The naming of a new-born baby plays a very important role in all cultures around the world, including the Vhavenḓa community. According to Tshivenḓa culture, the paternal grandparents and other senior members, as custodians of culture, are vested with the power to name new-born babies. Name-givers convey inherent communicative messages through these names, such as mocking, scolding and instigating conflicts which tend to cause heated discourse that becomes a battlefield for the name-givers and addressees. This practice is met with resistance from younger parents who now tend to take the responsibility of naming their own babies. Ethnography of communication, and critical discourse analysis (CDA) theories are utilised to investigate the Tshivenḓa new-born baby naming practices, which have undergone significant changes over time. The CDA model sheds light on how power relations play out, and ethnography of communication focuses on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the meanings of names with regard to the identity of the children. This study is a descriptive survey design and utilised questionnaires and interviews as the primary sources in gathering data. So far, little research has been conducted on Vhavenḓa new-born baby naming practices, as far as can be ascertained.

中文翻译：

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Vhavenḓa的新生婴儿命名惯例：社会语言分析的观点

新生婴儿的命名在包括Vhavenḓa社区在内的全球所有文化中都扮演着非常重要的角色。根据茨维南文化，父亲的祖父母和其他高级成员作为文化的监护人，被赋予了命名新生婴儿的权力。授予名称的人通过这些名称传达内在的交流信息，例如嘲笑，责骂和煽动性冲突，这些冲突往往会引起激烈的讨论，从而成为赋予名称和收件人的战场。这种做法遭到年轻父母的抵制，他们现在倾向于承担起为自己的婴儿起名的责任。通讯的人种志和批判性话语分析（CDA）理论用于调查Tshivenḓa新生婴儿的命名习惯，这些惯例随着时间的推移发生了重大变化。CDA模型阐明了权力关系如何发挥作用，而通讯人种志则侧重于名字含义在儿童身份方面的适当性和有效性。这项研究是描述性调查设计，利用问卷和访谈作为收集数据的主要来源。到目前为止，关于Vhavenḓa新生婴儿命名惯例的研究尚未确定。