Language Policy And Nation-Building In Post-Apartheid South Africa Hardcover

Jon Orman

The preamble to the post-apartheid South African constitution states that 'South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity' and promises to 'lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law' and to 'improve the quality of life of all citizens'. This would seem to commit the South African government to, amongst other things, the implementation of policies aimed at fostering a common sense of South African national identity, at societal dev- opment and at reducing of levels of social inequality. However, in the period of more than a decade that has now elapsed since the end of apartheid, there has been widespread discontent with regard to the degree of progress made in connection with the realisation of these constitutional aspirations. The 'limits to liberation' in the post-apartheid era has been a theme of much recent research in the ?elds of sociology and political theory (e. g. Luckham, 1998; Robins, 2005a). Linguists have also paid considerable attention to the South African situation with the realisation that many of the factors that have prevented, and are continuing to prevent, effective progress towards the achievement of these constitutional goals are linguistic in their origin.

9781402088902

English

Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

30 Sep 2008

202

From the reviews: "Orman's book constitutes an important contribution to the field. It both raises questions of concern to anyone interested in language planning and language policy studies, and provides an outstanding overview of the complex and paradoxical South African situation." (Timothy Reagan, Language Problems & Language Planning, 33:3,2009) "This volume is part of a series aimed at scholars ... as well as educational and applied linguistics and sociolinguistics. ... provides an overview of the relationship between national identity and language, illustrating how this has manifested itself in the new South Africa. ... It will be of interest especially to those involved in language planning and policy, but also those interested in the interplay of identity and language in multilingual societies, and finally to anyone interested in the linguistic future of this country." (Kirsten Colquhoun, Linguist List, December, 2009)