Theses and Dissertations

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Crosslinguistic interface between English and selected Zimbabwe an indigenous languages
(University if Fort Hare, 2014-12) Zhou, Sandiso
This study investigated the crosslinguistic interface between English and selected indigenous languages in Zimbabwe particularly Shona and Ndebele. The major thrust of the study was to critically examine how Zimbabwean indigenous languages,· particularly Shona and Ndebele, have influenced non-native English written production through analysing written discourses for evidence of crosslinguistic influence in all linguistic domains. The thesis employed a qualitative case study approach to analyse excerpts from four literary texts written by Zimbabwean authors and 40 essays written by university final year undergraduate students. Questionnaires and interviews were also used to gather data from lecturers and students. The research findings indicated that all domains were vulnerable to crosslinguistic influence to varying degrees. While deviating from Standard British English norms, the findings indicated that the English that has resulted from an interface of Shona and Ndebele with English is in itself a functional variety even as it demonstrates phonological, lexical, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic deviations from Standard English and resemblance to Shona and Ndebele.