UNRAVELLING SOME CONTRIBUTIONS OF MAJE SERUDU (1935-2021) TOWARDS THE NORTHERN SOTHO LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE: A HISTORICAL-BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

Abstract

The year 2021 shall be marked as mournful for the Northern Sotho language family as a whole. Emeritus Professor Majelele Steven Serudu's passing has indubitably left a major void in the language. His enormous contributions as a language teacher to full and emeritus professor are hard to overlook and should thus be documented in studies of this nature. In this article, we unravel some of his contributions to the development, recognition, and growth of the Northern Sotho language and literature. We do so by examining his work as a radio broadcaster, examiner, teacher, author, lecturer, translator, reviewer, and professor, as well as his membership in numerous language-related boards and committees. The article adopted a qualitative research approach to provide a comprehensive compilation of his works, and data were collected using the document analysis method. The data collected were analysed thematically. We conclude the article in two ways: by revealing Serudu's last concern about the death of language and by bringing to light the names of Northern Sotho language giants who share Serudu's line of work.