14. Social Change and Language Shift: South Africa

Abstract

Studies of social change and language maintenance and shift have tended to focus on minority immigrant languages (e.g., Fishman, 1991; Gal, 1979; Milroy, 2001; Stoessel, 2002). Very little is known about language shift from a demographically dominant language to a minority but economically dominant one (e.g., Bowerman, 2000; de Klerk, 2000; Kamwangamalu, 2001, 2002a,b, & in press; Reagan, 2001). This chapter contributes to such research by looking at the current language shift from majority African languages such as Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu to English in South Africa. In particular, it examines to what extent the sociopolitical changes that have taken place in South Africa (i.e., the demise of apartheid and its attendant structures) have impacted everyday linguistic interaction and have contributed to language shift from the indigenous African languages to English, especially in urban Black communities. It argues that a number of factors, among them the economic value and international status of English, the perceived lower status of the indigenous African languages, the legacy of apartheid-based Bantu education, the new multilingual language policy, the linguistic behaviors of language policy makers, etc., interact in complex ways to accelerate language shift in urban Black communities. In conclusion, the chapter explores ways in which the observed language shift can be curbed to prevent what Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) has termed “linguistic genocide,” particularly in a country that has a well-documented history of this phenomenon (Lanham, 1978; Prabhakaran, 1998).

(Unoffi cial) Multilingualism in desegregated schools: Learners' use of and views towards African languages

“…This necessitates further research on desegregated English medium schools and language shift. Furthermore, claims about language shift (De Klerk, 2000;2002a;2002b;Kamwangamalu, 2003a;2003b) can oversimplify the complex strategic choices learners and their parents are making and ignore the continuing use of South African languages by many learners as the data in the present study shows. De Klerk's and Kamwangamalu's claims are also not based on the broader understanding of language shift I have outlined above.…”

“…The policy affirms additive bilingualism: 'The underlying principle for implementation by schools is to maintain home language(s) while providing access to and the effective acquisition of additional language(s)' (DoE, 1997). The Language in Education Policy (LiEP) has been criticised as has the language policy of South Africa (Kamwangamalu, 2003b;Ndhlovu, 2008) for weaknesses in implementation and also for promoting the hegemony of English. For example, Kamwangamalu (2003b) argues that only English has benefited from this policy, with evidence of this in education, media, government, and administration and that English has benefited as a result of the lack of implementation of the language policy.…”

“…Notable is the hegemony of English in many schools, and in ex-Model C schools in particular. Some have argued that the choices of middle-class African parents in sending their children to English medium schools is threatening the survival of African languages and leading to language shift (De Klerk, 2000;Kamwangamalu, 2003a;2003b). Drawing on observation and interview data from two desegregated co-educational ex-Model C high schools in Johannesburg, this paper focuses on the language practices and views towards indigenous South African languages of African learners.…”

The constitutional dynamism of a multilingual language policy: A case of South Africa

“…Since then, the conventional approaches to language policy analysis have been trying to analyse why it was necessary to have a multilingual language policy after the previous apartheid's language policy (cf. Webb, 2002;Kamwangamalu, 2003;Ngcobo, 2008Ngcobo, , 2009). It has been argued elsewhere that the politics of compromise that led to the formation of a new nation was responsible for the production of a new language policy (Ngcobo, 2009) and that has caused dire consequences to the implementation of the language policy in South Africa (see also Ngcobo, 2003 and.…”

Bilingual children’s social preferences hinge on accent

“…Among multilingual children in South Africa, the preference for English speakers (over Xhosa speakers) was particularly strong among children who were primarily instructed in English at school (Kinzler et al, 2012). English is not the most common first language in South Africa, yet it is often considered the language of business, commerce, and upward social mobility (De Klerk, 2000; Kamwangamalu, 2003). Relatedly, kindergarteners in Hawaii who lived in neighborhoods that were higher in socioeconomic status (SES) preferred standard English speakers, whereas children attending kindergarten in a lower SES neighborhood preferred speakers of Hawaiian Creole English (Day, 1980).…”