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Afrikaans and English in South Africa: tools of oppression

“Afrikaans and English were used as gate-keepers for political power and dominance, as instruments for preserving certain privileges for whites, and ultimately as tools for unfair and unequal distribution of the country’s economic resources” (Phaswana 2003: 117).

The arrival of (the) Dutch

Indigenous people: the Khoi (or Khoikhoi), the herders, and the San, the hunters and gatherers. Two language groups.

Imperialism: Jan Van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company arrived at the Cape in April 1652.

The language of the Khoi: 'Hottentot'

(stutterish), the Sanwere 'Bushmen'

Emergence of Afrikaans

The Dutch refused to interact in any other language than Dutch.

Portuguese and Malay-Portuguese were the dominant lingua francae.

First language policy of South Africa in 1658 decreed by Dutch East India Company: Dutch only.

Afrikaans: language variety descends from Dutch communication between the Khoi, the San, the enslaved, the masters.

Afrikaans became the lingua franca in trade, education, and social intercourse between white and non-white   

The arrival of (the) BritishThe second occupier; arrived in 1795Implemented British policy of

'Anglicization' -> English became the commonly accepted language.

Indigenous languages and Afrikaans now had inferior status.

Caused a deep resentment (still in some Afrikaner groups today).

Afrikaner hostility towards English: the South African (or ‘Boer’) War of 1899–1902 -> the British won.

The growth of English

Was introduced into many black communities by missionaries

English was used as the medium of instruction in mission schools

English became a lingua franca, the language of the social elite and the language of empowerment for black South Africans

For white Afrikaners, English was die vyand se taal, ‘the language of the enemy’.

Policies until 1948

1910: 'the Act of Union': Dutch gained equal status as English

1925: amendment: Afrikaans became one of the official languages, theoretically next to Dutch, practically replacing Dutch

1948: The National Party (NP) made Afrikaans the favoured language

English was neglected as other official language, indigenous African languages were ignored.

The Apartheid

Racial segregation began in colonial times under Dutch and British Rule

1948 - 1994 - National Party (Racial segregation)

After WW2

Everything was segregated, from education, medical care, beaches, and other public services.

The Birth of South Africa's Democratic Language policy

In 1994 the ANC (African National Congress) and the NP (National Party) deliberated on a new democratic language policy for S/A.

Prior the negotiations African languages were only used as official languages in the various homelands where they were dominant, therefore they were relegated to a lower status whilst English and Afrikaans enjoyed official, higher status.

The ANC-led South African government recognized and embraced both multilingualism and multiculturalism and granted all major languages spoken in the country equal status at national level

What problems did they face?

Following the discernment of a new language policy, they were given the responsibility of addressing the problem of linguicism and linguistic hegemony in South Africa

Secondly, the constitution  calls upon the national government to take practical and positive measures to elevate the status, as well as advance the use, of all 11 languages within South Africa

No language can be given more attention

Maartens (1998) argued as a result of the policy that more and more of the languages in S/A are being marginalized to an even greater extent than the past.

The language of education: Language-in-education policy (1997)

In terms of the new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the government, and thus the Department of Education, recognizes that our cultural diversity is a valuable national asset and hence is tasked, amongst other things, to promote multilingualism, the development of the official languages, and respect for all languages used in the country, including South African Sign Language and the languages referred to in the South African Constitution.

The language of education: Language-in-education policy (1997)

The right to choose the language of learning and teaching is vested in the individual. This right has, however, to be exercised within the overall framework of the obligation on the education system to promote multilingualism.

The language of education: Language-in-education policy (1997)

To support the teaching and learning of all other languages required by learners or used by communities in South Africa, including languages used for religious purposes, languages which are important for international trade and communication, and South African Sign Language, as well as Alternative and Augmentative Communication

The language of education: Language-in-education policy (1997)

To counter disadvantages resulting from different kinds of mismatches between home languages and languages of learning and teaching

To develop programmes for the redress of previously disadvantaged languages

The language of education:During the apartheid all

education was taught and learnt in English and Afrikaans.

Now all 11 languages can be taken as a 'home language'.

English believed to be most beneficial to young learners from a parent's perspective.

The language of education:School, university and tertiary

education genuinely choose to use English and Afrikaans.

School leaving tests must show proficiency in at least 2 languages.

To become a teacher, if English is not the first language of the applicant, language proficiency tests must be taken.

The language of education: moving forward

In 2010 the government proposed that all pupils should be taught in the mother tongue for the first 3 years of education.

This was deemed to be neither financially, nor logistically feasible.

Conclusion• Other indigenous languages that

are not chosen to be spoken within the country are endangered

• Language Counts - The number of individual languages listed for South Africa is 31. Of these, 28 are living and 3 are extinct. Of the living languages, 13 are institutional, 5 are developing, 4 are vigorous, and 6 are dying.

“My views on South Africa having 11 official languages is that it has to do with the history of the country. With each language there is history, like how Afrikaans is basically Dutch and then also some languages are just traditional and have always been there before colonisation.” – Tabeth Buka

References Phaswana, N. (2003). Contradiction or affirmation? The

South African language policy and the South African national government. In Black Linguistics (Eds. Sinfree Makoni, Geneva Smitherman, Arnetha F. Ball, and Arthur K. Spears), pp. 171-131. London and New York: Routledge.

Painting: by Charles Bell (1813-1882) http://www.salanguages.com/education.htm http://www.info.gov.za/otherdocs/2001/langframe.pdf http://www.stanford.edu/~jbaugh/saw/

Tracy_Language_&_Ebonics.html http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/alexanderen.pdf http://www.bcteacherregulation.ca/teacher/

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