Tlhaloso ya Setso ya Botsho, Bosweu, le Boputswa Sesothong

Kakaretso

Sepheo sa boithuto bona ke ho fuputsa tshebediso ya mantswe a mebala a mararo e leng botsho, bosweu le boputswa e le ho sibolla seo a se emelang le botoloki ba ona Sesothong ho latela moetlo le ditlwaelo. Ditsong ka ho fapana, mebala e amahanngwa le moetlo le tumelo, mme ho jwalo le Sesothong. Mebala ha e sebediswe feela ho hlalosa dintho tse bonahalang, empa e ka boela ya sebediswa ho hlalosa dintho tse sa bonahaleng jwaloka boikutlo, boitshwaro ba motho esita le seo motho a leng sona. Boithuto bona bo sebedisitse lewa la Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis le la Image Theory of Meaning ho hlahloba dipolelo tse bokeletsweng ho tswa dipuisanong tsa basebedisi ba puo le dingolweng, e le ho manolla moelelo wa mantswe ana a mebala. Ho latela lewa la Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis, puo eo motho a e buang e susumetsa menahano, tjhadimo ya hae ya ditaba esita le boitshwaro ba hae. Kahoo, batho ba merabe e fapaneng ba nahana ka ho fapana ka lebaka la phapano ya dipuo tsa bona, mme tjhadimo ya bona ya bophelo e a fapana. Sena se tsamaelana le se bolelwang ho Image theory of Meaning hore ha ho kamoo re ka arohanyang puo le basebedisi ba yona kaha moelelo wa lentswe ke tshebediso ya lona puong. Tshebediso ya mawa ana e sibolotse hore leha se bontshwang ke mantswe ana a mebala se ka tshwana le ditsong tse ding, botoloki ba seo a se bolelang esita le tshebediso ho latela setso sa Sesotho di a fapana. Diphetho di bontsha botoloki bo amohelehang le bo sa amoheleheng bo amahanngwang le mantswe a supang mebala ena maemong a fapaneng a tshebediso, leha e sebediswa ho hlalosa mantswe a fapaneng

Abstract

The article aims to explore the use of three colour words, namely black, white and blue, to discover what they symbolise and how they are interpreted in Sesotho. In Sesotho, as it is in other societies, colours are associated with culture and religion. Colour words are used to modify visible objects and can also describe abstract concepts such as feelings, behaviour and personal attributes. Following the realism aspect of the linguistic relativity hypothesis, the article analyses sentences elicited from Sesotho native speakers’ casual conversations and written texts to show the meanings associated with the selected colour words. Based on the hypothesis, people’s language influences their thoughts, perception and behaviours. This means that people from different linguistic communities think and behave differently. The use of the linguistic relativity hypothesis reveals that there can be cross-cultural similarities in what colours symbolise, but the cultural interpretation of colour words differs from one language to another. The findings also show that the interpretation of the three colour words can give positive and negative connotations in different contexts of their use.