Tessa Dowling
Biographic Data
| ID | 140879 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Tessa Dowling |
| GIVEN NAMES | Tessa |
| FAMILY NAME | Dowling |
| SIGNATURE | DOWLING T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cape Town |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5547-2924 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Some Missionary-Influenced Early Borrowed Words and Names in Xhosa
The contemporary proliferation of borrowed words in Xhosa must be seen as part of a historical process of borrowing, each stage in the process representing a particular orthographic development and contact situation. Research indicates that a large proportion of words that entered the Xhosa lexicon in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did so because of missionary influence in the fields of Western commodities and conventions, instituti…
Chukwimah, Ignatius
Article Review of Sexual Humour in Africa: Gender, Jokes and Societal Change, edited by Ignatius Chukwumah. Published by Routledge (Routledge Contemporary Africa Series) 2022 was published on January 17, 2023 in the journal HUMOR (volume 0, issue 0)
The language of Wakanda
The focus of this article is to provide a linguistic description of the ‘language of Wakanda’ – a non-existent, fictional language that the makers of the Hollywood science-fiction blockbuster Black Panther represent by using isiXhosa. Our data is collected from the script, subtitles and linguistic performances of isiXhosa by the actors in the film. While cultural and media studies are germane to the discussion, they are not our primary focus, alt…
Complexities in the process of translating research documents in cross-cultural settings
In multilingual societies, where researchers and participants often do not speak the same language, research is a challenge as a mismatch of understanding between researchers, research instruments and participants often occurs. Reporting on the translation process is crucial because of the potential implications for the validity of the data that follow from it. We aimed to report on the complexities of such a translation process and many consider…
Leveraging Language
This paper assesses the effectiveness of essay tutorials offered to first-year economics students at the UCT (University of Cape Town) in their first language (L1). All students in the study are first-language speakers of an African language. Firstly, using propensity score matching, we econometrically assess the impact of these tutorials on studentsâ€TM essay marks. Although our sample size is small [n=220], our findings provide preliminary evid…
Working towards Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Speech Assessments for South African Children
There is a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate tools for assessing the speech and language development of South African infants and toddlers, particularly those who speak southern African Bantu languages. This article sets out to describe our experiences of the pre-pilot phase of the Xhosa adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs). To this end, a background to the CDIs is provided, as well as dis…
Ndifuna i meaning yakhe’
A Grade 4 English language teacher in a township school in Cape Town, South Africa, in her quest to equip learners with new target language resources, is not held back by the perceived boundaries dividing named languages. Instead she employs language in creative and goal-directed ways that we believe have not received enough focused linguistic attention in scholarship. While recognising the importance of research into code-switching, code-mixing …
"Mnandi-licious!" trends in African language usage in South African television advertising
Advertisements in African languages are generally confined to radio, and in that medium are factual, dialogic and direct. When used in television advertising, however, South Africa’s indigenous languages, particularly those spoken by the largest number of people in South Africa (Nguni languages), play a less informative role, being employed rather to index a concretised African essence, African identity or urban style, or a particular reified pos…
The potential consequences of informal interpreting practices for assessment of patients in a South African psychiatric hospital
Translated for the dogs
To what extent do official and non-official signs in Cape Town reflect a multilingual society in which all languages are declared equal? What are the languages and the varieties of language used in official Cape Town signage? What languages are used in Cape Town's tourist areas? What languages are used by informal businesses in townships? This article sets out to answer these questions by examining signage in Cape Town generally and more specific…
Stressed and sexy’
Codeswitching by African language speakers in South Africa (whether speaking English or the first language) has been extensively commented on and researched. Many studies analyse the historical, political and sociolinguistic factors behind this growing phenomenon, but there appears to be a little urgency about establishing a database of new lexicons to inform first-language interventions in education and public information programmes. In this art…
Pop singer as healer
This article examines the significance of the vocation to divinership (ukuthwasa) for a contemporary Xhosa Afro-soul artist. We explore the singer's calling and the way in which she blurs the boundaries between what it means to be a traditional Xhosa healer and what it means to be a contemporary singer who chooses to sing in Xhosa about Xhosa cultural practices. The healing power of the vernacular is not explicitly declared, although her lyrics s…
The potential consequences of informal interpreting practices for assessment of patients in a South African psychiatric hospital
Ndifuna i meaning yakhe’
A Grade 4 English language teacher in a township school in Cape Town, South Africa, in her quest to equip learners with new target language resources, is not held back by the perceived boundaries dividing named languages. Instead she employs language in creative and goal-directed ways that we believe have not received enough focused linguistic attention in scholarship. While recognising the importance of research into code-switching, code-mixing …
Stressed and sexy’
Codeswitching by African language speakers in South Africa (whether speaking English or the first language) has been extensively commented on and researched. Many studies analyse the historical, political and sociolinguistic factors behind this growing phenomenon, but there appears to be a little urgency about establishing a database of new lexicons to inform first-language interventions in education and public information programmes. In this art…
"Mnandi-licious!" trends in African language usage in South African television advertising
Advertisements in African languages are generally confined to radio, and in that medium are factual, dialogic and direct. When used in television advertising, however, South Africa’s indigenous languages, particularly those spoken by the largest number of people in South Africa (Nguni languages), play a less informative role, being employed rather to index a concretised African essence, African identity or urban style, or a particular reified pos…
Stressed and sexy’
Codeswitching by African language speakers in South Africa (whether speaking English or the first language) has been extensively commented on and researched. Many studies analyse the historical, political and sociolinguistic factors behind this growing phenomenon, but there appears to be a little urgency about establishing a database of new lexicons to inform first-language interventions in education and public information programmes. In this art…
Pop singer as healer
This article examines the significance of the vocation to divinership (ukuthwasa) for a contemporary Xhosa Afro-soul artist. We explore the singer's calling and the way in which she blurs the boundaries between what it means to be a traditional Xhosa healer and what it means to be a contemporary singer who chooses to sing in Xhosa about Xhosa cultural practices. The healing power of the vernacular is not explicitly declared, although her lyrics s…
Translated for the dogs
To what extent do official and non-official signs in Cape Town reflect a multilingual society in which all languages are declared equal? What are the languages and the varieties of language used in official Cape Town signage? What languages are used in Cape Town's tourist areas? What languages are used by informal businesses in townships? This article sets out to answer these questions by examining signage in Cape Town generally and more specific…
The potential consequences of informal interpreting practices for assessment of patients in a South African psychiatric hospital
"Mnandi-licious!" trends in African language usage in South African television advertising
Advertisements in African languages are generally confined to radio, and in that medium are factual, dialogic and direct. When used in television advertising, however, South Africa’s indigenous languages, particularly those spoken by the largest number of people in South Africa (Nguni languages), play a less informative role, being employed rather to index a concretised African essence, African identity or urban style, or a particular reified pos…
Working towards Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Speech Assessments for South African Children
There is a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate tools for assessing the speech and language development of South African infants and toddlers, particularly those who speak southern African Bantu languages. This article sets out to describe our experiences of the pre-pilot phase of the Xhosa adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs). To this end, a background to the CDIs is provided, as well as dis…
Ndifuna i meaning yakhe’
A Grade 4 English language teacher in a township school in Cape Town, South Africa, in her quest to equip learners with new target language resources, is not held back by the perceived boundaries dividing named languages. Instead she employs language in creative and goal-directed ways that we believe have not received enough focused linguistic attention in scholarship. While recognising the importance of research into code-switching, code-mixing …
Leveraging Language
This paper assesses the effectiveness of essay tutorials offered to first-year economics students at the UCT (University of Cape Town) in their first language (L1). All students in the study are first-language speakers of an African language. Firstly, using propensity score matching, we econometrically assess the impact of these tutorials on studentsâ€TM essay marks. Although our sample size is small [n=220], our findings provide preliminary evid…
The language of Wakanda
The focus of this article is to provide a linguistic description of the ‘language of Wakanda’ – a non-existent, fictional language that the makers of the Hollywood science-fiction blockbuster Black Panther represent by using isiXhosa. Our data is collected from the script, subtitles and linguistic performances of isiXhosa by the actors in the film. While cultural and media studies are germane to the discussion, they are not our primary focus, alt…
Complexities in the process of translating research documents in cross-cultural settings
In multilingual societies, where researchers and participants often do not speak the same language, research is a challenge as a mismatch of understanding between researchers, research instruments and participants often occurs. Reporting on the translation process is crucial because of the potential implications for the validity of the data that follow from it. We aimed to report on the complexities of such a translation process and many consider…
Chukwimah, Ignatius
Article Review of Sexual Humour in Africa: Gender, Jokes and Societal Change, edited by Ignatius Chukwumah. Published by Routledge (Routledge Contemporary Africa Series) 2022 was published on January 17, 2023 in the journal HUMOR (volume 0, issue 0)
Some Missionary-Influenced Early Borrowed Words and Names in Xhosa
The contemporary proliferation of borrowed words in Xhosa must be seen as part of a historical process of borrowing, each stage in the process representing a particular orthographic development and contact situation. Research indicates that a large proportion of words that entered the Xhosa lexicon in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did so because of missionary influence in the fields of Western commodities and conventions, instituti…
Sociology (10 works) · Linguistics (9 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · History (5 works) · Xhosa (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Languages of Africa (4 works) · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity (4 works) · Political science (4 works)