Language Teams – Phase 2

IsiNdebele

William Jiyana
MEd (Childhood Development Studies: Literacy Education in isiNdebele)
Lecturer: Faculty of Education, University of Mpumalanga

With lecturing responsibilities focused on IsiNdebele and Literacy Education for Foundation Phase pre-service teachers, his contribution to the development of IsiNdebele in education is high on the agenda. His experience as an educator, linguist, and translator stand him in good stead. William has also been involved with Language Policy Planning and Development both in the public and private sector.

Nomsa Skosana
BA(Hons) (African Languages)
Digital Humanities Researcher: IsiNdebele, SADiLaR, North-West University

Nomsa graduated from the University of Pretoria. She received her Bachelor degree in Education as well as a Bachelor of Arts Honours specialising in isiNdebele.  As part of her honours degree she mainly focused on isiNdebele literature. In the future Nomsa would like to publish literature books of her own and also digitise the books to contribute to the data that is available for isiNdebele research. isiNdebele is still a developing language and as a researcher she plans on developing more language terminologies and place her focus on lexicography as well as the standardisation of the language. In her Master’s degree she plans to focus mainly on differentiating isiNdebele and from the other Nguni languages.

Monicca Thulisile Bhuda
PhD (Indigenous Knowledge Systems)
Lecturer: Culture and Heritage Studies, University of Mpumalanga

Monicca is a culture activist, an isiNdebele culture influencer, a Children’s book author, and an indigenous scholar, as well as being a lecturer at the University of Mpumalanga. She holds an Indigenous Knowledge Systems PhD from North-West University. Monicca specialises in African Ethnomathematics, with a special interest in Ndebele mathematics. She has been featured on TV, radio, magazines and newspapers as an indigenous scholar and for her interest in Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Her research interests include decolonization of education, promotion of indigenous languages, indigenous knowledge preservation, protection, management and dissemination.

IsiZulu

Nomfundo Buthelezi
PhD candidate (Speech Pathology), University of Cape Town;
MA (Speech Pathology)
Lecturer: Speech Pathology, University of KwaZulu-Natal

As a Speech Therapist who is an isiZulu speaker, Nomfundo strives to increase our knowledge of the lexical and grammatical development of isiZulu-speaking children. Her vision is to establish developmental language norms for isiZulu. Her research interests include the development of assessment tools that are culturally and linguistically sensitive, and contextually relevant for assessing speech and language development in isiZulu-speaking children. Nomfundo has a passion for training Speech Therapists that will be competent to provide assessment and intervention for children that speak South African indigenous languages.

Inamandla Ngcobo
BA(Hons) (Speech Language Pathology)
Speech Therapist: Private Practice

Inamandla runs her own practice as a Speech Therapist, where she assesses and treats children and adults with communication disorders in a primarily isiZulu-speaking area. She strives to provide services that are culturally and linguistically sensitive. Her research interests are in the development of tools that are culturally and linguistically sensitive for the isiZulu speaking population. Her Masters will focus on looking at socio- economic factors that influence lexical development in isiZulu speaking toddlers.

Sesotho sa Leboa

Portia Khumalo
PhD candidate (General Linguistics), Stellenbosch University;
MECI (Early Childhood Intervention), University of Pretoria
Lecturer: Speech Pathology, Stellenbosch University

Portia’s research focuses on early childhood intervention and child language development in indigenous African languages. Her research interests include the trajectories of language development in typically-developing children within the diverse contexts of South Africa, and the influence of these contexts on language development. She has worked at government institutions in underserved communities as a Clinical Speech Therapist and Audiologist. Her PhD focuses on the impact of socioecological factors on the linguistic development of Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) speaking toddlers.

Siswati

Sibusiso Ndlangamandla
PhD (Education)
Senior Lecturer: English Studies, University of South Africa

Sibusiso is a senior lecturer in the Department of English Studies at the University of South Africa. He received his PhD from the University of Cape Town in 2015. His research interests are in language learning and technology, language policy, discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics. His current research on Southern theories, multilingualism and technology has been published both locally and internationally. He was a visiting scholar from 2019 to 2020 in the Department of Applied Linguistics and African studies at Penn State University, USA. He is a Siswati language practitioner and activist for African languages, literacy, and education in Africa.

Muzi Matfunjwa
PhD (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)
Digital Humanities Researcher: siSwati, SADiLaR, North-West University

Muzi is a Siswati researcher at SADiLaR. His research interests and experience lie in pragmatics and sociolinguistics. He focuses on the use of language in society and the socio-cultural traits that manifest through language usage. As a Siswati researcher, he is also concerned with other linguistic fields such as semantics, lexicography, morphology and phonology. Muzi would like to play a major role in preserving the Siswati language and culture by conducting research and developing the language. He is involved with the use of language technologies to promote the utilization of digital resources in order to stimulate teaching and learning as well as research in the Siswati language.

Tshivenda

Lufuno Tshiwela Miriri
MA (African Languages)
Tshivenda Language Practitioner

Lufuno is a Tshivenda language practioner in rural Limpopo province. He has also worked as a lecturer in Education at the University of Limpopo with specific teaching focus on Tshivenda Grammar and Literature, and supervision of honours students. In his MA study, he focused on how younger and older women are portrayed in literature and also in society. Lufuno is a qualified linguist, educator, and teacher of Tshivenda. He obtained his BA Languages in 2018, his Hons in 2019, His PGCE in 2021 at the University of Limpopo. He is passionate about developing intervention tools for his mother tongue.