The Orthographical Development of isiXhosa

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Date

1998-10

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Fort Hare

Abstract

It is in the nature of things that constant changes gradually occur. In language change has been observed throughout the history of mankind. Such changes in language may affect its structure, vocabulary and the meaning of words and/or sentences. lsiXhosa in its written form has undergone several changes in its orthography. It is these developments in isiXhosa orthography that are investigated in this study. The problem which faced pioneers in reducing African languages into the medium of writing was that there was no reference material other than that designed to suit European languages. In other words they had no choice but to impose the Roman alphabet on languages which were structurally dissimilar. For instance, in European languages there are no clicks.

Description

Masters Thesis

Keywords

HUMANITIES and RELIGION::Languages and linguistics::Other languages::African languages

Citation

Saul, Z.W. (1998).The Orthographical Development of isiXhosa. Alice. University of Fort Hare