Author: Mieke Visser

Ms. Nomsa Skosana is the isiNdebele researcher at SADiLaR. She finds the research fields of terminology development and lexicography very interesting, but specializes in translation (most of her research papers are based on translation).

She submitted a paper for Euralex 2021 with an abstract accepted for poster presentation (which was postponed due to COVID-19) and is finishing up a paper for ALASA 2020. During the period of national lockdown Ms. Skosana also started on a new paper, based on Autshumato Machine Translation.

Author: Mieke Hofmeyr

Muzi Matfunjwa is the SADiLaR researcher, specialising in the language of Siswati. Other areas of research that interests Mr Matfunjwa includes Digital Humanities, Linguistics and Sociolinguistics. Covid-19 did not come in the way of Mr Matfunjwa and his research and he is currently working on a few different projects.

“I am writing an article on the translation of collocations in the South African Constitution from English into isiZulu, Siswati and isiNdebele. I am also writing an article on the use of ParaConc to extract terminology for quadrilingual dictionary creation.”

Muzi does not focus primarily on the present, but looks for prospective future future projects to work on as well. For the next couple of months, he will finish his articles and submit them for publication.

When it comes to Digital Humanities, Mr Matfunjwa believes that it can provide advanced and contemporary research methods in African studies especially in African Languages, hence promoting research and providing resources for African languages.

Author: Valencia Wagner (SADiLaR Setswana Researcher)

Language is not fixed, it is continuously changing and adapting to reflect the needs of its users. Today’s youth do not speak the same language as their parents. They develop their own unique slang and use it to communicate amongst themselves. Generation by generation, the vocabulary changes, pronunciation evolves and new terms are coined.

Within the past year a new language trend has emerged. South African male teenagers originating from the suburban areas came up with this very informal variety of language. They started using specific terms that are rather unusual and a bit confusing to the older generation. According to Pedersen (2007:3), new slang is invented to replace old slang aiding the youth of today to be able to be shocking or amusing people by speaking a certain way. 

Author: Muzi Matfunjwa (SADiLaR Siswati Researcher)

This blog highlights the importance and functions of clan praises among Swati communities and what they entail. In Swati culture, every clan name/ surname has a clan praise. The clan praises are part of Swati culture and historical norms. Thwala (2018:1) reaffirms that clan praises are predominantly used in all fields of social discourse in Swati communities. The praises depict the history of the people, related surnames, clan heroes, and clan totems. These clan praises are mainly used in formal greetings between people who know each other, in thanksgivings, in making requests, when consulting ancestors and when one seeks permission to enter in a particular homestead.