Vivian De Klerk
Biographic Data
| ID | 174680 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vivian De Klerk |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vivian |
| FAMILY NAME | De Klerk |
| SIGNATURE | DE KLERK V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rhodes University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 39 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 129 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 39 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The expression of affect in discussions about HIV/Aids
We report on preliminary analysis of data drawn from a corpus of the spoken English of Xhosa speakers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Aimed to reveal the evaluative language used by Xhosa English speakers in the discourse of AIDS, with particular focus on affect, it was conducted using the analytical tools associated with appraisal analysis. Attitude-related expressions were classified as expressing affect, judgment, and appreciation, and grou…
Imagined identities: Preimmigrants' narratives on language and identity
This article reports on a study which investigated the language- and identity-related, predeparture concerns and expectations of prospective immigrants. Narrative interviews were conducted with 15 Afrikaans-speaking South Africans who planned to emigrate to New Zealand within months of their participation in the study. The participants' stories were told and interpreted within the exploratory space created by the intersection of three narrative d…
Codeswitching, Borrowing and Mixing in a Corpus of Xhosa English
The paper analyses selected aspects of the codeswitching behaviour in a spoken corpus of the English of 326 people, all of them mother-tongue speakers of Xhosa (a local African language in South Africa), and all of whom would see themselves as Xhosa/English bilinguals. The corpus comprises approximately 550,000 transcribed words of spontaneous, relaxed, oral discourse in English between pairs of Xhosa-speaking interlocutors, discussing a wide ran…
Educated mother-tongue South African English: A corpus approach
South Africa is anecdotally known for its complex system of speech varieties correlating with variables such as ethnicity, first language, class and education. These intuitions (e.g. Lass 1990) require further investigation, especially in the context of a changing South Africa where language variety plays a key role in identifying social, economic and ethnic group membership. Thus, in this research, the extent to which these variables play a role…
The features of ‘teacher talk’ in a corpus-based study of Xhosa English
It has long been an accepted tenet of language teaching and language learning that teachers are key linguistic ‘gatekeepers’ (alongside dictionaries, textbooks and the media and so on) in entrenching the approved or ‘standard’ model of language that is passed on from one generation to the next. In South Africa, though, there is more than one model of English that is taught in the schools, given the complex socio-political history of the country: …
Anticipating language shift: Afrikaans speakers moving to New Zealand
‘The study of language maintenance and shift is concerned with the relationship between change and stability in habitual use, on the one hand and ongoing psychological, social or cultural processes, on the other hand, when populations differing in language are in contact with each other’ (Fishman et al. 1966, 424). This article reports on the initial stages of language shift on a micro level, in a study carried out on 15 Afrikaans speakers, all o…
Expressing levels of intensity in Xhosa English
This article reports on patterns of adverbial usage in a 550 000-word corpus of informal spoken English collected from mother tongue (MT) Xhosa speakers for whom English is a second language. The focus is on the subset of intensifiers which accompany gradable adverbs and adjectives that allow comparison and modification (e.g. rather hard) and the benchmark used for comparison with so-called natural MT English usage is the spoken component of the …
Procedural meanings of well in a corpus of Xhosa English
The use of actually in spoken Xhosa English: A Corpus Study
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the discourse marker actually, and then to describe and explain how it is used by mother-tongue (MT) Xhosa speakers who have learned English as an additional language. Such a description may provide a useful benchmark for comparison with MT norms. The source of data for the study is a corpus of approximately half a million words of transcribed spontan…
First-name changes in South Africa: The Swing of the Pendulum
De Klerk (1999, 2002) surveyed first-name changes over two parallel three-month periods in 1977 and 2000 in order to ascertain whether there were any discernible trends in choices for new names among different ethnic and linguistic groups. Results of both of those studies revealed that sociocultural factors were the most significant reasons why people changed their names and there was a surprising trend in favor of English names among speakers of…
Language and the law: Who has the upper hand
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Xhosa English as an institutionalised variety of English: In search of evidence
This paper aims to examine the English of Xhosa speakers (a significant proportion of speakers of Black South African English, since Xhosa is the second largest indigenous black language in South Africa), in terms of Williams’ (1987) criteria for Non-native Institutionalised Varieties of English (NIVEs). Using a corpus-based approach, the article reports on the results of analyses of a range of linguistic features in the newly-developed corpus of…
Towards A Norm in South African Englishes: The Case for Xhosa English
Black South African English (BSAE) is generally regarded today as the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages in areas where English is not the language of the majority. Its roots lie in the history of the teaching of English to the black people of this country, where the role models who teach English are second language learners themselves. To date, BSAE has mainly been studied wi…
Starting with Xhosa English towards a spoken corpus
This paper describes the underlying motivation for the proposed structure and design of a corpus of Xhosa English, which aims ultimately to form part of a larger corpus of Black South African English (BSAE). The planned corpus will be exclusively based on spoken spontaneous Xhosa English, and full justification for this decision is provided in the paper. In particular the paper argues that the current South African English component of the Intern…
The Role of Xhosa in a South African Prison: The Situation is Leading You
This article reports on a study which investigated the role and status of Xhosa in a prison located in Grahamstown, a large town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Xhosa, an indigenous African language, and the most widely spoken language in the region, is one of several used for communicative purposes in the prison. The development and promotion of African languages and the promotion of multilingualism in South Africa are two of the m…
Changing Names in the “New” South Africa: A Diachronic Survey
A study of name changes in South Africa in 1997 (de Klerk 2000b) found that socio-cultural factors were foremost among the reasons why people had changed their names, and there was also a trend in favor of English names generally and most particularly among speakers of African languages. This arqcle reports on a comparative survey of first name changes in South Africa over two 3-month periods, the first in 1997 and the second in 2000. It is once …
English in the prison services: A Case of Breaking the Law
In this paper we report on an investigation into the use of English in a prison in the Eastern Cape Province, run by the Department of Correctional Services (CS) five years after the declaration of an official multilingual policy. The investigation consisted of a range of interviews and observations in this institution, aimed at establishing the extent to which the national language policy is actually being implemented on the ground. Findings sug…
The Cross-Marriage Language Dilemma: His Language or Hers
The issue of language maintenance and shift has long been a matter of interest in linguistic research (Denison, 1977; Gal, 1979; Dorian, 1980; Fasold, 1984; Aitchison, 1991) and considerable progress has been made in trying to isolate the factors which affect such trends in usage at a macro level, in large linguistic communities. This article reports on language shift on a micro level, in a study carried out on 10 cross-language English/Afrikaans…
Language usage and attitudes in a South African prison: Who Calls the Shots
Article Language usage and attitudes in a South African prison: who calls the shots? was published on December 20, 2001 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2001, issue 152)
To be Xhosa or not to be Xhosa … That is the Question
It has long been recognised that indigenous languages are endangered because of powerful social, political and economic pressures. In South Africa, the legacy of apartheid has left its indigenous languages particularly vulnerable, and since 1994 huge efforts have been made to reverse the situation. Despite the new language policy and accompanying legislation, it would seem that many Xhosa speakers themselves want English, and not Xhosa,for their …
Language shift in Grahamstown: A case study of selected Xhosa-speakers
Article Language shift in Grahamstown: a case study of selected Xhosa-speakers was published on January 1, 2000 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2000, issue 146)
Language contact and ethnolinguistic identity in an Eastern Cape army camp
Article Language contact and ethnolinguistic identity in an Eastern Cape army camp was published on January 1, 2000 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2000, issue 144)
Nicknames as evidence of verbal playfulness
In nicknaming, we see some evidence of the ongoing enjoyment that human beings find in playing with language. The data in this study, drawn from English- and Afrikaans-speaking informants, reveal considerable enjoyment in creating new words which experiment with patterns of sounds (e.g., alliteration, assonance, rhyme and rhythm) and meaning (e.g., puns, anomaly and contrast), all of which are strong features of early nursery rhymes, and which ar…
Black South African English: Where to from here
Black South African English is generally regarded as the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages in areas where English is not the language of the majority. This paper explores some of the problems involved in defining this variety, problems such as whether it is a 'new' variety of English or a dialect, and problems relating to whose English it is: the English of those learners who…
Language Policy in the SANDF: A Case for Biting the Bullet
OORSIG Taalbeleid in die Suid Afrikaanse Nasionale Weermag: 'n geval van die bul by die horings pak? In 1994 is 'n nuwe nasionale taalbeleid gepromulgeer, en in plaas van die vorige twee offisiële tale, Engels en Afrikaans, is 11 offisiële tale amptelik verklaar. Voorgangers van die finale Grondwet van 1996 (die ANC Handves van Menseregte (1990) en die tussentydse Grondwet (1993) maak dit baie duidelik dat inheemse tale bevorder and ontwikkel moe…
Language shift in Grahamstown: A case study of selected Xhosa-speakers
Article Language shift in Grahamstown: a case study of selected Xhosa-speakers was published on January 1, 2000 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2000, issue 146)
Black South African English: Where to from here
Black South African English is generally regarded as the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages in areas where English is not the language of the majority. This paper explores some of the problems involved in defining this variety, problems such as whether it is a 'new' variety of English or a dialect, and problems relating to whose English it is: the English of those learners who…
Expletives: Men only
In this paper it is suggested that there might be a relationship between social power and expletive usage. After a general discussion of the linguistic correlates of social power, and of expletives and their functions, the question of whether there is any relationship between the sex of the speaker and the use of expletives is addressed. A review of literature on the topic reveals a decidedly and rocentric bias in the use of these terms (which ar…
How taboo are taboo words for girls
In the past five years, there has been much interest in the question of whether women are really as concerned about politeness and status as they have been made out to be by such writers as Baroni and D'Urso (1984), Crosby and Nyquist (1977), Lakoff (1973), Spender (1980), and Trudgill (1972). Despite the commonly held perception that it is only males who bandy about derogatory and taboo words (Bailey 1985; Flexner 1975), Risch (1987) provided co…
Procedural meanings of well in a corpus of Xhosa English
Nicknames as Sex-Role Stereotypes
Slang: A male domain
Towards A Norm in South African Englishes: The Case for Xhosa English
Black South African English (BSAE) is generally regarded today as the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages in areas where English is not the language of the majority. Its roots lie in the history of the teaching of English to the black people of this country, where the role models who teach English are second language learners themselves. To date, BSAE has mainly been studied wi…
The sound patterns of English nicknames
Naming Practices in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
A survey of the naming practices of the three main linguistic groups of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (Xhosa, Afrikaans and English) showed clear differences among the groups regarding the naming of babies and the namegivers, and also provided evidence of ongoing change and cross-cultural influence among the groups. From these patterns we suggest that in a post-apartheid South Africa, which offers increasing opportunity for interactio…
Nicknames as evidence of verbal playfulness
In nicknaming, we see some evidence of the ongoing enjoyment that human beings find in playing with language. The data in this study, drawn from English- and Afrikaans-speaking informants, reveal considerable enjoyment in creating new words which experiment with patterns of sounds (e.g., alliteration, assonance, rhyme and rhythm) and meaning (e.g., puns, anomaly and contrast), all of which are strong features of early nursery rhymes, and which ar…
Changing Names in the “New” South Africa: A Diachronic Survey
A study of name changes in South Africa in 1997 (de Klerk 2000b) found that socio-cultural factors were foremost among the reasons why people had changed their names, and there was also a trend in favor of English names generally and most particularly among speakers of African languages. This arqcle reports on a comparative survey of first name changes in South Africa over two 3-month periods, the first in 1997 and the second in 2000. It is once …
Expressing levels of intensity in Xhosa English
This article reports on patterns of adverbial usage in a 550 000-word corpus of informal spoken English collected from mother tongue (MT) Xhosa speakers for whom English is a second language. The focus is on the subset of intensifiers which accompany gradable adverbs and adjectives that allow comparison and modification (e.g. rather hard) and the benchmark used for comparison with so-called natural MT English usage is the spoken component of the …
Starting with Xhosa English towards a spoken corpus
This paper describes the underlying motivation for the proposed structure and design of a corpus of Xhosa English, which aims ultimately to form part of a larger corpus of Black South African English (BSAE). The planned corpus will be exclusively based on spoken spontaneous Xhosa English, and full justification for this decision is provided in the paper. In particular the paper argues that the current South African English component of the Intern…
English in the prison services: A Case of Breaking the Law
In this paper we report on an investigation into the use of English in a prison in the Eastern Cape Province, run by the Department of Correctional Services (CS) five years after the declaration of an official multilingual policy. The investigation consisted of a range of interviews and observations in this institution, aimed at establishing the extent to which the national language policy is actually being implemented on the ground. Findings sug…
Language attitudes in the South African National Defence Force: Views from the Sixth South African Infantry
South Africa has adopted eleven official languages and the 1996 constitution requires that all official languages must enjoy parity, especially in public administration and at the national level. Such changes in language policy have had a dramatic effect country-wide, and not least among those affected is the South African National Defence Force. This study explores the extent to which the new policy has taken root at the Sixth South African Infa…
Nicknames of English Adolescents in South Africa
This study reports on the nicknames of English-speaking adolescents in South Africa. It documents the nicknames and their origins and analyzes them in terms of the conditions under which they were coined and used. English adolescents have a very sensitive understanding of the complex and shifting set of social relationships underlying the choice and use of nicknames. Because of their optional nature and their transience as terms of address, nickn…
Linguistic stereotypes: Nice Accent - Nice Person
This study reports on an attitude survey using a matched-guise technique among Speakers ofthe three main languages ofthe Eastern Cape: English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa. We wished to investigate the extent to which Speakers in the area were using language and accent to make judgments aboutpeople, and to examine the stereotypical views regarding these languages and their Speakers. The relationship in South Africa between power, stereotypes, and langua…
The use of actually in spoken Xhosa English: A Corpus Study
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the semantic and syntactic characteristics of the discourse marker actually, and then to describe and explain how it is used by mother-tongue (MT) Xhosa speakers who have learned English as an additional language. Such a description may provide a useful benchmark for comparison with MT norms. The source of data for the study is a corpus of approximately half a million words of transcribed spontan…
First-name changes in South Africa: The Swing of the Pendulum
De Klerk (1999, 2002) surveyed first-name changes over two parallel three-month periods in 1977 and 2000 in order to ascertain whether there were any discernible trends in choices for new names among different ethnic and linguistic groups. Results of both of those studies revealed that sociocultural factors were the most significant reasons why people changed their names and there was a surprising trend in favor of English names among speakers of…
The Role of Xhosa in a South African Prison: The Situation is Leading You
This article reports on a study which investigated the role and status of Xhosa in a prison located in Grahamstown, a large town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Xhosa, an indigenous African language, and the most widely spoken language in the region, is one of several used for communicative purposes in the prison. The development and promotion of African languages and the promotion of multilingualism in South Africa are two of the m…
Language contact and ethnolinguistic identity in an Eastern Cape army camp
Article Language contact and ethnolinguistic identity in an Eastern Cape army camp was published on January 1, 2000 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2000, issue 144)
Slang: A male domain
Expletives: Men only
In this paper it is suggested that there might be a relationship between social power and expletive usage. After a general discussion of the linguistic correlates of social power, and of expletives and their functions, the question of whether there is any relationship between the sex of the speaker and the use of expletives is addressed. A review of literature on the topic reveals a decidedly and rocentric bias in the use of these terms (which ar…
How taboo are taboo words for girls
In the past five years, there has been much interest in the question of whether women are really as concerned about politeness and status as they have been made out to be by such writers as Baroni and D'Urso (1984), Crosby and Nyquist (1977), Lakoff (1973), Spender (1980), and Trudgill (1972). Despite the commonly held perception that it is only males who bandy about derogatory and taboo words (Bailey 1985; Flexner 1975), Risch (1987) provided co…
English in South Africa: The Eastern Cape Perspective
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Bilingualism: The one-person one-language bond
(1995). Bilingualism: the one-person one-language bond. Language Matters: Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 40-58
Linguistic stereotypes: Nice Accent - Nice Person
This study reports on an attitude survey using a matched-guise technique among Speakers ofthe three main languages ofthe Eastern Cape: English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa. We wished to investigate the extent to which Speakers in the area were using language and accent to make judgments aboutpeople, and to examine the stereotypical views regarding these languages and their Speakers. The relationship in South Africa between power, stereotypes, and langua…
The Effect of L2 Education on Academic Achievement in a Std 10 History Class
In this article the authors examine the linguistic problems experienced by a class of second-language matric history candidates who are studying history through the medium of English in an upgrade programme. The written work of the students is analysed in some depth, alongside the language of the textbook; students' personal linguistic backgrounds and attitudes are also taken into account in order to discover whether levels of L2 competence corre…
Nicknames as Sex-Role Stereotypes
Naming Practices in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
A survey of the naming practices of the three main linguistic groups of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa (Xhosa, Afrikaans and English) showed clear differences among the groups regarding the naming of babies and the namegivers, and also provided evidence of ongoing change and cross-cultural influence among the groups. From these patterns we suggest that in a post-apartheid South Africa, which offers increasing opportunity for interactio…
Focus on South Africa
Nicknames of English Adolescents in South Africa
This study reports on the nicknames of English-speaking adolescents in South Africa. It documents the nicknames and their origins and analyzes them in terms of the conditions under which they were coined and used. English adolescents have a very sensitive understanding of the complex and shifting set of social relationships underlying the choice and use of nicknames. Because of their optional nature and their transience as terms of address, nickn…
The sound patterns of English nicknames
Language Policy in the SANDF: A Case for Biting the Bullet
OORSIG Taalbeleid in die Suid Afrikaanse Nasionale Weermag: 'n geval van die bul by die horings pak? In 1994 is 'n nuwe nasionale taalbeleid gepromulgeer, en in plaas van die vorige twee offisiële tale, Engels en Afrikaans, is 11 offisiële tale amptelik verklaar. Voorgangers van die finale Grondwet van 1996 (die ANC Handves van Menseregte (1990) en die tussentydse Grondwet (1993) maak dit baie duidelik dat inheemse tale bevorder and ontwikkel moe…
English in the South African Defence Force: A Case Study of 6SAI
The article reports on research carried out at an army camp in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in 1996; it aimed to examine language use at the camp across all levels and in all contexts, in order to assess the degree to which South Africa's new multilingual language policy of 1994 has taken root, and in particular to ascertain the extent to which English was being used, and what troops and staff felt about its use. Questionnaires, inte…
Language attitudes in the South African National Defence Force: Views from the Sixth South African Infantry
South Africa has adopted eleven official languages and the 1996 constitution requires that all official languages must enjoy parity, especially in public administration and at the national level. Such changes in language policy have had a dramatic effect country-wide, and not least among those affected is the South African National Defence Force. This study explores the extent to which the new policy has taken root at the Sixth South African Infa…
Nicknames as evidence of verbal playfulness
In nicknaming, we see some evidence of the ongoing enjoyment that human beings find in playing with language. The data in this study, drawn from English- and Afrikaans-speaking informants, reveal considerable enjoyment in creating new words which experiment with patterns of sounds (e.g., alliteration, assonance, rhyme and rhythm) and meaning (e.g., puns, anomaly and contrast), all of which are strong features of early nursery rhymes, and which ar…
Black South African English: Where to from here
Black South African English is generally regarded as the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages in areas where English is not the language of the majority. This paper explores some of the problems involved in defining this variety, problems such as whether it is a 'new' variety of English or a dialect, and problems relating to whose English it is: the English of those learners who…
To be Xhosa or not to be Xhosa … That is the Question
It has long been recognised that indigenous languages are endangered because of powerful social, political and economic pressures. In South Africa, the legacy of apartheid has left its indigenous languages particularly vulnerable, and since 1994 huge efforts have been made to reverse the situation. Despite the new language policy and accompanying legislation, it would seem that many Xhosa speakers themselves want English, and not Xhosa,for their …
Language shift in Grahamstown: A case study of selected Xhosa-speakers
Article Language shift in Grahamstown: a case study of selected Xhosa-speakers was published on January 1, 2000 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2000, issue 146)
Language contact and ethnolinguistic identity in an Eastern Cape army camp
Article Language contact and ethnolinguistic identity in an Eastern Cape army camp was published on January 1, 2000 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2000, issue 144)
The Cross-Marriage Language Dilemma: His Language or Hers
The issue of language maintenance and shift has long been a matter of interest in linguistic research (Denison, 1977; Gal, 1979; Dorian, 1980; Fasold, 1984; Aitchison, 1991) and considerable progress has been made in trying to isolate the factors which affect such trends in usage at a macro level, in large linguistic communities. This article reports on language shift on a micro level, in a study carried out on 10 cross-language English/Afrikaans…
Language usage and attitudes in a South African prison: Who Calls the Shots
Article Language usage and attitudes in a South African prison: who calls the shots? was published on December 20, 2001 in the journal International Journal of the Sociology of Language (volume 2001, issue 152)
Starting with Xhosa English towards a spoken corpus
This paper describes the underlying motivation for the proposed structure and design of a corpus of Xhosa English, which aims ultimately to form part of a larger corpus of Black South African English (BSAE). The planned corpus will be exclusively based on spoken spontaneous Xhosa English, and full justification for this decision is provided in the paper. In particular the paper argues that the current South African English component of the Intern…
The Role of Xhosa in a South African Prison: The Situation is Leading You
This article reports on a study which investigated the role and status of Xhosa in a prison located in Grahamstown, a large town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Xhosa, an indigenous African language, and the most widely spoken language in the region, is one of several used for communicative purposes in the prison. The development and promotion of African languages and the promotion of multilingualism in South Africa are two of the m…
Changing Names in the “New” South Africa: A Diachronic Survey
A study of name changes in South Africa in 1997 (de Klerk 2000b) found that socio-cultural factors were foremost among the reasons why people had changed their names, and there was also a trend in favor of English names generally and most particularly among speakers of African languages. This arqcle reports on a comparative survey of first name changes in South Africa over two 3-month periods, the first in 1997 and the second in 2000. It is once …
Linguistics (35 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (26 works) · Psychology (20 works) · History (18 works) · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity (17 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (15 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (14 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Computer Science (13 works)