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Item Open Access The poetry of R. F. Ratshitanga: a critical evaluation of the poetry of protest(University of the Free State, 1983-10) Milubi, Ntshavheni Alfred; Mathivha, M. E. R.In chapter one, definitions are given on what poetry and poets are, whereas in chapter two, an emphasis is put on imagery in Ratshitanga's poetry. His imagery clarifies the object of his description. It helps readers to re-live the inhumane situations in which they find themselves. Chapter three deals with symbolism which enriches and intensifies hi-poetry. It perforce his inner feelings. This is meant to evoke latent emotions in the readers. Symbolism is followed by his artistry and technique in chapter four. These are used to project his protest against the ills of his society. In chapter five, Ratshianga's protest in his poetry awakens people to self-awareness. It shakes them from their sleeping stupor. The last chapter evokes a feeling of social responsibility in everybody. Ratshianga shows that every man has a right to throw away the shackles that bind him and cause bitterness in his life.· He maintains that the attainment of freedom is not only an individual task, but a concerted effort that must pervade any societal set-up.Item Open Access Structural analysis, significance and interpretation of Sesotho folktale: Phokojwe(University of the Free State, 2011-02) Mokoena, Lynette Sellwane; Malete, E. N.This study project focuses on one Sesotho folktale called "Phokojwe", (The jackal). All characters are animals and the subject is about water preservation and its challenges. This folktales will be considered within the Syntagmatic Structural approach, where the text is described in chronological order as reported by the story teller, and within the Paradigmatic structured approach, where patterns underlying the Folkloristic text is not a requested structure, but where elements are regrouped in a more analytical manner to manifest latent content within the text. It is this latent content that this study will employ to depict how this folktale can be used to interpret the socio-political situation in real life. This research study further intends to argue that Sesotho folktales are not bound to time and space; they can be employed to interpret the current economic and social happenings. They have depth in that there is an underlying message from which people can learn about African values and social norms. In this folktale, 'Phokojwe', the significance of democracy is depicted, the practice of preserving water is the central subject, voluntarism, human weakness and bribery prevail.Item Open Access The structural analysis and interpretation of Sesotho folktale: Mokoko le Phakwe(University of the Free State, 2012-01) Nthako, M. S.; Malete, E. N.Folktales are literally forms that reveal the soul of any society; they express its wishes, desires, hopes and beliefs about the world. They are often ancient, have fictitious characters and situations and mostly oral traditions before they were written down. According to the South African folklore journal, 'African folktales are in their very nature plain, and primitive in their simplicity; not adorned with the wealth of places and precious stones to be met with in the folklore of more civilized nations, but descriptive in great measure of the events of everyday life, among those in a low state of civilization; and with the exception of evidence of moral qualities, and of such imagery as is connected with the phenomena of nature , very little that is grand or magnificent must be looked for in it'. The central aim of this study is to indicate through Vladimir Propps's Morphological Analysis of Russian Folktales (1927) that African folktales, in this case Sesotho folktales, have much to look for with regard to Sesotho folktales, called'Mokoko le Phakwe' (The Cock & the Hawk) The analysis of this folktale will be considered within the Syntagmatic structural approach, where the text is described in chronological order as reported by the story teller , and within the Paradigmatic structured approach, where patterns underlying the folkloristic text is not a requested structure , but where elements are regrouped in a more analytical manner to manifest latent content within the text. It is this latent content that this study will employ to highlight the importance of oral literature to our daily lives, to highlight how Sesotho folktales can play a major role in the interpretation of socio-economic situations in the lives of African people even today.Item Open Access Patriarchal expressions in modern selected Sesotho novels: a feminist perspective(University of the Free State, 2021) Mosia, Tseko Isaac; David, Letlala Bahedile; Malete, Elias NyefoloThis research work entitled, Patriarchal expressions in modern selected Sesotho novels: A feminist perspective, is about the ill-treatment that women are subjected to in society through the system of patriarchy and some of the traditional cultural values which oppress them. Chapter one is an introduction that deals with the background of the study, research methodology, statement of the problem, review of literature, significance of the study as well as aims of the study. Chapter two presents a theoretical framework focusing on feminism, African feminism, gender, patriarchy, culture and characterisation. In this chapter, the study shows how patriarchy as a system that oppresses women, should be challenged. Feminism is discussed as an approach which is concerned with how women are treated in society. Feminists believe that society is subjected to a patriarchal culture which promotes men at the expense of women. As a result, feminists challenge the ills of patriarchy in society and the equality of men and women. Women should not be treated as second- class citizens but should have equal rights as men. African traditional cultural values which oppress women are strongly challenged by African feminists. The third chapter deals with how male and female characters are portrayed in the novel, Bophelo ke dihaeya. Female characters are portrayed in negative terms. Characters such as Lefulesele, Dilahlwane, Ntswaki and Mmakgotso are portrayed as evil, sex objects, powerless and submissive to their male counterparts. Male characters such as Kotleng and Matsekane are portrayed as powerful, leaders, manipulative and dominant over women. In the fourth chapter, the novel, Hei! Ke tsamaile, is analysed. Senganangana is authoritative and has no respect for his daughter, Sepapatlele, and considers her as weak, dumb and a failure. He does not encourage and support her, instead he demoralises her and treats her as a slave. He chases Sepapatlele away when he discusses his son’s academic achievement and tells her that she is a good-for-nothing person and will not reach the high academic standard of his son. Sepapatlele is used as a sex object by Snoeky and Bolokwe. When Sepapatlele realises that she is pregnant, she flees to KwaZulu-Natal out of fear of her father. She does not succeed there and goes back home. The last chapter is the conclusion and observations of the study.Item Open Access Factors constraining Grade 12 learners’ achievement in Sesotho Home Language(University of the Free State, 2016-10) Khetoa, Soyiso Godsave; Motsei, A. S.English: This study was undertaken upon the realisation that Grade 12 learners at a Secondary School in the Xhariep District throughout the years continued to promote Sesotho Home Language, however, their academic performance in the subject is disquieting. Given that learners have been proficient in Sesotho and have been using the language for purposes such as elicitation of knowledge and communication for almost two decades, the expectation is that learner’s cognitive knowledge of the language is sufficient to have learners achieve more that it is apparent. This study set out to find out both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors constraining meritorious learner’ achievement in Sesotho Home Language in Grade 12. The study employed a qualitative research approach, using three varying methods for data elicitation: questionnaires, interviews and observation. The data for this study was gathered from learners, parents and a single teacher. The study found out that factors impeding meritorious achievement in SHL include amongst others the inability of parents to voluntarily and constantly help learners with school work, learners attitude towards SHL, the unavailability of reference sources for learners, and linguistic factors such as learners tendency of using multi-codes in their speech has affected their ability to maintain monolingual speech especially in SHL lessons, thereby limiting learners’ Sesotho vocabulary. It has also been established that using methods such as code switching and code mixing have negative impact on learner’s education for the language under study. Recommendations aimed at addressing identified factors have also been proposed.Item Open Access The role played by sesotho texting as a mode of communication of married Basotho people in Lesotho(University of the Free State, 2017-01) Tiheli, Mamorema Lydicia; Motsei, A. S.English: The study aimed at identifying and exploring the roles of text messages among married Basotho staying in Maseru urban, Lesotho. In order to address the purpose of the study, the qualitative research design utilising semi-structured questionnaires and face-to-face interviews were used. The sample of participants comprised ten married people in Maseru urban in Lesotho. A thorough statistical analysis of the roles of text messages through the theory of Textual Analysis was conducted to understand the issue of text messages among married Basotho. Findings from this study indicated that texting among some married Basotho consolidates relationships while in others brings about marital conflicts. With regard to recommendations, the study recommends the good use of texting.Item Open Access End rhyme as a device in Southern Sotho poetry: a comparative inquiry(University of the Free State, 1989-11) Lesoro, Ephraim Alfred Shadrack; Gildenhuys, J. G.Abstract not availableItem Open Access The sequence of derivational and inflectional morphemes in selected Sesotho word categories(University of the Free State, 2015-11-25) Nhlapo, Moselane Andrew; Malete, E. N.English: This study examines the sequence of Sesotho derivational and inflectional morphemes in open class word categories (verbs and deverbative nouns). It examines how these morphemes are ordered and based on Greenberg’s universal clause, which states that ‘if both the derivation and inflection follow the root, or they both precede the root, the derivation is always between the root and the inflection’ (Greenberg 1963:93). This statement has been tested in Sesotho word categories such as verb phrases and deverbative noun phrases. A brief description, classification, linear and hierarchical arrangement of Sesotho grammatical morphemes have been given in terms of the XBar theory and Beard (1995)’s, Lexeme-Based – Morphology as a background theory to contextualise the analysis of the sequence of Sesotho lexical morphemes. Sample word categories were chosen from Sesotho noun class list, and a range of Sesotho word categories were selected from the list and analysed to determine the sequence and various combinations of derivational and inflectional morphemes. It has been observed that inflectional morphemes in verbs are always amid the root and the closing vowel known as the verbal end. Secondly, it has been observed that when inflectional morphemes appear with derivational morphemes in the formation of a new word category, the derivational morphemes, in this case noun prefixes, always appear at the beginning of the word as in (Mosebeletsi [Worker]), and also appear at the end of the word as in this example (Tshwarelo [Forgiveness]). This study argued that Sesotho as one of the agglutinative languages, employs noun class prefixes as nominal derivational morphemes, which appear at the beginning of the noun and it also employs locative suffixes [-eng] to form locative nouns which function as adverbs. The suffix [-eng] therefore also functions as derivational morpheme but in this case it appears at the end of the noun locatives. This study therefore concludes that Sesotho does not conform to Greenberg’s (1963) universal statement.Item Open Access The forms and functions of negation in Sesotho(University of the Free State, 2016) Masowa, Aaron Mpho; Malete, Elias NyefoloThe central aim of this research is to find out as to whether the three negative morphemes /ha/, /sa/ and /se/ and one negative word /tjhe/, can perform different functions of negation as stipulated by Schaefer and Masgbor (1984) in the Ibie language. This research will argue that these Sesotho negative categories can perform such functions. The investigation of the functions of negation will be conducted within the psycholinguistic framework of Bloom (1970) while various forms of negation will be investigated within the Generative approaches, and in particular, Beard’s (1995) Lexeme-morpheme based morphology, and the Principles and Parameters theory will be employed to examine the distribution of these morphemes. The following negative morphemes expressing various functions such as non–existance, rejection, denial and prohibition will be explored within copulative verbs and non copulative verbs: i) non-existence morphemes, ii) rejection morphemes, iii) denial morphemes, iv) prohibition morphemes and the negative word which will be reffered to as v) the exppressive negative word.