Harmonizing South African Sotho Language Varieties: Lessons from Reading Proficiency Assessment

Autor/in	Makalela, Leketi
Titel	Harmonizing South African Sotho Language Varieties: Lessons from Reading Proficiency Assessment
Quelle	In: International Multilingual Research Journal, 3 (2009) 2, S.120-133 (14 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1931-3152
Schlagwörter	African Languages; Language Planning; Language Variation; Mutual Intelligibility; Foreign Countries; Language Role; Official Languages; Spelling; Statistical Analysis; College Students; Reading Skills; Reading Tests; South Africa + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Africa; Language; Languages; Afrika; Sprachen; Afrikanische Sprache; Sprachwechsel; Sprachenvielfalt; Ausland; Office language; Amtssprache; Schreibweise; Statistische Analyse; Collegestudent; Reading skill; Lesefertigkeit; Lesetest; Südafrika; Süd-Afrika; Republik Südafrika; Südafrikanische Republik
Abstract	This study investigated degrees of mutual intelligibility among 3 structurally related languages in South Africa: Sepedi, Sesotho, and Setswana. To compare reading proficiency of mother-tongue speakers who enrolled for freshman courses at the University of Limpopo, 4 reading experimental conditions, in the 3 languages and 1 in a harmonized text, were conducted. Using one-way analyses of variance to explore differential performance of the participants across 4 texts, the results show high degrees of mutual intelligibility across all the language groups. In this connection, the author tentatively projects the possibility of harmonizing the orthographic representations and spelling systems as one of language planning activities toward a standard Sotho--a controversial proposition in the South African language policy and planning debates. In the end, useful recommendations for teaching and learning these languages as a cluster and second additional languages are offered. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10