The treatment of kinship terminology in Sotho dictionaries, with special reference to setswana

Abstract

The study on kinship terminology is concerned with the treatment of terms in dictionaries. Studies of this nature have been undertaken about several African languages, but such studies on Setswana were limited and were done a long time ago. The motive behind looking at kinship terms is that the researcher, being a native speaker of Setswana, has realised that entries of kinship terms in dictionaries are not satisfactory or, in some cases, do not exist at all. The study is aimed at investigating entries of Setswana kinship terms and evaluating their appropriateness. There are cases where no entries exist, hence the researcher intends to come up with definitions for such terms. In cases of ambiguity, that is, where a term can be used to refer to more than one relation, the researcher will identify the other instances where such a term can be used. In addition, the researcher aims at comparing Setswana with other Sotho languages. There are cases where these languages use borrowed words because of their integration with other languages in their localities, especially with Afrikaans. The study is divided into six chapters. The first deals with the introduction to the study of Setswana kinship terminology, the statement of the problem, aim of the study, research methodology and the scope of the study. The second chapter deals with the theoretical background of kinship. Chapter 3 covers kinship terminology with reference to the man’s family. The treatment of kinship terms in dictionaries is also discussed. Chapter 4 is almost similar to the preceding chapter, but deals with kinship terminology pertaining to the man’s wife’s relatives. The fifth chapter provides a mono-lingual glossary of kinship terminology in Setswana. The sixth and last chapter contains the conclusion as well as recommendations by the researcher.