As a result, multilingualism has received much attention in south african. One of south africas priorities during the beginning of its postapartheid era that began in the 1990s, was to take steps recognize all of its citizens and make official information accessible to all. Individual multilingualism forms part of a persons identity and provides means to express it. Most languages spoken in africa belong to one of three large language families. The sociolinguistics of development in africa by paulin g. Most africans are multilingual in african languages prah and brockutne 2009. Africas economic development affects this multilingualism, both encouraging it and, in some cases, threatening it. Access study documents, get answers to your study questions, and connect with real tutors for lin 1502. Multilingualism in south africa with a focus on kwazulunatal and.
The 11 languages of south africa south africa gateway. The black african population is in the majority 47,4 million and constitutes approximately 81% of the total south african population. Apart from the general introduction, all contributions stem from african scholars representing their inside perspective on. Despite the possibility that this decision was taken on the grounds of. The ability to speak the mother tongue as well as the national language and an international language creates a much wider range of life choices for individuals but can. Last march, academics from across africa and beyond came to discuss multilingual education in an african context, and to look at the language policy options facing south sudan, africas newest nation, which had become independent just nine months before. Research on multilingualism in mathematics education in south africa. For 2019, statistics south africa stats sa estimates the midyear population at 58,78 million. Additional notes in south africa the school drop out rate is 77% over 12 years of schooling. Africa is home to some of the most multilingual cities in the world, for many different reasons and in many different ways. English in multilingual south africa edited by raymond hickey. Although it was possible to use a more detailed questionnaire, i considered this instrument sufficient for the present stage of research.
Multilingualism is seen in the provision of schooling around the country rather than in the. Pdf democracy and multilingualism in south african primary. Multilingualism and minority languages in south africa. The impulse towards greater multilingualism in postliberation south africa has. Apr 25, 2017 the south african government also accommodates those communicating via khoi, nama, san, and sign language as well. The perspectives and case studies presented here cover the whole of the continent, from morocco to south africa, from cote divoire to kenya. Scholarly, engaging, and accessible, paulin djites book challenges two of the lingering myths about the role of language in africas development multilingualism is an obstacle to development and the latter is possible only via the medium of an excolonial language and calls for the use of the african languages in the key areas of. Another hundred belong to smaller families such as ubangian sometimes grouped within nigercongo and the various families called khoisan, or the indoeuropean and austronesian language families mainly spoken outside africa. Towards a practical proposal for multilingualism in education in kenya. Language is a critical political issue and continues to be a flashpoint in south africa. Mar 20, 2015 towards a practical proposal for multilingualism in education in kenya. Pdf research on multilingualism in mathematics education.
The first chapter outlines the new constitutional context of multilingualism in south africa since the end of apartheid. However, for many of them, indian languages hold symbolic value. Multilingualism in south africa 5 terms of communicative use. Multilingualism is a positive social and personal resource. In this paper, professor chetty argues that, instead of blaming poor literacy rates and academic performance on the fact that that learners in disavantaged communities are required to use english as their language of learning and teaching, we should rather look to the low intake of. Pdf south africa is a country of rich cultural and linguistic diversity. Despite languageineducation policies that extol the virtues of multilingualism, practice remains oriented towards englishonly learning and teaching. Next step is to create a road map for the resumption of the international game, says icc medical chair. Its strengths lie specifically in the areas ofmultilingualism, sociolinguistics semiotics, systemic functional linguistics, critical discourse analysis and the politics and historiography of language.
The chapters in this volume examine the phenomenon of multilingualism in africa as it affects individuals, communities, ethnic groups, nations, and the larger interconnected world. Van warmeloo 1952 and louw 1959 are among the first linguistic maps which show the distribution of languages spoken in south africa. The quantitative data used in this paper is extracted from research conducted for the assaf on the state of humanities education at. Quentin williams to discuss multilingualism in pain. Map showing the distribution of firstlanguage speakers of south. Background botswana is located in the southern africa, landlocked, and it shares borders with zambia, zimbabwe, south africa, and namibia, as shown in figure 1. Find lin study guides, notes, and practice tests for university of south africa. Turning multilingual classrooms into rich resources the. His main research interests lie in the areas of intercultural communication with a focus on eastern africa, discourse analysis, cognitive functionalist grammar and knowledge. Introduction india is said to be a sociolinguistic giant and the nerve system of this giant is multilingualism. A multisemiotic analysis ian, lyndon, johnson phd thesis, department of linguistic, university of the western cape during apartheid, the infrastructure in south africa was built by the government and. A case study of language use in hoima 5 these questions reflect my research interests, and the questionnaire was designed to be completed in 1015 minutes. Quentin williams is one of the lead spoken word scholars studying youth and linguistic defiance in the aftermath of apartheid in south africa. Welcome to multilingualism sa, a business unit of smartserve enterprises pty ltd, a diversified services business operating from kempton park in the gauteng province of south africa.
Africa s economic development affects this multilingualism, both encouraging it and, in some cases, threatening it. Linguistic ideologies in multilingual south african suburban. Oddly, most development theoreticians consider this a barrier to economic and social growth. A report recently published by proceedings of the royal society b has raised yet another alarm for the. Multilingualism and minority languages in south africa a discussion paper. This is an incomplete list of areas with either multilingualism at the community level or at the personal level. Multilingualism in south africa at university of south africa.
Multilingualism in society university of the western cape. Implementing policies that seek to redress inherited and deeply entrenched inequalities in education as well as public perceptions about the status of the different languages will take. This article proposes multilingualism in education, where indigenous languages are used alongside english as the media of instruction in schools to eventually promote their use in kenya. Indian multilingualism is huge in size, having 1620 mother tongues reduced to 200 languages.
A sociohistorical and ethnographic perspective on the development of multilingualism in south africa mtholeni n. For example, south africa with approximately between 2050 languages has official multilingualism status generally enshrined in the countrys constitution 2. There is a distinction between social and personal bilingualism. The national party which came to power in 1948 in the country which was captured by the english in 19th century implemented a policy based on the disentegration of the races. Multilingualism beyond homelanguage see table in fine.
Its strengths lie specifically in the areas ofmultilingualism, sociolinguistics semiotics, systemic functional linguistics, critical discourse analysis and the. South africa has 11 official languages and a multilingual population fluent in. Fashioning nonracial sleeves in postapartheid south africa. Case study of mumbai city pushpa pai sndt womens university 1. Approximately 51,2% approximately 30 million of the population is female. Jan 17, 2008 scholarly, engaging, and accessible, paulin djites book challenges two of the lingering myths about the role of language in africas development multilingualism is an obstacle to development and the latter is possible only via the medium of an excolonial language and calls for the use of the african languages in the key areas of.
The politics of language and self in a south african township in transformation s. The status of english in a multilingual south africa. The tendencies towards increasing monolingualism in south africa, listed at the beginning of this contribution, suggest that there may be a lack of meaningful political will among the political leadership of this country to seriously implement the national ideals expressed in the constitution, and that the publicised policy of pluralism may be. Despite language in education policies that extol the virtues of multilingualism, practice remains oriented towards englishonly learning and teaching. The book presents a collection of papers in english, french and german, which touch on a wide variety of cultural, political, and educational ramifications of multilingualism in africa. Promoting multilingualism in and through education is a very young undertaking in south africa, with the new language policy for public schools enacted in 1997. Oct 03, 2017 education in all of the eleven official languages of south africa fp and they should respect the individual language of all learners allow choice of language of teaching and learning lolt to be used in the foundation phase fp. List of multilingual countries and regions wikipedia. Education and language experts gather to tackle the issue in africas newest country. Report of the secretary general, ban ki moon, on multilingualism, 2007 our action is part of a strategy involving all languages, to promote multilingualism as a tool for democratising interna.
Pdf research on multilingualism in mathematics education in. Multilingualism in south africa with particular reference to. In discussions on the role of african languages, there is a tendency to confine the discussion to language in education. Multilingualism and multiculturalism in south africa south africa attracted immigrants mainly from holland of which it was colony in the 17th century. His main research interests lie in the areas of intercultural communication with a focus on eastern africa, discourse analysis, cognitive functionalist grammar and. Multilingualism in society the department of linguistics at uwc is known for its orientation towards applied linguistics. In south africa numerous indigenous languages are considered for teaching and learning though english is predominantly used in schools and institutions of. Except for south africas use of afrikaans in some universities there is not a single country in. Mpendukana magister artium abstract much language planning and policy in recent years in south africa tends to overlook linguistic situations and practices, and focuses on notions of topdown language policy and implementation. The language stipulations of the south african constitution both the interim and the final, 1996 constitution were, probably, a surprise to most language planners internationally, in that 11 languages 2 were declared to be official languages at the national level. It is a firsttime overview of multilingual teaching and learning strategies that have been tried and tested in a number of higher education institutions in south africa.
Only once this economic map of linguistic possibility. Multilingualism and linguistic landscapes across space and time in the public railway system in south africa. Discover the best homework help resource for lin at university of south africa. Linguistic ideologies in multilingual south african suburban schools pinky makoea and carolyn mckinneyb adepartment of english studies, university of south africa, pretoria, south africa. The international school drop out rate according to unesco is 21% hoffmann, 2008. This is your new home for sourcing languagerelated services such as translation, interpreting and editing.
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