Towards an 11 X 11 Array for the Degree of Conjunctivism/Disjunctivism of the South African Languages

Prinsloo, D.J.; Schryver, Gilles-Maurice De

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Title:	Towards an 11 X 11 Array for the Degree of Conjunctivism/Disjunctivism of the South African Languages
Authors:	Prinsloo, D.J. Schryver, Gilles-Maurice De
Year:	2002
Periodical:	Nordic Journal of African Studies
Volume:	11
Issue:	2
Pages:	249-265
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:	writing systems spelling Bantu languages Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:	https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/359/342
Abstract:	Since 1994, nine Bantu languages have become official languages of South Africa. The first attempts to reduce these languages to writing, however, date from the early 19th century. Different writing systems developed for the nine Bantu languages. Those belonging to the Nguni group are said to be written conjunctively, while those from the Sotho group, as well as Tshivenda and Xitsonga, adhere to a disjunctive writing system. In this article a measurement instrument for the degree of conjunctivism/disjunctivism of the South African languages is presented. Following a discussion on conjunctivism versus disjunctivism, both absolute and relative approaches towards this measurement instrument are experimented with. Three potential absolute instruments are derived: one based on word length, one on sentence length, and one on the standardized type/token ratio. All of them pose problems. The search for a relative instrument is more successful. Although large sets of parallel texts would provide the ideal data, two-by-two parallel corpora offer a good substitute. The final 11 x 11 array is also compiled in this way. Applications of the 11 x 11 array in several fundamental and applied linguistic fields (translation, academic writing, corpus linguistics, and theoretical reflections about spellcheckers and multidimension dictionary Rulers) are reviewed. A complete Bantu Array could be the ultimate goal. Bibliogr., note, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]