South African Language Rights Monitor 2007

Mariana Kriel

Description

During 2007, language-related issues were sources of acrimonious conflict in South Africa. In Durban, the eThekwini Municipality embarked on a street-renaming process that sparked widespread controversy. In Pretoria and Potchefstroom, Afrikaner activists continued their campaign against the renaming of their hometowns as ‘Tshwane’ and ‘Tlokwe’. In Ermelo, a high school decided to take the provincial education department to court in an attempt to regain its Afrikaans-only status.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• Name change
• Linguistic rights

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781920383183
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE RIGHTS MONITOR 2007 Sixth report on the South African Language Rights Monitor Project 1 January 2007 – 31 December 2007

Compiled for PanSALB by M M K S RI E L

South African Language Rights Monitor 2007

Sixth report on the South African Language Rights Monitor Project

Published by Sun Media Bloemfontein (Pty) Ltd

Imprint: SunBonani Scholar

All rights reserved

Copyright © 2010 Sun Media Bloemfontein and Department of Language Management and Language Practice, University of the Free State

The author and the publisher have made every effort to obtain permission for and acknowledge the use of copyrighted material. Refer all inquiries to the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by e-mail, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher.

Views reLected in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

First edition 2010

ISBN: 978-1-920383-06-0 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-920383-18-3 (e-book) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781920383183

Set in Constantia 11/14 pt Cover design, typesetting and production by Sun Media Bloemfontein

Research, academic and reference works are published under this imprint in print and electronic format.

This printed copy can be ordered directly from: [e-mail] The e-book is available at the following link: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781920382469

Contents

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ i 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 2. Methodology ............................................................................................... 1 3. Media coverage on language issues during 2007 ....................................... 4 3.1. Language distribution of records .......................................................................... 4 3.2. Types of records ....................................................................................................... 10 3.3. Categories of media coverage .................................................................................. 14 3.3.1. Focus on name changes ............................................................................... 19 3.3.2. Focus on language problems ....................................................................... 39 3.3.3. Focus on language promotion .................................................................... 59 3.3.4. Focus on language research ........................................................................ 68 4. Language-related complaints lodged with ocial bodies ........................ 71 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 71 4.2. Complaints lodged with PanSALB ......................................................................... 71 4.3. Complaints lodged with other bodies .................................................................... 75 5. Language litigation ..................................................................................... 77 5.1. Litigation cases relating to name changes ............................................................. 77 5.2. Linguistic rights litigation ....................................................................................... 78 6. Language activism as covered by the printed media ................................ 80 7. Concluding remarks .................................................................................... 90 8. References ..................................................................................................... 93

Acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this Monitor:  The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), who sponsored the South African Language Rights Monitor (SALRM) Project for seven years (2002- 2009); (previous reports are available at the website of the University of the Free State);  Prof. Theodorus du Plessis, Head of the Department of Language Management and Language Practice at the University of the Free State, who initiated the SARLM Project and developed the research design;  SA Media, and then particularly Hester van den Berg, who provided the newspaper records;  Dolly Mthembu, who collected and translated the Zulu records and managed the database;  Hesma van Tonder of the UFS Sasol library, who assisted with the research for section 5;  Alice de Jager, who edited the manuscript; and, last but not least,  Wikus van Zyl, our publisher at SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein. Needless to say, views expressed in this Monitor are mine and are not to be attributed to the former Unit for Language Management, the Department of Language Management and Language Practice or PanSALB.

Màîàà KîÉ Department of Language Management and Language Practice (Formerly: Unit for Language Management) University of the Free State November 2010

i

1. Introduction The South African Language Rights Monitor (SALRM) is an annual report on the language rights situation and language matters in general in South Africa, primarily as reected in data obtained from the printed media (recorded in the SA Media database). The aim of the Monitor is to help to achieve PanSALB’s objective of making all language groups more aware of their language rights. It is hoped that this heightened consciousness of various groups’ language rights will help to cultivate a proactive language rights culture in South Africa. This, in turn, could contribute towards the transformation of our society, and serve as a deterrent to linguistic discrimination. Important outcomes hereof would include the further democratisation of our society, as well as an increased participation in public life. SALRM 2007, the sixth annual report of its kind, aims to assist PanSALB to full its mandate, which includes,inter alia, the development of South African languages, the promotion of multilingualism and the protection of language rights. The report provides an overview of the following language issues: a. Media coverage on language issues (in general) b. Language rights complaints c. Language activism d. Language litigation e. Relevant research on language. Since the ultimate focus of the report pertains to language rights issues, conclusions will be drawn and recommendations will be made in respect thereof.

2. Methodology Data from the printed media were obtained from excerpts/cuttings provided by SA Media at the University of the Free State. SA Media provides access to the important mainstream newspapers, journals and magazines. During 2007, records were received from 27 dierent sources, 23 of which were English and 4 Afrikaans. These included the major newspapers such asRapport, theSunday Times, the Daily Sun, theVolksblad, thePretoria News, theHerald, theCape Argus, the Daily Dispatch, theDiamond Fields Advertiser, theBurger, theCitizen, theStar, theSowetan, theSunday Independent, theCity Press,Beeld, theSaturday Star, theMail and Guardian, theSunday Tribune, theNatal Witness, theDaily News, theBusiness Day, theIndependent on Saturday, theCape Times, theSaturday

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SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE RIGHTS MONITOR 2007

Weekend Argus and theWeekend Post. For every clipping, a unique reference number was supplied. The SALRM database for 2007 was the rst to include not only Afrikaans and English records but also clippings from African-language newspapers (to which SA Media does not have access). With the help of Zulu-speaking assistants, Zulu records were collected from the bi-weeklyIlanga, as well as the daily and Sunday newspaper,Isoleswe.

Since 2005, Microsoft Access has been utilised as an instrument to build the SALRM database. The information captured on the database concerning the excerpts/ cuttings includes the SA Media source, as well as the date, topic number, reference number and ID number, as provided by SA Media. Furthermore, the source page, language of the record, type of record, author’s name and title of the record, as well as a subtitle of the record, are captured. These particulars are followed by a brief description of the contents of the record; any relevant elaboration, where applicable; a general indication of the focus of the coverage; as well as a more specic description of the focus of the coverage. In addition, the primary and secondary languages concerned, as well as the role-players involved, are noted, together with any further language-related keywords. An MS Access form was designed to allow project sta to access the database in order to enter the relevant information electronically. A completed form is displayed below:

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SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE RIGHTS MONITOR 2007

Project sta enter the bibliographic details of the record concerned in the language of the record; but the interpretative sections are completed in the language of the individual’s choice. The database is checked on a monthly basis by the project manager, and alterations to the entries are made on the database if necessary. A list of queries regarding the data that have been collected is compiled on a monthly basis.

The general focus of coverage, together with the more specic focus, comprises an important basis for analysis. In order to analyse the contents of the media coverage, we will make use of Kaplan and Baldauf ’s (2003) Framework for Language Planning Goals as a point of departure. Where necessary, certain adaptations will be made to this framework.

It is possible to distinguish four broad categories of coverage. Coverage focusing on language problems relates mainly to language maintenance, language rights and language use, while coverage focusing on language promotion is mostly concerned with language prestige. The contentious issue of name changes in contemporary South Africa, though related to the issue of language problems, is treated as a separate focus area. The last category of coverage is that of language research. A template was designed to serve as a guideline to the project sta. The template covers the following aspects:

Focus of coverage Namechanges

Languageproblems

Languagepromotion

Language research

More specific focus Business names Institutional names Personalnames Placenames Languagemaintenance Language rights Language use Language appeals Language awards & prizes Language conferences Language education Language festivals Languagematerials&products Language organisations Language personalities

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