Pragmatics: Exploring language use by younger generations in Pedi families.
Mamaila J Mogolane, Joanne Neille, Jenna Sher
PMID 40922622WHAT IT FOUND
Pedi younger generations showed respect through clapping, kneeling, plural forms, indirect eye contact, silence and requests relayed through mothers.
For SLPs, these are cultural communication patterns, not pragmatic impairment.
Key findings
01All younger generations across the seven families clapped when greeting older family members, and elders accepted the greeting by holding or kissing their hands.
02Younger people addressed elders with plural forms, including ‘šee’ instead of ‘hee’ and the prefix bo- before titles, even when referring to one elder.
03Indirect eye contact was observed as respect toward elders, while direct eye contact with older males was seen as defiant; younger people also remained silent when elders spoke or when reprimanded.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was purposive and drawn from a small number of families in a single township, so the patterns may not apply to all Pedi families. Only adults were interviewed, while children and adolescents were observed but not interviewed, so the study may miss how younger people themselves explain these behaviours. Observations were not video recorded, so fine-grained non-verbal details may have been missed. Participants reported no diagnosed communication impairments, but the study did not formally screen communication ability, so unseen difficulties could have influenced behaviour. The first author was from the Pedi community, which helped insider understanding but may also have shaped interpretation.
Declared interests
This research was funded by the Nurturing Emerging Scholars Program. No author conflicts of interest were reported in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read clapping, indirect eye contact, plural forms or silence as evidence of a pragmatic language disorder. These were observed as respect behaviours in seven families, and the study did not test whether changing them improves communication.