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Plaatje’s paremiological quest - A common humanity in cultural diversity","","The article examines Sol T. Plaatje’s paremiological work and explains how his compiled and translated Setswana proverbs—developed while in London under “diaspora-like” conditions—reached aims beyond displaying polyglot ability. It argues that Plaatje sought to highlight convergences between African and European cultural histories and to validate orality as a foundation for modern literary expression. It further discusses how Diane and Reader use proverbs to support linguistic authenticity, pedagogy, didactic messaging, and social cohesion challenges in South Africa.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/sol-t-plaatjes-paremiological-quest-a-common-humanity-in-cultural-diversity/297264/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/sol-t-plaatjes-paremiological-quest-a-common-humanity-in-cultural-diversity/297264.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Liam","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-18",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What main concern does the article raise about Plaatje’s later Setswana texts?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It suggests these texts are products of recollection under “diaspora-like” conditions, shaping how oral forms were recreated in writing.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does Diane use proverbs in relation to European languages?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Diane compiles 723 Setswana proverbs and provides equivalents in European languages, presenting Plaatje’s translation and ethnographic knowledge despite working “in England alone” without native speaker input.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What is Reader’s purpose and how are proverbs integrated into it?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Reader, developed with Daniel Jones, introduces Setswana phonetic orthography to aid reading and pronunciation. It interlaces fables and stories with Setswana proverbs to convey didactic messages and moral instruction.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},297264,1790075482,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},8796095461564,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Khekhethi Makhudu  \nKhekhethi Makhudu (PhD) is attached to English Language Studies, School of Languages and Communication, University of Limpopo, Sovenga, South Africa. [Email: khekhethi.makhudu@ul.ac.za](Email: khekhethi.makhudu@ul.ac.za)  \nSol T. Plaatje’s paremiological quest: A common humanity in cultural diversity  \nSol T. Plaatje’s paremiological quest: A common humanity in cultural diversity  \nHaving written and compiled, from memory, over 700 Setswana proverbs when he was resident in London during the second decade of 1900, Sol T. Plaatje exhibited unusual ethnographic knowledge and remarkable, creative translation skills in diasporalike circumstances. While most literary researchers attest to those achievements, few have been the theories to account sufficiently for Plaatje’s multilingual proverb renditions. The view propounded here is that Plaatje’s paremiological enterprise was probably never only an exercise of his polyglot abilities. Rather his quest apparently was to assert the similarities and convergences between African and European people’s cultural histories. Deep pride in his Setswana identity seems to have propelled a need to highlight the ethnographic bonds Northern and Southern nations share. For Plaatje, seeing overlaps and equivalences in the proverbs of European and the Batswana peoples, firstly validates orality as the bedrock of modern literary expression. Secondly, the relationship of the two appears to recapitulate the communicative connections of people, across time and space. Lastly, the point is made that Plaatje’s search for unity in linguistic and cultural diversity, as exhibited in the Diane tsa Setswana collection (1916) and A Sechuana Reader stories (1924), provides instructive lessons which present-day South Africa would ill afford to ignore considering the social cohesion challenges the nation faces. Keywords: cultural identity, diversity, equivalence, orality, Setswana paremiology, social cohesion.  \nIntroduction  \nOver the years, Sol T. Plaatje’s better known publications like Native Life in South Africa and the epic novel Mhudi have been regularly researched, critiqued and reviewed by largely English-speaking British and South African scholars such as John Comaroff, Brian Willan, Tim Couzens and Stephen Gray.1 On the other hand, literary investigation of Plaatje’s Setswana works and Shakespeare translations like Diphosophoso (Comedy of Errors) and Dintshontsho tsa bo-Juliuse Kesara (Julius Caesar) has been rather scanty. Indeed, critical or scholarly inquiry into two of Plaatje’s multilingual publications, namely, Diane tsa Secoana leMaele a Sekgooa a a Dumalanang Naco (Sechuana2 Proverbs with Literal Translationsand their European Equivalents), andA Sechuana Reader3 (further: Diane and Reader, respectively), could be taken as almost non-existent. Several literary critics, ethnographic researchers and historians (Chrisman 148; Comaroff, Mafikeng Diary 7–10; Couzens and Willan 3; Doke,“Diketa-pele”v; Giliomee and Mbenga 107–12; Rall 214–25; Willan 124–6) confirm that Plaatje wrote, particularly Diane and Reader, from memory while he was in London around 1915.  \nTYDSKRIF VIR LETTERKUNDE • 55 (1) • 2018 149  \nDOI: [dx.doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.55i1.1941](dx.doi.org/10.17159/2309-9070/tvl.v.55i1.1941) ISSN: 0041-476X E-ISSN: 2309-9070  \nThe observation foreshadows one of the main concerns in this article: that the latter predominantly Setswana texts are products of recollection under conditions that can be termed ‘diaspora-like’ (Brah 445).4 The recreated oral forms like traditional stories and proverbs.  \nThe first text Diane, is a compilation of 723 Setswana proverbs with equivalents in European languages like Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Latin. In the preface, Plaatje points out that writing the book “in England alone, without any native speaker’s advice or input” was an arduous task (Plaatje, Diane x). By this, he presumably was alluding to the kind of c","cbCais7wLm3Z2nMF","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCais7wLm3Z2nMF","pdf",660707,17,"English","# Introduction\n## Plaatje’s publication context and research gap\n## Diane: 723 Setswana proverbs and European equivalents\n## Reader: Setswana phonetic orthography and pedagogic interlacing","[{\"question\":\"What main concern does the article raise about Plaatje’s later Setswana texts?\",\"answer\":\"It suggests these texts are products of recollection under “diaspora-like” conditions, shaping how oral forms were recreated in writing.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Diane use proverbs in relation to European languages?\",\"answer\":\"Diane compiles 723 Setswana proverbs and provides equivalents in European languages, presenting Plaatje’s translation and ethnographic knowledge despite working “in England alone” without native speaker input.\"},{\"question\":\"What is Reader’s purpose and how are proverbs integrated into it?\",\"answer\":\"Reader, developed with Daniel Jones, introduces Setswana phonetic orthography to aid reading and pronunciation. It interlaces fables and stories with Setswana proverbs to convey didactic messages and moral instruction.\"}]","Sol T. Plaatje’s paremiological quest - A common humanity in cultural diversity | PDF",1789743460,26]