Browsing Faculty of Education by Subject "Indigenous languages"
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Mooko, T. (Routledge. http://www.informaworld.com, March NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: When Botswana gained independence from the British in 1966, a political decision was taken to designate English as an official language and Setswana, one of the indigenous languages, as a national language. This move disregarded the multilingual nature of Botswana society. Furthermore, although not explicitly stated, the use of other languages was, in effect, prohibited, especially in the school setting and other official arenas. Whereas the government undertook deliberate measures to promote the use of Setswana, no efforts were made by the government to cater for other languages spoken in Botswana. As a result, some of the latter languages have died out whilst others have survived. This paper examines some of the steps that members of the groups that speak these marginalised languages have taken in their quest to develop and maintain their languages. The discussion in this paper considers the six strategies proposed by David Crystal (2000) as some of the ways that speakers of endangered languages could ensure their survival. Deprived of any government support, the speakers of these languages initiated some processes that have seen some significant developments. These include the development of orthographies, the translation of the Bible into these languages and the publication of other written resources in these languages. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/602 Files in this item: 1
Mooko_JMMD_2006.pdf (1.181Mb) -
Kamwendo, G.H.; Mooko, T. (Walter de Gruyter, http://www.degruyter.de, November NaN, 2006)[more][less]
Abstract: The article discusses language planning in two Southern African countries, Botswana and Malawi. Both countries are multilingual and multicultural. They also share a common British colonial history. At independence, the two countries retained English as the official language. In Botswana, Setswana was made the national language while in Malawi, it was Chichewa. Over the years, these languages have been developed and promoted at the expense of other indigenous languages, a situation that has prompted linguistic minorities to engage in the language-based politics of recognition. The article discusses how Botswana and Malawi are responding to the call for the official recognition of more indigenous languages in domains such as government, education, and mass media. Relevant comparisons and contrasts between Botswana and Malawi are drawn in this regard in the article. One clear common denominator is the dominance of English in official domains in the two countries. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10311/829 Files in this item: 1
Kamwendo_IJSL_2006.pdf (1.340Mb)
Now showing items 1-2 of 2