Introduction
1. Theoretical foundations
1.4. Relevant theoretical approaches
1.4.4. Language shift and shifting identities
to teach some subjects in isiXhosa a few years ago in an attempt to promote African Languages (University of Port Elizabeth 2000). Academics in the isiZulu Programme of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville campus, have created a strong lobby group for the promotion of isiZulu. Furthermore, a number of academics at the University of Zululand are currently involved in the isiZulu Dictionary Project. In addition to this, at the University of Cape Town, Neville Alexander and his associates are working, unremittingly, on the further promotion, development and 'intellectualisation' of the autochthonous languages (for more detail, see Alexander 2003). In short, there are a range of efforts underway to academically develop the African languages in order to equip them with a technologically advanced and scientific lexicon, so that they may eventually be employed as a medium of instruction at tertiary educational level.
In spite of the lack of language policy implementation in education and the fact that recent investigations suggest that language shift occurs in urban environments, the African languages seem to have a noteworthy vitality in rural and township communities. Unfortunately, sociolinguistic research data in this field remains scarce. As mentioned earlier, the large majority of language in education research, for instance, has been conducted in (urban) multiracial (ex-Model C) schools, which conveys an inadequate picture of the situation because only a fraction of South African learners attend these types of schools.
recent examples are those of the Indian language communities that shifted to English (see Mesthrie 1995c, 1995d).
Fishman (1981: 237), among others, argues that language shift is to some extent related to changes and alterations of social roles and relationships. Hence:
language shift of any kind (...) is an indicator of dislocation. It implies the breakdown of a previously established societal allocation of functions: the alteration of previously recognized role- relationships, situations and domains, so that these no longer imply or demand the language with which they were previously associated (ibid.).
If in one society language presents a symbol of ethnic loyalty, one would logically conclude that a shift away from that language would lead to a shift of ethnic loyalty. However, this may not always be the case, as the motives to use a language other than the ethnic tongue, may be based on purely instrumental reasons and does not necessarily provide a platform on which a 'new' identity is constructed. However, young African-language speakers who adopted English as their main medium of communication are not likely to communicate with their children in their mother tongue. As a matter of fact, language shift often results ultimately in language death54. It is widely agreed upon that the transmission of a language to children is the most crucial factor in maintaining a language, and if this transmission cannot be assured, language shift is likely to occur. Therefore, declining languages often have a predominance of older speakers (Edwards 1985:
163).
If language shift occurs from the African languages to English in South Africa, does this imply a change of identity among Africans? Do isiZulu mother-tongue speakers give up their 'Zuluness' and/or 'Africanness' when they shift to English as their main medium of communication? Is one still perceived to be 'Zulu' if s/he does not know or use isiZulu? These and similar questions are central to this study
Language death occurs when the entire original speech community, thus all speakers of the language, have completely shifted their language behaviour and there is no one left who speaks the original mother tongue as a first or primary language (Webb and Kembo-Sure 2000a: 13). The phenomenon has also been referred to as Language suicide (Denison 1977) and linguistic genocide (Day 1985) to mention only two, which demonstrate a good example of how much the issue of language has been subject to emotions.
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and it shall be critically explored to what degree, if at all, language shift is perceived as an identity shift by the language community investigated here.
Kembo-Sure and Webb (2000a: 13) argue that language shift only becomes complete when the other language becomes a symbol of the socio-cultural identity of the speaker. From a post-structuralist perspective, one may argue that identities may indeed shift, but they cannot die. The notion of an 'identity alteration' or an 'identity growth' may be much more adequate.
The socio-cultural identity - just as any other identity - is constructed, flexible and dependent on context. Indeed, bilingual and multilingual individuals may identify with more than one language. An educated isiZulu speaker may choose to speak English in a variety of situations in his/her daily life as a symbol for his/her socio-cultural identity as an educated African. This, however, does not necessarily imply that English is the strongest symbol of his/her ethnolinguistic identity. On the contrary, this person may identify at a much more intimate level with his/her mother tongue and thus regards isiZulu as a crucial symbol of his/her identity. An essential characteristic of language shift remains the use of the language in the most intimate context, as highlighted by Webb and Kembo-Sure (ibid.).
The South African elite clearly uses the English language as a main medium of communication, despite the fact that many speak an indigenous African language as a mother tongue. Although it is widely assumed that the African mother tongues are still predominantly used in domestic settings, many recent sociolinguistic studies (De Klerk 2002; Kamwangamalu 2003) indicate ongoing language shift from the African languages to English. It is assumed that the English language slowly intrudes the private domain. Language shift or at least attrition is observed, particularly among African speakers who attend ex-Model C schools. Clearly, it is no coincidence that children who spend most of their day in an English dominated literacy environment, and do not even learn isiZulu as a subject, have weaker literacy skills in isiZulu than in English.
A few decades ago social psychologists of language, most notably Howard Giles and his associates, explored the question of when and why speakers of one 80
language variety shift to another in particular situations. It is argued that under particular circumstances the use of the LI (or a particular accent) is a sign of distinction in order to demonstrate that language is a salient dimension of the individual's identity (Giles 1977 et al.). This linguistic strategy has come to be known as speech divergence. Contrastive behaviour, speech convergence, takes place when a speaker modifies his speech in the direction of another in order to accommodate his/her conversation partner in order to improve the communication.
These linguistic strategies have long-term saliency with reference to language shift.
Interestingly, isiZulu-speakers have been found to diverge with other African language speakers as isiZulu is used as an African lingua franca (Slabbert and Finlayson 2000).
Edward regards speech accommodation in general (either a divergent or convergent mode) as a kind of 'identity adjustment' employed in order to increase or decrease group status (Edwards 1985: 152). Indeed, this is salient in a situation where, for instance, an indigenous African language speaker chooses to speak his African mother tongue to an audience in public, although he/she speaks fluent English and there are English monolinguals in the audience. In this case, speech convergence is clearly an expression of identity, and often a political statement.
Under these circumstances the speaker displays his ethnolinguistic distinctiveness and risks that part of the audience may not understand him/her. The mere fact that he/she uses the indigenous African language in the given situation is not only an expression of his cultural and linguistic identity, but also a political statement.
However, a group that shifts from the LI to another language does not necessarily lose cultural continuity. Drawing on the work of Barth (1969), Edwards (1985: 96) notes that ultimately a sense of identity depends more on the continuation of group boundaries than it does upon specific elements within them (ibid.). Despite a possible language shift, the identity previously linked to the language a person shifts from may very well be retained. However, working in a paradigm where languages are regarded as distinct cultural resources, the loss of a language is obviously seen as a cultural loss.
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Webb and Kembo-Sure argue in a similar vein:
Since language and culture are closely connected, the occurrence of linguistic shift may lead to cultural shift: the alienation of people from their cultural identity, and, eventually, perhaps even the 'death' of a particular way of life. When this happens, a society seems to lose direction, often becoming victim to the twin evils of poverty and crime (2000a: 13).
In fact, Webb and Kembo-Sure take the argument a step further here and suggest that "the alienation of people from their cultural identity" may ultimately have an effect on the moral behaviour of people: in other words, the development of crime.
The significance of language in such a process is questionable. However, the dislocation of people from their roots, of which language may be one, is cause for concern in a linguistically and culturally complex society such as South Africa.
The multidimensional and multifaceted character of identification processes in any plural society does not take place in a socio-political vacuum. It is in fact very much dependent on factors such as power and status. In the next section I discuss the position of isiZulu, in order to provide all the necessary background knowledge from which the empirical study of language and ethnic identity can be embarked on. The ethnolinguistic vitality framework, originally developed by Giles, Bourhis and Taylor (1977) is - despite some problems55 - a useful tool of analysis in the South African context and is employed below. The analysis makes particular reference to KwaZulu-Natal and applies the theoretical framework to isiZulu and the isiZulu-speaking community of Umlazi, in particular.
Williams (1992) is among those scholars who provide useful critical analysis of the concept of ethnolinguistic vitality. One of his concerns is the contradiction that appears in the work of Giles et al. that collective behaviour is understood as an objective concept, while ethnic identity is a feature of culturally conditioned subjectivity. Another point of criticism is the failure to distinguish between ethnicity and ethnic group, which includes neglecting a major problem addressed in sociological and anthropological ethnicity research.
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