Language Policy Issues in South Africa.

A discussion of new language policy in South Africa, creating 11 official languages and terminating the privileged status of English as sole or co-official language, look: at a number of issues in language policy creation. The framework for this analysis is that language may be viewed from four perspectives: as a problem, a right, a resource, or a symbol. It is argued that the first, second, and fourth perspectives have dominated South African language policy, and that the third is attempting to break that tradition. A brief overview is given of the language patterns of the country. Two distinct areas of language policy are identified: official languages and languages in education. Central themes in the debate concerning official languages are then discussed: the place of Afrikaans; the place of other African languages; and the place of English. One issue concerning languages in education is discussed here, that of medium of instruction. Each issue is examined in its historical and current social context in South Africa. Contains 22 references and a map of South Africa depicting dominant home languages in 1980. (MSE) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** 4 Language Policy Issues in South Africa