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Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS (Linguistics)
of the University of Natal (Durban)
RODRIK DYLAN WADE
December 1996
The financial assistance of the
Centre for Science Development
is gratefully acknowledged.
I, R D W,declare that except for the quotations indicated in the text and such helpas I have acknowledged, this thesis is my own original work and has notbeen submitted for a degree to any other university.
This thesis examines the possibility of an informal restandardisationof Standard South African English (StdSAE) occurring in the direction ofan existing non-standard variety of English, namely Black South AfricanEnglish (BSAE). I understand restandardisation to involve a gradual processof language and attitudinal changes, reflecting social developments, ratherthan a deliberate language planning programme.
I argue that the literature on 'New Englishes' provides the most appropriateframework within which to consider the structural and sociolinguistic featuresof BSAE, as well as the issue of local models and standards. Drawing onthe literature of Critical Linguistics, I argue that language standardisationis typically implicated in the maintenance of social relations of powerand that, consequently, any consideration of restandardisation cannot ignoreissues of power, access and privilege.
I consider the methodological issues surrounding the collection andanalysis of corpora of spoken and written data that I collected. This dataforms the basis for the overview of the structural features of BSAE thatI provide with the aim of showing that a range of phonological, prosodicand syntactic features of BSAE exhibit considerable systematicity, i.e.are relatively frequent and rule-governed. I argue that as a consequenceof its systematicity, BSAE is an independent variety of English with thelinguistic prerequisites to form the basis for a restandardisation of SouthAfrican English.
I also argue that the socio-political conditions in South Africa broadlyfavour restandardisation. Particularly significant are the increasing numbersof BSAE speakers and their rising socio-economic status which, I argue,will tend to increase the linguistic vitality of BSAE. As a consequenceBSAE is likely to be used increasingly in domains that were previouslythe preserve of StdSAE and, just as significantly, to be regarded as acceptablein those domains. Adopting a Critical Linguistics perspective, I arguethat restandardisation potentially holds both beneficial consequences,deriving from an enhanced sense of 'ownership' of the language among second-languagespeakers, and also negative consequences, insofar as it may help to perpetuatethe hegemony of English and the marginalisation of rural communities.
I give attention to the limitations of the study and, arising out ofthese, suggest avenues for further research. Finally, I briefly considerthe implications of this research for other sociolinguistic research, arguingthat it highlights the dialectical relationship between research and thesubject of the research, as well as for South African educational languagepolicy, arguing that it points to the need for language curriculums torecognise the existence of BSAE and encourage greater acceptance of thevariety.
First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor J.KeithChick, for the guidance he provided throughout the process of writingthis thesis. I am particularly grateful for the numerous insights he providedand the clarifications he required of me.
Secondly, I would like to thank MrRalphAdendorff who provided invaluable insights particularly with regardto research methodology, and who has provided much of the encouragementI needed to complete this thesis.
Thirdly, I would like to thank DrMarinaSavini-Beck for allowing me to use a body of written data that shehad collected as well as for her assistance in writing chapter 4.
The insights, questions and clarifications provided by members of theLinguistics staff and post-graduate students during Graduate Research Seminarsare also gratefully acknowledged.
Finally I would like to thank my parents who have provided both moraland financial support during what turned out to be a far longer processthan either they or I anticipated. Thank you for your patience.
The financial assistance of theCentrefor Science Development (CSD) is gratefully acknowledged.
In this thesis I have used the term 'black' to refer to black indigenousAfricans, and I have not used the term 'African' to refer to any groupof people. The term 'African languages' refers to the Bantu languages ofSouth Africa and excludes English and Afrikaans.
The term 'Bantu' has very negative connotations for South Africans asa result of the National Party government's use of the term as part oftheir system of racial classification. Nevertheless, it is the usual termfor referring to a large subgroup of the Niger-Kordofanian language familyof which the Nguni and Sotho languages are a part and in this sense I have,in places, made use of the term.
Southern African Bantu languages prefix a noun class marker such as'isi-', 'se-' or 'tsi-' to form the language name. Common usage in Englishis inconsistent. While the prefix is frequently retained for some languagessuch as 'seSotho' for others, such as Zulu and Xhosa, the prefix is almostalways dropped. In this thesis all names are given without the noun classmarker as is the standard linguistic practice.
There are also other inconsistencies in naming practices. Thenewconstitution of South Africa, for instance, refers to 'Pedi' in preferenceto 'North Sotho' and uses 'Sotho' as the equivalent of 'South Sotho'. Whileone would expect the terminology adopted in an official document of thisimportance to reflect the preferences of the various language groups, Bailey(1995: 48) points out that the label 'Pedi' is unacceptable to many speakersbecause it is historically linked to one dialect. In the absence of anyreal clarity I have chosen to follow the practice of the new constitutionin this regard.
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