South African Language Rights Monitor 2008

Lubbe, Johan; Plessis, Theo du

doi:10.18820/9781920382285

Cited by 2 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…The standard form of Afrikaans became the undisputed norm and became synonymous with nationalism, on the one hand, and stigmatisation of other varieties, on the other. Coloured people migrated to English as home language and parents started to speak only English to their children (McCormick 2002;Lubbe and Du Plessis 2013). White Afrikaner exclusivity thus led to this tragic rift between white and coloured Afrikaans language communities (Esterhuyse 1986;McCormick 2002;Vandeyar 2014).…”

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last twenty years, demythologising of Afrikaans as the white man's language has occurred in the press in South Africa (McCormick 2002;Lubbe and Du Plessis 2013). Intensive research about the origin of Afrikaans has led the author Achmat Davids to state: 'Afrikaans, the language of the white tribe of SA, is a black tongue' (Harvey 2000: 1).…”

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The oldest recorded Afrikaans texts are indeed in Arabic -Abu Bakr's Afrikaans translations of sections of the Koran (Van Rensburg 1997;Harvey 2000). Afrikaans was popularised by authors like Davids and Willemse, and it soon became general knowledge that of the 6.9 million home language speakers of Afrikaans, only 2.7 million were actually white (McCormick 2002;Lubbe and Du Plessis 2013). Afrikaans was again used as a political instrument, but in this case as a label for the ideology of liberation (Pieterse 1994;Van der Elst and Prinsloo 2011).…”

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The late professor Neville Alexander, a distinguished coloured academic from the University of Cape Town, warned that the language imperialism of English was at the expense of most children and students in South Africa (Van der Elst and Prinsloo 2011). In Brussels, the Unrepresented Nations and People's Organisation (UNPO), an influential international organisation, consisting of 71 member countries campaigning for minority rights, adopted a resolution at their congress condemning discrimination against Afrikaans (Lubbe and Du Plessis 2013). Role players from different societies were suddenly united in their linguistic strife to ironically defend a language that was not long ago only known by the world because of one word, 'apartheid'.…”

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This finding coincides with an observation by Kusendila (2003), who compared a Flemish and Afrikaans textbook series in terms of identity issues, and found that a social world is constructed in Afrikaans textbooks where voices of characters of other languages are not truly heard, as all people (black or white) are depicted as speaking Afrikaans as though it were their home language. The reality in modern-day South Africa is that most black people refuse to speak Afrikaans because of the negative association with the language during the reign of apartheid (Deumert 2010;Lubbe and Du Plessis 2013).…”

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reading between the lines: Hegemonic favouring within language-related communities

Engelbrecht

2017

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

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Based on the assumption that a struggle to protect the interests of dominant groups exists in all communities, this qualitative study investigates hegemonic favouring in two language-related speech communities. Through the perspectives of focus group participants, the article reports on the discourses in Flemish and Afrikaans communities where certain ideas are presented as a matter of course -as though no alternative exists. In the Flemish focus group discussion, silences surrounding diversity issues were revealed, indicating that a healthy, diverse society where people learn from one another was not yet part of the Flemish psyche. Flemish monolingualism serves as a vehicle for stereotyping the linguistically dissimilar, and is used to maintain hegemonic practices. Demythologisation of Afrikaans history and Standard Afrikaans as undisputed norm freed the language of its previous apartheid enclaves. The pain of coloured speakers of Afrikaans having to dissociate with their home language was foregrounded in the discussion, as well as the fact that there are still many instances where whiteness is the norm against which other ethnic positions are contrasted. Setting the stageSeeing is always cultured seeing. What we see, is simply what we (think) we know, as knowledge is the result of the socially structured world we live in (Baldwin, Longhurst, McCracken, Ogborn, and Smith 2004). What happens in that socially constructed world seems normal to its inhabitants and therefore needs not to be questioned by them (Montgomery 2005;Chandler 2014).This article departs from the assumption that communities protect the interests of the dominant group in order to maintain the social structure they desire (Blommaert 2005;Chandler 2014). Many scholars believe that language forms part of such cultural and socio-political power struggles and that emphasis on language issues is often based on hidden agendas about power and control (Blommaert and Van Avermaert 2008;Van Elst and Prinsloo 2011). Hegemonic favouring, as a result of this, then presents itself through normality thinking or common-sense knowledge (Gramsci 1971) when certain perceptions are presented as normal and matter of course, while in actual fact it is only true in some cases and in some contexts (Balwin et al. 2004;Chandler 2014). Identification of hegemonic practices reveals the ideological way in which 'we' think about 'ourselves' and about 'the other', which is the aim of this article.Another assumption that this article departs from, is the fact that communities know 'the other' only in comparison to themselves and to the extent to which others are similar or different from them as the norm (

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Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Socially Encoded World In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reading between the lines: Hegemonic favouring within language-related communities

Engelbrecht

2017

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies

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Recognition, Regulation, Revitalisation: Place Names and Indigenous Languages: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Place Names 2019

2020

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Recognition, Regulation, Revitalisation: Place Names and Indigenous Languages is a selection of double-blind peer-reviewed papers from the 5th International Symposium on Place Names that took place 18-20 September 2020 in Clarens, South Africa. The symposium celebrated 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages as declared by the United Nations. Some of the studies in this publication excavate lost or disappearing indigenous toponyms. Those researchers contribute in a very concrete way to the preservation of indigenous toponyms, and thereby also the associated cultural heritage. The other papers explore how place naming functions as a mechanism with which to create mental maps and exert socio-political power. These proceedings are the outcome of international collaboration between Southern African and international scholars. As such, it is a valuable resource to local as well as international scholars who are interested in the interdisciplinary field of toponomy.

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South African Language Rights Monitor 2008

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Reading between the lines: Hegemonic favouring within language-related communities

Reading between the lines: Hegemonic favouring within language-related communities

Recognition, Regulation, Revitalisation: Place Names and Indigenous Languages: Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Place Names 2019

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