Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication)

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(Em)bodying the linguistic landscape: affect, language and space
(University of the Western Cape, 2024) Kapa, Koketso; Peck, Amiena
This dissertation is an exploration of the contemporary discussion of the body in Sociolinguistics. This discussion is undergirded by two important texts: Peck and Stroud’s (2015) Skinscapes and Bucholtz and Hall’s (2016) Embodied Sociolinguistics. In these two papers, the authors argue for an analytical focus in contemporary sociolinguistics, which focuses more squarely on the body. Thus, this dissertation is an exploratory effort at contributing to this discussion. This dissertation suggests that based on previous research, it is an analytical strength to incorporate affect into analysis, when focusing on the body. In a moderate response to the theoretical questions offered in preceding studies, the dissertation utilises affect in analysis to highlight that when we focus on the body in research, our understanding of its role [the body] is enhanced by incorporating affect. The dissertation highlights how the detailed understanding of how communication unfolds is dependent on an analytical focus on the body, in combination with affect. In order to do this, the study focuses on three unique ‘bodily’ case studies which occurred on the South African media landscape during 2016 – 2018. In all three case studies, embodiment is present, though to varying degrees. The study relies on a qualitative research design to investigate these three cases, utilising Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis as the core analytical toolkit. The overall argument of the dissertation is that the focus on bodies and embodiment is best paired with a focus on affect, as affect is shown to be a guiding principle in communication in these studies. A moderate argument for affect is advanced, as previous studies do indicate that a sole focus on the body is productive on its own. Engaging affect when studying embodiment then, is a suggested method for providing a more nuanced, detailed explanation of how communication unfolds.
�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.
A comparative analysis of phonological and morpho-syntactic variations in Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga languages in Zambia
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Siame, Pethias; Banda, Felix
The study compares the phonology, morphology, and syntax of Lungu, Mambwe, and Namwanga (LuMaNa) languages which are less documented, and very little is known about their grammar. The purpose is to account for their linguistic structure to outline their grammar and design their orthographies. The study is informed by descriptive and comparative Bantu phonological and morpho-syntactic theories. Data were collected using comparative, elicitation, and document analysis methods to account for grammatical variations in the three languages. The study shows that LuMaNa languages have more phonological similarities than variations in terms of vowel quality. Regarding consonants, LuMaNa languages have twenty (20) consonantal segments which display minimal variations in terms of form. The nominal structure of the three languages also shows more similarities than differences.
Scaffolding reading comprehension for engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology � A translanguaging framework
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Rodrigues, Theodore Ronald; Antia, Bassey
The study examines the cognitive affordances of translanguaging as a resource for scaffolding Engineering texts written in English for English Additional Language (EAL) students in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DEECE) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. It focuses mainly on the reading and task-related experiences and performances of students working with academic English and multilingually scaffolded (translanguaged) Engineering text settings. With this, the study consists of three phases guided by a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach, i.e., an exploratory phase and two experimental phases. These phases were constituted by focus-group discussions with interviews, questionnaires, and reading comprehension tests.
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.
The semiotics of the mosque and its impact on self-perceptions of the feminine body
(University of the Western Cape, 2023) Shaikjee, Mooniq; Stroud, Christopher
From its inception, the primary focus of the field of Linguistic Landscape Studies has been the interplay between language and space, or language on display. Recently, however, scholars have begun to consider the human element of linguistic landscapes (LLs), and include the body in their work [See for example Stroud and Jegels (2014), Peck and Stroud (2015), Peck and Banda (2014)]. This thesis aims to contribute to the ongoing development of the field of linguistic landscape research from focusing primarily on text and signage to looking at linguistic and semiotic landscapes in relation to the body. The study does so by investigating how the semiotic and linguistic landscapes of the South African mosque influence Muslim women's perceptions about their bodies, their feelings of belonging in the mosque, and their ideas about Muslim womanhood. Several methodological tools are used to achieve this, including walking interviews with South African Muslim women, photographs of signage and architecture from thirty South African mosques, and autoethnographic narratives and reflection.
History of southern sotho literature as system, 1930-1960
(University of the Western Cape, 1991) Maphike, P.R.S; Swanepoel, C.F; Lenake, J.M
Distinct from the traditional text analysis whereby little or no attention is paid to factors controlling the emergence and being of a text and their possible input, and studying certain recognised authors and recognised works, the systemic approach conceived by Youri Tynjanov, devised by ltamar Even-Zohar and simplified by Jose Lambert, seeks to recognise the main structures of literary systems and structures in their evolution by taking into cognizance literary phenomena and their general relationships with other literary and artistic systems. This hypothesis replaces the usual collection and analysis of data on the basis of their material substance with a functional approach that is based on the analysis of relations. Literary texts are viewed against the total background of the author and the total circumstances which lead to and controlled their production
Beyond difference: A textual and interactional analysis of Afrikaner�s language use and identity in Cape Town
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Roets, Carla Trudie; Williams, Quentin
In a post-national South Africa, spaces are transforming to accommodate multilingualism and address structures of sociolinguistic isolationism and exclusion. In such a transformative society embracing multilingualism is an integral component of challenging the hierarchization of languages and redressing the vulnerabilities of historically marginalized speakers to contribute to social transformation. However, there has been an increase in social enclaves in certain South African communities, concomitantly less open to embracing linguistic diversity over the years. This thesis investigated one instance of linguistic isolation, namely an Afrikaner enclave that has organized itself around the affirmation of linguistic human rights.
Semiotics of spatial citizenship: Place, race and identity in post-apartheid South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2022) Mpendukana, Sibonile; Stroud, Christopher
This thesis uses the work of Frantz Fanon as a perspective to anchor an analysis of semiotic material deployed by students during the #Shackville protests at the University of Cape Town in 2016. Through the notion of Linguistic Citizenship (Stroud 2001) as a decolonial lens, and as a means to account for a myriad of communication tools � linguistic, semiotic materials and the body - as language in the broad sense, the thesis weaves together Fanon and Linguistic Citizenship to grapple with the chronotopic links that time, space and bodies have with the past and the present in South Africa.
A sociolinguistic and multisemiotic analysis of mobility and identities in Hangberg, Hout bay
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Witbooi, Sharmaine; Banda, Felix
The thesis is titled a Sociolinguistic and Multisemiotic Analysis of Mobility and Identities in Hangberg, Hout Bay. The guiding idea of this research project is to explore the contesting social and semiotic processes of transformation in Hangberg since the transition towards post-apartheid in South Africa. One of the objectives of this study is to probe how Hangberg and its people are (re)constructed in the media and virtual spaces (Facebook, and newspaper articles) as well as in the physical linguistic/semiotic landscapes (LL) of Hangberg. The researcher uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) and conceptual tools such as resemiotisation and remediation to capture and understand the socio-ideological construction of the people of Hangberg through a mesh of verbal as well as visual language / signs in the virtual and physical semiotic landscapes.
Multilingual teacher-talk in secondary school classrooms in Yola, North-East Nigeria: Exploring the interface of language and knowledge using legitimation code theory and terminology theory
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Bassi, Madu Musa; Antia, Bassey E.
It has been noted by Lin (2013) that studies on multilingual talk, as illustrated by code switching in the classroom, have been repetitive and descriptive, and have for a while not been underpinned by substantially new or different questions (Lin, 2013:15). First, many of the studies in the literature have, for instance, concluded that there is a functional allocation of languages (FAL) in multilingual classroom teacher talk (e.g. Baker, 2012; Martin, 1996; Probyn, 2006, 2014; Jegede, 2012; Modupeola, 2013; Salami, 2008), such that language �a? is used for presentational knowledge, and language �b? is used for explanatory knowledge, and these claims have not been subjected to sustained scrutiny. Secondly, codeswtiching and translanguaging increasingly have been the dominant and exclusive frameworks used, and this has limited the kinds of insights that can be obtained or the kinds of questions that can be posed.
Multilingualism in late-modern Cape Town : a focus on Popular Spaces of Hip-Hop and Tshisa-Nyama
(University of the Western Cape, 2012) Williams, Quentin E.; Stroud, Christopher
In highly mobile societies, the voice and agency of speakers will differ across contexts depending on the linking of forms and functions. This thesis is thus about the complexities introduced to the notion of (form-function linkages) multilingualism in late-modern globalizing and mobile Cape Town in transition. Essentially, it takes its point of departure in the idea that multilingualism is a 'spatial concept', i.e. the form that interacting languages take, how they are practiced by speakers and how multilingualism is perceived, is determined to a large extent by the affordanees of particular 'places'. In order to research this, I postulate that a major parameter in the organization and differentiation of places is that of scale. The thesis studies two research sites that can be considered as diametrical opposites on a scale from local (descaled) to translocal (upscaled), namely Hip-Hop performances at Stones, Kuilsriver, and Mzoli's Meat at Gugulethu. Although both sites are found in local townships, they differ in terms of their basic semiotics. That is to say, to what extent the interactions, physical spaces, and activities, are infused with local meaning and local values (downscaled in the case of Hip-Hop) - granted this may be a problematic concept - and to what extent the semiotics of place areoriented towards upscaling or transnational values and practices (upscaled in the case of Mzoli's Meat). Each of these sites is characterized in terms of the assemblage of trans modal semiotics that contribute to defining it as a place of descaling and upscaling (buildings, linguistic landscapes, patterns of interaction and movement and posture, stylizations of selves, artifactual identities (car makes, et cetera). We find that the Hip-Hop site is 'predominantly' local in branding, in who participates, and in the linguistic landscape and the aesthetics of photographic embroidery. Mzoli's Meat, on the other hand, with its ATMs, sit-down-for-tourist-spaces, and international website, is very much more upscaled. A discussion of 'normative orders of multilingualism' pertinent or dominant in each site is also provided. Thus in the local or descaled site of Hip-Hop, a core ordering of multiple languages is in terms of economic value (consumption) with respect to what each language, or variety of language, contributes to 'keeping it real', that is, creating 'extreme locality'. Repertoires are 'ordered' - discussed - and seen to evolve and gain value in terms of a particular social trajectory of speakers, namely their trajectory and history - as temporally narrated - towards becoming a Hip-Hop head and a key actor in 'keeping it rear. In the context of Mzoli's Meat, the semiotics of the upscaled market generate talk about and perceptions of multilingualism in terms of the translocal encounter -linguistic/multilingual repertoires are seen as relevant to, or organized along the lines, of the temporary encounter, and in respect to the value of the languages in facilitating translocal engagements (Dutch, English). Thus, we note how the notion of repertoire is a fluid concept that can be organized and talked about in relation to different standards, trajectories, determined by normative orders of different scaled spaces. Returning to the key question addressed of how these spaces are semiotically constituted and how they constrain or 'prototypically' facilitate particular kinds of voice and agency in more detail, the thesis introduces key concepts of performance, stylization, entextualization and enregisterment. A key feature of doing or constituting places from spaces is the kind of interactions, participants and linguistic eonstruals/productions that take place there. In a highly multilingual society, places/spaces are often normatively contested or contestable. The theoretical concepts provide the framework for charting how different personae are voiced through, that is, entextualized and stylized in the interaction of different languages (in relation to the normative order or in how the combination of languages in voices and their competition more or less successfully enacted or perform the personae/voice), and how these voices/personae are enreqistered, thatis, the competitive processes in the linguistic conventionalization of the voices, and in the simultaneous construction of the downscaled and upscaled spaces. Thus, in the Hip-Hop context, the multilingual voices are designed to produce local personae, whereas in Mzoli's Meat, the performed personae on linguistic display are various and normatively transgressing, emphasizing polycentric normativities as against the mono centric normativity of the downscaled and extreme local context. Enregisterment is shown in the Hip-Hop context to be driven by the construction of extreme locality, whereas in Mzoli's Meat, the performance by the comedian of translocal and mobile voices serve to enregister a translanguaged variety of multilingualism. Thus, we see here how different normative orders of multilingualism (that is different values, forms and combinations oflanguages) that are afforded by the scaled nature of particular places, are layered into and through different social personae or voices. In fact, it is the (semiotic) work in stylizing and entextualizing these voices, and in enregistering them that help produce these differently scaled places (in conjunction with other semiotic means as noted above). How then do these findings inform the issue of linguistically mediated agency in mobile societies? Much politics takes place outside of the formal spheres and institutions of society. Popular spaces are central political sites where a variety of everyday micro and macro-sociopolitical issues are dealt with. In this thesis, we find among other issues dealt with is that 'authenticity' within the Hip-Hop context is a predominant issue, and in Mzoli's Meat, the social political issues of the day are racialized encounters and their implications. In each of these sites, language and multilingualism is paramount in (a) positioning political interests (through personae and voices) and (b) in contesting and working through the normativities of the place in question. Thus, agency emanates from the ability of the speaker to appropriately position the (linguistically mediated) voice/personae in a contested and scaled space in a way that this voice becomes enregistered, and thus legitimated and 'heard'. This is a process of possible transgression - or at least competition - on the one hand, as well as creative 'conformity' or repetition of registers and repertoires according to fluid, constructed normativities. What this then reveals is the value of a concept of linguistic or multilingual citizenship, which is here taken to refer to the agency constituted through non-institutional means where language negotiations are transgressive and central to the creation of a normative order of (local) voices. Therefore, this thesis provides an insight into the complexities of agency (en registered, scaled voice) in mobile, multilingual and scaled Cape Town.
Kaapse Afrikaans
(University of the Western Cape, 1983) Klopper, Rembrandt. Marius; Eksteen, L.C.
This study entails an analysis of the inherent grammatical and phonological variation which are characteristic of Cape Afrikaans. On the basis of the inherent variation which is documented in the preliminary part of this study, the relationship between inherent phonological variation and language change is analyzed by means of a deductive validation procedure in the central part of it. In the first ..chapter the epistemological basis of this study is set out, and a review is given of various empirical validation procedures, and criticism of linguistic analysis by means of deductive validation is evaluated. The research methodology, i.e. the field work and quantification techniques for the deductive analysis of Afrikaans� cassette recordings of 139 Cape Afrikaans respondents is documented in chapter two. In the third chapter it is argued that the proposed analysis of inherent linguistic variation and langu�ge change can best be conducted within the framework of the sociocultural context of pragmatic language use rather than within a theory of linguistic competence The fourth chapter commences with a brief review of the various domains of language change and is followed by evidence from a wide variety of languages which suggests that sociocultural factors play a major role during language change. The chapter is concluded with the proposal that language change can best be studied within the framework of linguistic -variation which William Labov pioneered. The fifth chapter consists of a review of phonological, lexical and syntactic variation inherent in cape Afrikaans. The findings of this study are reported in the sixth and final chapter. The study concludes that inherent linguistic variation forms the basis for the sociocultural stratification of Cape Afrikaans and that tt also serves as the mechanism for linguistic change in this variety of Afrikaans.
A study of the ideational metafunction in Achebe�s things fall apart: A monogeneric corpus-based analysis
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Kapau, Humphrey M.; Banda, Felix
This study investigates the ideational metafunction in Achebe�s Things Fall Apart in order to explore the characterisation of Okonkwo, Unoka, Ezinma, Ekwefi and Mr. Brown. The study confines itself to the following objectives, namely, to identify process-types attributed to characters; identify the transitivity patterns embedded in process-types attributed to characters; establish the significance of transitivity patterns attributed in the characterisation; and establish the significance of process-type collocations in projecting the development of characters in the story. The present undertaking is drawn from the theoretical frontiers of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and the analytical lens of transitivity model, backed by the methodological locale of Corpus Linguistics (CL). The study reveals that although Okonkwo, Unoka, Ezinma, Ekwefi and Mr. Brown are attributed material processes (MaPs); mental processes (MePs); relational processes (RePs); and verbal processes (VePs), significant differences exist not only in how the allotted process-types are mapped per character but also on how they impact on characterisation.
A social semiotic analysis of mini-bus taxis as mobilescapes in Cape Town
(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Matsabisa, Mathapelo; Banda, Felix
Linguistic Landscape (LL) is a rapidly growing area of investigation that concerns itself with the attention to language, cultural objects and images displayed in public spaces. Prompted by caveats of the earlier traditional studies which included counting the visibility of languages, the fixity of signs, coupled with methodological issues that lacked data triangulation, new approaches emerged. In this present study, framed as A Social Semiotic Analysis of Mini-Bus Taxis as Mobilescapes in Cape Town, specific inquiry about the emergence of language use through an analysis of the evolution of messages that are inscribed on taxis that transport people within Cape Town and between Cape Town and other cities around South Africa is made to disentangle these caveats.
An exploration of texture in Ghanaian undergraduate students� essays
(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Amoakohene, Benjamin; Banda, Felix
As an official and second language in Ghana, English is used as a medium of instruction in the Ghanaian educational setting, especially at the university level. Therefore, for Ghanaian students to go through their university education successfully, they should be able to demonstrate competence in the usage of English. However, time and again, there have been series of complaints from most English language teachers about the Ghanaian students� lack of dexterity in writing cohesive and coherent texts. The present study, therefore, has as its aim to explore texture in first-year Ghanaian undergraduate students' essays (GUSEs). This focus is achieved through four main specific objectives. Thus, the study accounts for (1) the types of cohesive devices (2) the cohesive errors (3) the disciplinary variation in the type of cohesive devices and cohesive errors and (4) the thematic progression patterns in the essays of these first-year Ghanaian undergraduate students. To achieve these objectives, I use the Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective to text analysis, specifically the metafunction of texture as projected by Halliday (1967, 1970, 1985, 1994, and 2004), Halliday and Hasan (1976), Martin and Rose (2003) and Martin (2015).
Siding and �translanguaged siding� in lecture halls: an ethnography of communication at the University of the Western Cape.
(University of Western Cape, 2020) Forbes, Coral Joan; Antia, Bassey E.
The study set out to investigate siding and translanguaged siding as an under-researched student-to-student communication which happen parallel to teaching. Lemke (1990) defines siding as student-to-student talk while the teacher is teaching, and Antia (2017) defines �translanguaged siding� as student-to-student talk in a language or combination of languages that is different from the LoLT. In this way, siding encapsulates �translanguaged siding�.
Reading and writing across cultures: Using a social literacies approach to account for the experiences of Libyan students in South African higher education
(University of the Western Cape, 2020) Burka, Turkeya Burka Ali; Bassey, Antia
Internationalisation or the �process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service functions of a higher education institution� (Knight 1997: 8) has become an important aspect of the domination of higher education institutions. In South Africa as in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Canada, there have been dramatic increases in the numbers of international students. Research shows that the majority of these international students experience various difficulties when the academic culture of the host environment is different from that of the home environment in many respects (Al-Murshidi, 2014; Abukhattala, 2013). The present study employs a social approach to academic literacies (Barton and Hamilton, 2000) to examine the academic reading and writing practices of a group of Libyan students in South Africa (against the backdrop of the home academic culture). Using both quantitative and qualitative methods (Creswell and Plano, 2011), data were collected and analysed to address reading and writing across Libyan and South African academic cultures. The sources of data include Facebook discussions, focus group discussions, questionnaires, documents (such as policies of UWC relevant to my study), and interviews with selected UWC officials. Thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data whereas SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data.
A social semiotic approach to multimodality in the Vagina Varsity YouTube campaign series
(University of the Western Cape, 2019) Roux, Shanleigh Dannica; Peck, Amiena; Banda, Felix; Williams, Quentin
This study investigated the semiotic resources used by Vagina Varsity, a campaign by sanitary towel brand Libresse on the social media platform YouTube to construct meanings around the female body. Vagina Varsity is a South African online advertising campaign on YouTube which marketed their sanitary products, whilst educating, as well as breaking the social stigma, around the black female body. In this study, YouTube was utilized as a space in which to analyze online identities and communication. The study was located within the field of linguistic landscape (LL) studies, including the sub-field virtual linguistic landscapes (VLL), later reformulated as virtual semioscapes. The conceptual framework was undergirded by multimodality/multisemioticity and feminist theory. The study used a mixed methods approach to data collection, and used a virtual linguistic ethnography (VLE) framework to collect the data sources, which included YouTube videos, YouTube comments, and emails. A focus group interview was also conducted, where the Vagina Varsity videos were shown to a group of diverse youth at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. The embodied discourses which emerged, as well as the discourse strategies of the commentators, were multimodally analysed. The study found that the Vagina Varsity course makes use of multiple modes, including embodied semiotics such as gestures and stylizations of voice, visual modes such as cartoon figures, as well as the strategic use of sound. In addition, the study found that educational content and marketing strategies are both embedded in this campaign, with the educational content overshadowing the advertising aspect. It is for this reason that the YouTube comments and focus group interview were centered on the program itself and not the advertisement. Furthermore, when looking at the medium this campaign used, one sees that the virtual space allows for the teaching of taboo topics, which would not be allowed in traditional educational domains. The virtual space is not only bridging the knowledge gap in the topic of sex education, it also bridges the gap between different communities, as the YouTube comment section allows for people to interact across regional, national and even cultural boundaries. This study also found that Vagina Varsity not only recontextualized the educational genre, but they have also recontextualized the production and consumption of a topic which would otherwise be considered taboo. In terms of the implications for the study, one finds that the stigma that is attached to this subject is removed from this content. Although one cannot say for certain that this type of education will take over the African traditional initiation ceremonies for girls, for example, it can be used to complement some of the content that traditional counselors and social workers use to teach young African women. The fact that the program is formalized in a curriculum that can be found online opens up possibilities for open dialogue across cultures and nations in terms of feminine hygiene. This study contributes to the field of Linguistic Landscapes studies, with specific focus on virtual linguistic landscapes. The study also illustrates that the affordances of the online space allows for a hybrid edutainment space where people can learn about topics which are considered taboo in the domain of formal education. This study also extends the concept of multimodality, by including notions such as semiotic remediation and resemiotization, as well as immediacy and hypermediacy, as tools of multimodal analysis. This study also contributes to studies on gender and sexuality.
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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