[lg policy] South Africa: Wits Gives me the Edge but recolonizes my tongue

[Harold Schiffman]

 Wits Gives me the Edge but recolonizes my tongue 29 July 2015, 15:23

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.

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.

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.

 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.

http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Wits-Gives-me-the-Edge-but-recolonizes-my-tongue-20150729


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