On Account Of A Basket: A Socio-Historical And Ethnographic Perspective On The Development Of Multilingualism In South Africa (original) (raw)
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Rethinking Multilingualism in South Africa
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The present research into the linguistic situation in the Republic of South Africa, which is characterized by the legislative support of multilingualism and equality between the official languages, is relevant because of the danger of a loss of linguistic and cultural diversity in the former colonies of the African continent, most of which, on achieving independence, granted the status of official language only to the language of the former metropolis. The goal of the given article is finding out the nature of interrelations between languages and cultures in multilingual South Africa, and determining the functions which South African languages perform in various spheres of the country's activities. In accordance with the set goal, the authors sought answers to a number of questions connected with interrelations of languages in South Africa as well as the role of English as one of the official languages. The most important of these questions are the following: 1) which of the official or unofficial South African languages performs the role of the language of common communication (lingua franca)?; 2) is the language balance in South Africa stable, and does the English language present a danger to the linguistic and cultural diversity of the country?; 3) what are the reasons for the difficulties connected with realizing in South Africa the policies of the equality of the official languages?
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There is an urgency in theorising howdiversity is negotiated, communicated,and disputed as a matter of everydayordinariness that is compounded by theclear linkages between diversity, transformation,voice, agency, poverty andhealth. The way in which difference iscategorised, semiotised and reconfiguredin multiple languages across quotidianencounters and in public and media forumsis a central dynamic in how povertyand disadvantage are distributed and reproducedacross social and racial categorisations.In the South African context,finding ways of productively harnessingdiversity in the building of a better societymust be a priority.
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South Africa moved from two official languages - English and Afrikaans during apartheid to eleven official languages in the new democratic government. The new language policy also recognises South African Sign Language and encourages its development. This paper examines the apartheid and democratic language policies, their practicality and challenges with particular focus on political administration, education and the media, as they are important institutions in language policy implementation. The paper argues that there is still marginalisation of indigenous black South African languages even with new language policy.
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My original intention with this paper was to provide a diagnosis of the state of the African languages of South Africa: whether these languages are being maintained or are shifting to English. This was to be achieved through an analysis of sociohistorical data and recent ...
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The entrenchment of multilingualism in the South African Constitution articulated the need for a national policy and a legal framework on the basis of which government bodies could take the measures necessary for the implementation of the constitutional directives on multilingualism. This article analyses the process of writing a policy and this framework since 1995. Three phases are covered: the work of the Language Plan Task Group; the Language Plan of the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, and the contributions of the Advisory Panel on Language Policy. Op weg na meertaligheid in Suid-Afrika Die verskansing van meertaligheid in die Suid-Afrikaanse Grondwet het die behoefte vir 'n nasionale beleids-en wetgewende raamwerk, op basis waarvan owerheidsorgane vereiste maatreëls vir die implementering van die grondwetlike direktiewe oor meertaligheid kan neem, beklemtoon. Hierdie artikel analiseer die proses wat in 1995 'n aanvang geneem het vir die skryf van so 'n raamwerk. Drie fases word gedek: die werk van die Taalplan Taakgroep, die Taalplan van die Departement Kuns, Kultuur, Wetenskap en Tegnologie en die bydraes van die Adviespaneel oor Taalbeleid.
Langauge and National Unity in a Post-Apartheid South Africa
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The African e-Journals Project has digitized full text of articles of eleven social science and humanities journals. This item is from the digital archive maintained by Michigan State University Library.