Practical Orthography of African Languages

Practical Orthography of African Languages
Author: International African Institute
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2017-09-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1351601377

The first edition of the Practical Orthography of African Languages was a best-seller and this and the following volume re-issues the second edition, in English and French. Originally published in 1930, it provided an invaluable solution to the problem of finding a practical and uniform method of writing African languages. The volume is bound with a small pamphlet which analyses the information on the Semitic and cushitic languages of Eritrea, Ethiopia and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Related languages are grouped together into larger sections which have some linguistic significance. A further pamphlet, the Distribution of the Nilotic and Nilo-Hamitic Languages of Africa, describes the relationship between languages and dialects. For each language, data are given on locality, number of speakers, use for educational and religious purposes and the extent of vernacular literature. The linguistic material is set out in phonetic script with tone marks, though reference is made to current standard orthoraphies where these exist.

Practical Phonetics for Students of African Languages

Practical Phonetics for Students of African Languages
Author: D Westermann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2015-06-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317406273

First published in 1933, this book looks at the phonetics of African languages. It argues that a good grounding in phonetics and tone work is an indispensable preliminary to anyone embarking on a study of African language and so provides the material necessary for this in a simple form. The volume is primarily a practical manual for students of African languages but will also be an invaluable tool for students of general linguistics as a work of scientific interest. The languages observed present features of language that are very different to those found in Europe.

Handbook of Literacy in Africa

Handbook of Literacy in Africa
Author: R. Malatesha Joshi
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2023
Genre: Electronic books
ISBN: 3031262506

This volume highlights the shortcomings concerning literacy development in Africa and collates the current available literature based on empirical research in various countries in a coherent manner. Further emphasized is how the current research can guide practical information to improve the literacy situation in Africa. The research studies will encompass various fields such as linguistics, neurosciences, and education and will provide future research directions and instructional recommendations to improve the literacy situation in Africa.

Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences

Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences
Author:
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 748
Release: 2019-05-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110811278

No detailed description available for "Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences".

A Thesaurus of African Languages

A Thesaurus of African Languages
Author: Michael Mann
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1351611593

Originally published in 1987, this thesaurus is concerned with the spoken languages of Africa. Languages are grouped into a relatively large number of sets and subsets within which the relationship of languages to one another is locally apparent and uncontroversial. The volume presents the languages in classified order with notes on each language, their variant names and immediate classification, and reference to the sources consulted. One section offers an exhaustive list of the languages spoken as home languages by local communities in each state, together with details of languages widely used for inter-group communication, given official recognition, or used in education or the media. There are brief phonological analyses of a broad sample of some 20 African languages and a comprehensive bibliography and language index to the whole work

The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu

The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu
Author: Lilias A. Armstrong
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2017-09-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1351598201

Originally published in 1940, this book was the result of 3 years' worth of phonetic research and analysis with the aim of laying foudnations for improved methods of teaching and ascertaining the most scientific basis for current orthography of the Kikuyu language of Kenya.

Standardizing Minority Languages

Standardizing Minority Languages
Author: Pia Lane
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2017-09-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317298861

The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781138125124, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. This volume addresses a crucial, yet largely unaddressed dimension of minority language standardization, namely how social actors engage with, support, negotiate, resist and even reject such processes. The focus is on social actors rather than language as a means for analysing the complexity and tensions inherent in contemporary standardization processes. By considering the perspectives and actions of people who participate in or are affected by minority language politics, the contributors aim to provide a comparative and nuanced analysis of the complexity and tensions inherent in minority language standardisation processes. Echoing Fasold (1984), this involves a shift in focus from a sociolinguistics of language to a sociolinguistics of people. The book addresses tensions that are born of the renewed or continued need to standardize ‘language’ in the early 21st century across the world. It proposes to go beyond the traditional macro/micro dichotomy by foregrounding the role of actors as they position themselves as users of standard forms of language, oral or written, across sociolinguistic scales. Language policy processes can be seen as practices and ideologies in action and this volume therefore investigates how social actors in a wide range of geographical settings embrace, contribute to, resist and also reject (aspects of) minority language standardization.

Phonemes, Graphemes and Democracy

Phonemes, Graphemes and Democracy
Author: Zandisile W. Saul
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2024-06-07
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1040037593

This book provides comprehensive guidelines on important aspects of isiXhosa orthography such as word division, spelling and capitalisation. Authors’ primary focus has been those challenging areas of standardisation which have not yet been attended to. The book makes an important contribution to the development of isiXhosa into a fully functional medium of teaching and learning in Higher Education, and facilitate the enhancement of its status as one of South Africa’s official languages. Print editions not for sale in Sub-Saharan Africa