Davie E. Mutasa

Language policy and language use in South Africa: an uneasy marriage

The change to democracy in South Africa in 1994 brought with it many changes in various spheres of activity. Languages could not escape these changes. The linguistic situation, which was previously characterized by the dominance of English and Afrikaans, could not be immune to the process of change. The other languages (Bantu languages) which were left out were brought into the linguistic scenario. This means that South Africa, an emerging nation, has chosen a multilingual approach as its language policy. As a result, for the first time in the history of language policies, there is a country with eleven official languages. The question is, is it possible for African Languages, which are at their infant stage of development with regard to technical terminology, to survive at par with English, a language with a tradition of scientific and technical literature? The aim of this paper is, therefore, to discuss the problems related to the coexistence of English and African languages in South Africa. It will also focus on the attitudes towards English and the language policy in South Africa.

The Renaissance of African Languages: An Inevitable Enterprise?

After the demise of colonialism and apartheid which led to the emergence of a totally ‘liberated’ Africa and the birth of The African Union, one hoped for a radical shift in African Consciousness giving impetus to a resurgence of African languages so that they may carry philosophical and scientific discourse to unprecedented heights. Maintaining the primordial language policies that are dominated by European languages in sub-Saharan Africa is like putting new wine into old skins. In this regard, the question is ‘Can African languages take their rightful place?’ The aim of this article is to highlight some of the strategies that could be implemented to ensure the revitalisation and rejuvenation of African languages in sub-Saharan Africa.

Constraints on the promotion of african languages to the level of english, french and portuguese.

Although African languages are recognized at national and/or regional levels in Africa the languages are still disadvantaged. They have not reached a reasonable degree of standardization and their use in the office and business situations does not normally secure prestige. This paper attempts to show the language situation in certain African countries with the objective of highlighting some of the factors that deter the promotion of these languages to the level of English, French and Portuguese.

Language policy implementation in South African universities vis-a-vis the speakers of indigenous African languages' perception

After the demise of apartheid in 1994, South Africa adopted a new constitution that bolstered the image of indigenous African languages through a multilingual language policy scenario. Indigenous African languages were further boosted by the National Language-in-Education Policy Acts that were propounded subsequent to the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa in 1996 and the Languages Bill that was promulgated in November 2012 (Mutasa, 2014). Given these developments, one would have hoped for changes in terms of perceptions and language use in universities where the traces of the vestiges of the colonial legacy were still apparent. The aim of this article is to highlight the extent to which the language choices of universities and perceptions of academics and students impact on the process of implementing the multilingual language policies in universities.

Language policy, linguistic hegemony and exclusion in the Zimbabwean print and broadcasting media

This article examines linguistic hegemony and linguistic exclusion in the Zimbabwean print and broadcasting media. The discussion is based on the fact that the media carry language, operate through language and contribute to language promotion and development. Therefore, this article argues that there is need for a sound and working language policy for the print and broadcasting media in Zimbabwe. The language used in information dissemination, public debates and communication can include or exclude some speech communities in the country. However, the language choices in the media in Zimbabwe demonstrate multilayered linguistic hegemonies where English is generally the dominant language, while Shona and Ndebele are hegemonic to the other languages in Zimbabwe. This situation is attributed to the fact that the broadcasting media in Zimbabwe are part of the colonial heritage; that there is a lack of a clear and consistent language policy of the media in Zimbabwe, which is reflective of the absence of a comprehensible national language policy; that the domination of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation leaves no room for meaningful and authentic competing community radio and television stations; that the media in Zimbabwe are business and political organisations; and that the media in Zimbabwe are appendages of the global media system which favour the use of English.

The cohabitation of three official languages in Post-Genocide Rwanda: Kinyarwanda, English and French

In post-genocide Rwanda the rapid rise of English has resulted in a cohabitation of three official languages, thus making the sociolinguistic composition of Rwanda more complex and sociolinguistically enriching. One sociolinguistic result observed in this coexistence of languages is the influx of English and French loanwords in the Kinyarwanda language. Notably, English has risen sharply over the last two decades because of the intent of the Rwandan government to find ways of communicating with the external world in a more powerful language than the previously predominant French. This article therefore aims to highlight factors that led to the spread of English in Rwanda and the contact phenomenon and its ramification that involve English, Kinyarwanda and French.

Multilingual education in South African universities: A possibility or delusion?

After the demise of apartheid it was hoped that a radical shift would give impetus to multilingual education in universities in South Africa. This is predicated on the vigour that South Africa exuded in its endeavour to promote eleven languages to national official status for the country. The question is, will universities ever be able to create a rich tapestry of a genuine all-inclusive multi-lingual language policy that elevates the status and use of indigenous languages in universities? In this regard, the article highlights what transpires with regard to language policy implementation in universities. It also presents the views of lecturers and students of content subjects concerning the promotion of multilingualism in universities. For this research a questionnaire was administered to university lecturers of content subjects whose views the researcher claims to have hitherto been untapped. The article also proposes certain strategies to be implemented so that universities can promote multilingual education in tandem with national endeavours.

The zimbabwean liberation-war novel in shona: An analysis of the symbolic value of the guerrilla as legitimating discourse of nation

Summary The article discusses the Shona war novel published in the early 1980s as an avatar of human-factor content for the fledgling nation. It particularly draws corroborative evidence from selected Shona war narratives published between 1980 and 1985, a time when Zimbabwe attained political independence. While this novel has largely received negative criticism, the article advances the contention that it was/is legiti-mating discourse of the new nationalist government at independence in 1980. The nationalist government needed state-centred narratives that would sanctify its rulership, and obviously the liberation war provided an undisputed source for such narratives, and this trend remains unchanged up to this day. In this regard, the Shona war novel manipulates history for nation building and national identity formation purposes as well as the fortification of a heroic tradition. It achieves this by creatively blending history, myth and legend in a manner that defines the past, present and future trajectory of nation in terms that negate withdrawal and resignation. This makes it inseparable from the painstaking search for and enunciation of ennobling human-factor content and values. Without appropriate human-factor orientation, both the integrity of the nation as well as efforts aimed at nation building would be a far-fetched possibility. The article also points out that the Shona war novel played such a role because its production was controlled by the state-funded Literature Bureau.

An analysis of selected Shona children's songs: Philosophical perspectives on child development

ABSTRACT Over the years childrens songs have been at the core of the physical and cognitive development of a child. They aid in the childs understanding of his social and physical environment and, needless to say, they provide entertainment that helps soothe his or her soul. Indubitably, childrens songs have undergone metamorphosis commensurate with the dynamism of life and historical developments. Hence, using an analytical approach, the article seeks to highlight the transformation in childrens songs, and the impact the new songs have on the physical and cognitive development of a child.

Some syntactic and semantic aspects of the chiShona subject relation

The main aim of this article is to present some syntactic and semantic characteristics of the chiShona subject relation, with specific reference to its behaviour in the passive, reflexive and wh-question transformational rules. It evaluates the state and nature of the relations freedom in the language. In each example, the predicates argument structure is presented together with the features of the arguments involved to ensure conformity to the demands of the projection principle. The projection principle, the noun phrase transformational rule, as well as the subject selectional principles make up the theoretical framework used in this article. It emerged from our findings that the chiShona subject has considerable freedom in a sentence. For example, in the passivisation rule, the raised subject can control agreement in the sentence even if it occurs sentence-finally. We also established that different sub-categories of the subject relation are treated differently by different transformational rules. As there are few descriptive and theoretical studies on chiShona syntax, this research recommends more studies on this subject.