UKZN Humanities lecturer wins young linguist award

A LINGUISTICS lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Muhle Sibisi recently won the Young Linguist Award at the prestigious 20th annual International Congress of Linguists, held for the first time on African soil since its inauguration in 1928.

The congress which meets every five years took place at the Cape Town ICC and was attended by esteemed linguists from around the globe.

“Such an award is both motivating and challenges one to work even harder. As a budding linguist, it is an honour to be recognised for the work I do. It gives me confidence to soldier on, now that my foot is in the door. It gives me a sense of belonging in Linguistics as a field of study on the one hand and to the international community of linguists on the other hand. I am blessed to have a very enthusiastic and motivating supervisor with high work ethics. Prof Heike Tappe believes in unleashing potential in all her students, not just me. She motivated me to submit an abstract and guided me along the way,” said Sibisi.

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Sibisi, whose research interest lies in language policy, believes that isiZulu and other African languages are ‘under-used’ in accessing knowledge including academic knowledge.

“The use of African languages in higher education would enhance opportunities of access and success for the speakers of these languages,” she claims.

Her current PhD study is on the attitudes of isiZulu-speaking students towards the use of discipline-specific terminology in isiZulu and isiZulu as an academic language.

She hopes to engage in future studies that impact on people’s lives such as research on the use of isiZulu, and possibly other African languages, to disseminate knowledge in the education sector and in the public sphere.

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