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<h2>Wits Gives me the Edge but recolonizes my tongue</h2>
<span id="spnDate" class="datestamp">29 July 2015, 15:23</span>
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<p>Wits has made a lot of progress on
paper on the issue of recognizing African indigenous languages. However
what is on paper seems hard to be translated to practice. The view that
African indigenous languages must receive recognition similarly to
English has recently remain a frozen subject not only by Wits but by
many institutions. This raise concerns about the status of South African
‘mother tongue’ languages and their worth. It further questions the
role of the institutions in embracing all South African languages.</p><p>Like
any other tools of colonialism English was a strategy that was used by
the colonizers to shape the world of the colonized (Thiong’o, 1986).
This meant that the colonized would have to abandon their own world,
perceived inferior and adopts the colonizer’s world. It also explains
how indigenous languages were sidelined by institutions and then English
became this giant bully of African indigenous languages till today. </p><p>Historically
in South Africa, English entered into mainstream around 1814 (Reagan,
1988). This was when the British took control of the Cape
administration. This period resulted to the developments which then
advanced to language policies and then English adopted as the medium of
communication. This period required Black South Africans to read, learn
and communicates in English. </p><p> Indeed it contributed to the
stunting of the development of indigenous African languages (Wits
University language policy survey, 2014). And it was through this
tireless efforts by institutions that English was enhanced to dominate
the natives’ languages. For that reason, institutions like Wits also
have a huge task to ensure that indigenous African Languages receive the
same recognition as English today.</p><p><a href="http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Wits-Gives-me-the-Edge-but-recolonizes-my-tongue-20150729">http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Wits-Gives-me-the-Edge-but-recolonizes-my-tongue-20150729</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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