South African English: labels, comprehensibility and status

Abstract

Abstract: Racial or ethnic labels are common practice in South African English, but in recent years some criticism has been levelled against this practice, particularly as far as the label Black South African English is concerned. This article investigates the labelling practices of ordinary, non-linguist South Africans to determine what may be acceptable to them, following a bottom-up approach to categorisation. Data were elicited from 167 black first year students in a survey designed to compare the labels they assigned to six different forms of South African English, alongside their attitudes towards these varieties, their perception of the proximity of these varieties to their own English and a measure of the comprehensibility of these varieties. The results indicate that the participants do avail themselves of ethnic and racial labels, but their main categorisation strategy is the national label South African English, used for all varieties, but more frequently for the varieties of Black and Indian speakers than White speakers. Furthermore, the acrolect form of Black South African English emerges as the variety that enjoys the highest status amongst the participants, on the basis of the most favourable attitudes, the sense of greatest proximity and the highest degree of comprehensibility.