Prosody and pedagogy in a democratic South Africa

Abstract

This article explores how prosodic patterning influences relationships. Written from an integrational point of view, it highlights the local importance of the issue by examining talk that resounds with a post-apartheid 'ugly tone'. Two central claims are made. Firstly, much understanding is the intertwining of vocalisations. Secondly, we are skilled in interpreting how this joint activity is integrated with word-based patterning. Since we take part in dialogue, we have capacities for responding in real time and, crucially, for making judgements about the unfolding sense of events.


Especially where such ways of acting are intrinsic to identity, we need to develop dialogical capacities beyond the 'in-group'. In the terms of the article, learners can be helped with first-order contextualizing and interactional ascription. By adopting these goals, local ways of speaking and listening become paramount. This leads to a new choice of oral/aural materials and a focus on tasks where learners explain judgements about talk within and across social groups. Emphasis thus goes on enhancing capacities for listening to, interpreting, and rectifying real-time dialogical events. Close examination of local speaking and listening, it is argued, will lead to development of contextually sensitive educational practices.


(S/ern Af Linguistics & Applied Language Stud: 2001 19(3&4): 179-196)