Politics continues to dominate social discourse in SA‚ with this year's Word of the Year being announced on Tuesday as "land expropriation without compensation". The Word of the Year for 2017 was "state capture".
The announcement was made by the Pan SA Language Board (PanSALB)‚ as it marked Dictionary Day.
The board said that the SA Word of the Year was a term or expression that captured the philosophy‚ mood or obsessions of that particular year.
"Using Focal Points and Newsclip‚ keywords were tracked for the period 1 January to 15 October 2018. This media data was analysed to determine the prominence of the keywords within the media and to identify the frequency that they were used in credible print‚ broadcast and online media‚" the board explained.
It was found that "land expropriation without compensation" was used more than 25‚000 times in all SA media (print‚ broadcast and online)‚ beating words like commission (of inquiry) at 18‚690 and Thuma Mina at 5‚228.
"The use of the word 'land expropriation without compensation' has increased significantly in 2018. The concept of land expropriation without compensation has been in existence‚ but PanSALB has seen a spike in frequency this year in the context of parliament’s effort to change the constitution to allow land to be expropriated without compensation‚" said the board.
"The choice echoes a year dominated by highly charged political and social discourse. It does not look like the usage of the term will slow down in the near future‚ especially if one takes into account that parliament is still trying to amend the constitution to allow land to be expropriated without compensation."
Phrase South Africans used the most in 2018 is ...
Image: 123RF/Helen Filatova
Politics continues to dominate social discourse in SA‚ with this year's Word of the Year being announced on Tuesday as "land expropriation without compensation". The Word of the Year for 2017 was "state capture".
The announcement was made by the Pan SA Language Board (PanSALB)‚ as it marked Dictionary Day.
The board said that the SA Word of the Year was a term or expression that captured the philosophy‚ mood or obsessions of that particular year.
"Using Focal Points and Newsclip‚ keywords were tracked for the period 1 January to 15 October 2018. This media data was analysed to determine the prominence of the keywords within the media and to identify the frequency that they were used in credible print‚ broadcast and online media‚" the board explained.
It was found that "land expropriation without compensation" was used more than 25‚000 times in all SA media (print‚ broadcast and online)‚ beating words like commission (of inquiry) at 18‚690 and Thuma Mina at 5‚228.
"The use of the word 'land expropriation without compensation' has increased significantly in 2018. The concept of land expropriation without compensation has been in existence‚ but PanSALB has seen a spike in frequency this year in the context of parliament’s effort to change the constitution to allow land to be expropriated without compensation‚" said the board.
"The choice echoes a year dominated by highly charged political and social discourse. It does not look like the usage of the term will slow down in the near future‚ especially if one takes into account that parliament is still trying to amend the constitution to allow land to be expropriated without compensation."
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