Tracking the demographics of (urban) language shift – an analysis of South African census data

Deumert, Ana

doi:10.1080/01434630903215125

Cited by 45 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Xhosa children in Cape Town, therefore, are exposed to multiple languages: They typically speak Xhosa as their first language, but by adulthood most speak several languages with some fluency. Individuals with higher levels of education, moreover, tend to be proficient in English, and analyses of South African census data reveal ongoing language shift toward English among Black South Africans in Cape Town (Deumert, 2010). Studies of Xhosa South African children's language-based social preferences can begin to tease apart the social effects of language that are confounded in monolingual American children.…”

Section: The Present Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language-based Social Preferences among Children in South Africa

Kinzler

Shutts

Spelke

2012

Language Learning and Development

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Monolingual English-speaking children in the United States express social preferences for speakers of their native language with a native accent. Here we explore the nature of children’s language-based social preferences through research with children in South Africa, a multilingual nation. Like children in the United States, Xhosa South African children preferred speakers of their first language (Xhosa) to speakers of a foreign language (French). Thus, social preferences based on language are observed not only among children with limited exposure to cultural and linguistic variation but also among children living in a diverse linguistic environment. Moreover, Xhosa children attending school in English expressed social preferences for speakers of English over speakers of Xhosa, even when tested by a Xhosa-speaking experimenter. Thus, children’s language-based social preferences do not depend exclusively on preferences for more familiar or intelligible speech but also extend to preferences for speech that may convey higher status in the child’s society.

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Section: The Present Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language-based Social Preferences among Children in South Africa

Kinzler

Shutts

Spelke

2012

Language Learning and Development

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“…The multilingual repertoires of these participants are typical for urban communities in South Africa (Deumert 2010;Slabbert and Finlayson 2000;Dyers 2008b). The finding that 30% of the Southern Sotho and Zulu participants report these languages as home languages, yet they indicate English as strongest language could be interpreted as an indication of potential future language shift.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flourishing functional multilingualism: evidence from language repertoires in the Vaal Triangle region

Rooy¹

2012

International Journal of the Sociology of Language

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Currently, there is a debate about the potential language shift among speakers of African languages towards English. Scholars hold conflicting views about this issue and the debates are complicated because of the widespread multilingualism in the South African society. The main aim of this article is to re visit current claims of language shift among speakers of African languages by analyzing relevant data from a larger scale survey of the language repertoires of an identified population. The research method involved the adaptation of lan guage history or experience questionnaires designed by bilingualism researchers to describe the language repertoires of a large population of multilingual stu dents. The main findings of the study are: (a) multilingualism is flourishing among the participants; (b) the multilingual repertoires of the participants are expanding because of the addition of African languages to the repertoires; and (c) the position of English is confined to specific functions. A pattern of flourishing functional multilingualism emerges. The value of adding larger scale quantitative studies to complement smaller, qualitative studies in discussions of language shift and maintenance is confirmed by this study.

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“…A stimulus for this article was the dearth of research into the linguistic landscapes of Johannesburg's townships. Another was Deumert's (2010) study of language statistics in the 2001 census, which revealed that the language shift towards English was much less marked in Johannesburg than in Cape Town. 1 I wanted to find out whether this relatively slight shift had any effect on the way people advertised their services, or whether English was nevertheless still viewed as the language of business, no matter how informal.…”

Section: Why Diepsloot?mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Welcome to proper mall’:The language on signs in Diepsloot, Johannesburg

Dowling¹

2014

South African Journal of African Languages

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Tracking the demographics of (urban) language shift – an analysis of South African census data

Cited by 45 publications

References 28 publications

Language-based Social Preferences among Children in South Africa

Language-based Social Preferences among Children in South Africa

Flourishing functional multilingualism: evidence from language repertoires in the Vaal Triangle region

‘Welcome to proper mall’:The language on signs in Diepsloot, Johannesburg

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