, AFL1502
FIRST ASSIGNMENTS
SEMESTER 2 2026
DUE AUGUST 2026
Assignment 10 - English……………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 3
Assignment 11 -IsiZulu……………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 7
Assignment 12 -IsiXhosa…………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 12
Assignment 13 -Sesotho sa Leboa……………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 18
Assignment 14 -Setswana…………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 23
Assignment 15 -Sesotho…………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 28
Assignment 16 -IsiSwati……………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 33
Assignment 17 -IsiNdebele……………………………………………………………………………….………………PAGE 38
Assignment 18 -Tshivenda………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 43
Assignment 19 -Xitsonga………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 49
,ASSIGNMENT 10: ENGLISH
QUESTION 1: UBUNTU
Would you say that Ubuntu still exists even today? Give examples to support your view.
Yes, I would argue that Ubuntu – the Nguni philosophy encapsulated in the maxim umuntu
ngumuntu ngabantu (“a person is a person through other persons”) – still exists today, though in
transformed and contested forms. It is no longer confined to rural, pre-colonial kinship networks
but has adapted to urban, digital, and institutional spaces.
Examples:
1. Community-based disaster response – During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa,
informal street committees in townships organised food parcel distributions, not through
government mandate but through voluntary neighbour-to-neighbour solidarity, echoing the
Ubuntu ethic of mutual care (see Swartz 2021:45–47).
2. Restorative justice in schools – Many South African schools have adopted peer-mediation
and “circle” processes to handle bullying, prioritising healing and reintegration over punitive
exclusion – a direct pedagogical application of Ubuntu (Letseka 2013:48–50).
3. Digital ubuntu – Social media hashtags like #ImStaying and #WeAreOne mobilise millions of
South Africans to offer practical help (jobs, rides, crowdfunding) to strangers, showing that
Ubuntu operates virtually, not just face-to-face (Gade 2012:58–59).
4. Corporate and constitutional recognition – The South African Constitutional Court has
explicitly cited Ubuntu in rulings on dignity and housing (e.g., Port Elizabeth Municipality v
Various Occupiers 2005), and companies like MTN use it as a stated value in staff training –
proof that it survives as an official ethic, even if sometimes rhetorically diluted.
Critics argue that modern inequality, crime, and individualism have eroded Ubuntu (Matolino
2014:72). However, I contend that Ubuntu persists not as a static golden age but as a living,
contested resource – invoked most intensely precisely when community bonds break down, which
proves its continued moral relevance.
QUESTION 2: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
(a) Write brief notes about vowels. (4)
Vowels are speech sounds produced with an open vocal tract, without significant constriction, and
they typically form the nucleus of a syllable (Ladefoged & Johnson 2015:98). Key parameters are:
Height – how high the tongue body is (high /i, u/, mid /e, o/, low /a/).
Backness – front (/i, e/), central (/a/), back (/u, o/).
Rounding – whether lips are rounded (/u, o/) or unrounded (/i, e, a/).
Tenseness/length – tense vs. lax, or long vs. short (e.g., in many Bantu languages, vowel
length is phonemic).
Vowels are always voiced (vocal folds vibrate) and are distinguished from consonants by the
absence of audible friction (Clark, Yallop & Fletcher 2007:112).
, (b) Discuss the following consonants from your chosen African language concerning: (ii) The place
of articulation; (iii) The presence or absence of voice during articulation. (8)
Chosen language: isiZulu (Nguni, Bantu).
Consonant Place of articulation Voice (presence/absence)
p Bilabial – both lips come together Voiceless – vocal folds are apart; no vibration
(Doke 1926:45). during closure. In isiZulu, /p/ is aspirated [pʰ]
word-initially but plain voiceless elsewhere.
b Bilabial – same closure as /p/ Voiced – vocal folds vibrate during the
(Meeussen 1967:32). closure. In isiZulu, /b/ is an implosive [ɓ] in
many dialects, but still voiced.
z Alveolar – tongue tip/blade against Voiced – the fricative has continuous vocal
the alveolar ridge (behind upper fold vibration; it is the voiced counterpart of
teeth) (Ladefoged 2006:68). /s/.
l Alveolar – tongue tip at the alveolar Voiced – always voiced in isiZulu; it is an
ridge, but with a lateral airflow (air alveolar lateral approximant, not a fricative.
escapes over the sides of the tongue)
(Doke 1926:52).
Thus, the pair /p/ and /b/ share bilabial place but contrast in voicing; /z/ and /l/ share alveolar
place (though /l/ is lateral) and are both voiced.
(c) Discuss the following sound changes in your chosen language: (8)
(iv) Occlusivisation (4)
Occlusivisation (or stopping) is a sound change where a non-obstruent (e.g., a fricative or
approximant) becomes a plosive/stop. In isiZulu, a classic example is the historical change from
Proto-Bantu *p to /p/ and *β (voiced bilabial fricative) to /b/ in certain environments – the fricative
became a stop (Meeussen 1967:56). Another synchronically productive case is the nasal + fricative
cluster: e.g., */nz/ → [ndz] in some dialects, where the fricative /z/ occlusivises to an affricate [dz]
after a homorganic nasal, strengthening the closure (Ownby 1985:88). Occlusivisation increases the
degree of stricture, making sounds “harder” for perceptual or coarticulatory reasons.
(v) Vowel assimilation (4)
Vowel assimilation is when a vowel becomes more like an adjacent vowel in height, backness, or
rounding. In isiZulu, this is pervasive in the augment (initial vowel) and concordial agreement. For
example, the noun prefix umu- (class 1) becomes um- before a stem starting with a vowel, but
more relevant is vowel-height harmony: in the causative extension -is-, when suffixed to a verb
stem with a high vowel /i/ or /u/, the preceding stem vowel may raise. Example: -bon- “see” +
causative -is- → -bon-is- (no change, because /o/ is mid). But -fik- “arrive” + -is- → -fik-is- (no
change). More historically, Proto-Bantu * -ɪ- became /i/ after /i/ in Zulu – progressive assimilation
where the prefix vowel /i/ raises a following /e/ to /i/ in certain dialects (Schadeberg 1990:89).
Vowel assimilation is a coarticulatory process that eases articulation.
FIRST ASSIGNMENTS
SEMESTER 2 2026
DUE AUGUST 2026
Assignment 10 - English……………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 3
Assignment 11 -IsiZulu……………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 7
Assignment 12 -IsiXhosa…………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 12
Assignment 13 -Sesotho sa Leboa……………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 18
Assignment 14 -Setswana…………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 23
Assignment 15 -Sesotho…………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 28
Assignment 16 -IsiSwati……………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 33
Assignment 17 -IsiNdebele……………………………………………………………………………….………………PAGE 38
Assignment 18 -Tshivenda………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 43
Assignment 19 -Xitsonga………………………………………………………………………………………………PAGE 49
,ASSIGNMENT 10: ENGLISH
QUESTION 1: UBUNTU
Would you say that Ubuntu still exists even today? Give examples to support your view.
Yes, I would argue that Ubuntu – the Nguni philosophy encapsulated in the maxim umuntu
ngumuntu ngabantu (“a person is a person through other persons”) – still exists today, though in
transformed and contested forms. It is no longer confined to rural, pre-colonial kinship networks
but has adapted to urban, digital, and institutional spaces.
Examples:
1. Community-based disaster response – During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa,
informal street committees in townships organised food parcel distributions, not through
government mandate but through voluntary neighbour-to-neighbour solidarity, echoing the
Ubuntu ethic of mutual care (see Swartz 2021:45–47).
2. Restorative justice in schools – Many South African schools have adopted peer-mediation
and “circle” processes to handle bullying, prioritising healing and reintegration over punitive
exclusion – a direct pedagogical application of Ubuntu (Letseka 2013:48–50).
3. Digital ubuntu – Social media hashtags like #ImStaying and #WeAreOne mobilise millions of
South Africans to offer practical help (jobs, rides, crowdfunding) to strangers, showing that
Ubuntu operates virtually, not just face-to-face (Gade 2012:58–59).
4. Corporate and constitutional recognition – The South African Constitutional Court has
explicitly cited Ubuntu in rulings on dignity and housing (e.g., Port Elizabeth Municipality v
Various Occupiers 2005), and companies like MTN use it as a stated value in staff training –
proof that it survives as an official ethic, even if sometimes rhetorically diluted.
Critics argue that modern inequality, crime, and individualism have eroded Ubuntu (Matolino
2014:72). However, I contend that Ubuntu persists not as a static golden age but as a living,
contested resource – invoked most intensely precisely when community bonds break down, which
proves its continued moral relevance.
QUESTION 2: PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
(a) Write brief notes about vowels. (4)
Vowels are speech sounds produced with an open vocal tract, without significant constriction, and
they typically form the nucleus of a syllable (Ladefoged & Johnson 2015:98). Key parameters are:
Height – how high the tongue body is (high /i, u/, mid /e, o/, low /a/).
Backness – front (/i, e/), central (/a/), back (/u, o/).
Rounding – whether lips are rounded (/u, o/) or unrounded (/i, e, a/).
Tenseness/length – tense vs. lax, or long vs. short (e.g., in many Bantu languages, vowel
length is phonemic).
Vowels are always voiced (vocal folds vibrate) and are distinguished from consonants by the
absence of audible friction (Clark, Yallop & Fletcher 2007:112).
, (b) Discuss the following consonants from your chosen African language concerning: (ii) The place
of articulation; (iii) The presence or absence of voice during articulation. (8)
Chosen language: isiZulu (Nguni, Bantu).
Consonant Place of articulation Voice (presence/absence)
p Bilabial – both lips come together Voiceless – vocal folds are apart; no vibration
(Doke 1926:45). during closure. In isiZulu, /p/ is aspirated [pʰ]
word-initially but plain voiceless elsewhere.
b Bilabial – same closure as /p/ Voiced – vocal folds vibrate during the
(Meeussen 1967:32). closure. In isiZulu, /b/ is an implosive [ɓ] in
many dialects, but still voiced.
z Alveolar – tongue tip/blade against Voiced – the fricative has continuous vocal
the alveolar ridge (behind upper fold vibration; it is the voiced counterpart of
teeth) (Ladefoged 2006:68). /s/.
l Alveolar – tongue tip at the alveolar Voiced – always voiced in isiZulu; it is an
ridge, but with a lateral airflow (air alveolar lateral approximant, not a fricative.
escapes over the sides of the tongue)
(Doke 1926:52).
Thus, the pair /p/ and /b/ share bilabial place but contrast in voicing; /z/ and /l/ share alveolar
place (though /l/ is lateral) and are both voiced.
(c) Discuss the following sound changes in your chosen language: (8)
(iv) Occlusivisation (4)
Occlusivisation (or stopping) is a sound change where a non-obstruent (e.g., a fricative or
approximant) becomes a plosive/stop. In isiZulu, a classic example is the historical change from
Proto-Bantu *p to /p/ and *β (voiced bilabial fricative) to /b/ in certain environments – the fricative
became a stop (Meeussen 1967:56). Another synchronically productive case is the nasal + fricative
cluster: e.g., */nz/ → [ndz] in some dialects, where the fricative /z/ occlusivises to an affricate [dz]
after a homorganic nasal, strengthening the closure (Ownby 1985:88). Occlusivisation increases the
degree of stricture, making sounds “harder” for perceptual or coarticulatory reasons.
(v) Vowel assimilation (4)
Vowel assimilation is when a vowel becomes more like an adjacent vowel in height, backness, or
rounding. In isiZulu, this is pervasive in the augment (initial vowel) and concordial agreement. For
example, the noun prefix umu- (class 1) becomes um- before a stem starting with a vowel, but
more relevant is vowel-height harmony: in the causative extension -is-, when suffixed to a verb
stem with a high vowel /i/ or /u/, the preceding stem vowel may raise. Example: -bon- “see” +
causative -is- → -bon-is- (no change, because /o/ is mid). But -fik- “arrive” + -is- → -fik-is- (no
change). More historically, Proto-Bantu * -ɪ- became /i/ after /i/ in Zulu – progressive assimilation
where the prefix vowel /i/ raises a following /e/ to /i/ in certain dialects (Schadeberg 1990:89).
Vowel assimilation is a coarticulatory process that eases articulation.
