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Title Contrast, contact, convergence? Afrikaans and English modal auxiliaries in South African parliamentary discourse (1925'1985)
Full text https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/424400
Date 2022
Author(s) Van Rooy, Bertus; Kotze, Haidee
Contributor(s) LS Vertaalwetenschap; UiL OTS Variation; UiL OTS L&C
Abstract This article investigates modal auxiliaries in original and translated Afrikaans and South African English parliamentary discourse in the period 1925-1985. Against the background of the sociolinguistic history of language contact in the bilingual South African parliament (1910-1994), it analyses (a) the contrastive differences in the use of modal auxiliaries in South African English and Afrikaans, (b) potential cross-linguistic influence in the use of modals between the two languages, and (c) the way in which contrastive differences and cross-linguistic influence are reflected in translations. In both languages, modal auxiliaries are more common in parliamentary discourse than in general usage. There is little evidence of overall convergence; there are, however, cross-linguistic similarities in specific pragmatic uses of modals in parliament. Translations show a large degree of shining-through from the source text, alongside adjustment to target norms; the tension between these two forces is variable, and influenced by social factors.
Subject(s) Afrikaans; South African English; language contact; modal verbs; parliamentary discourse; Language and Linguistics; Linguistics and Language
Language en
Relation 2666-0393
Type of publication Article
Format application/pdf
Rights info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess
Identifier Contrastive Pragmatics 2022(3), 159-193 (2022)
Repository Utrecht - University of Utrecht
Added to C-A: 2022-12-08;16:40:27