Language In South Africa Research Articles

Language contact in African urban settings: The case of Sepitori in Tshwane

There is undisputed evidence that the use of so-called non-standard varieties of language in South Africa is on the increase, and serves as an important communication bridge for a supranation that has many people of different ethnicities living side-by-side in different urban settings in the country. This paper illustrates, using Sepitori (also called ‘Pretoria Sotho’) as a case in point, that non-standard varieties should be explored further with a view to institutionally recording, formalising and supporting them. The paper does this through, first, showing that Sepitori is a mixed language that is used as a lingua franca by many people; second, by re-visiting the literature that demonstrates the important and crucial role played by non-standard varieties in a multilingual society, such as, South Africa, particularly with regard to formal settings (e.g., classrooms, formal meetings, and the media); and, third, by using the strength of such literature to call for a change in attitudes by language purists, who should realise that the sooner non-standard varieties are allowed space beyond the use in informal settings, the better it would be for further development of standard varieties.

Experiences of Turkish Children Learning English as a Second Language in South Africa: Collapsing Home-School Boundaries

New immigrants face major challenges which affect their integration into a host country. One of their main problems is the inability to communicate in the language of the host country, as language and social practices of immigrants often differ considerably from the host country’s mainstream language and values. The aim of this paper is to explore the experiences of Turkish children who are learning English as a second language in South Africa, in an attempt to help bridge the language and literacy gaps between their homes and schools. Through interviews, home visits and observations, the paper makes recommendations for more congruency between home and school literacies. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n10p409

Postgraduate students' experiences and attitudes towards isiZulu as a medium of instruction at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

IsiZulu is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa and has the highest number of speakers in the country. While the South African Language Policy for Higher Education (2002) emphasizes the need to use African languages at universities, not many universities’ isiZulu-speaking students prefer to be taught in isiZulu. Research has revealed that mother tongue instruction has a great impact on student academic achievement, and that students learn better in their mother tongue than when they are taught in the second language. This study reports on the students' experiences and attitudes towards isiZulu as the medium of instruction at the University of KwaZulu Natal, in the School of Education. The study uses case study methods. Interviews are used as data collection strategies. The sample consists of six Honours students enrolled in the modules offered in the medium of isiZulu. Among findings, it is found that students have positive experiences of being taught in isiZulu. Their attitudes are also positive for various reasons. The study concludes by suggesting ways in which isiZulu can be made useful and attractive to university students.

Why not use Sepitori to enrich the vocabularies of Setswana and Sepedi?

According to Census 2011, six official languages of South Africa experienced negative growth in a 10-year period (2001–2011), and all of them are Black South African languages (BSALs).1 The remaining five languages experienced positive growth. According to Webb (2010), urban dwellers reject standard varieties of BSALs and perceive them as symbols of traditionalism, lacking the required legitimacy and regarding them as inadequate and inferior. Calteaux (1996) notes that urban dwellers use Black Urban Vernaculars (BUVs) – which are also non-standard varieties – to bridge language barriers and their use is no longer limited to informal domains, but has also spread to formal domains. In reconciling Webb (2010) and Calteaux (1996), standard varieties of BSALs are on a decline among urban dwellers, while BUVs are on an increase. If these trends were to continue, standard varieties of BSALs would likely decline even further as South Africa becomes more urbanised, and BUVs would likely grow further. This article proposes that non-standard varieties should be used to enrich the vocabularies of standard ones so as to reverse these trends. Were the vocabularies used by urban dwellers to be incorporated into the standard varieties of BSALs, there is potential that urban dwellers would change the way they view BSALs. The article will use the example of Sepitori2 – a non-standard variety of the Tshwane metropolitan municipal region – to demonstrate how it could be used to enrich the vocabularies of its two ancestral languages – Setswana and Sepedi.3 Sufficient evidence from a comprehensive study on Sepitori could be brought before ‘language development’ stakeholders, and subsequently to a standardisation body to make a case for its contribution to enriching Setswana and Sepedi.

The political situation as a factor in shift and maintenance of the Telugu language in South Africa

The political situation as a factor in shift and maintenance of the Telugu language in South Africa

Teaching under-resourced languages: An evaluation of Great Zimbabwe University's initiatives in the teaching of Tshivenda and Xichangana

Tshivenda and Xichangana, like other minority languages in Zimbabwe, are only taught up to Grade 3 of elementary education in areas where they are spoken. Chishona and isiNdebele are the only indigenous languages that are taught as subjects up to university level, either through the medium of English or through their own medium (as at Great Zimbabwe University). This paper seeks to evaluate the initiatives that have been set out to promote the teaching and use of Tshivenda and Xichangana by training teachers at university level to enable them to teach these languages beyond Grade 3, at secondary and university level. These teachers will then form the manpower base to teach at the grassroots. The initiatives include partnerships with language associations, universities that teach the languages in South Africa, affirmative action on recruiting students into the languages and lobbying for support from government and other stakeholders. The research describes the initiatives, evaluates them and recommends the best way to finalise the project and how to promote other minority languages to the level of Chishona and isiNdebele in the country.

'n Kritiese beskouing van woordeboeke met geamalgameerde lemmalyste

A Critical Examination of Dictionaries with Amalgamated Lem- malists. The recently published Groot Woordeboek (Afrikaans en Nederlands), also known as ANNA, is the first dictionary with an amalgamated lemmalist based on the model of Martin and Gouws (2000). ANNA also paves the way for a similar approach for other closely related languages such as the Sotho languages and the Nguni languages of South Africa. The advantages and dis- advantages of five aspects namely (a) comparison and contrast, (b) user-friendliness, (c) space saving, (d) ordering of senses and (e) provision of a separate grammatical compendium are criti- cally evaluated. The principles of amalgamation, the relevant lemma types, as well as certain char- acteristics of the model are briefly discussed beforehand.

IsiNgqumo: Claiming public space through language in South Africa

IsiNgqumo: Claiming public space through language in South Africa

Information access in indigenous languages : a case study in Zulu

This study focuses on the intellectual accessibility of information in indigenous languages, using Zulu, one of the main indigenous languages in South Africa, as a test case. Both Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval (CLIR) and metadata are discussed as possible means of facilitating access and a bilateral approach combining these two methods is proposed. Popular CLIR approaches and their resource requirements are analysed and the dictionary-based approach combined with approximate string-matching for query translation from Zulu to English are discussed in detail. Metadata formats for knowledge representation from the Indigenous Knowledge (IK) viewpoint are discussed, in particular the advantages and limitations of the Dublin Core (DC) metadata format.

Linguistic Assumptions and Lexicographical Traditions in the African Languages

Two lexical traditions exist in the African languages of South Africa. According to the word tradition, lemmas are based on complete written words, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between written words and lemmas. According to the stem tradition, lemmas are based on the stems of written words without their prefixes. It is pointed out that the difference between these traditions lies mainly in the treatment of nouns. It is also shown that the stem tradition, uncritically regarded by many linguists as more scientific, is based on incorrect assumptions with reference to the morphology of nouns, that it is not applied consistently and that it is less user friendly. It is concluded that the word tradition is based on sounder lexicographical principles.

South African Sign Language - one language or many? A sociolinguistic question

In this article we discuss the signed language used by the Deaf community in South Africa, and examine the historical conditions for its emergence. We describe the legal and actual situation of South Afiican Sign Language in South Africa today, larly in relation to schooling. We investigate the different factors that underlie the claims that there is more than one sign language in South Africa, and we spell out the practical consequences of accepting these claims without further examination.

Language policy implementation in South Africa: How Kempton Park's great expectations are dashed in Tshwane1

Almost two decades ago, on 2 February 1990, the waiting world learnt that the ban on the previously exiled African National Congress (ANC) was lifted and that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison within a matter of days. On that historic day when then State President FW de Klerk made his dramatic announcement in Parliament, I was one of the participants in a public colloquium, Planning for the future: Language in South Africa, held at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). The colloquium was part of an International Symposium on Sociolinguistics in Africa of which the main objective was to re-examine the complex linguistic situation in Southern Africa in the light of changing socio-political conditions (Herbert 1992: ix).

The initiator in the translation process: A case study of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran in the indigenous languages of South Africa

This article examines the role played by the initiator in the translation of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran into the indigenous South African languages, and the resulting influence on the translator's decisions. This is achieved through an exploration of how this work came to be translated into the indigenous languages of South Africa, with a discussion of who initiated the translation process, and the intention behind the decision. Translation scholars generally agree that the translator is seldom given an explicit brief; it then becomes his or her responsibility to ask for one. In considering the function of the initiator in the translation of this work by Gibran, the aim was to establish whether the brief provided by the initiator was useful. The article seeks to establish some guidelines as to what constitutes a clear translation brief, in the case of literary translation in particular.

Revitalising and preserving endangered indigenous languages in South Africa through writing and publishing

Libraries and librarians play a central role in organising and communicating knowledge. They are an important part of the knowledge production and use chain. The development and sustenance of a knowledge-based economy hinges on their ability to facilitate the accessibility, retrievability and usability of the knowledge and information that permeates the information society. Writers and publishers as part and parcel of the knowledge chain are central to the production and distribution of ideas. Language is fundamental to their ability to communicate and get their literal messages, expressions and ideas through. Their preferred language of writing and publishing may mean a difference between the growth and demise of a language of a society and its culture and civilisation. Many indigenous languages around the globe are struggling to survive because of various reasons including neglect by writers and publishers. Publishers and writers as major role players in the knowledge production and reproduction chain may assist in promoting and preserving indigenous languages in general and in South Africa in particular. This may ensure that South Africa's knowledge economy develops without sidelining or discriminating against any culture or language. There are challenges and opportunities that writers and publishers are likely to face in attempting to revitalise and empower indigenous languages in South Africa, but they are not insurmountable. Using a theoretical approach, the purpose of this article is to highlight the role that writers and publishers may play in revitalising and preserving endangered indigenous languages in South Africa. Recommendations are made on how the role players may deal with the challenges that have culminated in the neglect of the endangered indigenous languages.

What is the future of Greek in South Africa? Language shift and maintenance in the Greek community of Johannesburg

This article explores the phenomenon of language shift and maintenance in the Greek community of Johannesburg, which is the largest Greek community in South Africa. The main aim of the study is to provide an account of the factors which assist in maintaining the Greek language which is under pressure from English, the dominant official language in South Africa. In contrast to the many studies conducted in the United States and Australia on the Greek community, no previous sociolinguistic studies have been done on the Greek community in South Africa. The main factors which were identified as playing an important role in the maintenance of Greek are education, religion, family, language loyalty and socio-cultural activities; and to a lesser extent, media and residential area. Despite a marked shift towards English in the younger generation, the future of Greek in South Africa may be one of relatively stable bilingualism, provided that current trends continue.

A vision for a Reformed Christian college for South Africa

A yawning gap has existed in the South African educational landscape since the effective termination of the Potchefstroom University (PU) for Christian Higher Education (CHE) by the government in 2004. The North-West University, which was formed through the merger of the PU for CHE and the University of North West, has been positioned as a value-driven university, but for all its good intentions and successes, it cannot (and never was intended to) continue the PU for CHE’s tradition of Christian higher education. Given the growth of Christian schools in South Africa after 1994, it is clear that pupils from these and other schools have no Reformed option when they choose an institution of higher education. It is therefore suggested in this article that the concept of a new Christian college should find favour amongst Reformed Christians from all denominations, races, ethnic groups and languages in South Africa. The author argues that obstacles simply have to be overcome. A balanced Reformed approach which eschews extreme fundamentalism as well as attempts at undermining the fundamentals of the Christian faith is needed. Therefore, the formation of an inclusive pilot committee to investigate the idea is proposed.

Language as a fundamental right: How do the African languages benefit from this right?

Fifteen years have passed since the South African Constitution first declared that there would be 11 official languages in South Africa. This declaration was intended to enhance the promotion and development of the historically marginalised ethnic languages of South Africa, redressing apartheid policies where all ethnic languages were suppressed and undermined by the highest authority. The new constitution brought millions of Africans hope that their identity would at last be acknowledged through the official recognition of their languages. The aim of this article is to investigate the role of the constitutional imperatives and other legal resources in addressing the issue of language, especially African languages, as a fundamental right.

The Political Economy of the Harmonisation of the Nguni and the Sotho Languages

The author believes that it is essential to revisit the issue of the harmonisation of the African languages of South Africa. He maintains that most people who have been writing on the subject locally have not understood the kernel of the original Nhlapo-Alexander proposal and restates the economic and political arguments for it. Because there are no "linguistic" barriers to the realisation of this proposal, he concludes that the main obstacle is the lack of political will and appeals to the relevant academics and political/cultural leadership of the country to reconsider the issue against the background of a similar movement in the rest of the continent.

African language books for children: issues for authors

Growing interest in bilingual education in sub-Saharan Africa has highlighted an urgent need for reading material in African languages. In this paper, we focus on authors, one of several groups of stakeholders with responsibility for meeting this demand. We address three main issues: the nature and extent of African language publishing for children; the challenges for authors; and the available support. Our analysis is based on interviews and focus group discussions with publishers, authors, translators, educationalists, and representatives of book promotion organisations from nine African countries and documentary data on children's books in African languages in South Africa. Although there is evidence of a growing interest in producing books in local languages, the number of titles is constrained by funding. The challenges for authors include the need to understand the ingredients for successful children's books and for the sensitivity necessary to negotiate the linguistic challenges associated with a newly emergent genre in African languages. Support, in the form of competitions and workshops, relies on external funding and expertise and offers only temporary solutions. We finish with suggestions for more sustainable ways forward.

Masithethe: Speech and language development and difficulties in isiXhosa

IsiXhosa is the second most spoken language in South Africa and one of its official languages. Spoken mainly in the Eastern and Western Cape regions it is fitting that much of the research focusing on children's isiXhosa speech and language acquisition has been carried out at the University of Cape Town (UCT). We describe what is known about children's acquisition of isiXhosa, and highlight studies which inform our knowledge of the typical development of the language in relation to the acquisition of consonants including clicks and the isiXhosa noun class system. Little is known about the specific nature of speech and language difficulties in isiXhosa, and the development of isiXhosa resources for speech and language assessment and therapy is in its infancy. Suggestions are made for advancing knowledge and practice which is needed to provide a relevant and quality service to isiXhosa speakers.