The minority language may be remembered by a residual group of language speakers, but it is no longer spoken as a wider language of communication. African languages, spoken by the majority of the people in south africa, have been. Multilingualism and minority languages in south africa a discussion paper. The general theme of the present volume is the place and role of minority languages in formal and informal educational and sociocultural settings. It is a regional language, with a third of its speakers living in the eastern cape, where it is the language of 83. The language situation in africa today was a government primary school which had swahili medium upto the fourth grade.
This institute is, in general, responsible for the systematic studying, documenting, and developing of the languages of zimbabwe. 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. Responses to educational change and desegregation post1994 policies and legislation that imposed desegregation in south african. Using the participants own words, this chapter reports on the views they hold on aspects of their gujarati identity in a multiethnic and multiracial south africa. Multilingualism in south africa with a focus on kwazulunatal and. Challenges to the promotion of indidegous languages in sou. Globalization and language policies of multilingual. Language shift or increased bilingualism in south africa. Evidence from census data dorrit posel and jochen zeller, university of kwazulunatal 1.
South africas population diversity means all 11 languages have had a profound effect on each other. On the one hand, it seems reasonable and desirable that learners should be able to receive education in their mother tongue, if they so wish. In other words, it is not possible to reach modernity if the languagelanguages of literacy and education are only within the intellectual ambit of small minorities. Of these estimated 800 languages only 50 have more than. In 1925, afrikaans, a relatively new, hybridized language in use for only about eight years at the time, became one of the official languages of south africa hofmeyr, 1987. Minorities and indigenous peoples right to education. This gave rights to the white minority but took away the right to vote of the majority of south africans. Language policies at four universities craig nudelman. Languages that are the most different from other languages today can be found in africa. Pdf indigenous languages and linguistic rights in the. This recognition is in line with recent developments in international law where common standards in relation to the protection of minority languages are in the process of being developed. Multilingualism and the language curriculum in south. Burkina faso, and recently, south africa, have been using local languages as the medium of learning in both formal and nonformal education, thus promoting bilingualism and multilingualism.
The key criterion here is the size of the speaker population within a specific geographic context. The black african population is heterogeneous, falling mainly into four linguistic categories. In essence, south africa is a country made up of language minorities with english as the dominant language in terms of its position as the official means of communication and in its dominance in the media and the economy. Although only a small minority of south africans and merely 3% of blacks speak english as their first language, in practice english is the hegemonic lingua franca of south africa, in everyday life, education, business and politics. South african ethnic groups are also found across south africa s boundaries in neighbouring countries. French, second additional language, south africa, language market, multi and plurilingualism. The representation of siswati as a minority language by sabc 1 p.
In education, english continues to be the dominant language. Pdf on jan 1, 2008, nancy kula and others published central, east and. Pdf investigating the language situation in africa researchgate. Language and broadcast regulation in south africa p. Minority languages and sustainable translanguaging. Minority languages linguistics oxford bibliographies. Many of these languages are local, tribal languages with limited utility beyond their local region gordon, 2005. English on the rise in africa today, 26 countries in subsaharan africa use english either as an official language exclusively like nigeria and ghana or as an official language alongside another african language like in kenya or south africa negash, 2011. Introduction an important question in multilingual societies is whether the use of a dominant language threatens the maintenance of language diversity.
On the other hand, there are some very real difficulties involved in the implementation of this ideal. Language policy and education in multilingual south africa. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. The first section presents demolinguistic profiles and their representation in the media, offering data on the relative numerical importance of the main languages used in south africa and the average and proportional allocation at three south african broadcasting.
The 11 languages of south africa south africa gateway. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally as of 2019 and an estimated number of roughly 5,000 to 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, it follows that the vast majority of languages are minority languages in. Race, ethnicity and language in south africa world elections. Minority languages in the linguistic landscape provides an innovative approach to the written displays of minority languages in public space. And to all marginalised speakers of minority languages in africa. For those who arent from south africa, we have 11 official languages afrikaans, english, isindebele, isixhosa, isizulu, sesotho sa leboa, sesotho, setswana, siswati, tshivenda, and xitsonga. This excerpt forms a link between the historicopolitical and the sociolinguistic strands of alexanders thinking. May 2005, in africa, including south africa, language rights are aimed at protecting languages spoken by the majority of the people against dominant languages, such as english, french, portuguese, and sometimes other. Research on minority languages of nigeria in 2001 published in the fel newsletter. Multilingualism and the language curriculum in south africa. Innocent maja is the senior partner of a zimbabwean law firm styled maja and associates legal practitioners. Such is the case with many immigrant languages, whose speakers may continue to be a majority in the homeland but have smaller speaker.
Challenges to the promotion of indigenous languages in south africa. The current state of language policy development in south africa the discussion of language policy development in south africa will be handled from the point of view that language planning is part of the strategic planning for a country, and that language planning should thus be evaluated within the framework of strategic planning, which can be. Language shiff and maintenance in the portuguese communiiy of johannesburg by. Pdf language policy incongruity and african languages in. Pdf minority languages in the linguistic landscape durk. The charter defines minority languages based on two criteria. It explores minority language situations through the lens of linguistic landscape research. Using indigenous languages for teaching and learning in zimbabwe 35 the institutionalization of the allex project as the alri african languages research institute at the university of zimbabwe. The languages of africa are classified into four major groups.
The constitution and language policies of the new south africa intend to foster the transformation of a. At least thirtyfive languages indigenous to south africa are spoken in the republic, ten of which are official languages of south africa. Statistically speaking, afrikaans constitutes a minority language in the. English and the nondefined other languages tend to concentrate in the metropolitan areas, but note again for kwazulunatal the sizeable german communities in northern natal braunschweig, luneburg and the mid lands harburg, hermannsburg. Language is an indispensable tool that can be used to deepen democracy and also contribute to the social, cultural, intellectual, economic and political life of the south african society. The perspectives and case studies presented here cover the whole of the continent, from morocco to south africa, from. Africa currently has at least 800 languages, and by some estimates as many as 2,400. Over and above the fact that some additional languages reflect minority cultures and communities greek, serbian, hebrew, etc. The question of mothertongue education in south africa remains a vexed one. Pdf central, east and southern african languages researchgate.
A minor dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of a. English has enjoyed a privileged status since the era of british colonization, although white minority governments after the 1920s pused for english. South africa history, capital, flag, map, population. Introduction the teaching of languages in south african schools has long been fraught with debate, tensions and sensitivities, particularly in relation to the continued exclusion and marginalisation of african languages. The ethnic groups in south africa have a variety of origins.
The status of english in a multilingual south africa. The most important of these is section 6 which recognises 11 languages as official languages. For example, ngunispeaking swazi people make up almost the entire population of swaziland. Reproductions supplied by edrs are the best that can be made. 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.
Statistics south africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups. Languages of south africa south africa is a diverse nation with a population of over 55 million comprising of people different languages, origins, cultures, and religious practices. In order to respond to this question, two language policy development documents need to be considered. The latest education act 1987, as amended in 1990 states that. Framework convention for the protection of national minorities 1995 article 14 recognises that. Against this backdrop, this article analyses the handling of cultural diversity in a unified south african education system. Isindebele, sesotho sa leboa, sesotho sa borwa, siswati, xitsonga, setswana, tshiven. The basic question an evaluation of language policy development in south africa thus has to answer is how the country has set out to achieve these ideals. Race and ethnicity in south africa south african history.
Further, only south africa protects sign language as a language. Although no khoisan language is an official language in south africa most are endangered, others are moribund and some even extinct the constitution charges the pan south african language board to promote, and create conditions for, the development and use of khoisan languages. Using indigenous languages for teaching and learning in zimbabwe 33 the senate and as a language of instruction in lower primary education, english continues to dominate as the national official language. If a sufficient number of students request minority language education, states should apply at least one of the above measures. On 31 may 1961 south africa was declared a republic. Using indigenous languages for teaching and learning in zimbabwe.
African languages were virtually neglected as both subjects and languages of instruction in south african schools until the present era. Languages of south africa, official south african language. Accordingly, languages such as irish that have official status but are spoken by smaller segments of a given population do not count as minority languages. The rest are minority languages without official status in african states. South africa, the southernmost country on the african continent, renowned for its varied topography, great natural beauty, and cultural diversity, all of which have made the country a favored destination for travelers since the legal ending of apartheid afrikaans. Multilingualism and minority languages in south africa. The eleventh official language is south african english. Children need to be taught in a language they understand. The country is also home to over 5 million immigrants, especially from the neighboring zimbabwe. A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. The protection of languages and of language rights in the. Mkhize and balfour language rights in education in south africa.
However, a small number of languages including arabic, bengali, e nglish, f rench, h indi, m alay, mandarin, p ortuguese, r ussian, and. Towards the human rights protection of minority languages in africa. This paper discusses three categories of languages in postapartheid south africa. It is the sociologicalcumeducational strands that are highlighted in the last four essays. The p olitics of ethnic minority radio in south africa. At least thirtyfive languages indigenous to south africa are spoken in the republic, ten of. Various different languages are used in south africa, but in the 1996. Isizulu and isixhosa are the largest languages, while english is spoken at home by only one in 10 people most of them not white. The 1996 south african constitution contains a number of provisions that deal specifically with the protection of languages and of rights relating to language. In particular, it examines to what extent the sociopolitical changes that have taken place in south africa i. The first constitution for the union of south africa was adopted in 1910. The recognition of multilingualism as well as its implementation is thus becoming an obligation resting on all states, including south africa.
Language, cultural and communication rights of e thnic. Pdf minority languages in the linguistic landscape. The largest is the nguni, including various peoples who speak swati primarily the swazi peoples as well as those who speak languages that take their names from the peoples by whom they are primarily spokenthe ndebele, xhosa, and zulu see also xhosa. Children need to be taught in a language they understand all children, irrespective of their location, should have teachers who understand their language and culture and thus can improve their learning. The two languages are among the most isolated in the country and are closely associated with the languages of the neighboring countries. Ndebele, northern sotho, sotho, siswati, tsonga, tswana, venda, xhosa, zulu and afrikaans. One of the perennial issues that arises when discussing south african education is our complex language policy. It has been established both in the academic literature and in democratic practice that the presence. Xitsonga is a minority language concentrated along south africas northeast border with the country of mozambique, where it is also spoken. Globalization and language policies of multilingual societies.
Speaking a minority language can be a source of disadvantage. Multilingualism in south africa university of kwazulunatal. However, an even more telling datum is the fact that of all the complaints about alleged violations of language rights received by the pan south african language board pansalb between 1. Introduction in scientific and anthropological usage, the notion of culture encompasses all that is the result of human fabrication. Towards the human rights protection of minority languages in. Thirtyseven current and former students of a heritagelanguage school in south africa completed surveys, semistructured interviews, and language tests. Jul 19, 2019 south africa has 11 official languages and a multilingual population fluent in at least two. He is also the executive director of centre for minority rights and development, a legal director of the antipiracy organization of zimbabwe and. Within the broader ngunitsonga language subfamily which it shares with isindebele, isixhosa, isizulu and siswati, it alone falls into the tswaronga group, while the other languages are nguni. In south africa, as in many other countries around the world with either an ethnically mixed population or with a colonial past, language is an extremely emotive issue with economic, social and more often than not, political implications. It generally appears that the official language of a country is the one in which the laws of the country are made and publicised, whereas the national language is. Some countries have more than one official language. Brand south africa south africa is a multilingual country.
Language in south africa s higher education transformation. Using indigenous languages for teaching and learning in. South africa s secondlargest language, xhosa is spoken by 17. Ogmios, roger blench fieldwork on assessing the status of minority languages in nigeria was undertaken in january and february of 2001 with additional visits in 2002. South african english, for example, is littered with words and phrases from afrikaans, zulu, nama and other african languages. We are organizing a series of subregional and regional events to address most topical minority issues. The largest is the nguni, including various peoples who speak swati primarily the swazi peoples as well as those who speak languages that take their names from the peoples by whom they are primarily spokenthe ndebele, xhosa, and zulu. These illustrations explain the situation on the ground better than any words could do. In this anniversary year, my office is increasing its engagement on minority rights even further. Yet, in many countries, children are taught in languages they do not speak at home. Why are more african countries adopting english as an. Portuguese migration to, and settlement in south africa.