Tsotsi’s Transformation: A Story of Redemption in Apartheid South Africa
In Tsotsi, the novel revolves around the character of Tsotsi, a young man who leads a gang of four thugs in a township of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the 1950s. While the novel isn’t just about Tsotsi, technically, the story is shaped by all the other minor characters because they are the people who alter the plot, and the plot revolves around Tsotsi. Throughout the novel, we see an evolution of Tsotsi’s character from a hardened, uncaring individual to a man with an understanding much greater
Read MoreUnderstanding Language Variations: Jargon, Slang, and Dialects
Item 5
Generational Differences in Language
Main features of each language:
- Youth: Young people are often more receptive to recent creations, Anglicisms, and the lexicon of languages from older generations.
- Marginal: More conservative, using words or phrases unknown to other age groups.
- Child language: Features related to the fact that the speaker is still immersed in the learning process of the language.
What is Jargon?
Jargon refers to the linguistic varieties characteristic of different professional
Read MoreTextual Analysis: Functions, Features, and Linguistic Levels
The text under discussion is an act of communication in which the issuer addresses the reader about a specific item. The communicative atmosphere is characterized by emotional distance between author and reader, and this circumstance determines the formal tone of the letter, although at times the writer becomes an accomplice of their readership. This topic has been predetermined by the author without addressing the immediate response from readers. In the text, the following functions predominate:
Read MoreUnderstanding Language Varieties and Grammatical Categories
Language and Speech
Language is the human faculty that allows us to communicate through shared symbols that express thought. Language is a structured system of verbal and combination rules common to a community of speakers. Speech is the concrete realization of language by speakers at a specific time and in a particular communicative situation. Standard language is the set of rules and practices accepted by speakers of a language as exemplary forms of speech.
Diaphasic Varieties
People adapt their
Read MoreMastering English Punctuation: A Comprehensive Look
There are 14 punctuation marks that are commonly used in English grammar. They are the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipsis. Following their correct usage will make your writing easier to read and more appealing.
Sentence Endings
Three of the fourteen punctuation marks are appropriate for use as sentence endings. They are the period, question mark, and exclamation point.
The period (
Read MoreCode-Switching in Multilingual Societies: A Deep Dive
Code-Switching in Multilingual Societies
A further feature of multilingual societies is code-switching: the relatively rapid switching from one language (code) to another. Switching may occur in a number of guises, from the occasional lexical item inserted into a largely monolingual text (where the matrix text can be either L1 or L2) to alternating clauses. The attested incidence of switching is wide, but it is frequently derided by both speakers and listeners (when made aware of it) as indicative
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