Language Policy And Nation Building In Post Apartheid South Africa

The preamble to the post-apartheid South African constitution states that ‘South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity’ and promises to ‘lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law’ and to ‘improve the quality of life of all citizens’. This would seem to commit the South African government to, amongst other things, the implementation of policies aimed at fostering a common sense of South African national identity, at societal dev- opment and at reducing of levels of social inequality. However, in the period of more than a decade that has now elapsed since the end of apartheid, there has been widespread discontent with regard to the degree of progress made in connection with the realisation of these constitutional aspirations. The ‘limits to liberation’ in the post-apartheid era has been a theme of much recent research in the ?elds of sociology and political theory (e. g. Luckham, 1998; Robins, 2005a). Linguists have also paid considerable attention to the South African situation with the realisation that many of the factors that have prevented, and are continuing to prevent, effective progress towards the achievement of these constitutional goals are linguistic in their origin.

Language in South Africa (LiSA) debates the role of language and language planning in the reconstruction, development and transformation of post-apartheid democratic South Africa. The 1996 constitution of South Africa is founded on the political philosophy of pluralism and is directed at promoting democratic values, equity and non-discrimination, human rights, national unity and the development of all the country’s communities. The question asked in LiSA is how language planning can contribute towards the attainment of these national ideals. Set against the language political realities of the country — the a-symmetric power relations between the languages; the striking differences in the structural; functional and symbolic adaptation of the official languages; and the many language-related problems in the country — it debates the role of language in state administration, national integration, educational development and economic development. The volume concludes with a discussion of language development and language management.

A discussion of the role which language, or, more properly, languages, can perform in the reconstruction and development of South Africa. The approach followed in this book is characterised by a numbers of features - its aim is to be factually based and theoretically informed.

Language is a critical factor in nation-building, and in a continent such as Africa, where language groups do not necessarily correspond with national boundaries, it is potentially contentious as well. Ayo Bamgbose's new book focuses on the problem of language exclusion, whereby certain languages -- and groups -- are omitted from language policies, particularly in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Originally based on a series of lectures given in South Africa, the individual chapters largely preserve the original style of presentation. Consequently, the book is readable, and a valuable introduction to some of the more important issues in African sociolinguistics. The book makes special reference to the language situation in post-apartheid South Africa. The appendices provide access to some of the most important documents on language policies such as the Organization of African Unity's Language Plan of Action For Africa (1986), the language provisions in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of South Africa (1996), and the Barcelona Universal Declaration on Linguistics Rights.

Political transformation has compelled South Africans to reflect on what goes into building a new nation. This book is a contribution to the debate on nation-building. Among the topics it covers are: Language and the national question; and Moulding a new society: The RDP in perspective.

This report provides a striking reminder that few state officials have considered the impact of language policy (and its absence) as broader issues of transformation. Although faced daily with language capacity problems, and the visible manifestation of contested uses of language, state officials interviewed tend not to see a link between their immediate concerns and the role of language policy in providing solutions in both the short and long term.

'Indigenous Knowledge Systems' -- Concluding Reflections -- Questions for Reflection and Discussion -- Author Index -- Subject Index

The appointment of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 signalled the end of apartheid and transition to a new democratic constitution. This book studies discursive trends during the first twenty years of the new democracy, outlining the highlights and challenges of transforming policy, practice and discursive formations. The book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa’s inhabitants have changed in this time, finding that struggles in South African politics go hand in hand with shifts in the linguistic landscape. In a country now characterised by multilingualism, heteroglossia, polyphony and translanguaging, the author debates where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead.