Literature and Languages

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    Translanguaging as commodified semiotic resource among traders and customers of Soweto market in Lusaka Zambia.
    (Multidisciplinary Journal of Language and Social Science Education, 2020-09) Katundu & Jimaima
    Motivated by the practical and theoretical need to interrogate the place of urgency, actorhood and convergence of semiotic assemblages and resources in places of trade and business, this paper investigated the use of translanguaging as a commodified semiotic resource among traders and customers at Soweto market in Zambia’s Capital City. For in-depth appreciation of the phenomenon, data were obtained by the semi-structured interview, audio recording and general observation within the broader context of qualitative ethnography. A careful analysis of translanguaging practices among traders and customers during a transaction revealed that speakers in a market setting of Lusaka place high premium on stylizing their multiple languages as commodified semiotics, which invariably results in dissolved traditional linguistic boundaries through the use of the extended linguistic repertoire from their language system. Consequently, the speakers combined English lexemes with bound morphemes from their local languages, the standard and non-standard language forms, as well as fragmented pieces of languages as semiotically motivated act. Revealingly, therefore, it is contested that translanguaging, as a commodified semiotic resource, is deployed to engender a clearer conveyance of messages that strive for inclusivity, and multiple deployment of identities as marketization strategy. Of course, one cannot deny the fact that these marketers have the ability to use language in whatever way they feel for meaning making. This entails that, for speakers, the type or form of language to be used in informal contexts does not matter as along as the cause for which the language is being used is met. Which means all bits and pieces of language are treated as meaning making resources in their own right
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    Neologisms: a morphological analysis of social media discourse on the Zambian online media.
    (Multidisciplinary Journal of Language and Social Science Education, 2020-09) Nkhata & Jimaima
    Drawing on lexical morphology, the study discursively interrogates the outcome lexical items of the social media discourses and self-asserting narratives. An attempt is made to discursively examine the interplay between technology and grammar. The point of departure is the interplay between technology and word formation processes in establishing whether these outcome lexical items can be placed within the known word formation processes aptly discussed in morphology or form their own Morphological categories. Although a lot of literature exists on social media discourse in general, little is known on the grammatical concerns arising from the transformative nature of technology on language. The study takes the view that, new words have been coined with time and social media neologisms should be seen as an outcome of the creativity of language as well as its productivity. The study problematizes lexical morphology in the broader context of media affordances in which creativity and self-asserting narratives drive and dominant the performativity of identity and communication on social media. The premise of the theoretical concerns is on three separate components: the Word Formation Rules, the filter and the mental lexicon. We take the view that, even though most social media users may not be fully informed about the word formation processes which morphologists put forth, the shared sociocultural knowledge with which these actors come to virtual spaces is sufficient to productively transform the virtual-scape linguistically. To this end, the study shows that, though some of the neologisms created on social media conform to Word Formation Rules, others are created by ‘pseudo’ word formation processes.
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    'China: a thousand feet tall tree knows its roots'
    (Times of Zambia, 2019-10-09) Ngalande, Sande
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    The Impact of Language Policy on Teacher-Training Programs: Cases of Selected Teacher-Training Colleges in Zambia and Malawi
    (Kyoto University Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, 2013-03-01) Ngalande, Sande; Chigeda, Antonie
    The study highlights the glaring mismatch between language policy and planning, especially in education, and the actual practices on the ground. It seems Zambia and Malawi are lost somewhere between policy formulation and implementation. Since the education sector is usually the major player in language policy and planning implementation, the study was conducted in teacher training colleges in both countries to mainly observe what impact the prevailing language policy and planning issues are having on the two countires. The rersults are indicative of the struggles of divising and implementing a language-in-education policy that agrees with demographic principles of the two democratic, multiethnic and multilingual states.