qa1
Afrikaans and English in South
Africa: tools of oppression
“Afrikaans and English were used as gatekeepers 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 San
were '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) British





The second occupier; arrived in 1795
Implemented 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. 171131. 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_&_Eb
onics.html
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/alexanderen.pdf
http://www.bcteacherregulation.ca/teacher/InternationalCou
ntrySpecInfo.aspx?xmlfilename=southafrica.xml&imgfilename
=southafrica.png&countryname=South%20Africa