Book reviews Links & Letters 5, 1998 259
A view on South Africa
Vivian DE KLERK (ed.). Focus on South Africa. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1996. 328 pages. Kathleen HEUGH, Amanda SIEGRÜHN and Peter PLÜDDEMANN (eds.). Multilingual Education for South Africa. Johannesburg: Heinmann, 1995. ix + 150 pages. Russell H. KASCHULA and Christine ANTHONISSEN. Communicating Across Cultures in South Africa: Towards a Critical Language Awareness. Johannesburg etc.: Hodder & Stoughton, and Witwatersrand University Press, 1995. vii + 120 pages. L.W. LANHAM, David LANGHAM, Arie BLACQUIERE and Laurence WRIGHT. Getting the Message in South Africa. Intelligibility. Readability. Comprehensibility. Howick: Brevitas, 1995. iii + 132 pages. Rajend MESTHRIE (ed.). Language and Social History. Studies in South African Sociolinguistics. Cape Town and Johannesburg: David Philip, 1995. xx + 352 pages.
The mid-1990s have seen the renewal of linguistic route to democracy and social a vigorous debate in South Africa around justice. Yet English will long continue to the issue of language, as indicated by the play a substantial role. It is at this point appearance of the five books to be dis- that concern tends to be voiced, for the cussed here. Democratisation has been unquestioned perpetuation of the accompanied by major shifts in the lan- present hegemony of English is seen as guage debate, away from the exclusive one of the chief dangers to democracy. focus on English and Afrikaans, and to- This newly heralded multilingualism wards the multiplicity signalled by the has consequences for any post-apartheid eleven official languages now enshrined discussion of English —as a glance at the in the Constitution. Of course the ap- works under consideration soon shows. pearance of the Interim Constitution in Linguists can no longer discuss English 1993 and the final Constitution in 1996 in isolation, or simply as an extension of does not mean that the language debate the metropolitan English from which it is now over. As Wright comments, ‘[t]he originated; the varying impact of its new political dispensation has quite present linguistic neighbours must be ac- rightly prompted language specialists knowledged. Furthermore the meaning and others to re-think the South African of the term ‘English language’ has broad- language conundrum. At such a historic ened substantially to include the differ- juncture, it is appropriate to throw the ent varieties of English spoken in South full pack of cards in the air many times to Africa, including non-standard varieties see the different ways they could fall.’ and specifically, the L2 varieties about (Lanham et al. 1995: 1) Among the con- which little is as yet known. tributors to these publications, however, Of the five books under considera- a high degree of consensus seems to have tion, only de Klerk (1996) and Lanham been reached as to the policies to be pur- et al. (1995) focus primarily on English. sued: the multilingualism required by These two, together with Mesthrie's the Constitution must indeed be imple- more wide-ranging volume (1995), are mented, for this is the most promising written from a sociolinguistic perspective
260 Links & Letters 5, 1998 Book reviews and for an academic readership. The col- instance, considers L1 English last, ‘be- lection of original articles edited by de cause most South Africans experience Klerk seeks to provide an ‘ongoing English as a second language’(de Klerk record of current scholarship’ (1996: 9) 1996: 34). In Section 2 of de Klerk's in the field of English in South Africa, by book, the ‘new’ English varieties intro- presenting an historic and synchronic duced historically by Branford are indi- treatment of sociocultural and pedagogi- vidually described and grounded in their cal issues. The five original articles in respective communities: Gough presents Lanham et al's volume (1995) focus on Black South African English (1996: the crucial issue of ‘effective communica- 53-77), Mesthrie, South African Indian tion’ (1995: 1), with the intention of English (1996: 79-98), Watermeyer, making a ‘small but deliberate interven- Afrikaans English (1996: 99-124) and tion in the debate on South Africa's lin- Malan, Cape Flats English (1996: 125- guistic future’ (1995: 1). Mesthrie's sub- 148). Mesthrie's volume has a similar stantial collection of articles (only five of range: he includes a discussion of South the twenty-five have been previously African English by Lass (1995: 89-106), published) seeks to ‘build a solid founda- Black South African English by Buthele- tion for the discipline of sociolinguistics zi (a reprint of an earlier article, 1995: in South Africa, by giving specialist treat- 242-250) and an article of his own on ments of salient sociohistorical and socio- South African Indian English (1995: linguistic issues concerning a variety of 251-264). In addition, McCormick dis- languages.’ (1995: xviii) Its two main cusses the language spoken in District thrusts are the sociohistory of languages Six, Cape Town, in terms of code- and language varieties, and language switching (1995: 193-208). It should be contact. The final two volumes, written noted that the quantity of research on for a broader readership, each address a which these several contributions can specific issue, respectively education draw varies greatly. As Gough points (Heugh et al. 1995) and cross-cultural out: ‘While research into white varieties communication (Kaschula and Antho- of English in South Africa is fairly well nissen 1995). The hegemonic position of established, research examining the Eng- the English language is reflected in its lish of black South Africans is still in its pivotal position in the discussion of these infancy’ (de Klerk 1996: 53). more general topics. The names used for the various vari- In the following, I will look at select- eties present something of a problem, ed themes which figure prominently varying as they do between ethnic labels both in these works and in the language and derivations from first languages and debate generally: South African varieties place names. Branford lists the varieties of English, English in multilingual spoken by ‘white speakers of Afrikaans, South Africa, the question of a standard coloured people, blacks, Indians and variety, English in education, and cross- English-speaking whites’ and comments: cultural communication. ‘An alternative classification by language The focus of research into South Afri- variety was tried and found impractica- can varieties of English has shifted sub- ble. A racial classification has the advan- stantially in the last decade. Clearly, tage of opposing a social variable (racial English is being reconceptualised to rep- or administrative grouping) to a linguis- resent the varieties actually spoken in the tic one (language or language variety)’ country, in their numerical preponder- (de Klerk 1996: 34). De Klerk also finds ance. Branford's valuable ‘Preliminary it necessary to comment on the use of overview’ of English in South Africa, for ethnic labels, which, she suggests,
Book reviews Links & Letters 5, 1998 261
«should not be read as primitives but 350). Heugh's article discusses the per- rather as post-hoc descriptive tags. No iod up to late 1994, and the continuing ethnic group is neatly defined, and lan- overall trend towards English-language guage boundaries are notoriously fluid, monolingualism —in spite of the ap- with groups overlapping rather than di- pearance of important policy docu- viding neatly» (1996: 9). Of course such ments from the Ministries of Education labels may well suggest a greater unity and of Arts, Culture, Science and than actually exists, and by utilising Technology— only serves to validate place names for the variety studied, Mc- her concern. Cormick (Mesthrie 1995: 193-208) and With so many different varieties of Malan (de Klerk 1996: 125-148) avoid English, the issue of the future standard the dangers of a term such as ‘South Af- remains as yet unresolved. Under apart- rican coloured English’. Beyond this, the heid, proponents of so-called ‘restandard- inherent problems of the choice of ter- isation’ had argued that a marked Black minology become clearer in that the South African English should become the term ‘South African English’ has been re- new standard. The two papers addressing tained to apply to the English spoken by the issue here concur in rejecting the ex- whites. As the only variety label without treme restandardisation thesis and in ar- a qualifier, this must indicate the stand- guing that comprehensibility, both na- ard —an issue which will be discussed tionally and internationally, is of primary below. importance. In view of «phonological de- In the early 90s, much energy was de- viance as the major threat to the compre- voted to debating the future roles and hensibility of spoken English» (Lanham standing of English in multilingual South et al. 1995: 39), Lanham makes the case Africa. The two main viewpoints are pre- for the use of the educated standard of sented in de Klerk's volume by Titlestad the non-native speaker as formal norm. and Webb. Titlestad argues in favour of Wright endorses the «deliberate and in- leaving language developments to mar- formed cultivation of an educated variety ket values, which would clearly result in of (Black South African English) closely the wide-spread use of English as (inter- allied to the linguistic systems of standard national) lingua franca (de Klerk 1996: English», and continues: «This could well 163-173). (In the context of these vol- satisfy the desire for an English which ex- umes, this is clearly a minority view). presses the cultural identity of its users Webb points to ‘potential negative im- while retaining the practical social advan- plications for South Africa's cultural and tages of a language which is comprehen- linguistic diversity if English is allowed sible nationally and internationally» (de to dominate’ (de Klerk 1996: 177). Even Klerk 1996: 160). It remains to be seen if though language rights are now en- this proposal will find wider acceptance. shrined in the Constitution, this particu- The proposed ‘cultivation’ of such a lar debate retains its urgency, with the variety of Black South African English increasing hegemony of English raising presupposes the successful implementa- doubts as to whether the unfolding tion of the current educational reforms, multilingual language and language-in- and there has been considerable debate education policies can indeed be imple- as to the role of English in education. mented. These concerns are voiced espe- Heugh et al's volume (1995) is a product cially by Heugh in her critical discussion of the educational reform movement; of attitudes towards multilingualism in papers were contributed by noted educa- the Government of National Unity and tionalists and activists within the ambit the business sector (Mesthrie 1995: 329- of the Project for the Study of Alterna-
262 Links & Letters 5, 1998 Book reviews tive Education in South Africa, and give cles are devoted to a critical considera- a comprehensive overview of ongoing tion of primary level school texts (includ- trends. The language-in-education poli- ing the illustrations used) from a point of cy presently envisaged is that of national view of multicultural comprehensibility additive bilingualism, as developed by and readability. Luckett (Heugh et al. 1995: 73-78), in A final focus in these works is Eng- which English is likely to play a substan- lish in cross-cultural communication. tial role. For, as Alexander argues, «for Again the pivotal position of English many years (possibly for as long as two —in the work of linguists, as well as in generations) there will be very strong society— becomes clear, in that both economic and social pressure on non- Kaschula and Anthonissen (1995), and English speakers in South Africa to target Chick in his two articles (Mesthrie 1995: English as a language of learning for their 230-241; de Klerk 1996: 269-283) focus children» (Heugh et al. 1995: 80). Given on cross-cultural communication as in- the systematic deprivation suffered by volving English. While English is not yet blacks as regards L2 English teaching un- the country's main lingua franca, its role der apartheid, a renewal is now impera- in this regard appears very likely to grow. tive; but such a renewal cannot focus ex- Chick's two studies of complimenting clusively on English, for in the typical behaviour in English and Zulu address classroom, English will often be one of an academic readership and represent the several languages spoken by a bi- or mul- growing range of studies in cross-cultural ticultural group of pupils. This poses se- pragmatics. Kaschula and Anthonissen, rious problems for teachers trained and on the other hand, seek to address the experienced in monolingual teaching. low general awareness of differences in Hence the enormous need for —and the culturally based communicative strate- success of —Heugh et al's volume. On gies and have produced a useful book the one hand, it addresses language plan- with a very practical intent. They wish to ners and teacher-educators engaged in provide ‘accessible material … (to) … as- the democratisation process; on the oth- sist South Africans in communicating er it is intended as a ‘resource-book for across cultures, not only in the corporate teachers’ —a book that ‘make(s) avail- world and the educational sphere, but al- able experiences of innovative work done so in everyday life.’ (1995: v). From a in multilingual classrooms under condi- critical language studies perspective, they tions that may be typical of many teach- discuss in turn language and power, cul- ers' experiences’ (1995: v). The signifi- ture, prejudice, social interaction, cross- cance of English in education is cultural communication and gender, by underlined by further articles in the applying sociolinguistic theory mainly to other volumes. Mesthrie has included a Xhosa and English. Both Chick and Kas- revised version of Hartshorne's impor- chula and Anthonissen reject simplistic tant review of language policies in Afri- explanations in terms of ‘cultural differ- can education under apartheid (Mesthrie ences’ (found in much work in this 1995: 306-318). In de Klerk's volume, field), and instead seek to address the Walthers focusses on English teaching ideological and power dimensions of in primary schools (de Klerk 1996: cross-cultural communication. 211-230), and the crucial issue of more In all, the five volumes give a good appropriate teacher training is addressed overview of the present state of research by Murray and van der Mescht (de Klerk into English in South Africa, and also 1996: 251-268). Education is the second point in the direction of future research. focus of Wright et al. (1995): three arti- Clearly, the varieties presently grouped
Book reviews Links & Letters 5, 1998 263 under the label Black South African Eng- perhaps be seen as an indication of a new lish must become a focus of research; interest in issues of language cultivation: black attitudes towards these and other the clarification and implementation of language varieties must also be investi- the standard-to-be, and the development gated. But in addition, Wright notes a of strategies to facilitate and enhance the ‘tremendous imbalance’ in research into acquisition of L2 English, especially in language in South Africa, in so far as the multicultural classroom. ‘(l)anguage policy has been emphasised to the virtual exclusion of any attention Elizabeth de Kadt to language cultivation’ (Lanham et al. Dept of Europe Studies 1995: 5). This is certainly true; but the University of Natal, Durban, publications under review here should South Africa
Ayo BAMGBOSE, et al. (eds.). New Englishes: A West African Perspective. Ibadan: Mosuro,' 1995. xvii + 417 pages.
This volume is a compilation of several ia, the speech delivered by the vice-chan- talks presented at the international con- cellor of the University of Ibadan, the ference on «Communicative Compe- British High Commissioner's opening tence and the Role of English as a Second address, and the one given by the Nigeri- Language» organized by the British an Minister for Education and Youth Council in December 1993 in Ibadan, to Development. The powerful foreword is commemorate its fiftieth anniversary in written by none other than the guru of Nigeria. It contains a tasteful and timely New Englishes, Braj Kachru. Attention collection of papers and opening ad- will be drawn to points of interest in the dresses, the bulk of which discuss the role different articles. of English in Nigeria. On a broad level, The volume emphasizes the pivotal the papers reflect three geographical per- role English plays in Nigeria (and also in spectives —that of noted Nigerian lin- Cameroon and Ghana) and identifies le- guists, language teachers, and adminis- gitimate linguistic concerns such as the trators; that of the British representatives need for a current language census in of the British Council and the British Ghana and in Nigeria (see Dolphyn: High Commission in Nigeria; and the 27-33; Jowitt: 34-56), the need for a view of a few Cameroonian and Ghana- curricular change to address the «mass ian linguists. failure syndrome» at the Nigerian sec- The book contains 21 articles (14 of ondary level (see Mohammed: 130-52), which are written by Nigerians) and is the nonchalance displayed by the Eng- organized into five parts, viz. «English in lish language examination boards such as Language Policy» (Part I), «English Lan- WAEC and JAMB in Nigeria toward guage Teaching» (Part II), «Varieties of Nigerian English (see Jowitt: 34-56; English and Domains of Use» (Part III), Adekunle: 57-86; Bowers: 87-98; Brum- «Literature in English» (Part IV), and fit: 99-112; Afolayan: 113-129; Akere: «Corpus Research on English» (Part V). 178-202), and the continued stigmatiza- Four opening addresses delivered at the tion of Nigerian Pidgin, in spite of its conference are also included in this vol- widespread use, its inherent creativity, ume. They include the one given by the and the unique process of «de-pidginisa- Director of the British Council in Niger- tion» it appears to be undergoing (see Ji-