Language in South Africa

by Rajend Mesthrie

Overview

This is a comprehensive and wide-ranging guide to language and society in South Africa. 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). It examines language and public policy issues associated with the transition to a post-apartheid society and its eleven official languages. All the chapters are informed by the importance of socio-political history in understanding questions of language.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521791052
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/17/2002
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.06(d)
Lexile:	1410L (what's this?)

About the Author

Rajend Mesthrie is Professor of Linguistics at the University of South Africa. He has researched and published extensively on a range of contact phenomena in South Africa.

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"[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

From the Publisher