The linguistic rights of ethnic minorities and language policy in South Africa.
Mabela, Matefu Lefty
Mabela, Matefu Lefty
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Abstract
Eleven languages were accorded official status at the start of the democratic dispensation in South Africa in 1994, nine of which are Black South African languages. These languages do not appear to be treated equally in most settings, and the linguistic rights of ethnic minorities, especially, seem to be neglected, although the constitution protects them. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to investigate the level of language rights awareness of certain sections of the populace, and their perceptions of the level of efficacy in the implementation of the country’s language policy, using four target ethnic minority groups (Tsonga, Swati, Venda, and Ndebele) as the sample population. The survey revealed, among other things, that: most ethnic minority language speakers are multilingual, and willing to compromise the use of their languages to accommodate speakers of more „dominant‟ languages (e.g., isiZulu); most respondents did not see the need to change the number of official languages in the language policy; the young generation regard English more highly than their ethnic languages; not all Black South African languages receive equal treatment in different domains of national life; and, most of the participants were not aware of the language policy, or language structures (e.g., PanSALB) meant to promote and develop formerly-marginalised Black South African languages - which raises the question of their effectiveness in championing language issues.
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Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Magister Technologie (Language Practice).
Date
2015-01-01
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
Multilingualism, Language equity, Cultural identity