The Dynamics of Language: A Linguistic Analysis of the Framing of COVID-19 in Eswatini. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dlamini, Phindile
• Is Part Of: Language matters. Volume 53:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 23
• Page End: 45
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- Eswatini -- Swati -- neologisms -- euphemism -- word-building processes; Africa -- Languages -- Periodicals; 496.05
• DOI: 10.1080/10228195.2022.2067215
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1022-8195

Abstract

Abstract: COVID-19 has drastically disrupted the lives of many people globally, and the havoc it has wreaked has shattered world economies. The effects of COVID-19 in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) are threatening the very foundations of the country. Referenced in the national language, its effects manifest in the perceptions and experiences shared among Swazis ( emaSwati ) about the scourge. This article investigates the pandemic's impact on Swati ( siSwati ) and the ways in which Swazis adapted their language-related tropes in the face of unprecedented social and economic disruptions. Data are drawn from government briefings, news bulletins, media interviews and addresses. The findings demonstrate that COVID-19 has produced neologisms and expressions that index Swazis cultural views. While a morpho-syntactic analysis of the neologisms demonstrates that they derive from varied word-building mechanisms and exhibit COVID-19's distinctive characteristics of transmissibility, pathology, and annihilation, the measures to contain COVID-19 are presented aesthetically to dispel the anxiety associated with the pandemic.