Imagine something with me. There is a country which, much like many in the world, has many speakers of many languages. This country is a part of one of the many places in Africa colonised by Europeans since the 15th century. Over the 500 years since colonies of Europeans first touched its shores, only a […]
Tag: linguistics
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Bridges
Yesterday, in therapy (because am broken, as should be obvious to anyone reading this) I didn’t start with any negative things or gripes or complaints – but I did end up talking about bridges. No, you idiot. Not the physical structure. It’s a metaphor. In this case, I am a bridge. In fact, I am […]
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COP-1: Introduction to Copulatives
Bafundi abahle: nansi incwadi ezonisiza ngokufundisa ngezibanjalo. kunesivivinyo ekugcineni. Dear learners: here’s a document that will help y’all by teaching about copulatives. there’s a test at the end.
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NC-1: Intro to Noun Classes
Bafundi abahle: nansi ncwadi ezonisiza ngokufundisa ngezigaba zamabizo. Kunesivivinyo ekugcineni. Dear readers: here’s a document which will help y’all by teaching about the noun classes. There’s a test at the end.
On Wednesday, the report was made public. You must know which one I’m talking about – it’s all anyone can talk about. And while I’m interested in many aspects of it, for me the choice of language on uKhozi FM was… enlightening. You see, two weeks ago, the phrase for ‘state capture’ was ukugwamanqa kombuso. […]
There’s been a lot of this lately, in various different forms. Asinavalo. Abanavalo. Uvalo. For those of you needing clarification, here’s a short dissertation on the word. Firstly, it comes from a verb – uku-vala. The verb means the following things: close or shut suppress or deceive; bribe; bluff; cheat protect against evil or use […]
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Numbers
I was humbled to read the awesome work done in Xitsonga about Mathematics Terminology, and inspired to write this blog. I’m still researching different ways of talking about geometry and rates of change, but numbers are things with which I am familiar. I teach the same lesson in many different ways, depending on whom I’m […]
I arrive at my lesson a little early, and catch my student unawares. While he gets his mind in order, and I unpack my stuff, I offer him tea. Yes, I know I’m the guest – but I make myself at home wherever I go. Boarding-school vibes. I say: ufuna nhloboni yethiye? He understands the […]
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impambosi yokwenzisa
This is one area in which isiZulu is fundamentally different from isiLungu. In isiLungu, there are tendencies toward creating compound verb-forms using prepositions (partially in the isiJalimani family (verander, income ensovoorts), but also in isiLatini (perfacere, inducere etcetera) and isiGiliki (katabaino, periphrazo kai ta loipa). These verb-forms are quite often paired up with a prepositional […]
The last time I looked at the election posters, I focused on a subtle difference in word choice. The ruling party chose a verb that signified a gang mentality, overpowering a submissive public into continuing to vote for them. The blue house chose something different, opting for using isiZulu’s penchant for reciprocity. This time round, […]
uMabhengwane 