Using Setswana in business transactions in the clothing industry at the West Rand District Municipality in Gauteng

Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Using Setswana in business transactions in the clothing industry at the West Rand District Municipality in Gauteng
 
Creator Macucwa, Solomon T. Ditsele, Thabo Makgato, Mary M.
 
Subject Sociolinguistics Setswana; business language; communication patterns; district municipality; Gauteng; South Africa.
Description According to Census 2011, the three languages with the highest number of first language (L1) speakers in the West Rand District Municipality in Gauteng are Setswana (27.3%), Afrikaans (16.9%) and isiXhosa (14.9%). This district municipality comprises the following three local municipalities: Mogale City (including Krugersdorp); Rand West City (including Randfontein) and Merafong City (including Carletonville). Setswana has more L1 speakers in two out of the three local municipalities, namely Mogale City (31.7%) and Rand West City (24.3%). In Merafong City, Setswana has the second highest percentage of L1 speakers at 21.4%, the highest being isiXhosa at 24.9%. While this district municipality does not have a majority language, Setswana is the most spoken among its black residents. The objective of this article was to analyse how Setswana is used in business interactions at clothing stores in the West Rand District Municipality. A qualitative approach (through interviews and participant observation) was used to gather data at clothing stores in Krugersdorp, Randfontein and Carletonville. Customers preferred to be addressed in Setswana by salespersons at clothing stores, but they conceded that the language lacks adequate terminologies to be used effectively in this industry.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2020-11-24
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Interview; Participant observation
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/td.v16i1.856
 
Source The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa; Vol 16, No 1 (2020); 10 pages 2415-2005 1817-4434
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/856/1477 https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/856/1476 https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/856/1478 https://td-sa.net/index.php/td/article/view/856/1475
 
Coverage Krugersdorp; Randfontein; Carletonville; Gauteng — Sex; Age; Competence in Setswana; Level of education; Residence; Duration at the workplace
Rights Copyright (c) 2020 Solomon T. Macucwa, Thabo Ditsele, Mary M. Makgato https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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