Language policy and orthographic harmonization across linguistic, ethnic and national boundaries in Southern Africa

Abstract

Drawing on online and daily newspapers, speakers' language and writing practices, official government documents and prescribed spelling systems in Southern Africa, the paper explores the challenges and possibilities of orthographic reforms allowing for mobility across language clusters, ethnicity, regional and national borders. I argue that this entails a different theorisation of language, and for orthographies that account for the translocations and diasporic nature of late modern African identities and lifestyles. I suggest an ideological shift from prescriptivism to practice-orientated approaches to harmonisation in which orthographies are based on descriptions of observable writing practices in the mobile linguistic universe. The argument for orthographic reforms is counterbalanced with an expose on current language policies which appear designed for an increasing rare monoglot 'standard' speaker, who speaks only a 'tribal' language. The implications of the philosophical challenges this poses for linguists, language planners and policy makers are thereafter discussed. BackgroundThe aim of this paper is to evaluate some of the work that has been done on the harmonisation of orthographical conventions of African languages, with a focus on Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa. Specific examples are drawn mainly from South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe. However, where appropriate, illustrations are also drawn from other countries in Southern Africa.

Towards a Democratisation of New Media Spaces in Multilingual/Multicultural Africa: A Heteroglossic Account of Multilocal and Multivoiced Counter-Hegemonic Discourses in Zambian Online News Media

“…The zoning of languages merely serves to hide the diverse languages in use, which defy strict domain use and other official and social structurings of language. The official elevation of the seven Zambian languages thus does not necessarily stop people from using non-official dialects such as Nsenga, Tumbuka, Soli and Ila (Banda 2015).…”

“…Newspapers, whether online or print, have increasingly been using so-called "colonial languages" such as English and French alongside African languages in texts (content) and in headlines (Banda 2015). In this regard, the newspapers appear to be guided by how best to capture readers' imagination, and how best to arrive at particular meanings using the diverse linguistic resources at hand.…”

Social Justice and Education in the 21st Century

“…… A racially and ethnically segregated education system was central to the maintenance of these boundaries. (Murray, 2002, p. 435) The issue of mother tongue education and African languages as mediums of learning and teaching has been hotly contested and the subject of considerable public debate and scholarly scrutiny (Banda, 2016;DHET, 2015;Kamwendo et al, 2014;Mthombeni, 2017 andRudwick, 2018).…”

Translanguaging and English-African language mother tongues as linguistic dispensation in teaching and learning in a black township school in Cape Town

“…However, even before Europeans came to Africa, the nature of African society in which people moved from one area to another in pursuit of new land for farming, grazing for cattle, trade and also due to wars of conquest means that language contact and multilingualism are not entirely new to the continent. The European (and Arab) influences only added different (colonial and religious) dimensions to the linguistic situation in Africa (Banda, 2016(Banda, , 2009. The click sound in the first syllable in Xhosa [amaXhosa refers to people; isiXhosa refers to the language.…”