General Linguistics

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Browsing General Linguistics by Author "Munyadziwa, Mosibudi Aretha"

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    Analysing the promotion of indigenous African languages through social networks in South Africa
    (University of Zululand, 2020) Munyadziwa, Mosibudi Aretha
    Languages remain a tool that allows human beings to communicate and provides foundation for a vigorous and multicultural interaction. The introduction of platforms that aid communication across different communities caters for languages to flourish. Coming second to emails as the most popular communication tools, social networks remains the most preferred platforms for both informal and formal communication. In South Africa, social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other chat-zones, are widely used by speakers of different indigenous African languages. However, it is uncertain if these platforms can be tools of promoting indigenous African languages. Therefore, this study sought to understand the promotion of indigenous African languages on social networks. South Africa has 11 official languages, however, this study focused on five namely; isiZulu, siSwati, Sepedi, Tshivenḓa, and Xitsonga. The languages selected are spoken in three different provinces. IsiZulu has the most speakers, followed by Sepedi, Xitsonga, siSwati, and Tshivenḓa, respectively. These languages have been equally promoted by the central government of South Africa and there is need to understand the relationship between social networks and indigenous African languages. This dissertation analysed the promotion of indigenous African languages in South Africa using social networks. This study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first objective assessed the growth of indigenous African languages and their use in social networks. The second objective compared the use of isiZulu, siSwati, Sepedi, Tshivenḓa, and Xitsonga languages among each other on the social networks. The third objective investigated the promotion of isiZulu, siSwati, Sepedi, Tshivenḓa, and Xitsonga languages through social networks. Both objectives one and two used cross-tabulation while the third objective used thematic analysis. The sample size of 384 respondents was randomly sampled according to their first language and were tendered with a questionnaire. The study was conducted in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa. The quantitative research findings revealed that people’s interaction on social networks has become a vital aspect of corpus development. The qualitative research revealed how the respondents’ choice of social networks affects how language is used. While most of the respondents prefer using the English language on social networks, they code mix. vi Access to websites that support indigenous African languages is limited due to irrelevant and insufficient content. Languages, including indigenous African ones, have been redefined and new words have been created. Lexicographers, Terminographers and PanSALB should therefore use social networks to for their research purposes. The study recommends the use of indigenous African languages on social networks and the continuous integration of words developed on social networks on daily use. Furthermore, government should play its role of promoting indigenous African language
University of Zululand