UNIT 4

ENGLISH IN SOUTH AFRICA

PREVIOUS LESSON REVIEW

AUSTRALIAN AND
NEW ZEALAND ENGLISH
• Social and historical contexts
• Phonological features
• Grammatical features
• Lexical features
English in South Africa

1. Social and historical contexts

2. Phonological features

3. Grammatical features

4. Lexical features
1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South Africa?

1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South Africa?

1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South Africa?

What can you

tell from this
picture?

Multicultural,
multiracial,
multilingual
1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South Africa?

25 languages
11 official languages
three major groups:
ü African (Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho...)
ü European (English, Afrikaans, German...)
ü Asian (Cantonese, Hindi, Tamil,...)
1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South Africa?

"Power of the
Language &
people who
power
speak it"
Is this multilingualism symmetrical
or asymmetrical?
1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South Africa?

• English and Dutch took turns to rule over South Africa

• Three consecutive colonial rule:

Afrikaans, official language Afrikanerization

of the Cape
The Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) The divide-and-rule ideology
The Apartheid racism system
1953 Bantu Education Act
1976 Soweto uprisings
1. Social and historical contexts

Q1: What do you know about South

Africa?
• The Bantu Education Act (1953)
àAfrikaans emerged as the language of
oppression and authority
àEnglish as the language of liberation and
self-determination
1. Social and historical contexts
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of English in South Africa?
• English spoken as L1 by over 3 million people

• L2 by about 11 million people

Þ South Africa can be listed as both Inner Circle and Outer Circle country
in Braj Kachru's framework

Þ A wide range of varieties: White South African English (SAE), Black SAE,
Indian SAE, Colored SAE; each has its own standard and sub-varieties.
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of English

in South Africa?
English
The interpersonal The instrumental
• highly valued in post-apartheid South Africa function function

• far more prestigious than any other official The regulative The
function innovative/imagina
tive function
languages, including Afrikaans.

Þ Read and share with your friends the functions Functions of English in
Kachru's (1996) framework
English serves in South Africa
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of English

in South Africa?
• Interpersonal: the linguistic glue; a status symbol
The interpersonal The instrumental
"those who speak in English are said to be well- function function

informed and better educated, while [those] who The

The regulative
function innovative/imagina
speak in any African language [are] perceived as tive function

uneducated and uncivilized"

Functions of English in
Kachru's (1996) framework
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of

English in South Africa?
• Instrumental: seen as the instrument for
The interpersonal The instrumental
unlimited vertical social mobility; English- function function

medium education
The regulative The
function innovative/imagina
"can get you go anywhere and everywhere" tive function

Functions of English in
Kachru's (1996) framework
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of

English in South Africa?
• Regulative: language for administration of the
The interpersonal The instrumental
state, the courts, conduct of business, function function

international trade, science, technology,

The regulative The
innovative/imagina
diplomacy, court, media (TV, radio, newspaper, function
tive function

the Internet)...
Functions of English in
Kachru's (1996) framework
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of

English in South Africa?
• Innovative/imaginative: Creative literature written
The interpersonal The instrumental
in English à Englishization or nativization function function

E.g. loan words from Afrikaans & African languages: The

The regulative
function innovative/imagina
tive function
braai: barbecue, lekker: cool, better, delicious
lexical creativity: e.g. rainbow-X (rainbow swimming Functions of English in
pool, rainbow gathering) Kachru's (1996) framework

(rainbow-: the coming together of people from previously segregated communities)

1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of English in South Africa?
1. Social and historical contexts

Q2: What do you know about the status of English in South Africa?
Varied attitudes towards English: community-specific
• The White Afrikaans-speaking community: "the language of the enemy", a threat to Afrikaner identity and
culture.

• South African Indians: positive attitudes

• The Black community: a double-edged sword

Þ access to education and job opportunities for some, but a barrier to others

Þ a threat to indigenous languages

Þa remnant of colonialism

Þ a vehicle of values not always in harmony with local traditions and beliefs
2. Phonological Features
2. Phonological Features

Watch the following video about South African English.

What features of South African English accent can you find?
2. Phonological Features
2. Phonological Features

Varied accents
Broad Accents

• Working-class people
• Afrikaner background

General Accents (mainstream accents)

• Radio
• Television

Received Pronunciation

• British descendants
 2. Phonological Features

Characteristics of the broad accents:

• /æt/ as in pat is raised to a mid front position [e], sounding more
like pet.
• /e/ as in pet moves in the direction of /i/, sounding more like pit.

• /ɪ/ as in pit is centralized, with a value between /ə/ and /ʊ/ (put).
• /ɑː/ as in star is rounded and raised, so that it resembles /ɔː/,
sounding more like store.

• Several diphthongs weaken their glides, sounding more like pure

vowels: hair with [eː], right and mouse with values near to [ɑː].

• Devoicing of final consonants, e.g. /d/, /t/

• Syllable-timed rhythm
3. Grammatical Features
3. Grammatical Features

• A: I asked for the car.

No important grammatical
• B: And did you get?
variations from Standard vAn object noun or
English in formal speech pronoun may be
or writing deleted • A: Would you like another cup?
• B: I still have.

Some words may be • now-now (‘immediately’)

repeated to express • fast-fast ('very fast')
intensity: • different-different ('many and different)

several distinctive Is it?

constructions in • A: They were here recently.
colloquial speech is widely used as a B: Is it?.
response tag
3. Grammatical Features

No important grammatical • Where he'll do it! (He certainly won't do it)

variations from Standard vRhetorical • What I must go? (Why should I go?)
English in formal speech use of question • Rain won't make you wet, what? (Will rain not
or writing words make you wet?)

End-placed verbs • Customer you got

(without emphasis)
• So rude you are

several distinctive • I bought the things, which ones you told

constructions in me
Relative clauses
colloquial speech • Who won money, they're putting up a
factory
3. Grammatical Features

No important grammatical
variations from Standard
English in formal speech vTitles • Johnny uncle, Naicker teacher
or writing

Postpositions • Afternoon-time ('afternoon')

• Durban-side ('near Durban')

several distinctive
Final use of some • I made rice too, I made roti too (I made
constructions in conjunctions and both rice and roti)
colloquial speech adverbials • She can talk English but
3. Grammatical Features

Afrikaans may have an influence à called Anglikaans

• use of must to mean shall in questions
E.g. Must I translate?
• non-standard use of prepositions
E.g. on the moment, anxious over her
• colloquial speech
E.g. I’ve been rather very ill, I’m busy listening
(=‘I am in the process of listening’)
I’ll do it just now (=‘in a little while’)
I’ll be by the house (=‘at home’).
3. Grammatical Features

Yes-no is an emphatic affirmative.

• Jawellnofine is an interesting construction

a combination of Ja (‘yes’) and well no fine (no here in an affirmative sense)

=> sometimes used to satirize Anglikaans speech
4. Lexical features
 4. Lexical features

Watch the following video

about South African English.

What features of South

African English's vocabulary
can you find?
 4. Lexical features

• Several words and phrases from South Africa have become part of World
Standard English.
• Some have origins in Afrikaans, Asian, or local native languages, or are
adaptations of Standard English words: e.g. aardvark, apartheid, boer,
commando, eland, homeland, kraal, rand, spoor, springbok, trek, veld
Loan words from Indian languages: thanni (a type of card game), isel (flying ant)
Adaptations of many native English words: future (husband/wife-to-be), proposed
(engaged), cheeky (stern), independent (haughty)
4. Lexical features

Many of the words relating to local fauna, flora, and culture are not
known outside the South African context

arvey -(‘afternoon’) butchery (‘butcher’s shop’)

bad friends (‘not on speaking terms’) camp (‘paddock’)

Bakkie (a type of truck) robot (‘traffic light’)

bell (‘to phone’) verkrampte ('narrow-minded)

bioscope (‘cinema’), voorskot ('advance payment')

bottle store (‘liquor store/off-licence’)

4. Lexical features

Local institutions and social groups also fall into this category, often
providing opaque abbreviations to the outsider

E.g. Bop = Bophuthatswana

Tuks = University of Pretoria

Zim = Zimbabwean
4. Lexical features

Regional and ethnic lexical variation.

• Cape Province : bathing box (‘beach hut’), monkeyface stone, and Tablecloth (the cloud
covering Table Mountain)

• Hundreds of words, including many invective terms, are also used differently among the
various ethnic groups.

E.g. plurals (‘blacks’) and singulars (‘whites’).

4. Vocabulary