Research Articles (Linguistics)

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Shh, hushed multilingualism! Accounting for the discreet genre of translanguaged siding in lecture halls at a South African university
(De Gruyter Mouton, 2017) Antia, Bassey E.
Translanguaged siding is the term used here for the relatively under-researched phenomenon of student-to-student communication occurring in parallel to the teacher-talk, but using language and other semiotic resources that differ from the teacher's in order to shape understanding of the teacher's meanings or to make other meanings. This article draws on Fishman's reflections on his now famous 1965 question Who speaks What language to Whom and When?, and on Bakhtin's work on dialogicity to examine the dynamics of semiotic choice in translanguaged siding as well as its functions in the experience of multilingual students at a South African University. Data obtained from recorded interviews, a questionnaire survey and documentary evidence allow for establishing that (1) there are complex chains of correlation involving subsets of identified siding variables, and (2) translanguaged siding can be supportive of learning, contrary to associations of siding with Malinowskian small talk.
Diagnostic assessment of academic reading: Peeping into students’ annotated texts
(MDPI, 2022) Antia, Bassey E.; Vogt, Karin
Text annotations are literacy practices that are not uncommon in the reading experience of university students. Annotations may be multilingual, monolingual, or multimodal. Despite their enormous diagnostic potentials, annotations have not been widely investigated for what they can reveal about the cognitive processes that are involved in academic reading. In other words, there has been limited exploration of the insights that signs (verbal and non-verbal) inscribed by students on texts offer for understanding and intervening in their academic reading practices. The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the diagnostic assessment potentials of student-annotated texts. On the basis of text annotations obtained from teacher trainee students (n = 7) enrolled at a German university, we seek to understand what different students attend to while reading, what their problem-solving strategies are, what languages and other semiotic systems they deploy, what their level of engagement with text is, and, critically, how the foregoing provide a basis for intervening to validate, reinforce, correct, or teach certain reading skills and practices. Theoretically, the study is undergirded by the notion of text movability. Data suggestive of how students journey through text are argued to have implications for understanding and teaching how they manage attention, use dictionaries, own text meaning, and appraise text.
Researching teacher multilingual-talk and student-benefits: Rethinking knowledge blindness, diglossic cognition and its constructs
(Routledge, 2024) Antia, Bassey E.; Bassi, Madu M.
Although supported by different ideologies of language, code-switching and translanguaging are, surprisingly perhaps, united in some of the claims made in their names. In the literature on classroom practices, one shared claim is that content is simplified for students when the teacher uses features enregistered as the non-official classroom language/s in a way that overlaps with and/or complements features enregistered as the official classroom language. Functional allocation of languages/features, a corollary of this claim, arguably interpellates what may be termed diglossic cognition. The problem with this diglossic cognition is that it is largely knowledge-blind and equates cognition with the mere use of particular languages or features. This study finds that there are both language and knowledge variables in teacher multilingual-talk that explain students’ enhanced cognition, and, therefore, invites a rethink of the unnuanced connections made between language (feature) choice and cognition.
Multilingual assessment: Levelling the cognition–emotion playing field at the University of the Western Cape
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2021) Antia, Bassey E.
This article examines the relatively understudied question of how cognition and emotion (as induced by language) interact in assessment situations in higher education contexts. It does so against the backdrop of different outcomes for students with varying forms of linguistic cultural capital in South African higher education. Applying phenomenology as methodology, we unpack the ways in which students at the University of the Western Cape experience both monolingual and multilingual assessment from the standpoint of the cognition– emotion interface. The findings show that while monolingual assessment created affective barriers to cognition, a far more enabling environment was created by the provision of alternative multilingual linguistic arrangements. The article reflects on the implications of the analysis both for levelling the playing field in a context where language is a major source of inequality and for scholarship on language in assessment.
University multilingualism: A critical narrative from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa
(Routledge, 2015) Antia, Bassey E.
This article offers a narrative of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, from the prism of the duality of language as a co-modality (with people, protest, policy and practices) for constituting the institution in whole or in part and as a reflection of its co-modalities. For its framing, the narrative eclectically draws on language politics and policy, a grammar of multilingual landscapes and the epistemology of linguistics. Besides contributing to a historiography of university language policies, the narrative has implications for language policy analysis.
Some methodological issues in language research: Dealing with transcribed interpreted courtroom data
(Academic Publishing Pte. Ltd., 2023) Svongoro, Paul; Kufakunesu, Patson
Transcription is a crucial tool in language research, particularly in discourse analysis, as it provides a distillation of real-time interactions. In the 21st century, researchers are increasingly interested in studying authentic data samples, such as audio-recorded court hearings, to turn evanescent speech into readable and analysable formats. However, transcription involves a complex process of theoretical or methodological issues about language, making it a rich source of examinable data. Researchers need to develop adequate methodologies to make such data available for their research endeavours. This exploratory research presents transcription as a methodology for researchers interested in language and ethnographic methods, addressing critical considerations such as the data to be transcribed, the transcriber responsible, and how to represent it. The paper explores innovations in transcription and presents the benefits and challenges of transcription as a methodology, particularly in language research.
The discriminatory practice of language testing for authenticating citizenship: An analysis of operation dudula through a forensic linguistics lens
(North-West Unversity, 2024) Docrat, Zakeera
This article utilises both the theoretical and practical lenses located in the discipline of forensic linguistics to examine the practice of administering language tests to applicants for citizenship in South Africa, considering the prevailing policies and practices in an international context, and concludes that they should be avoided. In this interdisciplinary article I outline the South African constitutional and legislative provisions affecting language testing and language proficiency when applying for citizenship in multilingual South Africa. In this paper I discuss the linkages between language, citizenship, and xenophobia, building on the work by Brits, Kaschula and Docrat on the role of language in xenophobic attacks and protests. I argue that language tests for immigrants in the South African context perpetuate Apartheid-era thinking, policies and practices. This creates linguistic inequality and contributes to racial tensions and divisions in communities rather than creating social cohesion and equality for all. The article provides a case study of operation dudula, where language is being used to carry out xenophobic acts under the banner of citizenship. A brief comparison is drawn with Ryanair airlines' language tests for South African citizens.
Campus repertoires: interrogating semiotic assemblages, economy, and creativity
(De Gruyter Mouton, 2024) Simungala, Gabriel; Ndalama-Mtawali, Deborah
Framed within the broader theoretical context of social semiotics, we attempt to show how university students communicate using a variety of unique means, in particular social contexts. We privilege Pennycook and Otsuji’s semiotic assemblages, Jimaima and Simungala’s semiotic creativity, and the notion of semiotic economy as critical ingredients that conspire to give rise to the unique and complex coinages and innovations constituting students’ repertoires. We argue that, born out of creativity, the students’ repertoires are semiotically and economically charged discourses that generate extended narratives such that more is realized with less. We show that this reality undoubtedly constitutes a multi-semiotic meaning-making endeavor that enacts and sustains students’ imagined and lived experiences in real sociocultural, historical, and political spaces in the multilingual landscapes of university campuses.
Co-constructing identities and ideological positions in conversational storytelling among friends
(Taylor & Francis, 2024) Awungjia, Ajohche Nkemngu
Research has shown that identities and ideologies result from a complex interplay between various social, cultural and psychological factors, such as socialisation, shared experiences, cultural backgrounds and institutional practices in media, education and family. However, due to this tendency to focus on macro identity categories and macro-level ideological processes, more research is needed on how these categories and ideologies are co-constructed and operationalised within micro contexts, such as between friends. In doing so, we can explore the malleability of ideologies and identities as individuals (re)negotiate their beliefs and affiliations over time, often within micro, everyday activities. Using ethnographic methods and a practice approach to narrative, this paper shows how the analysis of conversational practices, specifically storytelling, can provide a window into the granular semiotic and discursive processes through which group identities and ideologies are (re)negotiated in mundane everyday discourse. The analyses of naturally occurring conversations between friends in Cape Town, South Africa, show that, through the use of constructed dialogue and other evaluative devices, interlocutors jointly negotiate complex alignments and positions in relation to a variety of social issues and ordinary occurrences, simultaneously and implicitly (re)establishing or (re)defining their group positionalities and ideologies.
Influence of load shedding in South African higher education: a qualitative content analysis of schools of music
(Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2024) Yende, Sakhiseni Joseph
Load shedding in South Africa has a profound impact on various sectors, including education, and specifically, South African music education faces significant disruptions. One of the most notable effects is the interruption of music instruction, with load shedding frequently causing classes to be interrupted. This leads to gaps in learning and a disjointed educational experience for students. The aim of this article was to investigate the influence of load shedding on South African higher education, particularly in schools of music. The study utilized a qualitative research method and relied heavily on secondary data. It employed a data cleaning strategy and a triangulation approach to ensure data validity and minimized bias. Additionally, critical pedagogy theory was used to address the exacerbated socio-economic disparities resulting from load shedding. The findings of the study highlighted that before the onset of load shedding, South African music education already faced an urban-rural divide, with urban institutions having better resources and opportunities than rural schools. Load shedding exacerbates these disparities, as students from disadvantaged backgrounds face increased barriers to accessing musical instruments and supplementary resources. In conclusion, the study emphasized the urgent need for concerted efforts to mitigate the impact of load shedding on music education. It underscored the transformative potential of inclusive, uninterrupted music instruction for students in South African rural-based schools of music.
Editorial: The centralization and racialization of language policy: implications for the ‘below
(MDPI, 2024) Khetoa, Soyiso; Mantoa Motinyane
The significance of language policies cannot be overlooked, particularly in countries where political ideologies influence perceptions about the use of various languages in various domains. Due to political influence certain languages are regarded as ‘languages of the state’ and others are perceived to be ‘languages in the state’. Language practices during apartheid in South Africa were very influential in deciding the plight of indigenous African languages
Approaches to interpreting emojis as evidence in South African courts: a forensic linguistic perspective
(Routledge, 2024) Docrat, Zakeera; Kaschula, Russell H
This article highlights the importance of emojis as evidence in courts of law. The article outlines the history of emojis from a global perspective, and how they have come to be used as a form of implicit and explicit communication. The global inconsistency of the interpretation of emojis is explored against the backdrop of multilingualism and multiculturalism. This creates complications when emojis are presented as evidence in both criminal and civil cases. All of the above is explored in relation to South African courts, and emojis are examined as part of the discipline of forensic linguistics. The Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25 of 2002 (ECT Act) provides guidelines on the rules of admissibility pertaining to data messages and other electronic communications, and is used for the interpretation of emojis as evidence in courts. Recommendations are made regarding the use of emojis as evidence in courts of law.
dalawhatyoumust: Kaaps, translingualism and linguistic citizenship in Cape Town, South Africa
(Discourse, Context & Media, 2023) Toyer, Zaib; Peck, Amiena
In 2016 Wayde Van Niekerk, a South African athlete of mixed-race heritage won an Olympic gold medal. In South Africa, his win caused hashtags such as #proudlysouthafrican, #blackexcellence and #colouredexcellence to trend online. By and large, these hashtags index the ongoing competitive discourses regarding nationalism, race and culture in Cape Town (cf. Author, 2018). Amongst these hashtags, however, was #dalawhatyoumust, a Kaaps hashtag generally meaning to �do what needs to be done�. Unlike the aforementioned hashtags, this one seems to cross the linguistic and racial divide despite its strong associations with Coloured1 people on the Cape Flats. The seemingly effortless uptake of this hashtag by diverse South Africans suggest that it has somehow become unmoored of its ethnic and linguistic inception. We explore the use of this Kaaps hashtag as a form of translingual practice which is affect-laden and trans portable across and between diverse users online and which promotes a particular �cool Capetonian� culture. Analyzing select posts from the #dalawhatyoumust thread on Facebook, we provide a nuanced look at #dala whatyoumust as an uplifting genre which proleptically advises nameless viewers of the importance of selfactualization, determination and aspiration. Additionally, we include Goffman�s (1974) framing foundation to investigate how positivistic discourse has been rhizomatically taken up by a �realm� of implicit collective users online. This research interrogates long-held ideological boundaries between Kaaps and legitimized Standard Afrikaans and standard English. We conclude with a focus on Kaaps hashtags as semiotic acts of Linguistic Citizenship (cf. Williams and Stroud, 2013) which allows for the conjoining of Kaaps with diverse audiences, complex trajectories, and an assortment of accompanying semiotics. Following Stroud (2018:3) we argue that this Kaaps hashtag has become a form of languaging that facilitates ��the building of broad affinities of speakers that cut across�divisions and borders, and that negotiate co-existence/co-habitation outside of common ground in recognition of equivocation�. In South Africa, division was the order of the day and when we explore contemporary ordinary moments posted by heterogenous users using #dalawhatyoumust (henceforth #dwym) we aim to explore the ordinariness of languaging which brings people together despite their race, linguistic background, and ethnicity, that is to say an affinity of �cool Capetonian� style.
The centre for multilingualism and diversities research at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa
(University of the Western Cape, 2014) Stroud, Christopher
There is an urgency in theorising how diversity is negotiated, communicated, and disputed as a matter of everyday ordinariness that is compounded by the clear linkages between diversity, transformation, voice, agency, poverty and health. The way in which difference is categorised, semiotised and reconfigured in multiple languages across quotidian encounters and in public and media forums is a central dynamic in how poverty and disadvantage are distributed and reproduced across social and racial categorisations. In the South African context, finding ways of productively harnessing diversity in the building of a better society must be a priority. The South African context with its history of apartheid and on-going contemporary post-apartheid transformation is a veritable laboratory for the study of forms of conflict and conviviality in diversity. South Africa is a society characterised by historical displacements and contemporary mobilities, both social and demographic, where a large part of people�s daily life involves negotiating diversity, dislocation, relocation and anomie, while at the same time attempting to pursue aspirations of mobility in a context of continuing inequity.
Streaming difference(s): Netflix and the branding of diversity
(SAGE Publications, 2023) Asmar, Axelle; Raats, Tim; Van Audenhove, Leo
Since 2020, Netflix has emphasised the diversity of representation the platform provides through its content. Following the publication of its diversity report, the streamer positions itself as a driver of inclusion for underrepresented communities in film and television industries. This article examines how Netflix rhetorically frames the emphasis on diversity in its corporate communication. Based on a thematic analysis of Netflix�s press releases, it explores how Netflix uses its branding of diversity to generate a transnational appeal. The article outlines four strategies which highlight the cultural and industrial practices deployed by the streamer to gain competitive advantages. In 2021, Netflix published its first diversity report detailing the make-up of its talents across all US commissioned films and series released between 2018 and 2019. The report shows that, overall, Netflix is outpacing the global entertainment industry with regards to the representation and inclusion of underrepresented groups.
Legitimization and recontextualization of languages: The imbalance of powers in a multilingual landscape
(John Benjamins Publishing company, 2023) Simungala, Gabriel; Jimaima, Hambaba
We use the uneven distribution of languages in the public spaces of the University of Zambia and the voices and narratives that emerge to argue for legitimization and recontextualization as critical components in the presence and contestations of languages. Using data from interviews and photographs of signage in place, we show legitimization of foreign languages in which English, Japanese, and Chinese forge a place of linguistic contestation and legitimization through control and superiority. We argue for the apparent hegemony of foreign languages and the striking paucity of monolingual signage of indigenous languages as the imbalance of powers. While the former shows the influence of the global in the local, the prospects for the latter continue to diminish as their chances and opportunities as linguistic capital for wider/global communication do not look so favourable. We conclude with the glaring reality of recontextualization as capital for the display of indigenous inclined discourses
�� Oi, oi! � you must go by the right path�: Mofolo�s Chaka revisited via the original text
(University of Pretoria, 2016) Krog, Antjie
Thomas Mofolo never defended himself against accusations that his novel Chaka distorts historical facts to express anti-Nguni sentiments under the guise of Christianity. But in a way he foreshadowed the possibility of it, by including as part of his novel a sentence which has become one of his most analysed: �But since it is not our purpose to recount all the affairs of his [Chaka�s] life, we have chosen only one part which suits our present purpose�. Mofolo does not elaborate on what he means by �our present purpose�, but simply continues with the story. By focusing on the original Sesotho text, indigenous Zulu customs, African philosophy and the diversions from historical facts, this article explores other possibilities for what could have been Mofolo�s �present purpose�.
Birds and bees, the �r� word and zuma�s p*nis: censorship avoidance strategies in a south african online newspaper�s comments section
(Springerlink, 2019) Mokwena, Lorato
Although linguistic practices in online platforms continue to receive fair scholarly attention, limited research has been conducted on online censorship avoidance strategies in South Africa about online newspapers. We use notions of semiotic remediation on comments on two articles on a nude painting of former South African President Jacob Zuma in a popular South African online publication, SowetanLive, to show how the commentators creatively avoid censorship and to operationalise their right of freedom of expression. Particularly, we show the various ways commentators transform and recontexatualise existing semiotic affordances of punctuation marks, letters, digits, South African English, indigenous South African languages and cultural knowledge to achieve new and extended meanings while simultaneously avoiding censorship
Corpus-based interpreting studies: Early work and future prospects
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2022) Bendazzoli, Claudio; Sandrelli, Annalisa
This manuscript investigates to what extent the use of corpora could help translation trainees while translating from Arabic into English and vice versa. Forty Yemeni trainees, who were enrolled in an advanced course in Arabic-English translation during the academic year 2020, participated in the study. They participated in translation projects from which the data for this study was collected, using thinking aloud protocols and computational observation. The translation process was investigated using the translation process software Transalog, an eye-tracking software and the screen recording software Screen-O-Matic. This kind of computational observation enabled a researcher to discover the extent to which the participants were able to employ corpora in their translation projects. At the end of the study, the participants were given a questionnaire with the aim of finding out their perceptions toward the use of corpora in their translation projects, and toward the project-based training approach adopted in the study. The findings of the translation process indicated that the trainees employed various kinds of corpora in their translation projects. Results from the questionnaire showed that the trainees have very positive attitudes toward the progress in their instrumental translation sub-competence, the utilization of corpora tools, and the project-based training approach adopted in this study.
Diagnostic assessment of academic reading: Peeping into students� annotated texts
(MDPI, 2022) Antia, Bassey E.; Vogt, Karin
Text annotations are literacy practices that are not uncommon in the reading experience of university students. Annotations may be multilingual, monolingual, or multimodal. Despite their enormous diagnostic potentials, annotations have not been widely investigated for what they can reveal about the cognitive processes that are involved in academic reading. In other words, there has been limited exploration of the insights that signs (verbal and non-verbal) inscribed by students on texts offer for understanding and intervening in their academic reading practices. The aim of this exploratory study is to examine the diagnostic assessment potentials of student-annotated texts. On the basis of text annotations obtained from teacher trainee students (n = 7) enrolled at a German university, we seek to understand what different students attend to while reading, what their problem-solving strategies are, what languages and other semiotic systems they deploy, what their level of engagement with text is, and, critically, how the foregoing provide a basis for intervening to validate, reinforce, correct, or teach certain reading skills and practices. Theoretically, the study is undergirded by the notion of text movability. Data suggestive of how students journey through text are argued to have implications for understanding and teaching how they manage attention, use dictionaries, own text meaning, and appraise text.

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