Language in South Africa

This is a comprehensive and wide-ranging 2002 guide to language and society in South Africa.

Rajend Mesthrie (Edited by)

9780521791052, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 October 2002

504 pages, 20 maps 6 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.7 cm, 0.84 kg

"[A] very handsome book, beautifully edited, carefully proofread, and produced on thick paper in elegant fonts." Christina Bratt Paulston, University of Pittsburgh, Language in Society

This is a comprehensive and wide-ranging 2002 guide to language and society in South Africa. As the authors demonstrate, the South African context offers a treasure trove of data and examples for linguistic and sociolinguistic study. The book surveys the most important language groupings in the region in terms of pre-colonial and colonial history; contact between the different language varieties, leading to language loss, pidginization, creolization and new mixed varieties; language and public policy issues associated with the transition to a post-apartheid society and its eleven official languages. It details the history of indigenous languages, the impact of European languages upon them, and of transformations to the European languages themselves. Written by a team of leading researchers, all the chapters are informed by the importance of socio-political history in understanding questions of language. The book will be welcomed by students and researchers in language and linguistics, sociology, anthropology and social history.

Introduction R. Mesthrie
Part I. The Main Language Groupings: 1. South Africa - a sociolinguistic overview R. Mesthrie
2. The Khoesan languages A. Traill
3. The Bantu languages R. K. Herbert and R. Bailey
4. Afrikaans P. T. Roberge
5. South African English R. Lass
6. South African sign language D. Aarons and P. Akach
7. German Speakers in South Africa E. de Kadt
8. Indian languages in South Africa R. Mesthrie
Part II. Language Contact: 9. Fanakalo: a South African pidgin R. Adendorff
10. Mutual lexical borrowings among some languages of South Africa W. Branford and J. S. Claughton
11. Code-switching, mixing and convergence in Cape Town K. McCormick
12. Code-switching in South African townships S. Slabbert and R. Finlayson
13. Intercultural miscommunication in South Africa J. K. Chick
14. Women's language of respect R. Finlayson
15. The sociohistory of clicks in Southern Bantu R. K. Herbert
16. Language and gendered ethnicity in a Thonga community R. K. Herbert
17. Indian South African English R. Mesthrie
18. Black South African English V. de Klerk and D. Gough
19. The lexicon and sociolinguistic codes of the working-class Afrikaans-speaking Cape Peninsula coloured community G. L. Stone
20. An introduction to Flaaitaal K. D. P. Makhudu
21. Language and language practices in Soweto D. K. Ntshangase
Part III. Language Planning, Policy and Education: 22. Language planning and language policy: past, present and future T. G. Reagan
23. Language issues in South African education S. Murray
24. Recovering multilingualism: recent language policy developments K. Heugh.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]