Author: Dimakatso Mathe (SADiLaR Sesotho sa Leboa Researcher)

This blog provides a general overview of Sesotho sa Leboa language celebration that took place at the University of Limpopo on the 31^st of July, 2019. The celebration was organised by SADiLaR in response to UNESCO’s proclamation to declare 2019 as the Year of Indigenous Languages. The celebration for Sesotho sa Leboa included presentations on language and culture related topics by various speakers, reciting of traditional poems, and a special celebration to acknowledge Dr. HML Lentsoane’s contribution to the Sesotho sa Leboa literature. The discussion concludes by challenging both government and private entities to come up with similar initiatives while also encouraging speakers of indigenous languages to play their part to advance the development of languages.

UNESCO e tsebagaditše ngwaga wa 2019 bjale ka ngwaga wa go keteka maleme a setlogo (IYIL2019). E be e dira bjalo ka morago ga gore dikutollo tša dinyakišišo di laetše gore maleme a setlogo a kotsing ya go timelela. Ditaba tše di rile go fihla ditsebeng tša SADiLaR gomme ya tšea sephetho sa go keteka maleme a lesometee a semmušo a naga ka go šielana ga dikgwedi tša ngwaga. Moletlo wa go keteka leleme la Sesotho sa Leboa o be o swaretšwe Yunibesithi ya Limpopo, ka di 31 Mosegamanye, 2019.

Diboledi tša go akaretša ditsebi le bafahloši ba tša maleme go tšwa ditheong le diyunibesithing tša go fapafapana ba ile ba bothagana go abelana thuto. Magareng ga tše go boletšwego ka tšona, go kgwathilwe ditlhohlo tšeo di swanetšego go rarollwa ge eba re ikemišeditše go hlabolla leleme la Sesotho sa Leboa. August Shotholo, Kwetepane ka sebele, e bile mosepediši wa modiro go netefatša gore ditiragalo tša letšatši di sepela ka thelelo. Seboledisegolo sa letšatši e bile Prof. MJ Mojalefa go tšwa Yunibesithi ya Pretoria. Yena o ile a bolela go tlala seatla malebana le setlogo sa Moafrika, go se lekalekane ga maleme go ya ka tirišo ya ona, gammogo le ditokelo tša batho go šeditšwe tirišo ya polelo. Bagešo, le ka fihlelela tše dingwe tša dingwalwa tše di badilwego moletlong ka go kgotla mo.

Author: Mieke Hofmeyr

Mr. Dimakatso Mathe is SADiLaR’s Sesotho sa Leboa researcher. When it comes to research he finds the areas of morphology, syntax and language processing tools, to name but a few, very interesting.

When it comes to his current projects he says the following: “I am currently working on my PhD study which aims to investigate similarities and differences of some of the dialects found in Sesotho sa Leboa from a morpho-syntactic viewpoint”

Other projects that he is currently working on include a speech data collection project which will result in recording and dissemination of Sesotho sa Leboa dialectal spoken data for research. He is also busy with a collaborative research paper which was presented with SADiLaR colleagues at a conference. This paper offers a detailed overview regarding the current state of Digital Humanities practice in South Africa.

Author: Mieke Hofmeyr

Ms. Rooweither Mabuya is SADiLaR’s IsiZulu language researcher. She finds computational linguistics interesting. More particularly she is interested in the development of resources for African languages.

Whilst the current Covid-19 situation and national lockdown is impacting the whole of South Africa and its workforce, Ms. Mabuya is staying focused by working on various projects.

Author: Mieke Hofmeyr

During the week of 1-5 June 2020, SADiLaR collaborated with The Carpentries again and hosted another online workshop. The daily sessions during this week started at 09:00 until 13:00 and a detailed schedule was followed to make sure that those who attended the workshop received all the knowledge and skills that the workshop promised to deliver.

The workshop aimed to develop and teach the fundamental data skills needed to conduct research, which included data organisation with spreadsheets and OpenRefine as well as data analyses and visualiation with R. The target audience for the workshop was mainly researchers and postgraduate students who have little to no prior computational experience, and its lessons were domain-specific, building on learners' existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their research. Participants were encouraged to help one another and to apply what they have learned to their research problems.