Honours Degree

Honours programme caters for both those who have graduated in an African Language as a First Language and those who have studied it as a Second Language. The usual requirement for the admission of students to postgraduate degrees is at least a second class pass in a three or four year degree.  African Languages Studies may be combined with courses from another department in a Joint Honours. Students who have not majored in an African Language can register for African Studies and do a joint programme with African Language Studies. Students have to choose four (or five) courses from a number of modules that are tabled below. The fifth paper in the Honours course can be made up of a research component. This course is offered for the duration of a year for full time students and two years for part time students.

The course consists of seminars and essays covering a series of topics that include Theoretical Linguistics, IsiXhosa Traditional and Modern Literature, Language and Technology, African Sociolinguistics, Language Planning & Intellectualisation of African Languages, Lexicography and Terminology Development, Translation Studies and Interpreting Studies as well as Research Methodology.

Course Programme and Organisation:

Full time students are expected to choose 2-3 modules per semester from the list provided above. Each module has one class meeting per week for 3 hours. Those students who opt for five papers instead of a research paper will have to choose three modules in first semester. If a student is going to do a research paper he/she will have to start working on the research from the first semester.

HONOURS COURSE DESCRIPTION

Language Planning and Intellectualisation of African Languages

This course provides an introduction to the language planning and policy studies, with the African language situation occupying the centre-stage. The key concepts that you will have to learn and engage with include language planning, language policy and language intellectualisation, and these are meant to expand and deepen our understanding of the nature of language in society. Language planning will be studied from a historical perspective in order to understand how the field emerged and developed into what may now be considered a scholarly discipline. Both the practice and academic strands of the discipline will be addressed from this perspective.  Due emphasis will be placed on the socio-political, cultural, ideological and economic aspects of language planning in order to demonstrate the rationale and consequences of language planning practices. The role of language in Africa’s decolonisation agenda, against the backdrop of globalisation, will therefore be examined.

Translation and interpreting Studies

The course explores translation and interpreting and its relationship to language and culture especially in the context of African languages in South Africa. It provides an understanding of translation theory while offering students hands-on experience of the practice. At the end of this course students should be able to:

1. Understand what translation is.
2. Have in-depth knowledge theoretical underpinnings of language, culture and translation studies – equivalence based theories, functionalism, DTS, Cultural studies, Corpus-based Translation Studies etc.
3. Translate literary and specialized translations from English to isiXhosa and vice-versa
4. Understand Translation Studies in the context of what is happening in South Africa, Africa and the larger world. This includes issues of Gender, Decolonization, Intellectualization of African languages etc.
5. Provide a broader understanding of language, culture and translation in the context
6. Use at least one memory tool

The course starts by introducing students to essay writing and then introduces foundational topics such as: the relationship between language, culture and translation, the emergence of translation in South Africa, with special reference to isiXhosa. The course then defines what translation is, the skills and competences one needs to become a translator. Thereafter, theories are taught in a chronological manner starting from equivalence-based theories, to target oriented theories and lastly corpus based theories. The theories that are taught are: Equivalence based theories, functionalism, Descriptive Translation Studies, Cultural Studies and Corpus-based Translation Studies (CTS). In the course students are also grounded in translation strategies used to translate cultural terms and those used to create new terms. Practical translations are taught parallel to these theories to showcase how these influence each other. The practicals range from literary to specialised translations with a strong emphasis on culture and terminology development in line with the Department’s objectives of intellectualising African Languages. The students are also taught how to use memory tool.  In the course some of the notes are provided in English and isiXhosa.

Linguistics Theory

The course examines the theoretical framework of African Languages especially the grammatical descriptions. It seeks to explore the meaning and use of the languages. Comparative studies will be part of the course. Knowledge on the broad understanding of issues in language will be imparted. It will explore the various aspects of unconscious linguistics knowledge. Students will be expected to give an in depth understanding of language skills especially in communication.

Literature

This course deals with all the genres of isiXhosa Literature. It aims to impart knowledge on the analysis of novels, short stories, essays, drama, and poetry. Students will be introduced to a variety of books associated with these genres.

Lexicography and Terminology Development

The broad aim of this course is to introduce and guide language students within two disciplines, namely lexicography and terminology, which occupy a pivotal position in the history, status, use, development and future of languages. Lexicography and terminology are related but different disciplines. It is one specific aim of the course to motivate the necessary distinctions and relations. Thereafter students will be guided through an academic engagement with each of the disciplines in relation to practice in, but not limited to, African languages of South Africa. At least two sets of practical skills in lexicography should be attained at the end of the course with respect to each discipline. Firstly, it is envisaged that students acquire skills required of a practical lexicographer (steps, and methodologies and principles of dictionary compilation) and those of a terminologist (principles and strategies of terminology development). Here exposure to practical work at the Dictionary Unit of South African English (DSAE), isiXhosa National Lexicography Unit (XNLU), the Terminology Coordination Section of the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) and other projects will provide crucial hands-on experience. On the other end of the scale, students are expected to develop awareness and skills of a competent user of both lexicographical (dictionaries) and terminological (terms) products. This will require analyses of dictionaries and terminologies in relation to their use in applied language activities such as translation, interpretation, writing and editing. With the theoretical grounding that will be provided in the course, in between the skills of practitioners (lexicographers and terminologists), students are expected to develop critical perspectives towards both lexicography and terminology as they apply to the intellectualisation of languages. This should ultimately enable students to distinguish between good and bad lexicographic and terminological practice, and subsequently between good and bad products. Case studies of practices in South Africa and other African countries will provide the immediate context for a comprehensive and critical understanding of challenges, progress and prospects of lexicography and terminology in African languages.

Human Language Technology

The explosive growth of the Web and the vast improvements in computing power in the last decade or so have led to a strong need for education and research in human language technology. Human Language Technology is an interdisciplinary field that includes the following key technological and scientific areas such as:

• Computer Speech Recognition and Understanding
• Natural Language Understanding and Generation
• Text-based Information Retrieval
• Web-based Dialog Agents

Anywhere where language comes in contact with information technology, or where humans need to interact with computers, language needs to be organised so that it can be handled and processed by computational means. This often requires broad knowledge not only about linguistics and how languages work, but also about computer science and related fields. This course explores the role and the impact of technology on language development and implementation. Specific strategies for use of technology in the development of isiXhosa and other African languages are considered.

Master's  Degree

This degree is offered by thesis on any approved topic to full or part time students. It caters for candidates who hold an Honours degree in any African Language. Students holding a general degree will be accepted in exceptional cases. When the candidate’s subject of research has been approved, such approval will remain in force so long as the annual registration fee is paid. Candidates are expected to work with their supervisors and these candidates should be registered for at least two years. Since this course is offered by theses, the first step for these candidates is to write a research proposal by following the Higher Degrees Guidelines. The proposal will be tabled before the School of Languages & Literatures Research Committee before it can be submitted to the Humanities Higher Degrees Committee (HHDC). Once the proposal has been approved by the HHDC, the candidate can continue with his/her research, but depending on the nature of the research, the candidate may have to apply for an ethical clearance certificate. For more information please refer to General Rules G.50 to G. 61 of the university calendar. Our Section, the School of Languages & Literatures, as well as the Centre for Post-Graduate Studies will offer consistent support throughout your research studies.

Doctoral Degree

This degree is offered by a thesis on any approved topic to full or part time students. It caters for candidates who hold a Master’s degree in African Languages or in a cognate discipline such as linguistics or literature. Since this course is offered by theses, the first step for these candidates is to write a research proposal by following the Higher Degrees Guidelines. The proposal will be tabled before the School of Languages & Literatures Research Committee before it can be submitted to the Humanities Higher Degrees Committee (HHDC). Once the proposal has been approved by the HHDC, the candidate can continue with his/her research, but depending on the nature of the research, the candidate may have to apply for an ethical clearance certificate. Our Section, the School of Languages & Literatures, as well as the Centre for Post-Graduate Studies will offer consistent support throughout your research studies. For more information please refer to General Rules G.62 to G. 80 of the university calendar.

Last Modified: Thu, 16 Sep 2021 09:16:00 SAST