Black South African English

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511486692.019

18 - Black South African English

from Part II - Language contact

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009

Vivian De Klerk and

David Gough

Edited by

Rajend Mesthrie

Show author details

Vivian De Klerk: Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, Rhodes University
David Gough: Affiliation:
School of Languages, Christchurch Polytechnic
Rajend Mesthrie: Affiliation:
University of Cape Town

Book contents

Get access

Summary

DEFINING BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH

English is a world language, likely to continue to play a leading role internationally as an important language of education and as the language of choice for business, science and popular culture (Platt et al. 1984: 28). A consequence of its dominant position and growth as the language of power and as an important medium for the dissemination of knowledge is the striking increase in the number of those learning and using English as ‘other’ language. In this process English has acquired various identities and multiple ownerships (Kachru 1986: 31), one of them being black South African English (BSAE).

BSAE is the variety of English commonly used by mother-tongue speakers of South Africa's indigenous African languages. In terms of Platt et al's criteria (1984: 2–3), BSAE fits the category ‘new English’ in that it has developed through the education system as an L2 in an area where English is not the language of the majority, and has become localised for use in intra-regional communication, as is typical of colonial contexts in which English has been imported to compete with indigenous languages. However, defining BSAE precisely is problematic: strictly speaking, whose English is BSAE? Is it the English of those learners who have encountered only a smattering of English in informal contexts and use it occasionally for business or work purposes?

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Language in South Africa , pp. 356 - 378

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486692.019 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adendorff, R. and , M. Savinni-Beck 1993. ‘The teaching of English vowels and consonants in the new South Africa’. Journal of Language Teaching, 27, 3: 232–48Google Scholar

Adey, A. D. 1977. ‘South African Black English’. English Usage in South Africa, 8, 1: 35–9Google Scholar

Bamgbose, A. 1992. ‘Standard Nigerian English’. In B. Kachru (ed.), The Other Tongue: English across Cultures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 148–61

Bokamba, E. G. 1992. ‘The Africanisation of English’. In B. Kachru (ed.), The Other Tongue: English across Cultures, 2nd edn. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 125–47

Branford, W. 1987 (ed.). The South African Pocket Dictionary. Cape Town: Oxford University Press

Bua, 1993. Facts and Figures: laat die feite self praat. 8(3) SeptemberGoogle Scholar

Buthelezi, Q. 1995. ‘South African black English’. In R. Mesthrie (ed.), Language and Social History: Studies in South African Sociolinguistics. Cape Town: David Philip, pp. 242–50

Central Statistical Services 1994. STATS, monthly statistical and marketing digest, 30, 4. Pretoria: Central Statistical Service

Chick, J. K. 1985. ‘The interactional accomplishment of discrimination in South Africa’. Language in Society, 14: 299–326CrossRef Google Scholar

Chick, J. K. 1989. ‘Intercultural miscommunication as a source of friction in the workplace and in educational settings in South Africa’. In O. Garcia and R. Otheguy (eds.), English across Cultures, Cultures across English. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 130–60

Crawhall, N. 1993. ‘Consenting adults: talk about sex and AIDS’. Bua, 8, 2: 23–5Google Scholar

Kadt, E. 1993. ‘Attitudes towards English in South Africa’. World Englishes, 12, 3: 311–24CrossRef Google Scholar

de Klerk, V. 1996a (ed.). Focus on South Africa. John Benjamins: Amsterdam

de Klerk, V. 1996b. ‘Use of and attitudes to English in a multilingual university’. English World-wide, 17, 1: 111–27CrossRef

de Klerk, V. 1997. ‘Encounters with English over three generations in a Xhosa family: for better or for worse?’ In E. W. Schneider (ed.), Englishes around the World: Studies in Honour of Manfred Görlach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 97–118

Klerk, V. and , G. Barkhuizen 1998. ‘Language attitudes in the South African National Defence Force: views from the Sixth SA Infantry’. Multilingua, 17, 2–3: 155–80CrossRef Google Scholar

Democratic Party 1995. Discussion and information document on language. Unpublished manuscript

D'Souza, J. 1992. ‘The relationship between code-mixing and the new varieties of English’. World Englishes, 11, 2/3: 217–23CrossRef Google Scholar

Genrich de Lyle, D. 1985. ‘Theme in Conversational Discourse: Problems Experienced by Speakers of Black South African English, with Particular Reference to the Role of Prosody in Conversational Synchrony’. MA thesis, Rhodes University

Gough, D. 1994. ‘English people and people's English’. In E. Reckwitz, L. Vennarini and C. Wegener (eds.), The African Past and Contemporary Culture. Essen: Die Blaue Eule, pp. 221–31

Gough, D. 1996. ‘Black English in South Africa’. In de Klerk (ed.), pp. 53–78

Gough, D. 2000. ‘Discourse of students’ experience of higher education'. In B. Liebowitz and Y. Mohamed (eds.), Routes to Writing in Southern Africa. Cape Town: Silk Road International, pp. 43–58

Herbert, R. K. 1996. ‘The meaning of language choice(s): social and pragmatic factors reconsidered’. Unpublished conference handout, First International Conference of African Linguistics, Swaziland

Hundleby, C. E. 1964. ‘Xhosa–English Pronunciation in the South-East Cape’. Ph.D. thesis, Rhodes University

Jacobs, M. 1994. ‘Consonantal variation in Zulu English mesolect’. South African Journal of Linguistics, 12, 1: 16–25CrossRef Google Scholar

Jefferay, C. R. 1993. ‘The Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an English Language Development Component within Grahamstown Community Project’. MA thesis, Rhodes University

Jowatt, D. and S. Nnamonou 1985. Common Errors in English. London: Longman

Kachru, B. B. 1986. The Alchemy of English. Oxford: Pergamon Press

Kachru, B. B. 1992. ‘Meaning in deviation: towards understanding non-native English texts’. In B. Kachru (ed.), The Other Tongue: English across Cultures. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 301–26

Kasper, G. 1992. ‘Pragmatic transfer’. Second Language Research, 8, 3: 203–31Google Scholar

Language Task Action Group (LANGTAG) 1996. Towards a National Plan for South Africa: Final Report of the Language Plan Task Group (Language Plan Task Group). Pretoria: Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology

Lanham, L. W. 1984. ‘Stress and intonation and the intelligibility of South African black English’. African Studies, 43, 2: 217–30CrossRef Google Scholar

Magura, B. J. 1984. Style and Meaning in African English. Michigan: University Microfiche International

Mawasha, A. L. 1982. ‘English teaching in a multi-cultural environment’. In R. D. Eagleson (ed.), English in the Eighties. Adelaide: AATE, pp. 25–30

Mesthrie, R. 1995. ‘South African English’. English Today, 9, 1: 27–33CrossRef Google Scholar

Mesthrie, R. 1997. ‘A sociolinguistic study of topicalisation phenomena in South African black English’. In E. W. Schneider (ed.), Englishes around the World: Studies in Honour of Manfred Görlach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 119–40

Mfusi, M. J. H. 1989. ‘Soweto Zulu Slang: A Sociolinguistic Study’. Honours essay, University of South Africa

Murray, S. 1990. ‘Teaching EAP at the University of Bophuthatswana’. South African Journal of Higher Education (special edition): 139–42Google Scholar

Myers-Scotton, C. 1989. ‘Code-switching with English: types of switching, types of communities’. World Englishes, 8, 3: 333–46CrossRef Google Scholar

Myers-Scotton, C. 1993. ‘Elite closure as a powerful language strategy: the African case’. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 103: 149–63

Ndiki, N. 1997. ‘The Development of Conversational Competence in English in a Khayalitsha High School’. Honours essay, University of the Western Cape

Peirce, B. N. 1990. ‘The author responds’. TESOL Quarterly, 24, 1: 105–12CrossRef Google Scholar

Peirce, B. N. 1995. ‘Social identity, investment and language learning’. TESOL Quarterly, 29, 1: 9–31CrossRef

Peires, M.-L. 1992. ‘Talking in a Strange Tongue: an Examination of low tone2–low tone2 Conversation’. Unpublished paper, University of the Transkei

Pennycook, A. 1994. The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. London: Longman

Platt, J., H. Weber and M. L. Ho 1984. The New Englishes. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Phillipson, R. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Phillipson, R. and , T. Skutnabb-Kangas 1995. ‘Linguistic rights and wrongs’. Applied Linguistics, 16, 4: 483–504CrossRef Google Scholar

RCM (Reaching Critical Mass) 1993. Reaching Critical Mass Survey Report. Cape Town

Sachs, A. 1994. Language Rights in the New Constitution. South African Constitution Studies Centre, University of the Western Cape

Scheffler, L. 1978. ‘Common language errors’. English Usage in South Africa, 9, 1: 25–7Google Scholar

Schlebush, A. 1994. ‘Non-Racial Schooling in Selected Cape Town Schools: Language, Attitudes and Language Learning’. M.Phil. thesis, University of Cape Town

Schiffrin, D. 1986. Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Schmied, Josef 1991. English in Africa: An Introduction. London: Longman

Schuring, G. K. 1993. Sensusdata oor die tale van Suid-Afrika in 1991. Unpublished working document. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council

Smit, U. 1996. ‘Attitudes to English: the influence of minority group membership’. SA Linguistics 1995. Papers of the 31st Conference of LSSA: 174–85

Statistics South Africa 1996. The People of South Africa: Census in Brief. Report No. 03-0-11. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa

Street, B. 1993. ‘The new literacy: implication for education and pedagogy’. Changing English, 1, 1: 113–26CrossRef Google Scholar

Titlestad, P. 1996. ‘English, the constitution and South Africa's language future’. In de Klerk (ed.), pp. 163–74

Wade, R. 1995. ‘A new English for a new South Africa: restandardisation of South African English’. South African Journal of Linguistics, Supplement 27: 189–202CrossRef Google Scholar

Wade, R. 1997. ‘Arguments for Black South African English as a distinct “New” English’. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on World Englishes

Webb, V. N. 1996. ‘English and language planning for South Africa: the flip-side’. In de Klerk (ed.), pp. 175–90

Williams, J. D. and G. C. Snipper 1990. Literacy and Bilingualism. New York and London: Longman

Wissing, R. J. 1987. ‘Language Contact and Interference in the Acquisition of English Proficiency by Bantu-speaking Students’. MA thesis, University of South Africa

Wright, L. 1996. ‘The standardisation question in black South African English’. In de Klerk (ed.), pp. 149–62

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.