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<h2>Clamour should be for many tongues</h2>
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by Ishmael Motshwane Malale,
February 25 2016, 06:10</div>
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<img src="http://www.bdlive.co.za/incoming/2015/10/25/student-protests-october-23-2015/ALTERNATES/crop_400x250/Student+protests+October+23+2015" alt="Protesters march against university fee increases outside the Union buildings in Pretoria on Friday. Picture: AFP PHOTO/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA" height="250px" width="400px">
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Protesters march against university fee increases
outside the Union buildings in Pretoria in 2014. Picture: AFP
PHOTO/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA</div>
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<p>SUNDAY was International Mother Language
day, a time to reflect on linguistic and cultural diversity, and I used
the space to interrogate the higher education language policy
trajectory. I am deeply afflicted by the view of fires at the University
of Pretoria ignited by the question of language.</p><p>The nascent
unitary constitutional state enshrined the notion of multilingualism.
Theoretically, the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to
receive education in public educational institutions in the official
language of their choice — where reasonably practicable.</p><p>It is surely reasonable, 20 years into democracy, to demand to be taught in any official language.</p><p>In
reality, there is an unwillingness on the part of society and the state
to implement the vision of the Constitution. University policies
testify to their contestation of national language policy.</p><p>The
national policy for higher education envisages universities developing
official indigenous South African languages alongside English and
Afrikaans, yet the University of Pretoria elects to promote Afrikaans
and English and use other official languages only when it is "fair and
feasible" to do so. This institutional policy is manifestly antithetical
to the noble vision of our Constitution.</p><p>Recently, Parliament
enacted the Use of Official Languages Act, which requires departments to
choose and use three official languages in their domain. But the
African middle class speaks English, even to illiterates — government is
yet to use indigenous languages in officialdom. English has reasserted
its hegemony. It is, of course, a widely spoken language in the world,
which seemingly guarantees social stature and economic mobility for its
speakers. We have a duty to alter this reality.</p><p>Chinua Achebe
asserts that "language is not an enemy", and so it is with Afrikaans,
which should be a language used by choice by some students, not one they
are coerced to use. Instead of demanding the phasing out of Afrikaans,
we should clamour for multilingualism. The socio-linguistic reality on
campuses is that many languages are spoken, both national and foreign.</p><p>But
if Sesotho-speaking students were to demand tuition in the vernacular,
an official language according to the Constitution, they would discover
that there is no institutional effort to offer Northern Sotho as an
elective module. Nor is there much academic literature in Northern
Sotho. It is not catered for. This stark reality is not only
unconstitutional, but entrenches dismal underachievement among African
students, who constitute the largest proportion of institutional
communities.</p><p>There are negligible multilingual practices in public
academic institutions for academic literature and pedagogy focusing on
the promotion of indigenous languages. Some eminent scholars assert that
multilingualism is not the sine qua non for critical thinking and
robust intellectuality, but I protest that language is an indispensable
tool for flexing of social power, transmission of culture and
communication.</p><p>The fatalistic logic of the unassailable position
of English, to borrow again from Achebe, undermines the authentic
decolonisation of education and the unfettered expression of African
culture and being. While the hegemonic position of English as the mode
of interethnic intersection and access to a huge depository of
literature and potential social mobility is uncontested, we must, like
the English, generate our own culture.</p><p>The protesters are correct
to confront the dominant social forces in academic institutions that
seek only the retention of Afrikaans as the language of tuition without
recognising the sociolinguistic reality of their institutions. You
cannot, however, burn the university to make it use your language of
choice, as you will not only lose the university and your language, but
your future too. Protest is not only physical, it is also intellectual.
Let us have dialogic discourses, not physical fights. We can engage and
learn at the same time.</p><p><a href="http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/2016/02/25/clamour-should-be-for-many-tongues">http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/2016/02/25/clamour-should-be-for-many-tongues</a><br></p><div><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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