“Coconuts” and “oreos”: English‐speaking Zulu people in a South African township

Abstract

The pervasiveness of the "dangerous power of English" (de Kadt, 1993) has been variously discussed in the sociolinguistic dynamics of the South African context. By juxtaposing English with the indigenous African language isiZulu, this paper explores how such labels as "coconut" and "oreo" bear testimony to the intriguing relationship between language, culture, identity, and ethnicity in South Africa. Against the background of the unique sociolinguistic profile of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, and by considering South Africa's inhuman history of apartheid, the paper interrogates the ethnolinguistic constructions of identities among isiZulu mother-tongue speakers in a township environment. Based on a triangulated empirical approach that combines quantitative and qualitative research methods, the paper discusses how subjective individual meanings and inherent emic categories guide participants' views of who they are in relation to languages (isiZulu vis-à-vis English). The study reveals, among other things, that English is a powerful device in the creation of ethnolinguistic boundaries between individuals in the investigated South African township community. While participants recognize the economic power of English, those that adopt the language as the main medium of communication are perceived as outsiders of the township community.

Divided loyalties: Zulu vis-à-vis English at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

“…However, while most ex-DET learners emerge from a Zulu dominated environment, the LoLT in their schools was nonetheless English. For some of the learners, English remains their 'other tongue' (Rudwick 2004(Rudwick , 2006(Rudwick , 2008, but Zulu-speaking students at UKZN indicate that they often use English, even at home (Parmegiani 2010). It is against this background that we examine students' attitudes towards Zulu vis-a-vis English and the UKZN language policy promoting Zulu in particular.…”

Schooling choice in South Africa: The limits of qualifications and the politics of race, class and symbolic power

“…While the 1953 Bantu Education Act effectively ended the institutionalized mission school system, the practices of emphasizing English (for instance mandating its use in break times as well as classes) and demanding strict discipline was maintained in pockets of public schools, including in Umlazi. In some instances, Umlazi's best secondary schools can be preferred to 'outside' institutions that are more costly and, especially in the case of white schools, can be derided for producing 'coconuts' (disrespectful children who are black on the outside and white on the inside) (see Rudwick, 2008). While there is general recognition that an accent gained from a former white school has the highest status in society, it can sometimes be derided in a setting where the prevailing home-language is isiZulu; this is why children are sometimes said to get the best of both worlds by attending an 'outside' primary school and returning to an elite township school.…”

Prosodic marking of narrow focus across varieties of South African English

“…It is mostly young, urban, better-educated black speakers who are moving towards prestigious standard language forms, which are perceived as white (cf. Rudwick 2008). This variety of speakers who use an essentially non-BlSAfE system will be called cross-over postacrolect, following Mesthrie (1992: 45;).…”