Black South African English

Abstract

DEFINING BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH English is a world language, likely to continue to play a leading role internationally as an important language of education and as the language of choice for business, science and popular culture (Platt et al. 1984: 28). A consequence of its dominant position and growth as the language of power and as an important medium for the dissemination of knowledge is the striking increase in the number of those learning and using English as ‘other’ language. In this process English has acquired various identities and multiple ownerships (Kachru 1986: 31), one of them being black South African English (BSAE). BSAE is the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages. In terms of Platt et al's criteria (1984: 2–3), BSAE fits the category ‘new English’ in that it has developed through the education system as an L2 in an area where English is not the language of the majority, and has become localised for use in intra-regional communication, as is typical of colonial contexts in which English has been imported to compete with indigenous languages. However, defining BSAE precisely is problematic: strictly speaking, whose English is BSAE? Is it the English of those learners who have encountered only a smattering of English in informal contexts and use it occasionally for business or work purposes?