An analysis of temporal relations in languages: a comparative study of Mandarin and isiXhosa
- Authors: Ma, Xiujie
- Date: 2013 , 2013-01-30
- Subjects: Chinese language Xhosa language Grammar, Comparative and general -- Temporal constructions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2367 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003055
- Description: This study sought to investigate how temporal relations are expressed in Mandarin and isiXhosa. The objective was to compare how two typologically distinct languages, one isolating and the other agglutinating, cope with the encoding of situations that occur at different positions on the time line. Data was drawn from questionnaire responses from, and interviews with, isiXhosa speakers who provided translations of a wide range of sentences from English into isiXhosa. The study revealed that isiXhosa relies on the grammatical category – tense – to encode temporal relations, while Mandarin relies more on lexical and pragmatic devices – the use of temporal adverbials and the implication of aspectual markings – to locate a situation on the time line. Typically, each sentence in isiXhosa must be marked for tense: temporal adverbials are optional elements and used to more precisely locate the situation on the time line. By contrast, in Mandarin, temporal adverbials have a more central function in that they independently express different positions on the time line: without temporal adverbials, it is extremely difficult to locate a situation on the time line in some sentences. Another important difference between the two languages was revealed in this study: isiXhosa grammar allows speakers to talk about situations in terms of their distance (past or future) from the speech time whereas Mandarin grammar allows its speakers to talk about situations in terms of the internal properties (e.g. completed, ongoing, etc.) of those situations. The study revealed that isiXhosa and Mandarin are similar in one important respect: both languages have no formal properties, i.e. overt tense markers (isiXhosa) and compulsory temporal adverbials or other temporal devices (Mandarin) for marking the temporal location of present situations. The study also revealed that both languages encode ‘pastness’ in terms of whether or not the effects of the situation in question still remain at speech time.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Ma, Xiujie
- Date: 2013 , 2013-01-30
- Subjects: Chinese language Xhosa language Grammar, Comparative and general -- Temporal constructions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2367 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003055
- Description: This study sought to investigate how temporal relations are expressed in Mandarin and isiXhosa. The objective was to compare how two typologically distinct languages, one isolating and the other agglutinating, cope with the encoding of situations that occur at different positions on the time line. Data was drawn from questionnaire responses from, and interviews with, isiXhosa speakers who provided translations of a wide range of sentences from English into isiXhosa. The study revealed that isiXhosa relies on the grammatical category – tense – to encode temporal relations, while Mandarin relies more on lexical and pragmatic devices – the use of temporal adverbials and the implication of aspectual markings – to locate a situation on the time line. Typically, each sentence in isiXhosa must be marked for tense: temporal adverbials are optional elements and used to more precisely locate the situation on the time line. By contrast, in Mandarin, temporal adverbials have a more central function in that they independently express different positions on the time line: without temporal adverbials, it is extremely difficult to locate a situation on the time line in some sentences. Another important difference between the two languages was revealed in this study: isiXhosa grammar allows speakers to talk about situations in terms of their distance (past or future) from the speech time whereas Mandarin grammar allows its speakers to talk about situations in terms of the internal properties (e.g. completed, ongoing, etc.) of those situations. The study revealed that isiXhosa and Mandarin are similar in one important respect: both languages have no formal properties, i.e. overt tense markers (isiXhosa) and compulsory temporal adverbials or other temporal devices (Mandarin) for marking the temporal location of present situations. The study also revealed that both languages encode ‘pastness’ in terms of whether or not the effects of the situation in question still remain at speech time.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
For the people : an appraisal comparison of imagined communities in letters to two South African newspapers
- Authors: Smith, Jade
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Daily Sun (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Times (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Mass media and social integration -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Usage , Mass media and language -- South Africa , Mass media and culture -- South Africa , Belonging (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2385 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016264
- Description: This thesis reports on the bonds that unify imagined communities (Anderson 1983) that are created in 40 letters prominently displayed on the opinions pages of the Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, and The Times, a daily offshoot of the mainstream national Sunday Times. An APPRAISAL analysis of these letters reveals how the imagined communities attempt to align their audiences around distinctive couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning. Such couplings represent the bonds around which community identities are co-constructed through affiliation and are evidence of the shared feelings that unite the communities of readership. Inferences drawn from this APPRAISAL information allow for a comparison of the natures of the two communities in terms of how they view their agency and group cohesion. Central to the analysis and interpretation of the data is the letters’ evaluative prosody, traced in order to determine the polarity of readers’ stances over four weeks. Asymmetrical prosodies are construed as pointing to the validity of ‘linguistic ventriloquism’, a term whose definition is refined and used as a diagnostic for whether the newspapers use their readers’ letters to promote their own stances on controversial matters. Principal findings show that both communities affiliate around the value of education, and dissatisfaction with the country’s political leaders, however The Times’ readers are more individualistic than the Daily Sun’s community members, who are concerned with the wellbeing of the group. The analysis highlights limitations to the application of the APPRAISAL framework, the value of subjectivity in the analytical process, and adds a new dimension to South African media studies, as it provides linguistic insights into the construction of imagined communities of newspaper readership.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
- Authors: Smith, Jade
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Daily Sun (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Times (Johannesburg, South Africa) , Mass media and social integration -- South Africa , Language and languages -- Usage , Mass media and language -- South Africa , Mass media and culture -- South Africa , Belonging (Social psychology)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2385 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016264
- Description: This thesis reports on the bonds that unify imagined communities (Anderson 1983) that are created in 40 letters prominently displayed on the opinions pages of the Daily Sun, a popular tabloid, and The Times, a daily offshoot of the mainstream national Sunday Times. An APPRAISAL analysis of these letters reveals how the imagined communities attempt to align their audiences around distinctive couplings of interpersonal and ideational meaning. Such couplings represent the bonds around which community identities are co-constructed through affiliation and are evidence of the shared feelings that unite the communities of readership. Inferences drawn from this APPRAISAL information allow for a comparison of the natures of the two communities in terms of how they view their agency and group cohesion. Central to the analysis and interpretation of the data is the letters’ evaluative prosody, traced in order to determine the polarity of readers’ stances over four weeks. Asymmetrical prosodies are construed as pointing to the validity of ‘linguistic ventriloquism’, a term whose definition is refined and used as a diagnostic for whether the newspapers use their readers’ letters to promote their own stances on controversial matters. Principal findings show that both communities affiliate around the value of education, and dissatisfaction with the country’s political leaders, however The Times’ readers are more individualistic than the Daily Sun’s community members, who are concerned with the wellbeing of the group. The analysis highlights limitations to the application of the APPRAISAL framework, the value of subjectivity in the analytical process, and adds a new dimension to South African media studies, as it provides linguistic insights into the construction of imagined communities of newspaper readership.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2013
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