| Summary: | The object of this study was to study children's literature as an important sub-system in the literary poly system of Northern-Sotho according to the following two principles: In the first place it was necessary to put children’s literature in Northern-Sotho into perspective as a literary sub-system within the limits and according to the principles that underlie the poly system theory. In the second place it was necessary to describe the unique manifestation of every sub-system in children's literature in Northern Sotho as a system on its own according to the principles of communication that underlies every system, sub-system or any individual literary work of art. To achieve its aim the study was approached in the following order: In Chapter I the problem, aims and method are established. In Chapter II a short historical background is given of the following two components to put children's literature in Northern-Sotho into perspective: How and when does a literature for• children of a specific community originate and develop? The following important pre-requisites can be mentioned : * Childhood must be recognised within that community as a separate phase in the life of humankind. This fact is important for• the image of the literature of that community. * The community concerned must have a developed literature for adults as children's literature always follows the pattern of its adult counterpart. The terminology that is used to typify this literary sub-system is described and analysed. The sub-system is named according to the identity of its receptors who can be typified as "children between the ages of 1 and 12 years". There is no term in Northern-Sotho for this literary sub-system. It is recommended that this system should be called Dingwalô tsa Bana in Northern-Sotho. In Chapter Ill the mechanisms and rules that underlie the poly system theory are analysed and applied to children’s literature in Northern Sotho. This literary sub-system is continuously "chained" to the periphery of this literary poly system. This fact has a negative influence on every level of its existence as a literary sub-system. In Chapter IV the communicative approach to children's literature as a sub-system is described. The literary process between a specific sender and a receptor via a specific text takes place in a unique and complex way. One should always take into account that adults have a great say in the production and reception phases of this literary process. The fact that the horizon of expectation of adults differs from that of the child, results in a dualism which is one of the most outstanding characteristics of this literary process. See Ghesquiere (1982:23) on this matter. It was found that children's literature in Northern-Sotho can be classified into a sub-system of oral or traditional literature and a sub-system for written or modern literature. This classification is done on the basis of the unique realization of the communication process in each one of them. In Chapter V traditional literature in African languages, and more specifically in Northern-Sotho, is analysed within the framework of the communicative approach to identify the child's share and participation in this process. It has been found that the traditional society in Northern-Sotho makes provision in many ways for the literary needs of its children. Literature is extensively used as a secondary semiotic system to further the aims of other primary systems such as education. Owing to the fact that no research in Northern-Sotho has been done on this subject, further study is of great importance to put this whole process into perspective. In Chapter VI the modern written literature for children in Northern Sotho is analysed. This relatively new sub-system can be divided into further sub-systems on the basis of each one's unique communication process. For the purpose of this study the following sub -systems are identified : a sub-system for original works of art in Northern-Sotho; a sub-system for picture books; a sub-system for "translations" or "transferred" literary works of art as they are called in this study. The remaining part of this chapter deals with the sub-system for original works of art in children's literature in Northern-Sotho. Only three publications can be classified under this sub-system. This is really a pity because to a great extent, this sub-system can be seen as the heart beat of the children's literature of any community. It is recommended that a greater effort should be made to stimulate this sub-system. In Chapter VII the picture book as a dynamic sub-system in children's literature in Northern-Sotho is analysed. The unique realization of the communication process in this sub-system shows that the literary text is composed on a dual basis. It combines illustrations and a written text to form the message in this process. The relationship between illustrations and a written text can be either dominant or• complementary. The nature of this relationship is mainly dependent on the receptor's competence and age. For instance, the younger the child, the more illustrations are required; the older the child, the fewer the illustrations required. In Northern-Sotho it was found that this phenomenon, the composition of a message with illustrations and written words, is dynamic if one looks at the number of picture books that have been published. It is true that nearly all these publications have been transferred from other source systems. This is problematic because it is always difficult to transfer the correct visual material from Source System A to Target System B. The quality of traditional literature that has been transferred to the children’s literature of Northern-Sotho is good. It is recommended that much more attention should be paid to the promotion of this kind of transfer. In Chapter VIII attention is given to transfers in children's literature in Northern-Sotho. It is important to accommodate various categories under the transfer theory that Even-Zohar (1981) has called for. In children's literature it means that all the transfers on an inter-systemic and an intra-systemic basis should be taken into account. For the purpose of this study this includes translations, adaptations and abridgements. Transfers can also be accommodated within the limits of a communication model. In this model the prominent position of the translator or "transferred•" is evident. In children's literature in Northern-Sotho most Transfers are inter-systemic. This means that quite a number of translations from English and Afrikaans as source languages to Northern-Sotho as a target language are done. On an intra-systemic basis it has been found that transfers only occurred when literary artefacts were transferred from traditional literature as a source system into modern written literature as a target system. Further investigations have shown that these transfers are not really intra-systemic because they were first translated into English and then back into Northern-Sotho. All the publications are so-called co-productions. This means that every publication is published in all the languages in Southern Africa, including Afrikaans and English. In Chapter IX a summary and conclusions are presented. The conclusion is reached that children's literature in Northern-Sotho is still "chained" to the furthest position in the periphery of this literary poly system. The negative effects resulting from this fact are evident in the quality of the literary works. Much greater effort should go into encouraging the production of such works at every level. This could be done by instituting literary prizes and other means to stimulate creation. The most positive and promising aspect of this whole study is the implied readers of this literary system. On the grounds of the numbers and the competence that were revealed in the statistics one may conclude that this literary sub-system in Northern-Sotho can only grow from strength to strength. === Proefskrif (DLitt)--PU vir CHO, 1988
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