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Author: Hildegard Schnell Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3638615235 Category : Literary Collections Languages : en Pages : 13
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: English in Africa, 14 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Due to the spread of English to so many parts of the world which was triggered during the colonial era and by migration of English-speaking people, the importance of English not only as a language of commerce, science and technology but also as an international language of communication has been realized (Platt, Weber, Ho 1984: 1). In my research paper I will provide an overview of the English language in South Africa by looking at its origins concerning the historical background. Furthermore, I am going to focus on the English language in South Africa in more detail in order to point out the influence of the immigrants’ speech from England and Scotland on some phonetic features of South African English. Eventually, I am going to discuss whether the spread of English can be seen as an evidence of a “killer language” which has been used as a tool for subtle linguistic imperialism, occurring at the expense of local languages, stabilizing hierarchical structures and reinforcing existing status differentials (de Klerk 1996: 7-8). So, the main purpose of my paper is to show that the English language in South Africa before, during and after apartheid policy is one of the official languages since there is more than one local language in a multilingual nation. While English in South Africa is seen by many “as a medium of achieving and announcing independence and maturity, for many others English represent colonialism, power and elitism, and acts as a vehicle of values not always in harmony with local traditions and beliefs” (de Klerk 1996: 7). In this chapter, I will focus on the historical and social background of the English language in South Africa in regard to different language varieties. In the following, based on Roger Lass’s article “South African English”, I will, as I mentioned before, refer to the historical background of the English language in South Africa and so discuss the aspect of different language varieties that were influenced by the English language. Then, concerning L.W. Lanham’s The Standard in South African English and its Social History, I will point out in which way the English language developed there. By referring to the historical background in more detail, I will eventually focus on Josef Schmied’s English in Africa, thus stressing the strategic importance of South Africa for the British.
Author: Hildegard Schnell Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3638615235 Category : Literary Collections Languages : en Pages : 13
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: English in Africa, 14 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Due to the spread of English to so many parts of the world which was triggered during the colonial era and by migration of English-speaking people, the importance of English not only as a language of commerce, science and technology but also as an international language of communication has been realized (Platt, Weber, Ho 1984: 1). In my research paper I will provide an overview of the English language in South Africa by looking at its origins concerning the historical background. Furthermore, I am going to focus on the English language in South Africa in more detail in order to point out the influence of the immigrants’ speech from England and Scotland on some phonetic features of South African English. Eventually, I am going to discuss whether the spread of English can be seen as an evidence of a “killer language” which has been used as a tool for subtle linguistic imperialism, occurring at the expense of local languages, stabilizing hierarchical structures and reinforcing existing status differentials (de Klerk 1996: 7-8). So, the main purpose of my paper is to show that the English language in South Africa before, during and after apartheid policy is one of the official languages since there is more than one local language in a multilingual nation. While English in South Africa is seen by many “as a medium of achieving and announcing independence and maturity, for many others English represent colonialism, power and elitism, and acts as a vehicle of values not always in harmony with local traditions and beliefs” (de Klerk 1996: 7). In this chapter, I will focus on the historical and social background of the English language in South Africa in regard to different language varieties. In the following, based on Roger Lass’s article “South African English”, I will, as I mentioned before, refer to the historical background of the English language in South Africa and so discuss the aspect of different language varieties that were influenced by the English language. Then, concerning L.W. Lanham’s The Standard in South African English and its Social History, I will point out in which way the English language developed there. By referring to the historical background in more detail, I will eventually focus on Josef Schmied’s English in Africa, thus stressing the strategic importance of South Africa for the British.
Author: Hildegard Schnell Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3640506294 Category : English language Languages : en Pages : 77
Book Description
Examination Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1.3, University of Duisburg-Essen, language: English, abstract: Due to the spread of English to so many parts of the world which was triggered during the colonial era and by migration of English-speaking people, the importance of English not only as a language of commerce, science and technology but also as an international language of communication has been realized (Platt, Weber, Ho 1984:1). This world-wide expansion of English means that it is now one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with well over four hundred million native speakers and roughly the same number who speak it as a second language (Barber 2000:236). Consequently, many varieties of English evolved which also means that English is used for many different purposes in varying social contexts. Whereas in North America, Australia and New Zealand the native English-language speakers outnumbered the original inhabitants (Amerindians, Australian Aborigines, Maoris), the native English-speaking community in South Africa is small with a vast majority of the population speaking Afrikaans and indigenous Bantu languages such as Zulu or Xhosa. In spite of this, South African English has undergone relatively little influence from the other languages of the country due to the long period of British domination and the cultural prestige of English (237). Therefore, social variations in the English language in South Africa are extant with very little regional variation.
Author: Daniela Kröner Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3640860934 Category : Languages : en Pages : 25
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: English in Africa, 10 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Since 1996, South Africa is a country of 11 official languages. Some of them interfere more than others but each of them contributes to creating the South African English . SAE "is an established and unique dialect, with strong influences from Afrikaans and the country's many African languages."(SA info) So when all South Africans speak their lingua franca and their mothertongue they are at least bilingual if not multilingual. What I want to find out here, is whether bilingualism means obtaining several cultures in South Africa or if the use of the powerful SAE, which is also called 'killer-language', leads to a loss of cultures. English, of course, seems to be a global lingua franca and therefore it is powerful and it intends a higher education of its speakers. In South Africa, "fewer than ten per cent of people speak English at home."(Spot on) but "all South African pupils learn English, and it's the language most schools use to teach other subjects." (Spot on). That is a great chance for the pupils but problems arise when some children speak better than their teachers who learned their mothertongue or the former official language, Afrikaans, themselves.
Author: Vivian de Klerk Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing ISBN: 9027276048 Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 328
Book Description
This volume brings together a range of studies on various aspects of English and its use in Southern Africa. Experts in their field have written chapters on topics including the history and development of English in South Africa, the characteristics of particular pan-ethnic varieties of English which have evolved in South Africa (including black, Indian and colored varieties) as well as the unique features of the English of South Africa’s southern neighbours: Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. Other contributions focus on English in relation to issues such as standardisation, lexicography, education, language planning, language attitudes and interaction patterns. The book will be of primary interest to students of linguistics and language, but should also be relevant to educationists, sociologists and historians.
Author: Patricia Patkovszky Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3640256387 Category : Languages : en Pages : 30
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, Humboldt-University of Berlin (Department of English and American Studies), course: The Politics of English as a Global Language, 19 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Before one can start discussing the language policy of South Africa, it is important to stress its diversity of language and culture groups. Around 25 languages are used in South Africa by more than 44.8 million people. That is the result of the influx of various groups of people to that region over the last centuries, meaning not only the by the African themselves, but also by people from Europe (Portuguese, Dutch, French, Germans, and British) and also from the East (Malaysia, Indonesia and India). Nevertheless, the majority of South Africans, almost 80% of the population, use an African language as their home language. The language situation in South Africa hasfor a long time been, and still is, quite difficult. Here, the indigenous languages of the South African people met with the European languages of the colonists, intermixed and coexisted with the many languages that were already spoken as mother tongues or as first languages. Like in many other former colonies, the European languages had then been used by those who held political power, and who considered the African languages as inferior. Both the European (English and Afrikaans) and the African languages were therefore distinguished into two varieties of prestige and referred to as H (high) or L (low) languages. [...] However, until today, the linguistic situation in South Africa is still quite difficult. Especially the use of English is a problematic one. Therefore this paper intends to give an overview of the politics of English in South Africa. Even though this paper wants to concentrate on the current status of English in South Africa, it is necessary to make a digression into the la
Author: Verena Minow Publisher: Peter Lang ISBN: 9783631601488 Category : Black people Languages : en Pages : 282
Book Description
Black South African English, the variety of English used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous languages, has received considerable attention during the last two decades. However, so far most of the accounts of this variety have been only qualitative in nature. This book reports on one of the first studies offering extensive quantitative analyses of four typical features of Black South African English grammar: omission of past tense marking, extended use of the progressive aspect, article omission, and use of left dislocation. Drawing on a corpus of spoken data, the study's focus lies on the investigation of the stability of the selected features and hence aims to ascertain which of these are characteristic of Black South African English as a whole. Speakers exhibiting differing levels of competence in English are compared. It is shown that the analysed features are used by speakers of Black South African English regardless of their proficiency level, but, at the same time, there are considerable differences concerning the frequency of occurrence of these features.
Author: Rajend Mesthrie Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521791052 Category : Foreign Language Study Languages : en Pages : 526
Book Description
A wide-ranging guide to language and society in South Africa. The book surveys the most important language groupings in the region in terms of wider socio-historical processes; contact between the different language varieties; language and public policy issues associated with post-apartheid society and its eleven official languages.
Author: Peter Lucko Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing ISBN: Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 200
Book Description
A collection of articles dealing with African, in particular West African, varieties of English, including English-based Pidgins and Creole languages, some of which have received only scant attention so far.
Author: Hildegard Schnell
Author: Hildegard Schnell
Author: Raymond Hickey
Author: Hildegard Schnell
Author: Daniela Kröner
Author: Vivian de Klerk
Author: Patricia Patkovszky
Author: Verena Minow
Author: Rajend Mesthrie
Author: Peter Lucko
Author: Rajend Mesthrie