Social Change and Language Shift
South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24220792 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nkonko M Kamwangamalu |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Pages | 225-242 |
| Publication date | 2003-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0267-1905 • E-ISSN: 1471-6356 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0267190503000291 |
| OpenAlex | W2131637300 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 29 |
Studies of social change and language maintenance and shift have tended to focus on minority immigrant languages (e.g., Fishman, 1991; Gal, 1979; Milroy, 2001; Stoessel, 2002). Very little is known about language shift from a demographically dominant language to a minority but economically dominant one (e.g., Bowerman, 2000; de Klerk, 2000; Kamwangamalu, 2001, 2002a,b, & in press; Reagan, 2001). This chapter contributes to such research by looking at the current language shift from majority African languages such as Sotho, Xhosa, and Zulu to English in South Africa. In particular, it examines to what extent the sociopolitical changes that have taken place in South Africa (i.e., the demise of apartheid and its attendant structures) have impacted everyday linguistic interaction and have contributed to language shift from the indigenous African languages to English, especially in urban Black communities. It argues that a number of factors, among them the economic value and international status of English, the perceived lower status of the indigenous African languages, the legacy of apartheid-based Bantu education, the new multilingual language policy, the linguistic behaviors of language policy makers, etc., interact in complex ways to accelerate language shift in urban Black communities. In conclusion, the chapter explores ways in which the observed language shift can be curbed to prevent what Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) has termed “linguistic genocide,” particularly in a country that has a well-documented history of this phenomenon (Lanham, 1978; Prabhakaran, 1998).
African languages · apartheid legacy · Bantu education · language maintenance · Language shift · language status · linguistic genocide · Social change · Sotho · South Africa · urban Black communities · Xhosa · Zulu · Linguistic and Sociocultural Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy
The meaning of post-apartheid Zulu media
Language, Cultural and Communication Rights of Ethnic Minorities in South Africa
Cross-cultural linguistic realization of politeness
Decolonising intercultural theology and research
Family language policy and language shift in postcolonial Mozambique
Translanguaging and English-African language mother tongues as linguistic dispensation in teaching and learning in a black township school in Cape Town
Postgraduate students' experiences and attitudes towards isiZulu as a medium of instruction at the University of KwaZulu-Natal
Ulimi lwenkululeko
Motion event categorisation in a nativised variety of South African English
The Use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) for Sociolinguistic Purposes in South Africa
A “Translated” Discipline
Complexities in the process of translating research documents in cross-cultural settings
You’re Damned if You Do, You’re Damned if You Don’t
The missing language of freedom
Young Coloureds’ implicit attitudes towards two historically White English accents in the South African context
Language shift or increased bilingualism in South Africa
Social context, parental exogamy and Hakka language retention in Taiwan
Tracking the demographics of (urban) language shift – an analysis of South African census data
Unomathotholo or i-radio ? Factors predicting the use of English loanwords among L1 isiXhosa–L2 English bilinguals
Revisiting the prevalence of English
The canar-yi in the coal mine
A sociolinguistic approach to implicit language attitudes towards historically white English accents among young L1 South African indigenous language speakers
The emergence of isiZulu in Skeem Saam (2011)
Implicit Language Attitudes Toward Historically White Accents in the South African Context
English as a naturalized African language
English in language ideologies, attitudes, and educational practices in Kenya and South Africa
Coconuts" and "oreos
One language, multi-layered identities
Gender aspects of the use of English on a South African university campus
| Citations per year | 1.32 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2025 (22) |
| Highly cited | No |