School of Human Sciences and Education

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A contrastive error analysis on the English essays of Oshiwambo speaking students: A case study
(European Journal of Linguistics, 2024) Haimbodi, Kandishi-Omupika Ndeshipandula; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
Purpose: The aim of this study was to thoroughly analyze and evaluate the grammatical errors found in essays written by second-year students, with a particular focus on Oshiwambo-speaking students. By contrasting the errors made by these students in their English essay writing, the study employs contrastive error analysis to examine how the mother tongue, Oshiwambo, influences the acquisition of English as a second language. The research delves into various linguistic levels, including lexical, morphological, syntactic, and grammatical aspects, to identify patterns of interference from the students' native language. This detailed exploration not only highlights the specific challenges faced by Oshiwambo-speaking learners but also provides a nuanced understanding of how native language structures shape second language learning. The findings offer valuable insights into common areas of difficulty, which can be used to improve language teaching strategies and support more effective learning outcomes for bilingual students. Methodology: The research initially involved 317 students, employing a qualitative exploratory design. From this group, 54 Oshiwambo-speaking students from NUST's Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Sciences were purposively selected to complete a standardized assessment script. The evaluations focused on three key objectives: word formation processes (prefixation, suffixation, insertion, reduplication, and verb structure), syntactic errors (noun and verb tense errors, subject-verb agreement), and grammatical competence (comparative analysis of Oshiwambo and English structures, syntactic differences, and sentence constructions). Findings: The evaluation of the assessment scripts yielded significant insights aligned with the research objectives. First, the analysis of word formation processes revealed a detailed understanding of prefixation, suffixation, insertion, reduplication, and verb structure, underscoring their fundamental role in linguistic construction. Secondly, the identification and analysis of syntactic errors provided critical findings on common mistakes, particularly in noun tense, verb tense, and subject-verb agreement, highlighting recurring patterns of error. Lastly, the examination of grammatical competence facilitated a comparative analysis between Oshiwambo and English language structures, revealing notable syntactic differences and variations in sentence construction. These findings not only emphasize key contrasts between the two languages but also reinforce the importance of targeted linguistic interventions for improved language acquisition and proficiency. Unique contribution to theory policy and practice: This study makes a distinctive contribution to linguistic theory, policy, and educational practice by deepening the understanding of word formation processes and their variations between languages. By analyzing prefixation, suffixation, insertion, and reduplication, it offers fresh insights into the mechanics of language structure, enriching theoretical perspectives on language formation and bilingualism. The identification of common syntactic errors, particularly in noun and verb tense, as well as subject-verb agreement provides crucial data that can shape language education policies. This knowledge equips policymakers with the ability to design targeted interventions that address specific linguistic challenges, particularly in multilingual contexts. Furthermore, the comparative analysis of Oshiwambo and English language structures offers practical guidance for educators, enabling them to tailor teaching strategies to address the unique syntactic challenges faced by bilingual learners. This research, therefore, serves as a vital resource for both theoretical development and the practical enhancement of language instruction and policy formulation.
A functional stylistics interpretation of “Losing Out” by Mutaleni Nadimi
(Voice of the Publisher, 2024) Salom, Susana Ndapewa; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
The paper presents a Functional Stylistics interpretation of a short story “Losing Out” written by a Namibian author Mutaleni Nadimi. The study followed a Systematic Functional Linguistic framework in which it recognises the three metafunctions of language: ideational metafunction, interpersonal metafunction and textual metafunction. These components were used to analyse how the writer used language to create meaning. The study used a content analysis method to gather findings, present and analyse findings. The findings show that Mutaleni has used elements of the three metafunctions of language as per the Functional Linguistic theory. The study concludes that there are many Namibian writers who emerged after independence and their work needs recognition. Literary and linguistic studies should be utilized to encourage contemporary and aspiring writers, as well as readers to understand local literary work.
A Study of the level of endangerment of !Kung as spoken in Namibia.
(Aisthesis Verlag, 2025) Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
This study investigated the level of endangerment of !Kung (San language variant) as spoken in Corridor 17, Aranos and Amenuis localities of Namibia. The aim of the study was to protect, preserve and promote !Kung as an indigenous Namibian language and the cultural practices of its users. The study team conducted in-depth interviews, focus groups and distributed questionnaires and collected and later digitized 39 cultural expressions at the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) library. The study team managed to study 41 households in !Kung speaking settlement areas only. The study concluded that !Kung is vulnerable, meaning although most children speak the language, it has been restricted to home domains. Outside these localities, there are noticeable indicators that !Kung is endangered, meaning children no longer learn the language as a ‘mother tongue’ at school level and the number of its users has dwindled. In order to revitalise !Kung and the culture, this study recommends seven strategies: 1) revitalizing !Kung and the culture through teaching !Kung folklore, 2) training !Kung speaking research assistants and teachers to utilise the existing San research outcomes, 3) contextualising and teaching !Kung historical narratives in the context of primary instruction, 4) introducing and promoting !Kung indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and herbal life in !Kung classes; 5) organising !Kung story telling events at Chief Sofia Jakobs Primary School, 6) integrating !Kung folk art, folk songs, and traditional games in the !Kung instruction; 7) transforming !Kung endangered cultural practices into theatrical productions. In line with these linguistic and ethnographic strategies, the study also strongly recommends that the Namibian Ministry of Education introduce !Kung as a medium of primary instruction and as a subject in Corridor 17, 18, Amenues and Aranos localities of Namibia. The language can be accorded with the status of endangered Namibian language which can be preserved, protected, promoted and revitalized.
African hybrids: Exploring Afropolitanism in 'Ghana Must Go'.
(NUST, Department of Communication, 2014) Ucham, Emelda
This article explores the representation of Afropolitanism in Taiye Selasi’s debut novel Ghana must go (2013). The purpose of the article is to explore Afropolitanism using Selasi’s (2005) essay “Who is an Afropolitan?” as a benchmark. Selasi blends the words ‘Africa’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ in her essay, which discusses the fashion, dance style, and nationality of the Afropolitan, but she does not discuss themes in literature. She coined the term because she was never satisfied with the answers she gave when she was questioned about her identity. This article draws on two main theoretical approaches, the first being the diaspora and transnationalism theory, addressing concerns of people who have re-patriated in search of self-development through work or studies; the second theoretical approach is the hybridity as creolisation theory, which addresses the concerns of people born in Europe or the West to purely African ancestors or with one of the parents of a different ethnicity. The article reveals the following themes that pertain to Afropolitanism in Ghana must go (2013): cultural hybridity, careers, identity formation and an African bond, thus demonstrating that Afropolitanism does not relate only to fashion, dance style and art, but its exploration is also relevant in literature. This article contributes to knowledge of the world as a global village, but more specifically the international integration of cultures as expressed in literature, not only in the African diaspora, but in Africa as well.
African proverbs and conflict management: A study of selected Shona, Oshiwambo, Yoruba and Swahili proverbial expressions.
(2013) Makamani, Rewai
This study employs a Dialectical – Relational Approach to analyse selected Shona, Oshivambo, Yoruba and Swahili proverbs in a bid to show that African proverbs have vast potential in mitigating and possibly preventing conflict that has ravaged the continent thus almost threatening to reverse gains made in economic, political, educational and social spheres in recent years on the continent. Informed by Ubutuism, the study argues that African proverbs have a role to play not only in the economic development of the continent, but also in maintaining positive social relations with the rest of the world as is demanded by modern diplomacy and the quest for dignified social existence. In the study, I reveal that the Aristotelian three proofs of ethos, pathos and logos are inherent in African proverbs and can be used in all spheres of life in modern Africa to add value in education, commerce, politics and socialization systems both for the youth and adults. The study makes a critical analysis of proverbial expressions that deal with love, respect, endurance, care, goodwill and humility to reveal not only how proverbs should inform African education systems, but that their incorporation in many spheres of life would provide answers to vices such as greed, brutality (e.g. killing of people for various reasons), lack of ethical conduct, lack of respect for adults, sexual promiscuity and corruption. A purposive sampling of proverbs has been employed in this study.
Ambivalence in Parts Unknown and The Lie of the Land: a post colonial approach
(Namibia University of Science and Technology, 2021-03) Masiziani, David Masene
Africa was colonised and subjected to brutal colonial rule. Namibia, is no exception, in fact, the country went through two brutal colonial powers; imperial Germany, and the South African regime, which subjected Namibia to an apartheid rule, a localised form of colonialism fitted to oppress Africans. Between the two, the imperial German rule was crueler, resulting in genocide. The 1904-1908 genocide by the Germans against the Ovaherero and Nama people of Namibia is a horrible and unforgettable history. This dark history, forgotten and ignored by the Germany government for over a hundred years, has seen much criticism over the resent past year. Many critiques argue that the Germany army committed acts of annihilation, which the current Germany government need to pay reparations for. This history has seen four novels published about it, and hundreds of articles and research papers interrogating the genocide. This thesis explores ambivalence in two of the four published Namibian literary works on this history: Zirk van der Berg’s Parts Unknown (2018) and Jaspar Utley’s The Lie of the Land (2017). These works of literature explore acts of rape against black women by the German army, acts of discrimination and inferiority complex painted on the natives by ‘superior’ Germany. They record acts of annihilation aimed at depopulating the country of its natives. They record a slaughter of innocent women and children, and unarmed surrendered men. The study explores the shifting nature of the relationship between the coloniser and the colonised. It traces the ambiguities by examining the language used by the characters, and the cruel descriptions of the colonial war. The aim of this research is to enable the reader to understand how colonisation impacted the relationship between blacks and whites. This is a qualitative, desktop study grounded on Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial concept of ambivalence as its theoretical framework.
An analysis of cognitive metaphors in contemporary Namibian Literature on the Nama-Herero Genocide of 1904-1908
(Aisthesis Verlag, 2025) Hafeni, Linus. N.; Sabao, Collen; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
The study sought to undertake a cognitive analysis of the Nama-Herero genocide in Jaspar David Utley’s The Lie of the Land (2017) through the theoretical explications of cognitive metaphor. Through examining a Namibian fictional imaginary from a cognitive metaphor perspective (Sperber & Wilson, 1986), the themes and styles of the text were explored to understand how cognitive tools and processes influence linguistic choices in the construction of collective memory and collective experience. The study analyses the selected text using the cognitive stylistics framework. The selected novel was chosen because it presents the Nama-Herero genocide which took place from 1904 to1908 where over 65,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama people died in what is known as the first genocide of the twentieth century. The study promotes new discourses on cognitive stylistics studies of Namibian literary works. The study is significant to researchers and readers as it is a useful reference tool for students, politicians and researchers conducting studies in the field of cognitive stylistics. Cognitive linguistics argues that a particular situation in a literary text can be interpreted in different ways. Observations from nuanced readings of the text indicated that theme in the selected text largely centres on the natives’ experiences of the genocide during this period of colonial occupation and encounter. This was achieved through the examination of literary creativity through the use of cognitive metaphor referring to genocidal trauma as well as to mental and physical oppression. It was concluded that reading, analysing and schematising genocidal fictional work can reflect a negative past for current world citizens to understand and adopt ways that can be used to prevent genocide.
An analysis of English errors made by NUST students.
(NUST, Department of Communication, 2010) Krishnamurthy, Sarala; Kangira, Jairos; Tjiramanga, Alexandra; Beukes, Bronwen
The focus of this study is errors made by students using English at the NUST. An investigation into errors and their causes peculiar to Namibia is significant insofar as it enables the researchers to develop a methodology in teaching to help students avoid committing mistakes that they make normally. This study, therefore, has far reaching implications in English language teaching and pedagogy in the country.
An analysis of the influences of discourse in the anthology: 'Zimbabwean Poetry in English'.
(2010) Makamani, Rewai
This article reviews the book "Zimbabwean Poetry in English", compiled and introduced by Kizito Muchemwa.
An analysis of the strategies used to communicate human rights to women in the informal settlement of Greenwell Matongo in Windhoek
(Namibia University of Science & Technology, Faculty of Human Sciences, 2017-06) Tjiramanga, Alexandra; Newaka, I M
This paper examines the communication of human rights by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare to women. It presents the communication channels used and assesses the women's knowledge and awareness level of human rights in the community of the informal settlement Greenwell Matongo in Windhoek, Namibia. Namibia's statistics regarding violation of women in Africa are high. Therefore, the violation of human rights of women in marginalised areas has become a major concern. We argue that it is important for every woman to know their basic human rights regardless of where they live and their level of formal education. As such, it is important that the most appropriate media of communication be engaged in order to disseminate the messages effectively to its intended audience. The study posits that relevant communication channels and information are vital in addressing and subsequently combating violation of human rights. This necessitates the need to educate the victims about where to go and what action to take should one be violated. Finally, this study advocates the best approaches to communicate issues on human rights to the most marginalised in an effort to reach and educate every citizen.
An analysis of the use of English prepositional phrases in the essays of selected first year students at the Namibia University of Science and Technology
(Namibia University of Science and Technology, 2021-03-19) Natanael, Martha Tyiningwa
The aim of this study was to analyse the use of English prepositional phrases (PPs) in the essays of selected first year Bachelor of Human Resources Management students at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The use of PPs are a key constituent of sentence structure. The study used the qualitative method for data collection and analysis. A total of 50 handwritten essays were collected from first year students who were studying towards their Bachelor of Human Resources at NUST. It is important to stress that handwritten essays, as compared to computer assisted typed essays, present realistic feedback on how the study group use PPs. Computers are likely to correct all grammatical aspects of the essays, thereby providing unrealistic data. The transformational generative grammar theory was applied as a framework for the study. The study adopted a descriptive study method because it was the most suitable approach, considering that the study looked at how words are combined to form phrases, with the main emphasis on the study of PPs. The convenience sampling method was used for data collection as it allows the researcher to collect data from a conveniently available pool of respondents. The study findings revealed that there are two types of PPs that were used in the students’ handwritten essays, namely the adjectival and the adverbial. The study further established six functions of PPs, applicable to the analysis of essays. Lastly, the study revealed that the analysis of syntactic ambiguities in PPs can help to clarify the punctual meaning of a PP. The study concluded by recommending that a functional syntactic study of students’ essays can be conducted to analyse other parts of speech such as the noun phrases, verb phrases or even the function of pronouns. In addition, a morpho-syntactic analysis of prepositional phrases and their ambiguities in the essays can be studied. The study further recommends that a contrastive analysis of the use of English prepositional phrases in comparison with prepositional phrases in indigenous languages can also be studied.
Assessment in practice: A case study of the NUST and the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in the Netherlands.
(NUST, 2011) Niikondo, Andrew
This paper examines the problem of splitting views on assessment methods at the NUST. This problem led to some lecturers being unaware of what assessment method is relevant to their courses. The paper evaluated the literature on major assessment categories of formative (continuous) and summative (exam-based) using a comparative case of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) in the Netherlands and the NUST. The major finding is that assessment methods stipulated in the NUST Prospectus are not clear. This has resulted in a gap between the assessment methods and even questions the objectives of the courses. The paper recommends that the Prospectus Regulations should be revisited to make the assessment methods strong. With a momentum towards increased strong hybrid assessment it is appropriate to assess the correlation between student performance in continuous assessment work and in more traditional end of course written examinations.
Assessment of doctor-patient communication at Adama Hospital Medical College: A symbolic interactionist perspective
(Arsi Journal of Sciences and Innovations, 2021-10-31) Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke; Hundessa, Amare Bayissa
This study followed a symbolic interactionist theoretical framework and positivist paradigm to assess doctor-patient communication at Adama Hospital Medical College (AHMC). Specifically, it assessed the communication competencies of medical doctors (with their own inpatients), investigated how inpatients interact with their doctors and evaluated the major barriers to doctor-patient medical communication. A descriptive, explanatory, and cross-sectional study designs were followed. Out of 66 medical doctors of AHMC, 36 were selected as they were more directly and highly involved with bed-ridden patients in six wards and the remaining 22 were much more occupied with teaching and the management of the hospital and were not readily available for this study. A total sample size of 180 (144 patients + 36 medical) respondents were included. An SPSS 16 was used for presenting quantitative data and emerging themes guided the qualitative data analysis. The study found out that all medical doctors practice greeting socially and treat patients with due respect. The qualitative data indicated that some doctors exhibited communicative competence failures, and some lacked the cultural competence needed to comprehend traditional expressions. Due to heavy workload, some medical doctors show lack of interest. However, almost all doctors confirmed that they show interest in the patient’s ideas about their health. Generally, doctors allocated little time with patients who were not in a very critical situation. Almost all medical doctors assumed that they devoted their time to understand the main health concerns of patients and gave much attention. Those patients from the rural communities were often interrupted because they did not talk about their illnesses openly. This implies that some medical doctors lacked a profound knowledge of cultural communicative competence. Patients used traditional and vague expressions. Factors such as avoiding medical jargons, recounting the next steps, giving much care and concern, apportioning sufficient time, and writing legibly have been considered as major elements influencing medical communication. In the three factors (showing interest, understanding, and giving attention), doctors have been evaluated good communicators. This current study identified communication barriers and their possible causes. Some of these barriers have been caused due to poor communication skills, lack of the proper sense of confidentiality, the misuse or inappropriate use of medical jargons, lack of spacious workspace, language difference, the patients’ low level of understanding sickness, patients’ low level of education, inappropriate use of cultural and vague expressions, poor time allocation, patients’ taking too much time due to unnecessary repetitions, the gap between substantive lab evidence versus oral evidence and lack of family partnership and responsibility. Among other suggestions, the study recommends that the hospital needs to design a communication strategy to address these communication gaps.
Assessment of the linguistic vitality and the status of OluZemba as spoken in Namibia
(European Journal of Linguistics, 2025) Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
Purpose: The main purpose of this study was first to assess and then to determine the linguistic vitality and the status of OluZemba as spoken in the northern part of Namibia. Methods: The study followed a mixed methods approach and guided by the pragmatist paradigm. Above 167 elders in nine rural villages including Ombuumbu, Etunda, Otjovanatje, Etoto, Otjiyandjamwenyo, Okamboola, Etotoa West, Etoto East and Okadhandu were purposively selected following snowball and purposive sampling methods for in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and completing questionnaires. During the FGDs and interviews, OvaZemba elders chose Etanda and Oniyando (circumcision and its ritual) as previously the most cherished cultural practice of the tribe but currently the most endangered cultural value. Following UNESCO's Language Vitality and Endangerment Questionnaire (2003), and Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory of Giles and et al (1977) and Linguistics Citizenship Theory of Stroud (2001). Findings: The study team investigated Etanda rituals and produced the first theatrical play in OluZemba. The study concluded that an observable language shift exists amongst this vibrant community which requires further investigation. The OvaZemba people use their language in an increasingly negligible and reduced number of communicative, business and administrative domains and might cease to pass it on to the next generation. Children are not taught in the language at schools, and many do not know how to read and write. Overall, the investigation has concluded that OluZemba is not a dialect of Otjiherero but a language of its own with its own orthography. It’s highly marginalised in the Namibian context. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: This study will contribute to the implementation of language endangerment, marginalisation, and revitalisation theories. These theories guided the mainstream of the research. Presenting fresh data and evidence from the field, the study will contribute to the Nambian language planning and policy dialogue and so as to table endangered and marginalised languages as policy agenda. Practically, the research recommends OluZemba as a medium of instruction at the primary level. If government fund does now support OluZemba as the medium, Otjiherero should be the next closest language as the medium of primary education.
Beyond values – is Namibia moving away from the legal positivism of parliamentary sovereignty?
(RULCI-Colloquium, 2001-08) Schulz, Stefan
How to make sense of fundamental rights and freedoms in light of constitutional conceptions deriving from political philosophy, namely justice and human dignity? The author addresses the recent judgement of the Namibian Supreme Court Chairperson of the Immigration Selection Board v Frank and Another and asks whether the court's conception of values is compatible with Constitutional Supremacy. Borrowing from Alexy’s Theory of Fundamental Rights, the term value is given another meaning: Values are understood as optimization directives, as principles posited by the constituent assembly, purposively and functionally related to Kant's supreme moral principle; the categorical imperative. Justice is then understood as a feature of society, which is the natural environment of man, it shall signify a society where the individual is taken seriously. Special Fundamental Rights and Freedoms are viewed, as subjective rights emanating from a general freedom right. It is suggested, that the construction of their meanings has to consider that in the negotiation process towards (generic) constitutional provisions for authorizing law citizens live by, truth and justice could only be revealed approximately. The maxim 'in dubio pro libertate', therefore has to be observed when balancing colliding principles - to an extent which is tenable in Light of the social order challenge.
Cause and effect: A stylistic analysis of the story in Ngugi's "A Grain of Wheat".
(2010) Krishnamurthy, Sarala
Analysis of story in narrative fiction poses a major challenge to stylisticians. There are several studies of style in fiction, which are mainly micro-linguistic in nature and focus on certain sections of the novel that is being analysed. But up until today, there are has not been a comprehensive analysis of the story of a full length novel because of the unwieldy form of the novel on the one hand, and, on the other, disagreement amongst scholars about identification of individual units that make up the story and how these units mesh together. Stylistic analysis of story in fiction, therefore, is a contested area of study. Narratologists attempt to describe the deep narrative structure or surface narrative structure of different kinds of narrative forms such as: folk tale, fairy tale, epic, myths, short stories etc. While it is exciting to discover the basic underlying patterns of diverse narratives and identifying the universal structure of narratives from various cultures and climes, the reduction of all narrative to its skeletal form divests the immense variety and incredible complexity of a narrative form, such as a novel. This article is an attempt to develop a methodology for the examination of a composite form of the story of a novel drawing upon insights gained from Stylistics and Narratology. Through this analysis, I hope to prove that it is possible to examine the story of a novel thereby emphasizing textual analysis and empiricism as a rationale for stylistic inquiry. For purposes of illustration, I examine A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong’O , Kenya’s foremost novelist and one of Africa’s greatest intellectuals.
Causes of the underachievement of Grade 12 learners of English: A case study of a rural school in the Oshikoto region, Namibia
(Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), 2016-12) Kamati, N.; Woldemariam, Haileleul Zeleke
This study assessed the causes of the underachievement of Grade 12 learners of English focusing on rural school in the Oshikoto region, Namibia. In January 2016, the Namibian (National) Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary Level (NSSCOL) examination results were announced. The results were slightly decreased in the percentage of graded entries, from 93.9 % in 2014 to 92.9% in 2015. The survey showed that teachers lacked knowledge of subject methodology and knowledge of subject content. Classrooms were overcrowded, creating more challenges for the teachers to assist individual learners. Learners lacked self-motivation and confidence in the subject, as English was stigmatised as a foreign language which was regarded as hard to learn. The school lacked teaching and learning resources. Parental support was not practised as most parents were uneducated. It was recommended that there was a strong need for regular in-service training for teachers, English teaching and learning resources, for emphasising the importance of parental education and awareness sensitisation at all levels. The lower primary curriculum needed to address the second language problems faced by these learners and improve the ways of tackling language difficulties. This included rigid language usage as from primary level (in rural area schools) and, finally, the government needed to build more secondary schools with hostels to accommodate more learners, as this could solve the problem of overcrowding of classrooms.
Celebrating black American women's lives: An analysis of Alice Walker's selected texts.
(NUST, Department of Communication, 2013) Pasi, Juliet Sylvia
From the American Revolution to the present, African American female writers have not only articulated the physical horrors of the female slave, but have also celebrated the black American women’s lives through their works. For Walker, African American women have suffered a triple oppression of gender, race and class. Thus, using the selected texts, this paper will show Walker’s preoccupation with the black American woman, especially the way she is marginalised and subjugated by both the colonial and slave system and her black male counterpart. As an African-American woman, Walker also celebrates the lives of the American black women by giving a voice to the oppressed and voiceless. In her narratives, she criticises both racist and sexist hegemony. This article will show how the women in the selected texts have played a myriad of roles in their search for self-definition and spiritual redemption. In The colour purple, The third life of Grange Copeland, and also in Walker’s essays, In search of our mother’s gardens, she argues that the black women have been notable for standing against oppression and have made significant contributions in the making of the American nation. Hence, this article intends to show that despite being oppressed, African-American women have never succumbed to victimhood. It seeks to examine how Alice Walker celebrates the black-American women’s search for identity and fulfilment through a harmonious coexistence with their men-folk. The article will conclude that Walker transcends binary oppositions to explore the oppressions, the insanities, the loyalties and triumphs of black women’. Through self-expression, her women characters undergo some form of transformation and hence celebrate a sense of wholeness embedded in a viable past.
The chutnification of English: An examination of the lexis of Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children".
(2010) Krishnamurthy, Sarala
Midnight’s Children has been variously described as a Postmodern novel, Post colonial novel, and a novel which uses techniques of magic realism, metafiction and historiography. Having won the Booker Prize, the novel has attracted the attention of many critics for its remarkable use of language and the blending of history and story, fact and fiction and, reality and sur-reality. While the novel has been acclaimed as one of the most ingenious and fascinating piece of writing in the modern age and Rushdie has been described as a “juggler of words” (Narasimhaiah:1995), not many critics have focused on the use of lexical items in the novel. It is my argument that an examination of the lexis of Midnight’s Children within the ambit of Stylistics, will yield a rich dividend, and an analysis and a study of this kind will add new insights not just to the novel but also to the field of lexicology. Lexicologists are mainly concerned with word-formation and multi word expressions in natural language processing. While the analysis and application of lexicology studies tend to revolve around teaching and transfer of culture, an analysis of the kind suggested above would not only extend the field of Stylistics, but also lexicology as well. Salman Rushdie‟s use of the expression 'chutnification' epitomizes his use of language in the novel. “Chutney” is an Indian dish, which is a side dish and tangy, adding flavour to the main course of any meal. “Chutney” is a noun form and is understood as such in English. By adding “-fication”, Rushdie changes an Indian word into an English one to stand for transformation. Therefore “Chutnification” in the novel means transformation of English having an additional connotation of making the language used in the novel tangy and more flavoursome and exciting. An examination of the lexis of Midnight’s Children will, therefore, be a useful exercise in comprehending Rushdie‟s inimitable style, as well as understanding the ways by which a language grows. The study, in other words, will contribute to, in particular, a critique of Midnight’s Children, and also to the fields of lexicology and morphology.
A cognitive linguistic study of trauma in Andrew Niikondo's Are You a Person or a Ghost and Tshiwa Trudie Amulungu's Taming My Elephant
(Namibia University of Science and Technology, 2023-06-01) Mauta, Portia Inonge
The purpose of this study was to conduct a cognitive linguistic analysis of trauma in Andrew Niikondo’s Are you a person or a ghost and Tshiwa Trudie Amulungu’s Taming my elephant. Cognitive linguistics is a scientific sphere that studies the knowledge about the world formed in the human mind, its inner structures, representative methods, and regularities. Cognitive linguistics was examined in three schemata: link, path and balance. The schema theory assumes that the reader of a literary text must possess background knowledge of a literary text to enhance comprehension. The trauma theory was used to complement the schema theory. This study followed the qualitative research approach for data collection and analysis. A content analysis checklist was used as a research instrument; the research data was collected through reading the two autobiographies. A text selection criterion was used to select the two texts that were studied. The two texts were selected among a collection of over thirty Namibian authored autobiographies because the texts outline the content of the problem statement of this study as both authors recount their liberation struggle experiences, cultural shocks, both in exile and after independence, with honesty, emotion, and humour. The study findings revealed that the use of lexical expressions in autobiographical writing can assist in the relieving of traumatic emotions that affect individuals. The study revealed that the image schemas provided for the retrieval of liberation struggle memories of both Amulungu and Niikondo as they narrate their path, link and balance representations of their stories. Mental schemas enable figurative reasoning. The study also revealed that discourse performs persuasion in keeping readers to continue reading the texts. It was concluded that the language used in lexical expressions can predict several aspects of human behaviour. The study further concluded that figurative language is a conduit for imaginative memories that help readers to comprehend autobiographical authors’ viewpoints. While the study acknowledges that the writing of Namibian autobiography has been widely conducted in the English language. The study recommends the translation of these texts of their initial writing in local Namibian languages that can now then be translated into the English language or vice-versa. There are other forms of figurative meaning that cannot clearly be expressed in English as they would in local Namibian languages since the autobiographies are vessels of Namibian culture and histories.

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