A computational approach to Zulu verb morphology within the context of lexical semantics

The central research question that is addressed in this article is: How can ZulMorph, a finite state morphological analyser for Zulu, be employed to add value to Zulu lexical semantics with specific reference to Zulu verbs? The verb is the most complex word category in Zulu. Due to the agglutinative nature of Zulu morphology, limited information can be computationally extracted from running Zulu text without the support of  sufficiently reliable computational mor-phological analysis by means of which the  essential meanings of, amongst others, verbs can be exposed. In this article we describe a corpus-based approach to adding the English meaning to Zulu extended verb roots, thereby enhancing ZulMorph as a lexical knowledge base.Keywords: Zulu Verb Morphology, Verb Extensions, Lexical Semantics, Computational Morphological Analysis, Zulmorph, Zulu Lexical Knowl-Edge Base, Bitext

Extraordinary emergencies : reproducing the sacred child in institutional interaction.

This research report examines telephonic and written data from an emergency medical services centre in the Western Cape and seeks to uncover the language practices that speakers use in order to create what I term “extraordinary emergencies”. Since one of the overarching institutional aims of the emergency call centre is that of “preservation of life”, the majority of emergencies are reproduced by emergency call-takers as routine events, specifically for the purpose of managing them most efficiently and thus working towards the institutional aim of preserving life. However, in certain instances, this institutional agenda is temporarily halted or abandoned in favour of a competing agenda, what I have termed the “personal” agenda enacted by the speaker. This personal agenda works to the reproduction of particular norms and values, and speakers are seen as morally accountable for reproducing them. This research report makes use of discursive analytic practices, specifically conversation analysis, as a method by which to highlight subtle and delicate moments in the interaction that recreate the shared value of the “sacred child” in real-time interaction. Keywords: emergency, childhood, sexual assault, conversation analysis, institution

A constraint-based view

Synopsis: This book is an introduction to the syntactic structures that can be found in the Germanic languages. The analyses are couched in the framework of HPSG light, which is a simplified version of HPSG that uses trees to depict analyses rather than complicated attribute value matrices. The book is written for students with basic knowledge about case, constituent tests, and simple phrase structure grammars (advanced BA or MA level) and for researchers with an interest in the Germanic languages and/or an interest in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar/Sign-Based Construction Grammar without having the time to deal with all the details of these theories

Grammars for generating isiXhosa and isiZulu weather bulletin verbs

The Met Office has investigated the use of natural language generation (NLG) technologies to streamline the production of weather forecasts. Their approach would be of great benefit in South Africa because there is no fast and large scale producer, automated or otherwise, of textual weather summaries for Nguni languages. This is because of, among other things, the complexity of Nguni languages. The structure of these languages is very different from Indo-European languages, and therefore we cannot reuse existing technologies that were developed for the latter group. Traditional NLG techniques such as templates are not compatible with 'Bantu' languages, and existing works that document scaled-down 'Bantu' language grammars are also not sufficient to generate weather text. In pursuance of generating weather text in isiXhosa and isiZulu - we restricted our text to only verbs in order to ensure a manageable scope. In particular, we have developed a corpus of weather sentences in order to determine verb features. We then created context free verbal grammar rules using an incremental approach. The quality of these rules was evaluated using two linguists. We then investigated the grammatical similarity of isiZulu verbs with their isiXhosa counterparts, and the extent to which a singular merged set of grammar rules can be used to produce correct verbs for both languages. The similarity analysis of the two languages was done through the developed rules' parse trees, and by applying binary similarity measures on the sets of verbs generated by the rules. The parse trees show that the differences between the verb's components are minor, and the similarity measures indicate that the verb sets are at most 59.5% similar (Driver-Kroeber metric). We also examined the importance of the phonological conditioning process by developing functions that calculate the ratio of verbs that will require conditioning out of the total strings that can be generated. We have found that the phonological conditioning process affects at least 45% of strings for isiXhosa, and at least 67% of strings for isiZulu depending on the type of verb root that is used. Overall, this work shows that the differences between isiXhosa and isiZulu verbs are minor, however, the exploitation of these similarities for the goal of creating a unified rule set for both languages cannot be achieved without significant maintainability compromises because there are dependencies that exist in one language and not the other between the verb's 'modules'. Furthermore, the phonological conditioning process should be implemented in order to improve generated text due to the high ratio of verbs it affects

The social relationships of changing Hai//om hunter gatherers in northern Namibia, 1990-1994.

This thesis analyses the social relationships of a group of northern Hai//om, who also call themselves Akhoe, in the Oshikoto region of Namibia. The Hai//om are a Khoisan-speaking group, labelled "Bushmen" or "San" by outsiders, who were dispossessed of their land during the colonial period. Today most Hai//om combine hunting, gathering, agriculture, handicrafts, wage labour, and cattle-keeping in a mixed economy. The Hai//om changing economy has elements of an immediate-retum strategy aimed at gaining access to the delayed-return economies of neighbouring groups, particularly Owambo-speaking agropastoralists, and farmers of European origin. Based on long-term participant observation with the Hai//om, this thesis shows the flexibility and versatility of Hai//om social organization and its institutions. Particular reference is made to the ways in which social categories are established on the basis of material transactions (sharing, gift-giving, bartering and commercial exchange), and are grounded in shared classifications of land and its resources. The thesis documents and analyses how Hai//om construct and maintain social relations, including relations with outsiders, in everyday social interaction. Patterns of Hai//om social practice involving these social relations emerge in language pragmatics, in the usage of space, and in ritual activities. The thesis also includes an analysis of representations of ethnic identity and economic difference in Hai//om folklore. The investigation shows that Hai//om social relationships and social values continue to shape the diversity and overall flexibility that characterize Hai//om life today. Although Hai//om have little power to influence the conditions imposed on them by national and international contexts, Hai//om social strategies across changing conditions can be explained on the basis of a set of instituted social practices centred around open accessibility and informal common ground

'So I sing for my keep' : J M Coetzee and confessional narrative

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Development of value-added materials from municipal plastic solid waste

Abstract: Continuous consumption of plastic materials that brings about rapid and more plastic wastes (PWs) generation has become an issue of concern globally, specifically in low-income countries (LCs) where waste management services are still at an infant stage and are inadequate and unstainable. The explosion and acute generation of PWs are dependent on many factors including, incessant migration of citizens in search of greener pastures from rural areas to cities and continuous influx of economic migrants from surrounding African nations and other nations of the world to sub Sahara Africa (SSA) region, changes in consumption pattern, rapid economic and industrial growth etc. The most startling thing about the severe plastic waste (PW) generation is that many citizens are not even aware of the negative/damaging impact of their activities on public health and the natural environment. Besides, the management of PW is now a challenge owing to factors like; insufficient budget for waste management (WM), unavailability of land spaces in cities for the construction of new disposal facilities, bad legislation and policies; and poor education and awareness campaigns. Hence, this study aims to enlighten the populace on the need for a change of attitude and behaviour towards municipal plastic solid waste management and to support recycling for greener cities and a sustainable future. To achieve this, a cross section of the students of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa were interviewed via a structured questionnaire survey and a logistic prediction model was developed to evaluate the attitudes and behaviours of the students towards recycling. Moreover, polystyrene plastic wastes (PSPWs) were recycled via solvothermal technique (chemical recycling) where a hybrid organic-inorganic nanocomposite (a value-added material) was developed. The synthesised nanocomposites (NCs) were characterized by XPS and EDX; XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM and DLS; TGA, DSC and BET. Moreover, the neat (control) and unprocessed recycled polystyrene (rPS) were also characterized by NMR and GPC.Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering

Exploring how partnerships between a school for the deaf and hearing parents and is managed: perspectives from school management, teachers, and hearing parents at a combined school for the deaf in KwaZulu-Natal.

Master of Education in Educational Leadership, Management, and Policy. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2016.This research sought to explore how the partnership between the school for the deaf and the hearing parents are managed. It was conducted and completed by obtaining insights from the school management team, teachers and hearing parents regarding their relationship and partnership for the benefit of the deaf child. The literature review underpins what literature and scholars have argued, highlighted and discussed in terms of schools and parent partnerships. However, the focus of this study is schools for the deaf and hearing parents, therefore, specific literature has been identified in the literature review. It provides an understanding of partnerships between schools for the deaf and parents and a theoretical framework within which this study will be analysed. The presentation of research, design, and methodology is mapped out utilising a case study of one combined school for the deaf in KwaZulu-Natal that offered from pre-school to grade 12. It had a principal, deputy principal and three heads of departments in the SMT. In my observation, most of the teachers signed fluently except for a few. The parent body consisted of hundred percent of the parents being hearing to deaf children. Gough (2000) refers to methodology as doing research in an attempt to produce knowledge and provides a set of reasons for the way a researcher move ahead in the study. Methodology refers to more than particular techniques, such as ‘doing a survey’ or ‘interviewing students’. It provides reasons for using such techniques in relation to the kind of knowledge or understanding the researcher is seeking. In this study, I have selected three methods of acquiring data namely, semi-structured interviews; documents review and observations. Qualitative data analysis was used in the process of research. I was actively engaged in the setting and with the participants to generate meaning of their experiences. Therefore, the experiences of the participants have added richness and meaning to the findings. The finding in my qualitative data analysis has provided answers to the critical questions. The data generated from the qualitative research has been analysed using the thematic analysis. The study was conducted to research the partnership between the school for the deaf and hearing parents; and whether it exists and is maintained so as to rule it out as a factor contributing to illiterate deaf learners; or is the partnership partially or non-existent therefore contributing largely to the illiteracy of deaf learners leaving schools for the deaf. The in-depth interviews with the SMT showed that they were very open and honest in sharing all that they did to involve parents and in so doing create partnerships with parents, however, they stated that there was still more work to be done in some areas. They felt that they were doing a lot, however, it was not fulfilling the desired need for parents to become fully involved mostly so through learning their children’s first language being South African Sign Language (SASL). The huge concern was that very few parents were actually interested in learning SASL to communicate with their child that created huge barriers between the hearing parent and their deaf child, and then resulting in a ripple effect into parents feeling inferior or inadequate to become involved in the school. The school personnel in this study were concerned that there were factors of finance, living a distance from the school, learners living with overburdened grannies, uninformed parents, disillusioned parents and uninterested parents were a contributing factor to parents not having a partnership with the school for the deaf. Parent participants in this study, on the contrary are saying we want to be involved, we are involved but when we see a problem and address the problem then we are seen as problem makers and the school hides behind policies. They not feeling welcome and not enough was being done by the school and there is no partnership between the school for the deaf and the hearing parents. The emerging themes were analysed and recommendations were made on how the school SMT can move forward in strengthening bonds with the hearing parents. The data has shown that both parties should make concerted efforts to take responsibility in their roles in relation to the deaf learners and fulfil their roles then a partnership can be created to work harmoniously in the best interest of the deaf learners

Case study: Open Data in the governance of South African higher education

The availability and accessibility of open data has the potential to increase transparency and accountability and, in turn, the potential to improve the governance of universities as public institutions. In addition, it is suggested that open data is likely to increase the quality, efficacy and efficiency of research and analysis of the national higher education system by providing a shared empirical base for critical interrogation and reinterpretation. The Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET) has developed an online, open data platform providing institutional-level data on South African higher education. However, other than anecdotal feedback, little is known about how the data is being used. Using CHET as a case study, this project studied the use of the CHET open data initiative by university planners as well as by higher education studies researchers. It did so by considering the supply of and demand for open data as well as the roles of intermediaries in the South African higher education governance ecosystem. The study found that (i) CHET’s open data is being used by university planners and higher education studies researchers, albeit infrequently; (ii) the government’s higher education database is a closed and isolated data source in the data ecosystem; (iii) there are concerns at both government and university levels about how data will be used and (mis)interpreted; (iv) open data intermediaries increase the accessibility and utility of data; (v) open data intermediaries provide both supply-side as well as demand- side value; (vi) intermediaries may assume the role of a ‘keystone species’ in a data ecosystem; (vii) intermediaries have the potential to democratise the impacts and use of open data – intermediaries play an important role in curtailing the ‘de-ameliorating’ effects of data-driven disciplinary surveillance.. The report concludes as follows: (i) despite poor data provision by government, the public university governance open data ecosystem has evolved because of the presence of intermediaries in the ecosystem; (ii) by providing a richer information context and/or by making the data interoperable, government could improve the uptake of data by new users and intermediaries, as well as by the existing intermediaries; and (iii) increasing the fluidity of government open data could remove uncertainties around both the degree of access provided by intermediaries and the financial sustainability of the open platforms provided by intermediaries