Botswana English

Abstract

The paper discusses some of the syntactic and lexical features of Botswana English. The syntactic features are the tag question isn't it? and the conversational tag is it?, the exclamation Sharp!, the indefinite pronoun phrase the other one, the dangling modifier, the inversion of auxiliary verb and subject in reported questions, the redundant use of personal / reflexive pronouns, the use of the negative auxiliary don't, the conflation of the English adjective sorry and the Setswana adverbial hoo!, the use of the subordinating conjunction which and the modal auxiliary can be able. The lexical items discussed include Setswana words that have been borrowed and/or translated into English and words such as condomise, diarise, shame and brigade which have been formed through the processes of derivation and semantic extension. The lexical and syntactic features are those which the researcher has observed, over a six-year period, to be in frequent and widespread use in Botswana.

Implicit Beliefs about English Language Competencies in the Context of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: A Comparison of University Students and Lecturers in Namibia

“…It is taken for granted that lecturers and students speak the same standard/level of English, understand it well, and utilise it correctly as would be the case in countries where English is the first and often only language. In countries with a historically Anglophone colonial background, usually many people are multi-lingual and familiar with the English language; however, local indigenous languages and cultures have influenced the standards of English in such countries (Arua, 2004;Bagwasi, 2006;Graddol, 1997). In this way, various "Englishes" (Kachru & Nelson, 2001) developed that have diverted from the English used by first-language speakers.…”

Botswana English: implications for English language teaching and assessment

“…. the other, which Arua and Magocha (2000) and Arua (2004) characterise as a syntactic feature of BE, is shown to bear some resemblance with the Setswana morphology of the English words one, other and another, all denoted by the same lexical item ngwe. Similarly, the use of agreement markers in Setswana, which can be repeated, to replace full pronouns is closely associated with the interposition of independent subject pronouns between subjects and their verbs.…”

“…This is an indication that the community might be inclined to endorse and perhaps promote the use of an endonormative variety as the standard in schools. Arua (2004) demonstrates that BE is syntactically closely related to other dialects of English in Southern Africa, though it is lexically distinct. Among the syntactic features discussed in this study are the exclamation sharp!, the indefinite pronoun phrases the other one and the modal auxiliary can be able.…”

“…Her study demonstrates that the expression can be able, is a product of the conflation of two verb forms, ka and kgona, 'can' and 'be able', respectively, which usually co-occur in Setswana. Notably, Arua (2004), referred to earlier, regards this usage as a syntactic feature of BE. In another study, Alimi (2008) shows some connection between learners' usage of English pronouns and the syntactic and morphological characteristics of Setswana pronouns.…”

“…Perhaps, its syntactic similarity with other varieties in the southern region, an indication of cross-border intelligibility, is one of the reasons why the subjects of the earlier study (Arua and Magocha 2000) seemed positively disposed to it. Among the distinct lexical characteristics of BE discussed in Arua's (2004) study are Setswana words borrowed and/or translated into English, including titles or terms of address such as Rra (Sir), Mma (Madame), Rre (Mr.). There are other items such as condomise, diarise and brigade.…”