This study compares the use of two types of idioms and other fixed expressions across five African varieties of English: the first, represented by put into consideration, is about structurally altered versions of World Standard English (WSE) idioms like take into consideration. The second, represented by lie low like an envelope, is about expressions which do not have structural WSE equivalents. The study’s starting point was that both types were considered ‘typically Kenyan English’ idioms. As such, it set out to find out if these were also used, and to what extent, in Tanzanian, Nigerian, Ghanaian and South African English. The study’s second aim was to look for evidence for Mair’s notion of a ‘transnational epicentre’, specifically as it would apply to Kenyan vs Tanzanian English. To achieve both aims, data were collected from the Corpus of Global Web-based English in the form of frequencies of occurrence of the idioms under study. The study found that only 36% of the structurally altered expressions and 70% of those without structural WSE equivalents could indeed be argued to be typically Kenyan. Regarding the ‘transnational epicentre’ notion, evidence was found to support it, but not strong enough evidence.

Corpus linguistics has emerged as one of the most dynamic fields in English language studies, offering empirical insights into patterns of vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and variation across diverse contexts. Over the past three decades, the scope of corpus studies has expanded remarkably, moving beyond early text collections such as the Brown Corpus to vast learner corpora, multimodal resources, and real-time social media datasets. This review article examines the current trends shaping corpus research and highlights promising future directions. Current scholarship demonstrates an increasing interest in world Englishes, learner corpora, and corpus-assisted discourse analysis, particularly in political and media communication. At the same time, new applications in pedagogy, translation, and forensic linguistics illustrate the methodological versatility of corpus approaches. Advances in computational tools and natural language processing have further broadened possibilities for large-scale, automated analysis of language data. However, challenges remain concerning representativeness, ethical issues in digital corpora, and the balance between quantitative and qualitative methods. Looking ahead, corpus studies are expected to place greater emphasis on under-represented English varieties, including South Asian and African Englishes, as well as on the integration of multimodal data and artificial intelligence techniques. This review argues that corpus linguistics is not only consolidating its role as a central methodology in applied linguistics but also redefining how scholars conceptualize language use in global, digital, and multilingual contexts.

ABSTRACT In South African (and other) English classrooms, students are expected to study poetry. However, students often find this to be both challenging and of little relevance to their lives. To ameliorate this challenge, we used a qualitative, interpretive action research study, using popular music, to support the study of poetry. This paper considers students’ gendered responses in cycle five of the study where the song Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys was used to study the poem Women by Alice Walker. Findings generated from written work, class discussions, and a research journal indicate that, although the song was a suitable choice to support the teaching of the poem, male and female students reflected contrasting responses and emotions. Some males felt marginalised, whilst most females felt inspired and empowered. It became clear that studying poetry (or any literary genre) needs to be underpinned by inclusion and openness to diverse voices.

This paper reconsiders the status of what is normally described as deontic must in L1 South African English (SAE), presently understood as a medium-to-weak obligation marker in the grammar (Wasserman & van Rooy 2014). The paper focuses on two uses of the modal where an additional meaning of the speaker’s desire and wish (for the addressee) parasites on the modal. These two uses also exhibit distinctive morphosyntactic behaviour. The first part of the paper presents recorded data and gives an informal descriptive account of the modal in the two cases of interest. The second part argues that, in these cases, must has undergone a process of change known as pragmaticalization, language change that leads into the discourse domain (Biberauer 2018; Diewald 2011; Müller & Axel-Tober 2025). Tests from Coppock (2012) and Potts (2005) indicate that new discourse-related meaning has lexicalized into the content of the modal in each case, such that it is distinct from the medium-to-weak obligation marker. The paper finally considers the elements of meaning in these two cases that make must different from canonical deontic must, showing how the components of meaning in its canonical interpretation provide optimal material for the SAE interpretation evidenced in this paper. A new label for SAE must is then proposed for the modal.

The purpose of this paper is to review literature to understand the importance of including Adolescent Literature with an Afrocentric context in the English Language Curriculum. Its focus is on how crucial it is that the prescribed literary setwork for English Language learners, particularly grade 12 learners, mirror the geographical and social realities of learners, and promote local knowledge and heritage in local contexts while being sensitive to global imperatives. The theoretical frameworks of Decolonization, Afrocentricity, and Identity form the foundation of this argument as they are linked with the National Curriculum Statement’s principle of social transformation which motivated this writing, teaching literature for social transformation. The findings of this review revealed that teaching literature that is age appropriate and reflects leaners’ life experiences and history, in terms of geographical and social realities, can help learners understand literature and encourage reading. This review recommends further empirical research on Afrocentrism in education and the teaching of Adolescent Literature in South African contexts in the hopes that it would encourage South African setwork selectors to consider selecting Adolescent Literature with an Afrocentric context for South African English Language learners.

This study investigated Intermediate Phase (IP) teacher trainees’ perceptions of learner-centred teaching approaches in South African English language learning classrooms. With increasing emphasis on learner autonomy and interactive methods, this research aimed to understand how future teachers perceive learner-centred approaches. It also assessed how teacher trainees view the benefits and effectiveness of learner-centred compared to teacher-centred teaching approaches. In addition, the research examined the challenges that teachers in training face when implementing learnercentred methods. Grounded in critical pedagogy and literature on learner-centred teaching approaches, this study argues that learnercentred teaching approaches are the most preferred methods of teaching English at any language proficiency level, whether it is the home language or First Additional Language. There is limited research in this area, particularly within South African contexts. A total of 40 second-year Bachelor of Education students from a South African higher education institution participated in this mixedmethods study. Data were collected through surveys and openended questionnaires. The study found that many teacher trainees acknowledge the benefits of learner-centred teaching methods, such as student engagement, autonomy, and motivation. Thus, the findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on pedagogical approaches and inform the development of more effective teacher training curricula.

This article argues that multimodal language biographies are an effective tool for learning additional languages, especially where Arabic is the first language and English the target language. By examining how Arabic-speaking students position themselves in multilingual environments, the study shows how language biographies illuminate learners’ attitudes toward acquiring English. Based on data from 12 adult Arabic-speaking learners of English in South Africa, the findings reveal how students construct their linguistic identities and negotiate the relationship between Arabic and English. The results support the claim that multimodal language biographies function as valuable pedagogical and assessment tools for both teachers and students. As a phenomenological approach, they help participants interpret their linguistic life worlds and articulate their positioning within diverse multimodal contexts. The study highlights the importance of valuing students’ full linguistic repertoires-Arabic, English, and dialectal varieties- as instructional resources. It recommends using language biographies for student self-assessment and for teacher assessment practices that extend beyond verbal interaction in bilingual learning spaces.

ABSTRACT A relatively recent transition from Apartheid to democracy has shifted race-based policies and practices from segregation to amalgamation in South Africa. This dramatic change has led to diverse forms of prejudice to co-exist simultaneously within the country, making it an ideal setting for researching different types of prejudices. The Constitution now boasts protective legislation against discrimination, challenging prejudicial behaviours toward protected marginalised identities. Accents remain legislatively unprotected and socially underacknowledged, making it ideal for such research. In researching accent-ism, modern and aversive types of prejudice have been theorised (Roessel, Schoel, and Stahlberg 2020). The purpose of this research was to explore other types of prejudice, specifically for the post-modern era. Using a qualitative approach and a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology, thirty participants’ lived experiences in different environments were gathered through semi-structured interviews, thematically coded, and analyzed. The prejudicial norms and goals in different spaces and the attitudes toward non-prestigious English accents were linked to the cognitive and affective reactions towards one's own and others’ accents. The above was used to theorise overt, reversing, and non-prejudicial environments, including an inquiry into reverse prejudice.

Abstract This paper reports on an Implicit Association Test (IAT)-based investigation of the language-attitudes of the white (Afrikaans and English) speech-communities of South Africa, with a focus on young, L1-Afrikaans speakers. Drawing from an extensive literature review, two hypotheses were formulated: (1) participants would exhibit out-group bias towards Standard South African English over Afrikaans-accented English; (2) contextually relevant socio-demographic and sociolinguistic factors would explain this bias. Contrary to the first hypothesis, L1-Afrikaans speakers showed an implicit bias towards their in-group accent. Gender and family language emerged as significant factors in explaining these results. More specifically, females were found to show significantly more in-group bias than males, while subjects reporting both English and Afrikaans as family languages showed the most in-group bias. Given that the outcomes from this implicit approach provide new insights, further research into the role of gender and language-loyalty within this speech-community through narrative-based elicitation methods is recommended.

• Reduplication in South African English is well established and has taken on a life of its own. • Reduplication is an index of South Africanness; it can be used as a marker of local South African identity. • Innovation in the meaning and use of reduplication extends beyond transfer from other languages in the context. Reduplication is more common in South African English (SAfE) than in many other varieties of English but has not received much attention in research. This article examines the use of the reduplication what-what . The scope of reduplication in English globally is surveyed before considering the use of reduplication in SAfE alongside possible influences of other languages in the local linguistic ecology. Thereafter, a corpus analysis is undertaken of two corpora, representing user comments on television soap operas (2006–2023) and news and comments from the NOW corpus (2010–2023). The results indicate that what-what conveys the meanings of Etcetera (‘there is more like this’), Whatever (a general indicator of something vague that is not spelled out), and a Specific thing or quality (which is deliberately not named). While many reduplication forms can be linked to antecedents in other South African languages, the results show that what-what has acquired new meanings since coming into use in SAfE, which creatively extend the potential of the construction beyond mere transfer from other languages. Reduplication is not only an entrenched grammatical construction for coining new words in SAfE, but it has also become a way to express local identity for users of SAfE.

Many serious adverse events associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can be mitigated by timely glucose control during pregnancy, achieved through education and lifestyle choices. The aim of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt and test the preliminary internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the South African English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa versions of the GDM Knowledge Questionnaire (GDMKQ). A prospective, observational study was conducted at a high-risk antenatal clinic in South Africa. Pregnant women ≥ 18 years with GDM were consecutively sampled. Semantic equivalence between the original and adapted versions was assessed. Face and content validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated. The three SA-GDMKQ versions demonstrated good face and content validity. For internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha values were 0.534 for the Afrikaans version, 0.434 for the English version and 0.621 for the isiXhosa version. Test-retest reliability found kappa (standard error [s.e.]) values ranged between -0.03 (0.18) and 0.89 (0.13) for the English version, between -0.07 (0.18) and 0.53 (0.13) for the Afrikaans version and between 0.28 (0.18) and 0.87 (0.17) for the isiXhosa version. All versions of the SA-GDMKQ had a statistically significant (p 0.001) positive linear correlation between the total scores. The English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa SA-GDMKQ versions were found to be feasible and easy to comprehend, although lower internal consistency and test-retest reliability were displayed. Further validation of the psychometric properties of the English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa versions of the SA-GDMKQ among larger sample groups is however warranted.Contribution:This study adds to the knowledge around developing and using culturally appropriate questionnaires and outcome measures in research and clinical practice.

There is a global need for synthetic speech development in multiple languages and dialects, as many children who cannot communicate using their natural voice struggle to find synthetic voices on high-technology devices that match their age, social and linguistic background. To document multiple stakeholders' perspectives surrounding the quality, acceptability and utility of newly created synthetic speech in three under-resourced South African languages, namely South African English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. A mixed methods research design was selected. After the creation of naturalistic synthetic child speech which matched the vocal identity of three children with expressive communication difficulties, those three children answered questions about the quality, acceptability and utility of the synthetic voices using a pictographic three-point scale. A total of 11 adults who are known to the children participated in subjective quality assessments in the form of mean opinion scores, intelligibility tests and focus group discussions. Despite the synthetic adult voices appearing more natural, stakeholders were accepting of all the synthetic voices. Although personalization of the voices is important, intelligibility is prioritized and standard dialects are often preferred. When communication partners have adequate training and are willing to model and support children in all environments, children with expressive communication difficulties thrive, but when augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) use is inconsistent, there is reduced vocabulary development and poor system transitioning, and AAC abandonment is greater. This research suggests that stakeholders from low- and middle-income countries are interested in the development of synthetic voices in their home languages. Our research highlights that children would prefer to incorporate these voices on their high-tech devices, and adults would prefer them for their children, learners and/or clients' devices, rather than using British or US English voices. What is already known on this subject Caregivers, service providers, peers and other communication partners play a substantial role in a child AAC user's early communicative success, and their acceptance of AAC ultimately influences the effectiveness of the intervention. When communication partners advocate and support the inclusion of specific speech-generating devices, AAC applications, and suitable synthetic voices, children are more willing to consistently utilize the technology. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge As literature focusing on stakeholder perspectives from low- and middle-income countries is less common than research from high-income countries, and often lacks input from multi-perspective stakeholders, our study offers a unique perspective from South African children with expressive communication difficulties, caregivers of those children, their speech-language pathologists and teachers, about the quality, acceptability and utility of synthetic speech in under-resourced languages. What are the potential or clinical implications of this work? Our research highlights that stakeholders would prefer South African languages and dialects on South African speech-generating devices, rather than relying on devices that only incorporate British or US English voices. The development of synthetic speech in under-resourced languages has the potential to support marginalized AAC communities. Children with expressive communication difficulties would finally be able to participate in class and do so with a voice that matches their age, gender and social and linguistic background. This paper highlights the importance of providing a variety of synthetic voice options and emphasizes the significance of introducing novel voices for high-tech AAC to children in a manner that respects and aligns with their linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

• Animacy plays an important role in conditioning the variation between that and who . • Animacy effects vary in South African Englishes, with Afrikaans English particularly distinctive in this respect. • Edited texts are hybrid, reflecting the linguistic choices of at least two users. • Editing is a factor to be considered in studies of written language. • Shared linguistic ground between authors and editors licences normative tweaking. In variationist research there is little reflection on the multiple agents involved in written textual production, whose distinct linguistic and normative representations influence the linguistic composition of a text. In this study, we ask where the uniformity and prescription-oriented nature of published written language originate – directly from writers, or from those responsible for editorial intervention. Focusing on the alternation between who , that and which in subject restrictive relative clauses with animate antecedents, we analyse patterns of variation in unedited written texts and their edited counterparts, across three subvarieties of South African English. We find that, generally, in the unedited writing of the subvarieties the distribution of relativisers patterns similarly to other varieties of English, reflecting the stability of the English relativisation system. However, in line with previous findings on New Englishes, there are lower-level divergences in the subvarieties investigated – and, in general, higher proportional frequencies of that and which with animate antecedents in restrictive relative clauses in subject position than is generally the case in previous studies that have focused on written language. Where a variety tends towards less prototypical usage, editorial interventions at times mask this by amending usage towards more prototypical usage. However, the patterns of intervention are not always consistent. The linguistic background of the editor in relation to that of the author (i.e. whether they are users of the same subvariety of South African English or not) appears to be one of the factors conditioning editorial intervention.

The research work is devoted to the analysis of the English language variability specific characteristics in the context of modern community globalization process. The research proves that the English language variant, adapting to the realities of local languages and cultures, acquires new sociolinguistic properties. The aim of the study is to identify the specifics of such a variant of the English language as the South African English which was formed during the contact interaction of the British English language and the autochthonous languages and cultures of South Africa. The key properties of the South African English are revealed on the basis of methods groups: analysis and synthesis; comparative analysis; and the method of component analysis. The key attention is paid to the historical process formation of South African English and to the development of the English language and its role in the life of South Africa. The complex nature of long-term historical inter language and intercultural interaction has led to the formation of a heterogeneous structure of South African society, is which is presented by Europeans, numerous local peoples, Indians and their descendants living on the same territory. The complex differentiation of South African society has defined a unique variety of languages, dialects, and sociolects, among which English has a special social prestige and unites all other languages. Having a multicomponent structure, sociolinguistic differentiation of South African society contributed to the emergence and functioning a series of South African English variants types in one territory. These types are: Black South African English, White South African English, Coloured South African English. The English language of each sociolinguistic group has unique features that manifest themselves to a greater extent at the phonetic level.

Very little work has been done on Lesotho English. The aim of this study was to advance the literature on southern African English by exploring the influence of American English and British English on Lesotho English. Using data obtained from 45 speakers of Lesotho English who were selected using purposive sampling, the study compared the ways in which the two varieties have influenced the structure of Lesotho English and the way in which speakers of Lesotho English perceive its identity. To collect the data, the study employed a questionnaire, and to analyse the data, the study employed a qualitative analysis that included the use of descriptive statistics. The findings show that none of the respondents used the term ‘American English’ as the name of the variety spoken in Lesotho, with the significant majority (69%) naming it ‘British/UK English’, which indicates a strong influence of British English on how the respondents view the identity of Lesotho English. However, the results for the influence of the two varieties on the structure of Lesotho English as spoken by the respondents showed that American English has slightly more influence than British English. These findings have implications for the teaching and use of English in Lesotho, the major one being that the influence of American English may complicate English learning, since British English has traditionally served as a model for ‘correct English’ that provides norms in the teaching and learning of English in the country.

The South African English language curriculum states that by the time students reach Grade 7, they should have mastered certain English language skills that enable them to communicate effectively at both personal and educational levels. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the potential benefits of code-switching in improving students' oral participation in English classes. The study took place in a primary school in the Malamulele East circuit and involved all fifty Grade 7 students. The students' oral presentations were part of their formative assessment. Researchers used a rigorous methodology, including convenience sampling, to select participants, with the first ten girls and the first ten boys considered for the study. Data was collected during presentations, where each student had an opportunity to present. The qualitative method was used, with audio recordings and observations as data collection tools. Content analysis was employed to analyse the data collected from the Grade 7 students. Based on the students' performance in their oral presentations, code-switching seemed to help them to effectively communicate complex concepts in their primary language when there were no equivalent English words. The findings of this study showed that code-switching enhances students' oral communication skills and makes learning more enjoyable. students achieve their communication goals through code-switching, offering the audience a hopeful outlook on the potential benefits of this approach.

This study aimed to advance the literature on the English spoken in Southern Africa by exploring the consonant inventory of acrolectal Lesotho English (LesE), and then comparing it with two South African varieties, namely General South African English (GSAE) and acrolectal Black South African English (BSAE). The findings reveal that the phonemic structure of LesE has some unique features that set it apart from those of the other Southern African Englishes. The major contributory factor for this situation seems to be Southern Sotho, which appears to have imposed several constraints that have shaped the structure of the LesE consonant system. The findings of this study serve as evidence that LesE is a distinct variety that is different from all other strands that fall within the Southern African English cluster.

This study proposes changes to the teaching of English (language and literature) in South African institutions of learning in ways that prioritise functionality and communicative competence rather than the current dominant and problematic approach that seeks adherence to received standards. The author draws on his personal experience as a lecturer in a comprehensive South African university in a semi-rural setting as well as on postcolonial and decolonial perspectives on the many problems associated with epistemological access and literacy rates across South African schools and universities. Invoking a decades-old proposition by American writer, James Baldwin (1965) and Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe (1965) that formerly colonised people should use English for their practical purposes rather than try to imitate so-called native speakers, the author argues for a ‘world englishes’ and descriptive grammar approach to the teaching and learning of English in South Africa. Based on these ideas, a strategy with an action research component for the transformation of language, literature and literary pedagogy is proposed. Finally, the study demonstrated how such a strategy could also contribute to the objective of decolonising English studies in non-nativist ways. Though the discussion is grounded more particularly in South Africa, the issues and proposals are practicable to a significantly wider African context. Keywords: South Africa, English Studies, World Englishes, Prescriptive Grammar, Decolonisation

Abstract Among the earliest Afrikaans‐English bilinguals in Namibia, South African Coloureds formed an essential part of an ethnically fluid intermediate social class during the country's colonial period. Using phonetic and perceptual data from a young multi‐ethnic urban sample, this study investigates the contribution of Coloured English to Namibian English. The study finds that, in terms of vowel realization patterns, Coloured Namibian English varieties sit in between White and Black Namibian English varieties, forming part of a continuum in which one extremity tends towards White South African English. The less ‘Afrikaans‐accented’ Coloured English varieties—associated with women—are developing middle‐class indexicalities and are targeted by young Black women. Quantitative and qualitative perceptual data show that these varieties enjoy high status across Namibia's ethnolinguistic spectrum. The study concludes that Namibian English is norm‐developing, as befits any Outer Circle variety, and that Nambian Coloureds exert a prominent normative influence on it.

It is well-known that children with expressive communication difficulties have the right to communicate, but they should also have the right to do so in whichever language they choose, with a voice that closely matches their age, gender, and dialect. This study aimed to develop naturalistic synthetic child speech, matching the vocal identity of three children with expressive communication difficulties, using Tacotron 2, for three under-resourced South African languages, namely South African English (SAE), Afrikaans, and isiXhosa. Due to the scarcity of child speech corpora, 2 hours of child speech data per child was collected from three 11- to 12-year-old children. Two adult models were used to “warm start” the child speech synthesis. To determine the naturalness of the synthetic voices, 124 listeners participated in a mean opinion score survey (Likert Score) and optionally gave qualitative feedback. Despite limited training data used in this study, we successfully developed a synthesized child voice of adequate quality in each language. This study highlights that with recent technological advancements, it is possible to develop synthetic child speech that matches the vocal identity of a child with expressive communication difficulties in different under-resourced languages.