Language Policy and Communication__ in Post-Apartheid education.pdf

© Kamla-Raj 2009 J Soc Sci, 18(2): 127-136 (2009) Language Policy and Communication in Post-Apartheid Education – Towards a Theory of “Lingocide”1 Anand Singh Anthropology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa E-mail: singhan@ukzn.ac.za KEYWORDS Language Policy. Communication. South Africa. Post-Apartheid Education. Lingocide ABSTRACT In an attempt to capture some of the important changes that are taking place in language policy and language acquisition in post-apartheid South Africa, this paper covers some of the debates surrounding these issues. The paper developed around research that was done in previously Indian dominated schools where mainly the teachers now remain to teach African children who are trying to shift English as their second language to becoming their first language. The ethnographic information only appears towards the latter part of the paper because the contemporary discourses on Language Policy in South Africa are varying and complex. Discussion on Language Policy and the survival of African languages occupies a major part of the space here because of the varying and divergent views that are written about them. Leading from this the ethnographic information produces a perspective which demonstrates that through the increasing enrolment of African learners in urban areas, the strength of African languages will gradually erode, giving rise to a process of ‘lingocide’ i.e. eventual