Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10566/9827

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Browsing by Author "Bock, Zannie"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    A discourse analysis of selected truth and reconciliation commission testimonies: appraisal and genre
    (University of Western Cape, 2007) Bock, Zannie; Banda, Felix
    This thesis is a discourse analysis of five testimonies from South Africa�s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The aim of the analysis is to explore the ways in which the testifiers perform their identities, construe their experiences of life under apartheid, and position themselves and their audiences in relation to these experiences. The shaping role of context � both local and historical � is also considered.
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    The discursive construction of Kenyan ethnicities in online political talk
    (UNIVERSITY OF THE WESTERN CAPE, 2019) Ondigi, Evans Anyona; Bock, Zannie
    Multi-paradigmatically qualitative, and largely in the fashion of the critical theory, this study seeks to explore how a selection of Kenyans construct, manipulate and negotiate ethnic categories in a discussion of national politics on two Facebook sites over a period of fourteen and a half months, at the time of the 2013 national elections. Kenya has at least 42 ethnic communities, and has been described as a hotbed of ethnic polarisation. The study is interested in how the participants use language to position themselves and others in relation to ethnicity, as well as to draw on or make reference to notions of Kenyan nationalism. The data for this study is drawn from Facebook discussions on two different groups: one �open� and one �closed�. The data also includes participants from different ethnic groups and political leanings. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Engagement and Face-work are used as theoretical frameworks to explore how participants draw on different discourses to construct their ethnicities and position themselves as Kenyan nationals. The analysis also explores how informants expand and contract the dialogic space, as well as how they perform face-work during these interactions. CDA is important since the study examines ways in which participants participate in societal struggles through discourse, as either effectively supporting, sustaining, reproducing or challenging the status quo or power imbalances, especially as members of particular ethnic groups. The theory of Engagement is also important for the study since it helps explain how participants source their value positions and align each other as they open up or close down the dialogic space in their arguments or discussions. The notion of Face-work is used as an important complement to Engagement to further explore the nature of interaction between participants. The data has been analysed in two main ways: linguistically and thematically. The linguistic analysis generally reveals that the participants in the closed group paid much more attention to face-work, and used both expansive and contractive resources of Engagement almost in equal measure, while their open group counterparts tended more towards contractive resources and paid less attention to face-work. The interactions of both groups, however, point to the existing ethno-political mobilisation and polarisation in the country. The study also teases out several extra discursive strategies which it proposes for consideration as possible add-ons to the Engagement framework. Lastly, the thematic analysis reveals new important ways through which participants conceive ethnicity, especially as constituting interethnic relations.
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    Doing friendship: storytelling and playfulness in casual conversational discourse
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu; Bock, Zannie
    This study explores the linguistic construction of interpersonal relationships, specifically friendship. Although we have no control over which families we are born into, we can choose who can be our friend and unlike relationships formed within the workplace, there is no specific institutional context within which friendships can develop. There is also no legally binding agreement between friends as between married people, and there are no conventionalized roles that friends must play as is the case in parent-child relations. Nevertheless, friendship remains one of the most important relationships in people�s lives. Researchers have even argued that within a globalizing and increasingly mediatized world, friendships have gained more significance as more flexible and diverse ways of constructing one�s personal life become available (Spencer & Pahl 2006; Rawlins, 2017; Byron, 2021; Allan & Adams, 2007). This makes the study of the dynamics and processes of friendship within contemporary society fertile ground for harvesting insights into the ways in which the social fabric of the world is being (re)constituted.
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    �We shouldn�t stay in our little bubble� we need to go and swim a bit in other bubbles� an exploration of the theoretical, pedagogical and social dimensions of functional multilingual learning in a Brussels primary school.
    (University of the Western Cape, 2023) Foster, Nell; Bock, Zannie; Tyler, Robyn
    Background: I begin this thesis by completing the original quotation that lends itself to the title. It came from Myriam (a pseudonym), a ten-year-old girl born in Brussels to Ethiopian parents. She used a mix of French, Amharic and Tigrinya with her parents and three siblings at home, although her preferred and strongest language was French, the language she used everyday at school. Her statement was in response to my question about whether it was more important for her to share her languages with her peers or to learn and find out about theirs; her answer isemblematic of many of the questions I seek to address in this research.