[lg policy] South Africa: Clamour should be for many tongues

[Harold Schiffman]

 Clamour should be for many tongues
by Ishmael Motshwane Malale, February 25 2016, 06:10


[image: Protesters march against university fee increases outside the Union
buildings in Pretoria on Friday. Picture: AFP PHOTO/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA]
Protesters march against university fee increases outside the Union
buildings in Pretoria in 2014. Picture: AFP PHOTO/GIANLUIGI GUERCIA
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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.

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.

It is surely reasonable, 20 years into democracy, to demand to be taught in
any official language.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/2016/02/25/clamour-should-be-for-many-tongues

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