The present chapter introduces the Corpus of Namibian Online Newspapers (CNamON), which encompasses the contents of seventeen news sources as available on the Internet from May to June 2016. These sources add up to roughly 44 million words of text. The corpus was compiled to facilitate taking a systematic account of the lexical and structural properties of Namibian English, which have not been investigated to date. This chapter focusses on the technical details of the compilation process of CNamON as well as its set-up and its usefulness for linguistic research. To demonstrate the corpus’ potential for analyses on the linguistic levels of lexis and (morpho-)syntax, both a qualitative stock-taking and exemplary quantitative analyses of structural characteristics of English in Namibia are provided.
Article outline
1.Introduction
2.Namibia: An overview
2.1Facts and figures
2.2A brief history of Namibia
2.3Linguistic ecology
3.A Corpus of Namibian Online Newspapers (CNamON)
3.1Namibian newspapers and magazines
3.2Content and size
3.3Compilation
3.4Benefits and limitations
4.Lexical and syntactic features of NamE in CNamON
4.1Lexis and word-formation
4.1.1German loanwords
4.1.2Afrikaans loanwords
4.1.3Oshiwambo loanwords
4.1.4English lexis and word-formation
4.2Phrase structure and syntax
4.2.1Verb phrase
4.2.2Adjective phrase
4.2.3Adverb phrase
4.2.4Noun phrase
4.3Discourse
4.4Three quantitative accounts
4.4.1Non-standard usage of indefinite article forms
2004BootCaT: Bootstrapping corpora and terms from the web. Proceedings of LREC 2004. [URL]> (2August 2017).
Böhm, Michael Anton
2003Deutsch in Afrika. Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in Afrika vor dem Hintergrund der bildungs- und sprachpolitischen Gegebenheiten sowie der deutschen Auswärtigen Kulturpolitik. Duisburger Arbeiten zur Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft, Bd. 52. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
2015African Media Barometer. The First Home Grown Analysis of the Media Landscape in Africa. Namibia 2015. Windhoek: Fesmedia Africa.
Frydman, Jenna
2011A critical analysis of Namibia’s English-only language policy. In Selected Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference on African Linguistics: African Languages and Linguistics Today, Eyamba G. Bokamba, Ryan K. Shosted & Bezza Tesfaw Ayalew (eds), 178–189. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. [URL]> (2August 2017).
2010Error or feature? The issue of interlanguage and deviations in non-native varieties of English. HKBU Papers in Applied Language Studies 14: 108–129.
Harlech-Jones, Brian
1995Language policy and language planning in Namibia. In Discrimination Through Language in Africa? Perspectives on the Namibian Experience, Martin Pütz (ed.), 181–206. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Harlech-Jones, Brian
2006Why the future is illiterate: Where did education reforms go wrong?Insight NamibiaJuly30–31.
Kamwangamalu, Nkonko M.
2013Multilingualism in Southern Africa. In The Handbook of Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Tej K. Bhatia & William C. Ritchie (eds), 791–812. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kautzsch, Alexander
Forthcoming. English in Germany and Namibia: The effects of extra- and intra-territorial forces.
Kautzsch, Alexander & Schröder, Anne
2016English in multilingual and multiethnic Namibia: Some evidence on language attitudes and on the pronunciation of vowels. In Anglistentag 2015 Paderborn, Proceedings, Christoph Ehland, Ilka Mindt & Merle Tönnies (eds), 277–288. Trier: Wiss. Verlag Trier.
Kautzsch, Alexander, Schröder, Anne & Zähres, Frederic
In preparation. Ethnic variation in Namibian English: A first approach to Baster English.
Kleinz, Norbert
1984Deutsche Sprache im Kontakt in Südwestafrika. Der heutige Gebrauch der Sprachen Deutsch, Afrikaans und Englisch in Namibia. Wiesbaden: Steiner.
Larsen, Martin Buch
2007The Media Environment in Namibia, 1990–2007. Windhoek: Media Institute of Southern Africa Namibia (MISA).
Maho, Jouni Filip
1998Few People, Many Tongues. The Languages of Namibia. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.
McCormick, Kay
2002Code-switching, mixing and convergence in Cape Town. In Language in South Africa, Rajend Mesthrie (ed.), 216–234. Cambridge: CUP.
Mesthrie, Rajend
(ed.)2002Language in South Africa. Cambridge: CUP.
Mukherjee, Joybrato
2007Structural nativisation in Indian English: Exploring the lexis-grammar interface. In Rainbow of Linguistics, Niladn Sekhar Dash, Probal Dasgupta & Pabitra Sarkar (eds), 98–116. Calcutta: T. Media Publication.
Mungungu, Saara Sirkka
2010Error Analysis: Investigating the Writing of ESL Namibian Learners. MA thesis, University of South Africa. [URL]> (2August 2017).
Namibia Statistics Agency
2011Namibia 2011 Population and Housing Census Main Report. [URL]> (2August 2017).
Nesselhauf, Nadja
2011Exploring the phraseology of ESL and EFL varieties. In The Phraseological View of Language: A Tribute to John Sinclair, Thomas Herbst, Susen Faulhaber & Peter Uhrig (eds), 159–177. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
2015Error Analysis in a Learner Corpus: A Study of Errors amongst Grade 12 Oshiwambo Speaking Learners of English in Northern Namibia. MA thesis, Rhodes University, South Africa. [URL]> (2August 2017).
Nurse, Derek
2008Tense and Aspect in Bantu. Oxford: OUP.
Pütz, Martin
(ed)1995Discrimination Through Language in Africa? Perspectives on the Namibian Experience. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
Riddle, Charles
1989A profile of Namibian media: The censored debate. International Communication Gazette 44(1): 45–55.
Roche, Xavier
& other contributors 2017HTTrack. Website Copier. (Software). [URL]> (2August 2017).
Rothe, Andreas
2010Media System and News Selection in Namibia [Lingener Lektüren zum Kommunikations-Management 1]. Münster: LIT Verlag.
Schneider, Edgar W.
2007Postcolonial English: Varieties Around the World. Cambridge: CUP.
Schneider, Klaus P. & Schröder, Anne
In preparation. Variational pragmatics and the specificity of English in Namibia.
Simons, Gary F. & Charles D. Fennig
(eds)2017Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 20th edn. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. [URL]> (20October 2017).
Stell, Gerald
2014aSocial identities in post-Apartheid intergroup communication patterns: Linguistic evidence of an emergent non-white pan-ethnicity in Namibia?International Journal of the Sociology of Language 230: 91–114.
Stell, Gerald
2014bUses and functions of English in Namibia’s multiethnic settings. World Englishes 33 (2): 223–241.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 may 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.