Rose Letsholo
Biographic Data
| ID | 5889565 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rose Letsholo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rose |
| FAMILY NAME | Letsholo |
| SIGNATURE | LETSHOLO R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Botswana |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2195-2153 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Emphatic Interpretations of Object Marking in Bantu Languages
This paper investigates emphatic interpretations of object marking in various Bantu languages. We focus on Lubukusu (spoken in Kenya) and Cinyungwe (spoken in Mozambique) in particular, but we also report initial evidence from other Bantu languages (mainly Tiriki, Wanga, and Ikalanga). In these languages, OM-doubling—the co-occurrence of an object marker with a lexical DP object—is infelicitous in neutral pragmatic contexts. However, we show that…
Syntactic properties of Ikalanga infinitives
The infinitive has been quite topical in recent Bantu literature. The majority of Bantuists who have written on this topic sweepingly refer to all ku- forms as the ‘infinitive’ and contend that the infinitive has dual characteristics – clausal and nominal. This paper aims to investigate the types of ku-categories in Ikalanga and to determine whether they all display the same syntactic properties. Using tests from the literature, the paper establi…
Attitudes of University of Botswana humanities students to mother tongue education
In 1953, UNESCO advocated for mother tongue education, particularly at primary school level. Many countries took heed of this advocacy. However, Botswana has not yet implemented this at any level. Against this background, this article investigates the attitudes of humanities students at the University of Botswana to the use of mother tongue in university education and the ideologies that shape this. It addresses the question: What are the views o…
A Characterisation of Setswana Complex Sentences
This article investigates clause linkage in Setswana arguing that, just like in other languages of the world, Setswana complex sentences cannot be classified simply into coordinate and subordinate structures. Using syntactic evidence such as scope facts (involving modality/mood, tense and polarity) as well as morphological evidence, we demonstrate that conjoined clauses in Setswana can be classified into three nexuses, namely coordination (which …
A Comparison of the Interaction of Pronominals and Word Order in Naro and Gǁana
This article compares PGN markers, the pronoun system and word order in declaratives in Naro ǁGana. These languages are similar in that (a) nouns are marked for person, gender and number; (b) both have complex pronoun systems; (c) the plural and dual categories distinguish inclusive from exclusive pronouns; (d) main lexical items in both languages can be focused through fronting. They differ in that ǁGana NPs are marked for nominative and oblique…
Object Markers in Ikalanga
There is an on-going debate amongst linguists regarding the status of the object marker (OM). Some scholars argue that OMs are agreement morphology (Baker 2010 The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this debate using data from Ikalanga to support the view that OMs are pronominal clitics. I discuss evidence in favor of the agreement analysis as well as that in favor of the pronominal analysis. OMs in Ikalanga behave like agreement morpholog…
Language maintenance or shift? Attitudes of Bakalanga youth towards their mother tongue
This article reports the findings of a study whose objective was to investigate whether there was a likelihood of a language shift (or loss) from Ikalanga (a minority language spoken in Botswana) to either Setswana or English. The focus of the investigation was 17–25 year olds. The findings indicate that although Ikalanga (unlike indigenous languages like Khoe and Shekgalagadi) is not under imminent threat of loss, there are, nevertheless, clear …
The forgotten structure of Ikalanga relatives
Demuth and Harford (1999) contend that in Bantu relatives, the verb raises from I-C if the relative morpheme is a bound morpheme while the subject remains in spec-IP resulting in subject –verb inversion. Ikalanga, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana has no subject verb inversion in relatives although the relative morpheme appears to be a bound morpheme. This observation challenges the conclusion reached in Demuth and Harford (1999). This raises t…
Who is where
Clausal and DP-internal agreement in Ikalanga
This paper investigates the controversial morphemes that occur both at the clause level and within the DP in Bantu languages such as Ikalanga, which have been analyzed as "agreement morphology" by some (Baker 2002, Demuth and Harford (1999) and as resumptive/incorporated pronouns by others (Bresnan and Mchombo 1987, Zwart 1997). The paper proposes a unified analysis of this phenomenon, analyzing both clausal and DP-internal occurrences of these m…
The forgotten structure of Ikalanga relatives
Demuth and Harford (1999) contend that in Bantu relatives, the verb raises from I-C if the relative morpheme is a bound morpheme while the subject remains in spec-IP resulting in subject –verb inversion. Ikalanga, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana has no subject verb inversion in relatives although the relative morpheme appears to be a bound morpheme. This observation challenges the conclusion reached in Demuth and Harford (1999). This raises t…
Clausal and DP-internal agreement in Ikalanga
This paper investigates the controversial morphemes that occur both at the clause level and within the DP in Bantu languages such as Ikalanga, which have been analyzed as "agreement morphology" by some (Baker 2002, Demuth and Harford (1999) and as resumptive/incorporated pronouns by others (Bresnan and Mchombo 1987, Zwart 1997). The paper proposes a unified analysis of this phenomenon, analyzing both clausal and DP-internal occurrences of these m…
Who is where
Language maintenance or shift? Attitudes of Bakalanga youth towards their mother tongue
This article reports the findings of a study whose objective was to investigate whether there was a likelihood of a language shift (or loss) from Ikalanga (a minority language spoken in Botswana) to either Setswana or English. The focus of the investigation was 17–25 year olds. The findings indicate that although Ikalanga (unlike indigenous languages like Khoe and Shekgalagadi) is not under imminent threat of loss, there are, nevertheless, clear …
The forgotten structure of Ikalanga relatives
Demuth and Harford (1999) contend that in Bantu relatives, the verb raises from I-C if the relative morpheme is a bound morpheme while the subject remains in spec-IP resulting in subject –verb inversion. Ikalanga, a Bantu language spoken in Botswana has no subject verb inversion in relatives although the relative morpheme appears to be a bound morpheme. This observation challenges the conclusion reached in Demuth and Harford (1999). This raises t…
Object Markers in Ikalanga
There is an on-going debate amongst linguists regarding the status of the object marker (OM). Some scholars argue that OMs are agreement morphology (Baker 2010 The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this debate using data from Ikalanga to support the view that OMs are pronominal clitics. I discuss evidence in favor of the agreement analysis as well as that in favor of the pronominal analysis. OMs in Ikalanga behave like agreement morpholog…
A Comparison of the Interaction of Pronominals and Word Order in Naro and Gǁana
This article compares PGN markers, the pronoun system and word order in declaratives in Naro ǁGana. These languages are similar in that (a) nouns are marked for person, gender and number; (b) both have complex pronoun systems; (c) the plural and dual categories distinguish inclusive from exclusive pronouns; (d) main lexical items in both languages can be focused through fronting. They differ in that ǁGana NPs are marked for nominative and oblique…
A Characterisation of Setswana Complex Sentences
This article investigates clause linkage in Setswana arguing that, just like in other languages of the world, Setswana complex sentences cannot be classified simply into coordinate and subordinate structures. Using syntactic evidence such as scope facts (involving modality/mood, tense and polarity) as well as morphological evidence, we demonstrate that conjoined clauses in Setswana can be classified into three nexuses, namely coordination (which …
Attitudes of University of Botswana humanities students to mother tongue education
In 1953, UNESCO advocated for mother tongue education, particularly at primary school level. Many countries took heed of this advocacy. However, Botswana has not yet implemented this at any level. Against this background, this article investigates the attitudes of humanities students at the University of Botswana to the use of mother tongue in university education and the ideologies that shape this. It addresses the question: What are the views o…
Syntactic properties of Ikalanga infinitives
The infinitive has been quite topical in recent Bantu literature. The majority of Bantuists who have written on this topic sweepingly refer to all ku- forms as the ‘infinitive’ and contend that the infinitive has dual characteristics – clausal and nominal. This paper aims to investigate the types of ku-categories in Ikalanga and to determine whether they all display the same syntactic properties. Using tests from the literature, the paper establi…
Emphatic Interpretations of Object Marking in Bantu Languages
This paper investigates emphatic interpretations of object marking in various Bantu languages. We focus on Lubukusu (spoken in Kenya) and Cinyungwe (spoken in Mozambique) in particular, but we also report initial evidence from other Bantu languages (mainly Tiriki, Wanga, and Ikalanga). In these languages, OM-doubling—the co-occurrence of an object marker with a lexical DP object—is infelicitous in neutral pragmatic contexts. However, we show that…
Linguistics (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (6 works) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (5 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (4 works) · Bantu languages (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Psychology (3 works)