- Title
- The use of African languages in traditional courts: a Luyengweni case study
- Creator
- Nyakambi, Ntombizethu
- ThesisAdvisor
- Kaschula, Russell
- ThesisAdvisor
- Docrat, Zakeera
- Subject
- African languages South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Forensic linguistics South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Linguistic rights South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Communication in law South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Language planning South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Language policy South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Court interpreting and translating South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Customary law South Africa Eastern Cape
- Subject
- Customary law courts South Africa Eastern Cape
- Date
- 2021-10-29
- Type
- Masters theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/188810
- Identifier
- vital:44788
- Description
- Forensic linguistics is a relatively new field in South Africa. This field which forms part of the applied linguistic discipline seeks to look at the application of linguistic knowledge, methods and insights to the forensic context of the law. This is a forensic linguistic study that seeks to look at the use of African languages in the traditional courts. The researcher explored the traditional courts of Luyengweni, a rural area situated in KwaBhaca at Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape. The concept of African languages usage is explored within the boundaries of customary laws as outlined in Section 6 of the South African Constitution of 1996. To fully elicit the use of African languages in the traditional courts of Luyengweni this study employed an exploratory qualitative research design method. This research method allows for data to be collected from the participants using semi-structured interviews, observation and other qualitative methods of data instrumentation. Relevant community members of Luyengweni such as Chiefs and their councillors, ordinary members of the community and the court secretary were interviewed by the researcher and the data was translated, transcribed and analysed. The thesis made use of a thematic analysis. These themes showed that the use of African languages in traditional courts is still relevant, however, the imbalances of language use in both common and customary law need to be addressed. The study revealed that the traditional courts still serve as law institutions that people trust to bring about justice, therefore language use as one of the pivotal tools in the justice system needs to be considered for effective justice to be carried out.
- Description
- Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures, 2021
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (107 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Humanities, School of Languages and Literatures
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nyakambi, Ntombizethu
- Rights
- Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- Rights
- Open Access
- Hits: 2932
- Visitors: 3566
- Downloads: 942
Collections
RU School of Languages and Literatures
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | NYAKAMBI-MA-TR21-149.pdf | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |