Personal names as communicative tools in Tshiven?a

Cultural-historical perspectives

Authors

  • Itani Peter Mandende Tshwane University of Technology Author
  • Mzwamadoda Phillip Cekiso Tshwane University of Technology Author
  • Christopher Rwodzi Tshwane University of Technology Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.37867

Keywords:

identity, personal names, cultural communication, Vhavenḓa, South Africa

Abstract

Africans maintain close connections with their traditions and places of origin. They express those connections in many ways, including through naming practices. Among the Vhaven?a of South Africa, personal names go beyond identity construction as they communicate beliefs, historical antecedents, values, intentions, experiences and other cultural practices. The purpose of this article is to explore how the naming system is used as a communicative tool that mirrors a wide range of human experiences within the Vhaven?a socio-cultural context. A sampled population of twenty-five Vhaven?a participants, including name-givers and bearers, were interviewed to elicit information about the meaning of their names. The data were collected over a period of five months. The names were analysed according to their semantic and pragmatic content. The findings reveal various derivational categories of Vhaven?a personal names, such as death, social conditions, illness and reincarnation, acquired names, Christian beliefs and thanksgiving personal names. It is also clear that the study of the Vhaven?a naming practice is equally the study of their social and historical phenomena, since their naming custom is so intertwined with their cultural and historical contexts.

Author Biographies

  • Itani Peter Mandende, Tshwane University of Technology

    Peter Mandende, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Languages at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. He specializes in onomastics and sociolinguistics. His works have appeared in the Journal of Names Society of Southern Africa, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal of Black Studies and African Journal of Disability. Peter is a member of the Names Society of Southern Africa, Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies and South African Journal of African Languages. Currently, he is working on names given to some public schools in Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

  • Mzwamadoda Phillip Cekiso, Tshwane University of Technology

    Madoda Cekiso, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Languages, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. He specializes in psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and onomastics. He has published several papers in the African Journal of Disability, Journal for Language Teaching, Journal of Social Sciences and Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. He is a member of the Names Society of Southern Africa, Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies and Reading Association of South Africa. He is currently working on the names given to isiXhosa traditional surgeons.

  • Christopher Rwodzi, Tshwane University of Technology

    Dr Christopher Rwodzi is a Lecturer in the Department of Applied Languages, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. His areas of interest are sociolinguistics, onomastics, language and literacy and language methodology. His articles have appeared in SAFOS (Southern Africa Folklore Society), Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, INTED 2014 proceedings and Literator. Currently, he is working on an article on the renaming of university teaching and learning facilities as a step towards Africanization of Higher Education in South Africa.

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Published

2020-02-20

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 2-4 (2019): Special Issue: African anthroponyms: Sociolinguistic currents and anthropological reflections

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Mandende, I. P., Cekiso, M. P., & Rwodzi, C. (2020). Personal names as communicative tools in Tshiven?a : Cultural-historical perspectives. Sociolinguistic Studies, 13(2-4), 335–355. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.37867

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