts on e.g. the making of candles and how time was reckoned in experimental ways,. The question when time should be regarded as “day” or “night” already existed in ancient Rome. When the cock’s crow to announce the morning was no longer regarded as sufficiently correct, night guards were used to announce a new day. That was before scientific inventions such as the sun dial and later the water clock were used to determine time. Lighting was an important factor as it became dark quite early and after sunset, the Romans were dependent on artificial light. Not only did torches, candles and later even lamps enrich the quality of life, but crime was also limited by lighting. Prices and availability of fuel played a big role in the distinction between the social classes. Apart from the personnel of the fire brigade who could be called out at night, bakers, prostitutes, light house sentinels, doctors and bar- and restaurant owners also worked during the night. The army, responsible for the safety of the inhabitants of the country, sometimes had to act during the night, thus it is logical that they had to be on call day and night. Many authors such as Quintilian, Seneca and Pliny the Elder also worked during nighttime. The Roman day ended at around the eighth hour with the cena as the main ac tivity of the late afternoon and evening. It was during this time that citizens were busy eating and drinking in the triclinium to forget the day’s worries. Two relevant issues in modern times are gender inequality and social stratification. From the study it is clear that discrimination is not a modern tendency but already played a role in ancient times. Women and poor people were scoffed, humiliated and deemed inferior. The research field of this dissertation thus lay on the socio-cultural level, with specific reference to the experiences of different social classes and males and females with regard to nocturnal activities in ancient Rome. This study presents a more nuanced picture of the social life in ancient Rome. The central theme of this work, however, stands in contrast with previous studies since nocturnal activities are not mentioned in passing only but are discussed in detail, in order to point out the wide range of these activities.
Open Access
Alienation as a fictional construct in four contemporary British novels : a literary-theoretical study
(University of the Free State, 2008-05) Senekal, Burgert Adriaan; Lovisa, Manuela
This study discusses Melvin Seeman's 1959 theory of alienation within a postmodern, post-structuralist and systems theory context. Seeman's five aspects of alienation, namely powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation, and self-estrangement are re-evaluated while taking into account Von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory and interpretations thereof, Even-Zohar's Polysystem Theory, post-modernism, and structuralist and post-structuralist perspectives. More recent contributions to alienation research are discussed, particularly where sociological and theoretical changes have forced a re-evaluation of his original conception. Felix Geyer (1996), Arthur G. Neal and Sara F. Collas (2000), and Devorah Kalekin-Fishman (1998) provide the crux of the discussion on the reevaluation of Seeman's theory. It is argued, in following these researchers, that a post-modernist and systems theory approach favours a reduction of Seeman's five aspects to four by omitting self-estrangement, since the self is argued to be relationally constituted (by e.g. Vorster (2003), Von Bertalanffy (1969), and Wilden (1981)) and therefore self-estrangement is already contained within the other four aspects. The re-evaluated remaining four aspects of Seeman's theory of alienation are thus applied to the chosen four novels belonging to contemporary British Fiction: Ian McEwan's The Child in Time, Martin Amis's London Fields, Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and Pat Barker's Regeneration. It is argued that Seeman's theory of alienation is applicable to contemporary British fiction, and thus how his theory manifests in the chosen texts is analysed. Each of the chosen novels is contextualised, bearing in mind the oeuvre of each author, the socio-historical system, and the contemporary British literary system. A short discussion of contemporary Britain is provided to situate the texts within the cultural and political milieu of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This is done in order to provide the reader with essential background information where it aids the interpretation of the texts, since all four texts engage with the socio-historical milieu in which they were created. Barker's Regeneration is however a historical novel set in the First World War, so wherever necessary, the context of the novel in the early twentieth century is sketched. The proven hypothesis of this thesis is that Seeman's sociological theory of alienation can be applied to literary texts, since the chosen novels do manifest the same characteristics that he identified within the field of sociology. It is shown how each author and each text foregrounds some aspects and backgrounds others, and how particularly powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and social-isolation manifests in each text. McEwan's The Child in Time highlights social isolation, in particular with the dissolution of the heterosexual dyad after the couple's child is abducted, and shows how meaningless manifests when different genders attach different meanings to actions. Amis's London Fields highlights normlessness through the character of Keith Talent in particular, and obliterates meaning by making the characters' world a television-controlled simulacra, and adding the motif of darts to indicate how superficial culture has become. Welsh's Trainspotting emphasises social isolation and normlessness in depicting the marginal subculture of drug-users in Leith, Edinburgh, whose relationships are as superficial and void of morality as in London Fields. Barker's Regeneration illustrates powerlessness in particular, as it depicts soldiers returning from the trenches of the First World War who suffer from war neurosis as they are stripped of their decision-making rights. Rivers's theory of war neurosis argues that it is powerlessness that leads to war neurosis, and he links psychological symptoms to what is seen amongst the female population during peacetime, suggesting that it is powerlessness which leads to psychological breakdowns in males and females. Alienation, in one way or another, thus is a central aspect to the main actions and imagery employed in the chosen novels. Discussing these texts from this theoretical frame of reference contributes to the understanding of some of the seminal works of contemporary British fiction.
Open Access
Glossy mags and the sexes: a critical discourse analysis of FHM and Cosmo
(University of the Free State, 2009-05) Conradie, M. S.; Brokensha, S. I.
English: The following dissertation reports on a research study of the lifestyle magazines For Him Magazine and Cosmopolitan. Quantitative and qualitative methods were combined in an investigation of linguistic patterns which serve to construct a particular perspective on masculinity and femininity. The quantitative analyses focused on identifying patterns in the distribution and connotation of various words. The qualitative analyses focused on various grammatical and semantic features in specific articles of both magazines. The results suggest that both magazines tend to hone masculinity and femininity to certain subjects and descriptions. Cosmopolitan, however, might be characterised by a slightly more flexible discourse. In addition, this study also contains suggestions on how research of this nature may be incorporated into an academic course for students of Applied Linguistics.
Open Access
The development of reading at a township school: an action research study
(University of the Free State, 2009-11) Van der Westhuizen, Jeanne Suzette; Van Wyk, A. L.
Reading in South African schools is rated amongst the worst in the world. Many children come from backgrounds where reading is uncommon. Since reading is the key to the mastery of other subjects and a predictor of future success, there is mounting disquiet about learners’ reading ability. Accordingly, the principal of a secondary township school requested help with reading development. This project aimed to design a programme of reading intervention that would lead to on-going, sustainable second language reading development, with the focus on improving the educators’ skills to teach reading. Because the chosen methodology was action research, the teachers were included as participants and co-researchers. An additional aim was to reflect critically on the interventions in order to ensure more generalised understanding of an educational problem. The results of this study will have value in that they will facilitate a closer understanding of reading development in one township school as an example of a general educational problem.
Open Access
Konstitutiewe voorwaardes vir die ontwerp van 'n toets van akademiese geletterdheid
(University of the Free State, 2010-11) Van Dyk, Tobias Johannes; Weideman, A. J.
English: Throughput rates at South African universities are low and contribute, among others, to financial losses for a number of stakeholders: students, their parents/guardians, donors of scholarships, universities and the state. This compels institutions to investigate those factors influencing study success. Various international and local investigations indicate that academic language ability is one of several factors that has a significant influence on academic success. In order to make informed decisions about low stakes issues such as language support, universities need mechanisms to enable them to do so. One such mechanism is the use of measuring instruments, such as the Toets van Akademiese Geletterdheidsvlakke (TAG), to make a diagnosis of students‘ academic language ability, and to then place them on appropriate language support programmes. Tests, however, have the obvious power to touch the lives of people in some way. It is therefore necessary that an accountable and transparent approach is followed when designing and implementing tests such as TAG, and when interpreting test results. This is usually done by investigating the reliability and validity of a test; the latter by means of a process of validation. This study is an example of such an investigation where TAG is subjected to thorough and systematic scrutiny. A framework that considers applied linguistics as a discipline of design was followed, against which the construct (underlying theoretical framework), test specifications (the blueprint) and task types, as well as the reliability and validity of TAG were investigated. The framework suggests that a test is a technical design that can be used as solution to a (language) problem. This technical design is grounded upon certain constitutive conditions underlying it, and disclosed by regulative conditions. The former include aspects such as reliability and validity, and the latter utility, transparency, accountability and care. Although the focus of this study was on the constitutive conditions for designing and developing TAG, it repeatedly refers to the importance of the interplay between constitutive and regulative conditions, as well as the fact that a test such as TAG cannot be investigated from one perspective only. The argument of this study is thus that a technically accountable approach to the development and implementation of, and investigations into tests such as TAG is necessary in order to use them in a justifiable and responsible manner. The conclusion of this study is that TAG is a test of high quality and that it can without a doubt be used by universities for purposes of placement, because it was designed and implemented with care and its results are constantly being scrutinised.
Open Access
Raising awareness of classroom constructs: an application of Kelly’s repertory grid technique
(University of the Free State, 2011) Greyling, Willfred
English: This article argues that Kelly’s repertory grid technique allows prospective teachers and their trainers to gain critical-reflective depth when they respond to statistically computed relationships between the poles of pairs of constructs in their group and personal grids. Using ten classroom-specific scenarios as elements, the teachertrainer elicited approximately 800 constructs from a cohort of prospective teachers in the first stage of this awareness-raising project. From these, 12 constructs were selected to include in a repertory ratings grid. Tentative hypotheses about the meaning making within the group and for each individual were formulated. These hypotheses were ten-tative trainer-formulated accounts which could only be accepted or rejected by the participating cohort of teachers in “dialogically accomplished” task-response se-quences based on relational subjectivity. Writing tasks were formulated requiring the teachers to validate or reject these tentative hypotheses. These responses were logged and used as evidence of critical-reflective analyses directed at meaning making.
Open Access
Imagining the mad woman: applying concepts of the narrative imagination, psychoanalytic and feminist theory to "The bell jar" and selected poems by Sylvia Plath
(University of the Free State, 2011) Kriel, Johanet Alice; Brooks, Mariza
In this dissertation, several aspects and processes of the female and melancholic psyche are discussed in terms of Sylvia Plath’s life and work. The two pivotal theoretical schools which are thus of interest are psychoanalysis and feminism. In addition, there is another conceptual framework that is of importance to this study, namely American moral philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s notion of the narrative imagination and its role in liberal education. However, this theory is not discussed in detail but rather provides the broader framework for the dissertation; setting the tone for the discussions as it were. While this particular analysis is thus by no means comprehensive or complete, the aim is for the reader to actively apply his/her narrative imagination in order to more fully grasp the internal world and external circumstances of the female figures in Plath’s work and thereby grasp some of Plath’s psychical processes (as opposed to attempting a holistic grasp on Plath’s psyche). In terms of psychoanalysis, the various influences that can potentially impact (often negatively) the human psyche are considered. The focus is mostly on the female psyche, and therefore the analysis concentrates specifically on the following: the influence of the Electra/Oedipus complex on the girl/woman’s relationship with the father figure (both her actual father and the symbolic order which functions as a father in patriarchal society) and subsequently with her sexual/romantic partners; the girl/woman’s intense and ambivalent relationship with the mother figure (as the primal love-object and as the model of ideal femininity); and the reciprocal dynamic which exists between these relationships and the girl/woman’s psyche and life. The influence and incarnation of various other psychoanalytic notions are also considered; such as the ideal ego, the divided self and the masochistic ego. Furthermore, the characteristics and possible effects of melancholia and the deathdrive are examined, particularly in terms of suicide as an act of self-affirmation. In so far as it is possible and plausible, these psychoanalytic notions are related to Plath’s work and, by inference, to certain aspects of her life. With regards to feminist theory, theorists who also employ a psychoanalytic stance (such as the so-called “French feminists” Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva) with regards to the specific position of the female figure in patriarchal society were examined. As such, the thoughts of several well-known and lesser known feminist theorists (for example, Jacqueline Rose and Juliet Mitchell) are discussed and applied. Of particular importance is patriarchal society’s definition of womanhood and the conflicts which women experience because of this, specifically within the unique cultural setting of 1950s America. Therefore, the influences of the symbolic order in numerous of its figurations are examined and how they can silence women, specifically the female writer. Other central concepts in reaching a deeper understanding of Plath’s work and some of the psychical aspects she probes therewith include: the women’s role as commodity and fetish object, the mother figure’s role in perpetuating patriarchal pressure on her daughter, the female and especially the maternal body as embodiment of the abject, and conversely the way in which writing her body can offer the woman a subjective affirmation in the form of écriture féminine.