Special Issues by Felix Banda
Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2011
This paper examines the effectiveness of multimodal texts used in HIV/AIDS campaigns in rural wes... more This paper examines the effectiveness of multimodal texts used in HIV/AIDS campaigns in rural western Kenya using multimodal discourse analysis (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006; Martin and Rose, 2004). Twenty HIV/AIDS documents (posters, billboards and brochures) are analysed together with interview data (20 unstructured one-on-one interviews and six focus groups) from the target group to explore the effectiveness of the multimodal texts in engaging the target rural audience in meaningful interaction towards behavioural change. It is concluded that in some cases the HIV/AIDS messages are misinterpreted or lost as the multimodal texts used are unfamiliar and contradictory to the everyday life experiences of the rural folk. The paper suggests localization of HIV/AIDS discourse through use of local modes of communication and resources.
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 2017
Research findings have shown that linguistic context helps young children to infer the figurative... more Research findings have shown that linguistic context helps young children to infer the figurative meaning of an idiom and learn the meaning. In this study, the role of linguistic context in children’s interpretation and acquisition of idioms was tested in 20 Cicewa-speaking children aged 4, 6, 9, 12 and 14 years in three experiments. Experiment 1 tested children’s ability to interpret idiomatic expressions in story context, Experiment 2 tested children’s ability to interpret idiomatic expressions in sentence context and Experiment 3 tested children’s ability to interpret idiomatic expressions out of context. The study adopted Systemic Functional Linguistics to establish the role of linguistic context
in children’s acquisition of Cicewa idioms. Our findings are: (1) Idioms are acquired as texts within the linguistic context in which they are produced and that linguistic context alone is not sufficient to facilitate idiom acquisition and interpretation. (2) Children come to know an idiomatic expression as a text before they understand the sociocultural context in which it is consumed. We argue that idioms are acquired as texts and they are acquired together with the sociocultural context in which they are produced and consumed, and therefore the sociocultural context forms part of the idioms.
Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2015
A number of studies have shown that HIV awareness is very high among Malawians
and yet infection... more A number of studies have shown that HIV awareness is very high among Malawians
and yet infection rates are rising. Local cultural practices have been identified as
contributing to this contradictory situation. Using data from 12 focus-group discussions
collected in Balaka, Zomba, Machinga and Mangochi, the paper explores the
reformulation of nine cultural practices as a preventive measure against HIV. The study
reveals that cultural practices that involve sexual acts for completion are mediated
through condoms and HIV tests. The study also shows that traditional herbs known for
healing ailments are repurposed to symbolise sexual acts. We conclude that the idea of
repurposing offers an avenue in which initiation and cleansing rites that involve sexual
acts are replaced by other semiotics such as a traditional medicine called mtela.
We also conclude that the modifications to cultural practices do not indicate complete
abandonment of associated traditions, rather, they constitute the renegotiation of
cultural practices and meanings associated with particular rites of passage. Lastly,
we propose that a comprehensive prevention programme needs to be part of a wider
national HIV-prevention effort combining a women and child rights and empowerment
agenda and, critically, lifestyle lessons in a process of cultural renegotiation.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus, 2018
Applying notions of interdiscursivity, commodification of discourse (Fairclough 1993) and semioti... more Applying notions of interdiscursivity, commodification of discourse (Fairclough 1993) and semiotic remediation (Bolter and Grusin 2000), this paper analyses toilet graffiti in men’s and women’s toilets at the University of the Western Cape in order to capture how the toilet walls become platforms where texts associated with other genres and discourses are appropriated, remediated, and transformed for expanded production and consumption of meaning. In turn, it explores the ideological and identity manifestations of the inscriptions in the transformed and remediated semiotic material, and the dialogicality and the trajectory of the texts across space and time. Thereafter, a discussion is presented of the implications of the expanded meaning potentials resulting from blended and recontextualized discourses from other genres and cultural contexts.
Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics, 2018
This study deals with the problems involving translating Arabic cartoons into English and the str... more This study deals with the problems involving translating Arabic cartoons into English and the strategies that can be adopted by a translator to make them more accessible and more target-audience friendly. It uses an approach based on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL; Halliday 1985/1994; Halliday and Matthiessen 2004). The concept of equivalence is revisited within the framework of SFL to include register analysis and the three strands of meaning or metafunctions. The study is based on a number of Yemeni cartoons that have been translated in the Yemen Times, a prominent English-language Yemeni newspaper. The study concludes that if a cartoon is to be translated in such a way that the target cartoon sounds as natural and entertaining to the target audience as the original, the translator should take into account the context of culture, the context of situation (i.e., register analysis) and the metafunction(s) involved in the source cartoon and tries to render them as far as possible in the target language. In addition, a cartoon is a multi-semiotic genre in which both text and image go hand in hand. The image-text semantic relation in this multi-model discourse can facilitate the comprehension of the context and the interpretation of the schemata of the cartoons more clearly. The translation of a cartoon cannot be achieved unless the two codes are considered
The article illustrates a sociolinguistics of language vitality that accounts for 'minority' and ... more The article illustrates a sociolinguistics of language vitality that accounts for 'minority' and unofficial languages across multiple localities in dispersed communities of multilingual speakers of Zambia where only seven out of seventy-three indigenous languages have been designated official and 'zoned' for use in specified regions. Using signage and narratives of place from selected rural and urban centres of the City of Lusaka and the City of Livingstone, we show how minority and non-official languages (some of which are unofficial and minor in region, but official in other regions) come to be part of the semiotic landscapes and social narratives of place outside legislated language 'zones'. We problematize intergenerational language vitality and endangerment frameworks and notions of linguistic performative identities and reciprocal bilingualism to suggest that the presence of 'out of place' languages in dispersed communities of speakers in multiple localities is indicative of the vitality of the languages concerned. We conclude that language revitalisa-tion frameworks need to consider alternative ways of language transmission focusing on mobile multisited and delocalised communities of speakers and their heteroglossic language practices. This means locating the languages or their fragmented forms in the spoken and written repertoire range of dispersed multilingual communities across multiple localities.
Papers by Felix Banda
Routledge eBooks, Sep 28, 2023
NAWA Journal of Language and Communication, Nov 26, 2023
Journal of Asian and African Studies, 2015
The present paper aims to analyse a number of those slogans collected from the sit-in quarters in... more The present paper aims to analyse a number of those slogans collected from the sit-in quarters in Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Using political discourse analysis, it unravels various typical discourse structures and strategies that are used in slogans in the construction of a sub-genre of political discourse in the Arab world. Drawing data from several mediums, including banners, wall graffiti, audio-visual instruments, chanting, speeches and songs, this paper tries to show the extent to which the slogans serve as a medium by which political complaints and comments are dispensed and consumed. This paper draws on a rhetorical analysis to find out their persuasive effect on shaping the Arab intellect and on the change of the political atmosphere in the region. Lastly, this paper attempts to show to what extent the slogans meet the standards of political discourse and whether they can be considered as a sub-genre of political discourse or not.
Multilingual Matters eBooks, Dec 31, 2004
... discourse. It is also about finding ways of taking advantage of everyday literacies, and the ... more ... discourse. It is also about finding ways of taking advantage of everyday literacies, and the kinds of literacies learners bring to the educational setting, for access to educational discourse-hence, the pedagogy of multiliteracies. The ...
Daengku: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Innovation
The paper explores the similarities and variations in the applicability of nasalisation principle... more The paper explores the similarities and variations in the applicability of nasalisation principles in Lungu, Mambwe and Namwanga (LuMaNa) languages. LuMaNa languages are spoken in Northern and Muchinga provinces of Zambia. Lungu is classified as M14, Mambwe as M15 and Namwanga as M22. The study used CV phonology and comparative Bantu morphophonological theories and qualitative methods. Results reveal that nasal homorganic assimilation depends on the consonant which follows the nasal, such as, a voiceless cluster /nk/ when a voiceless velar /k/ follows /n/ and a voiced cluster /ng/ when a voiced velar /g/ follows /n/. Nasal deletion before fricatives from singular to plural forms of nouns are not attested, instead the languages undergo nasal maintenance where /n/→/n/. Nasal deletion before fricatives is only possible during the reverse formation from plural to singular nouns where /m/→/l/ and /n/→/l/. The post-nasal stop voicing happens when converting singular to plural nouns where ...
Journal of Sociolinguistics, Jul 12, 2023
Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 2021
This study will investigate metaphor translation as a natural phenomenon. It will analyze some of... more This study will investigate metaphor translation as a natural phenomenon. It will analyze some of the problems involving the translation of metaphorical expressions in two Qur’anic translations, namely, Yusuf Ali's The Holy Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary and Laleh Mehree Bakhtiar's The Sublime Qur’an. The analysis in this study employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as a cognitive framework of metaphor, which helps conciliate the cultural specificity of metaphors and their transference into linguistically and culturally unrelated languages. The present analysis is based on Mandelblit’s Cognitive Translation Hypothesizes (CTH) (Mandelblit (1995), Maalej’s strategies of translating metaphor (Maalej, 2002, 2008) and Kövecses’s concept of Cultural Variation (Kövecses, 2002,2006). This kind of eclecticism provides a wide-ranging approach to be followed while analyzing the translation of Qur'anic metaphors. The approach used in this study does no...
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Apr 3, 2017
Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Aug 1, 2005
... and non-standard forms of the four or more indigenous Zambian lan-guages at the disposal of u... more ... and non-standard forms of the four or more indigenous Zambian lan-guages at the disposal of urban Zambians (cf Serpell, 1978 and 1980; Moody, 1984 and 1985 ... Felix Banda Linguistics Department, University of the Western Cape, Bellville 7535 e-mail: [email protected] ...
International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Nov 26, 2019
Multilingual margins, Nov 7, 2018
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1992
Social Semiotics, Feb 14, 2019
Current Issues in Language Planning, Jul 18, 2017
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Special Issues by Felix Banda
in children’s acquisition of Cicewa idioms. Our findings are: (1) Idioms are acquired as texts within the linguistic context in which they are produced and that linguistic context alone is not sufficient to facilitate idiom acquisition and interpretation. (2) Children come to know an idiomatic expression as a text before they understand the sociocultural context in which it is consumed. We argue that idioms are acquired as texts and they are acquired together with the sociocultural context in which they are produced and consumed, and therefore the sociocultural context forms part of the idioms.
and yet infection rates are rising. Local cultural practices have been identified as
contributing to this contradictory situation. Using data from 12 focus-group discussions
collected in Balaka, Zomba, Machinga and Mangochi, the paper explores the
reformulation of nine cultural practices as a preventive measure against HIV. The study
reveals that cultural practices that involve sexual acts for completion are mediated
through condoms and HIV tests. The study also shows that traditional herbs known for
healing ailments are repurposed to symbolise sexual acts. We conclude that the idea of
repurposing offers an avenue in which initiation and cleansing rites that involve sexual
acts are replaced by other semiotics such as a traditional medicine called mtela.
We also conclude that the modifications to cultural practices do not indicate complete
abandonment of associated traditions, rather, they constitute the renegotiation of
cultural practices and meanings associated with particular rites of passage. Lastly,
we propose that a comprehensive prevention programme needs to be part of a wider
national HIV-prevention effort combining a women and child rights and empowerment
agenda and, critically, lifestyle lessons in a process of cultural renegotiation.
Papers by Felix Banda
in children’s acquisition of Cicewa idioms. Our findings are: (1) Idioms are acquired as texts within the linguistic context in which they are produced and that linguistic context alone is not sufficient to facilitate idiom acquisition and interpretation. (2) Children come to know an idiomatic expression as a text before they understand the sociocultural context in which it is consumed. We argue that idioms are acquired as texts and they are acquired together with the sociocultural context in which they are produced and consumed, and therefore the sociocultural context forms part of the idioms.
and yet infection rates are rising. Local cultural practices have been identified as
contributing to this contradictory situation. Using data from 12 focus-group discussions
collected in Balaka, Zomba, Machinga and Mangochi, the paper explores the
reformulation of nine cultural practices as a preventive measure against HIV. The study
reveals that cultural practices that involve sexual acts for completion are mediated
through condoms and HIV tests. The study also shows that traditional herbs known for
healing ailments are repurposed to symbolise sexual acts. We conclude that the idea of
repurposing offers an avenue in which initiation and cleansing rites that involve sexual
acts are replaced by other semiotics such as a traditional medicine called mtela.
We also conclude that the modifications to cultural practices do not indicate complete
abandonment of associated traditions, rather, they constitute the renegotiation of
cultural practices and meanings associated with particular rites of passage. Lastly,
we propose that a comprehensive prevention programme needs to be part of a wider
national HIV-prevention effort combining a women and child rights and empowerment
agenda and, critically, lifestyle lessons in a process of cultural renegotiation.