Research Articles (Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French)

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  • ItemOpen Access
    Interaction in print advertising
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2013) Van Niekerk, Angelique; Gini, Keyser
    The unrelenting initiative of copywriters manifests itself in their growing tendency to use interaction within print advertisements and in their use of interactive print advertisements. Interactive advertisements demand more time and involvement of the target market that has to participate in some way in order to grasp the marketing message. In particular, people want to satisfy their curiosity – since part of the message is often missing – by interacting with the advertisement (and thus the brand name). In the case of interactive print advertisements, the focus is on heightened involvement, which is the ultimate reward for the brand in an era of information overload. A clear distinction is made between interactive print advertisements and interaction within a print advertisement, where the objective is a more believable or authentic message. Such advertisements emphasise the use of spoken language (as opposed to written language) which is reflected in the lexical choices, sentence structure, etc. Because people are usually sceptical of advertising messages, print advertisements try to mirror word-of-mouth advertising and, in so doing, address the scepticism of their possible target market by exploiting the characteristics of normal conversation.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The controversy surrounding Private Military Companies (PMCs): looking back on executive outcomes
    (Faculty of the Humanities, University of the Free State, 2010-06) Senekal, Burgert
    Amidst arguments that the nature of war has changed, notably by Kaldor (2006), Keegan (2004), Münkler (2005), and Van Creveld (2008), Private Military Companies (PMCs) have received increasing media and scholarly attention over the past decade. South Africa is no stranger to the media storm evoked by Blackwater USA during the recent conflict in Iraq Executive Outcomes (hereafter referred to as EO) caused a comparable controversy during the 1990s, first through their involvement in Angola after the withdrawal of the SADF, and later through their contract in Sierra Leone. At the time, PMCs were still a relatively new phenomenon, and thus research was scarce and it was difficult to discuss EO properly in the context of PMCs rather than as mercenaries. In the wake of the war in Iraq, the rapid growth of research into the PMC phenomenon has however provided a wealth of information that facilitates a better understanding of EO’s role in the post-Cold War conflict environment. This article aims to discuss EO in this global debate by using recent research into the phenomenon, arguing that Executive Outcomes was part of a global trend in warfare.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The poetics of littérature engagée: Hans Magnus Enzensberger
    (University of the Free State, 2010) Van den Berg, Cilliers
    English: Issues related to the socio-political role of literature have always been one of the most important themes in the work of Hans Magnus Enzensberger. His notion of littérature engagée and its actual impact has changed from being optimistic in the earlier texts to being more pessimistic in his later work. This change can be read against the background of certain constants in his oeuvre, especially his view of literature as being nonconformist. This article aims to describe this change by referring to a number of relevant texts. In conclusion the role of “context” as a determining factor for the potential impact of literature is considered.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Manifestations of Seeman’s theory of alienation in Pat Barker’s Regeneration (1991)
    (University of the Free State, 2010) Senekal, Burgert
    English: This article examines how Seeman’s theory of alienation (1959) and contemporary interpretations thereof in Geyer (1996), Kalekin-Fishman (1998), and Neal & Collas (2000) in particular, manifest in Pat Barker’s Regeneration (1991). It is argued that Regeneration, Barker’s best known novel, set at Craiglockhart War Hospital during the World War I, provides a specific perspective on alienation in times of war. The article discusses the ways in which Seeman’s notions of powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and social isolation manifest, and it is argued that the most prominent aspect of Seeman’s alienation in this novel is powerlessness.
  • ItemOpen Access
    J M G Le Clézio se L’Africain praat Afrikaans: kroniek van ’n kennismaking in die taalpaar Frans-Afrikaans
    (University of the Free State, 2012) Morgan, Naòmi
    English: In 2008 the Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded for the fourteenth time to a French author, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. Although several of his texts are available in English, German and Swedish, until recently, Afrikaans-speaking readers were dependent on Dutch to read the keystone of his oeuvre, L’Africain. On the one hand, the 2010 publication of Die Afrikaan by SUN PReSS serves as a case-study of the position of French/Afrikaans literary translation. On the other hand, the mainly autobiographical text constitutes essential reading for the recognition of themes, events and characters also appearing in other Le Clezian novels. Mapping the various steps in the publication process revealed certain of Le Clézio’s language reservations which can only be explained by thematic links to other similar, autobiographical novels in his oeuvre, interviews with the author and the insights of the best-known authorities on Le Clézio. It is a unique case of the translation process shedding light on the deeper meaning of a literary text.