In South Africa, like in several other countries, English is the linqua franca and the language of government, business and commerce. This article investigates the popularity of the English language as a medium of communication and identity among black South Africans.
English as a Home Language
According to Kamwangamalu (2007), although about 9% of the South African population utilise English as a home language, English is touted as the paean for social mobility and prestige. Language speaks to the essence of what people are, a form individual and group identity. The language people speak defines how they see themselves as part of a collective – from Xitsonga to isiZulu, South Africa’s 11 languages are part of the linguistic and social fabric of its people.
According to Gough (1996), about 1% of blacks in South Africa regard English as their home language. Considered a neutral language that continues to surpass Afrikaans, a South African language that stems from Dutch, in the world of commerce and business, English has also changed the linguistic landscape among other groups, resulting in an Indian population that is mostly English speaking, thus resulting in what is termed Indian English (Gough 1996; Mesthrie: 1995).
English and Afrikaans as Spoken Languages
It is indicated that English as a second or third language of many South Africans, is encroaching on the private domain (home environment) by challenging the mother tongue as the language of choice among the affluent black elite (Kamwangamalu: 2007). Kamwangamalu (2007: 264) also looks at the identity of English in the black community, focusing on “they-code” (for members in the community that have no access to the language), “we-code” (the language that was used for anti-apartheid campaigns), but now a “naturalised we-code” (for the black elite currently experiencing language shift from indigenous languages to English).
Despite the historic struggle for power between Afrikaans and English, Afrikaans as a public language has lost momentum, largely due to the international status attached to English, and the anti-apartheid sentiment that sees strong ties between Afrikaans and the former political dispensation. Even though the political institutions have changed, Government business is mainly conducted in English, despite a constitution vested in promoting multilingualism.
What Does the Constitution of South Africa Say About Language?
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, No. 108 of 1996 states the following: “Recognising the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people, the state must take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages.”
After a divided past based on racial segregation, the process of nation building appears to have reached some level of maturity. However, in a multilingual country populated by a spectrum of cultural groups, the phenomenon of language shift from one language to a more popular language will remain an issue that continues to test the development of South Africa.
References
• Bekker, I., 2005. Language attitudes and ethnolinguistic identity in South Africa: A critical review. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism, ed. James Cohen at el, 233-239. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
• De Klerk, V., 2006. Codeswitching, borrowing and mixing in a corpus of Xhosa English. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism Vol. 9, No. 5. Rhodes University.
• Gough, D.H. 1996. English in South Africa. Article appears as the Introduction to the Dictionary of South African English on Historical Principles.
• Kamwangamalu, N.M. 2007. One language, multi-layered identities: English in a society in transition, South Africa. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford: USA.
• Kamwangamalu, N.M. 2008. From linguistic apartheid to linguistic co-habitation code switching in print advertising in post-apartheid South Africa. Journal of Creative Communications. pp 99–113. Sage Publications. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore.
• Mesthrie. R. 1995. Language and social history: Studies in South African sociolinguistics. David Philip, Publishers
• Statistics South Africa. 2001. Census: Key results.
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