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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Ethoglossia of southern African languages
Author:Ohly, RajmundISNI
Year:1999
Periodical:Africana Bulletin
Issue:47
Pages:55-73
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:sociolinguistics
multilingualism
Abstract:Ethoglossia of a language is the expressive power of the language, i.e. the communicative strength determined by the number of functions a given language performs and the quality of such functions relative to the social structure of the speech community. This article examines the ethoglossia of southern African languages, in particular the languages spoken in South Africa. An explanation of a number of sociolinguistic concepts is followed by an overview of the sociolinguistic environment in southern Africa, paying special attention to language struggles resulting from colonialism and colonial language policies. Focusing on South Africa, the article describes the development of Dutch, English and Afrikaans, and the conflicts first between the two colonial languages, then between these two and Afrikaans, the indigenous Afro-European language. It analyses the problem of multilingualism in South Africa and ends with an assessment of the language provisions of the 1996 Constitution, which recognizes 11 official languages. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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