# 2012 University of South Africa

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University of South Africa
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LIN2602/1/20132019
98919822
3B2

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Contents
Page
Introduction to the course
Study unit 1
1.1
1.2

1.3
1.4
1.5

2.6
2.7

3.6
3.7
3.8

1
2
4
7
8
10
12
15
18
20
21

Language families

23

Introduction
What is a language family?
The Indo-European language family
The comparative historical method
Language families of Africa
2.5.1 The Bantu language family
2.5.2 The Khoesan languages
A language profile of South Africa
Summary

Study unit 3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5

What is language change?

Introduction
Language change
1.2.1 Phonological change
1.2.2 Morphological change
1.2.3 Syntactic change
1.2.4 Semantic change
1.2.5 Pragmatic change
Attitudes to language change
Themes and threads
Summary

Study unit 2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5

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24
24
27
29
32
34
34
36
39

New words

41

Introduction
What is a word?
Borrowing
Compounding
Derivation
3.5.1 Greek and Latin derivations
Conversion, clipping, blending and acronyms
Why do languages need new words?
Summary

41
43
44
47
48
49
51
53
55

LIN2602/1/20132019

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Study unit 4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7

Language variation as a source of language change

57

Introduction
Language variation in Martha's Vineyard
4.2.1 The Island
4.2.2 Labov's sociolinguistic investigation of Martha's Vineyard
Language variation in New York City
Comparison of the two studies: change from above versus change
from below
Labov's contribution
The sociolinguistic interview
Summary

58
59
59
60
65

Study unit 5
5.1
5.2
5.3

5.4
5.5

Introduction
Types of language contact
Codeswitching
5.3.1 The markedness model of codeswitching
5.3.2 Borrowing versus codeswitching
5.3.3 Codeswitching versus language mixing and mixed languages
South African case studies
5.4.1 Case study: Tsotsitaal
5.4.2 Case study: District Six
Summary

Study unit 6
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5

6.6

7.5
7.6
7.7
7.8

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English as a global language

Introduction
The spread of English
Historical perspective
World Englishes
Varieties of English in South Africa
6.5.1 SAE
6.5.2 BSAE
6.5.3 SAIE
Summary

Study unit 7
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4

Codeswitching and mixed languages

New languages: pidgins and creoles

Introduction
The pidgin: a language in embryo
Where are pidgins spoken?
Characteristics of pidgins
7.4.1 Vocabulary
7.4.2 Phonology
7.4.3 Morphology
7.4.4 Syntax
The birth and growth of creoles
Decreolisation: the death of a pidgin
The development of Afrikaans
Two African case studies

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71
73
75
76
76
79
83
84
86
87
90
93
95
97
99
100
100
103
106
113
113
113
114
116
118
119
119
121
122
122
125
125
126
126
129
130
134

7.9

7.8.1 Fanakalo
7.8.2 Mauritian Creole
Summary

134
136
137

Study Unit 8 Language shift, language death and language revival

139

8.1
8.2

140
140
143
143
146
147
149
151
153
155
155

8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6

Introduction
Language shift
8.2.1 Case study: Indian languages in South Africa
8.2.2 Case study: European (immigrant) languages in South Africa
Language death
8.3.1 Structural changes in dying languages
8.3.2 Does it matter if languages die?
Language maintenance and revival
8.4.1 Case study: The revival of Malawian Chingoni
Summary
Concluding thoughts

References
Glossary

157
162

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Introduction to the course

What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. But language can be looked at from many
different angles. Depending on your point of view, language can be any one of the
following: a means of communication, a symbolic system, a marker of the social group
to which a speaker belongs, an important aspect of culture, or a code that must be
cracked by the language learner. Linguistics looks at the structure and function of
language at any of the following five levels: phonology (speech sounds), morphology
(the internal structure of words), syntax (grammar), semantics (meaning) and pragmatics
(using language in communicative situations).
Language is not something concrete that can be dissected in a laboratory in order to find
out how it works. lnstead, linguists have to make assumptions (informed guesses) about
the nature of language based on careful observations of the utterances that people
produce when communicating with one another. By collecting examples of real language
in use in a wide variety of contexts, both spoken and written, linguists hope to find
answers to many questions about language and human communication. Listening
carefully to how people speak and collecting your own examples is an important
linguistic skill and will really enrich and deepen your learning experience. One of the key
figures in modern linguistics, Otto Jespersen, explained the importance of spoken
language data as follows:
... a correct apprehension of the essential nature of language can only be obtained
when the study is based in the first place on direct observation of living speech and
only secondarily on written and printed documents.
Jespersen, O. 1924 Preface to The Philosophy of Grammar
This module falls within the domain of linguistics which we call historical sociolinguistics
(or sociohistorical linguistics) the study of the relationship between language and
society in its historical dimension. The terms and concepts you will learn in this module
are applicable to any language, and the examples are taken from many different
languages. Glosses and translations are always provided if we use examples from
languages other than English. If you know any other languages, we encourage you to
apply these general language features to the specific languages with which you are
familiar.

What is this module about?

ln this module, LlN2602 Language in a changing world, we aim to make you aware that
language is not static, but is always changing. This module will describe how language

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change affects you and other people in the world, and how changes in the world have
changed language. ln order to understand the dynamics of language change it is very
important to understand the historical and social contexts in which it occurs. We have
attempted to give you all the relevant background information that is required to
understand the linguistic changes that are described here. However, it is also important
to remember that while the historical background is necessary and relevant to
understand the language changes that we will be discussing, this is not a course in
history.
The focus in this module is on how language changes over a period of time and what
causes these changes. Examples are drawn from many different languages and
language varieties around the world. While Linguistics describes language features and
phenomena that are general or found in many different languages, in this module we
always try to relate language phenomena to the multilingual context in South Africa and
other parts of Africa. Linguistic diversity in multilingual societies is a theme that we will
follow in all your study material in all your linguistics modules from first-year to third-year
level. Linguistic diversity also gives us unique perspectives into the mind because it
reveals the many creative ways in which humans organise their experience.
This module assumes that you are familiar with introductory morphology and syntax as
covered in the LIN1501 module on Grammatical patterns and principles and with basic
sociolinguistics as covered in the LIN1502 module on Multilingualism: The role of
language in South Africa. However, we will usually remind you of important definitions
covered in these two modules. You are also encouraged to use the multilingual glossary
at the end of the study guide, which has an alphabetical list of linguistic terms together
with their definitions and Afrikaans equivalents.

Your study material for LIN2602

Your study material for this module, LlN2602 Language in a changing world consists of
this study guide, Tutorial Letter 101 which contains assignments and administrative
information, and an electronic course website, MyUnisa, www.unisa.ac.za/myunisa
where you can introduce yourself, discuss the course material with other students,
submit assignments and look for additional resources.
This study guide is your primary source of information. There are eight (8) study units so
you need to plan ahead so you have enough time to cover all of them thoroughly. Each
study unit begins with an introductory page to orientate you to the material that you will
be covering. There is a quote to get you thinking, and then a list of the outcomes of the
study unit. These will give you an idea about what you have to achieve by the end of each
study unit. Understanding, defining, illustrating and explaining important concepts is part
of any university study. We have listed the important linguistic concepts for you in the
table at the beginning of each study unit and given you a brief overview of the study unit
`in a nutshell'.
There are a variety of tasks for you to complete in each unit. The tasks are very important
as they will give you a chance to engage actively with your study material and take short
`mindbreaks' from reading. The tasks vary in nature, for example you will have to explain
concepts and give examples, analyse data, extract and list important information on a
particular topic, collect your own linguistic examples and give your opinion on more
thought-provoking aspects of the study material. Space is provided in the study guide so
that you can use it as a workbook. Feedback is given after every task to help you assess

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your understanding and knowledge of the work and check that you are on the right track.
lt is very important to work through these tasks, not only to prepare you for assignments
and the exam, but also to help you to relate what you are studying to your own
experiences and circumstances.
Summaries and suggestions for further reading are also provided at the end of each
study unit.

Outcomes for the module LIN2602

After you have worked through this study guide you should be able to:
. relate language change to historical change in the world, in various contexts and
settings;
. explain the factors influencing language variation and language change;
. explain how linguistic differences mirror social differences;
. identify the ways in which languages can influence each other in multilingual contexts;
. take a descriptive view of language variation, focusing in an objective way on the
varied range of usage that actually occurs in practice; and
. analyse language data at any of the following linguistic levels: phonological,
morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic; and
. collect your own relevant examples of spoken and written language.
Another objective of this module is that you learn and practise certain academic skills.
These skills include the following:
. Reading skills interpreting an academic text and identifying key ideas, optional
additional reading and browsing related websites.
. Writing skills presenting and communicating information clearly and coherently,
using linguistic terminology and academic discourse conventions appropriately,
justifying your answers and opinions, and synthesising information from various
sources.
. Analytical skills interpreting language data, tables and graphs, using your powers of
observation and your linguistic knowledge to solve unfamiliar problems.
. Research skills gathering and organising information efficiently, drawing conclusions from relevant evidence, gaining familiarity with basic sociolinguistic and
historical linguistic research methods.
Bear in mind that societal change and language change are around us all the time.
Language change is, in essence, about the dynamic and creative nature of languages
and the human beings who speak them, and that is what makes this topic a relevant and
exciting one for linguistics students in South Africa, and all over the world, in the 21st
century. We hope you enjoy the course!
This 2012 edition compiled by Dr PJ Sanderson and edited by Mrs DR Mabule,
Ms HA van Zweel, Ms L Terblanche and Ms M Roman
2007 edition compiled by Prof LA Barnes, Mr JHM Mfusi and Dr IR Ribbens,
edited by Dr BE Zawada, and Mrs DR Mabule

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Study Unit 1
What is language change?
`When you're finished changing, you're finished.'
Benjamin Franklin (American scientist, inventor and
philosopher 17061790)

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1

recognise that language changes in response to changes in society;

identify changes at various linguistic levels;

distinguish between different attitudes to language change;

explain and illustrate the following concepts:

language change
phonological change
morphological change
syntactic change
semantic change
pragmatic change
standardisation
analogy

reanalysis
morphologisation
grammaticalisation
broadening
narrowing
semantic shift
prescriptive attitude
descriptive attitude

In a nutshell
In this first study unit you are introduced to the concept of language change. We live
in a world where everything around us is altering constantly. Language is also
subject to change and the central theme of this module is that language changes
because society changes.
In this study unit we look at some historical changes and changes in society that
have had an impact on language. We focus on all the levels of language from sound
change, through morphological and syntactic change to changes in meaning and
use. We also reflect on varying attitudes to language change.

LIN2602

1.1 Introduction
We live in a rapidly changing world. We all have to cope with change as part of our daily
lives. Alvin Toffler (1970:11) sees change as `the process by which the future invades our
lives'. In his book, Future Shock (1970:18), he has this to say about the challenges of
change:
Western society for the past 300 years has been caught up in a fire storm of
change. This storm, far from abating, now appears to be gathering force. Change
sweeps through the highly industrialised countries with waves of ever-accelerating
speed and unprecedented impact.
All around us we see changes taking place. Consider fashions in clothing. Every year
new fashions appear. If we look at the clothes that are worn this summer we see that they
are different from the clothes worn last summer, and if we look back ten years, we will see
an even bigger difference. If we were to look at the pictures of clothing in a fashion
magazine of a hundred years ago, we would see that the fashion was very different
indeed from today's fashions.
It is not only fashions in clothing that are constantly changing. If you think about popular
music, you will notice that change is taking place: today we have kwaito, RB, maskanta,
rave, rap, house and hip hop music (and probably other new styles I've never even heard
of!). Back in the 1960s it was the Beatles and Elvis, rock and roll, bopping, jiving, the
twist and the shake. Further back in the Twenties the latest dances were the charleston,
the foxtrot and the quickstep. In the 19th century the waltz took the world by storm as the
latest craze in dancing.
Even the cars we drive today are vastly different from the models we drove a few
decades ago. The popular cars of today, like the Toyota Prius, are very different from the
famous Model T Ford that was produced earlier in the 20th century. In the 19th century,
before the motor car was invented, people drove horse carriages or rode on horseback.
We live in a changing world indeed. All around us there is change change in fashion,
change in education, change in politics, change in the structure of society, change in
technology ...
The world changes constantly, and one change leads to another. All these changes
impact on our lives. Change in one area may cause change in another area. For
example, before the printing press was invented, all information was written by hand,
books were rare and only a few religious scholars could read and write. Now books are
not only printed in the hundreds of thousands, but are transmitted in new ways read out
loud on radio or CD, adapted for television, and downloaded from the internet onto cell
phones, tablets and e-books. With the computer, the internet and internet-enabled cell
phones, we now have almost immediate access to vast amounts of information. Never
before in the history of the world was so much information available in such a short
space of time. We live in an age when information is power.
The period since 1900 has seen the greatest changes in the world. In every aspect of life
sweeping changes have occurred, including world wars, the rise and fall of communism,
the end of colonialism, and the struggle for the establishment of the rights of women,
children and minority groups. Politics, religion, science, medicine, technology, education
and social structure have all been deeply affected by change and these changes have
inevitably left their mark on the language we use.

Just as other things in the world are subject to change, so language is not immune to
change. Sociolinguists believe that changes in language are closely related to the
changes around us in society. The movement of people from one place to another, the
rise and fall of different groups and civilisations, the pressures of globalisation and new
technologies, and our own efforts to continually redefine our identities all bring about
changes in language. It is this relationship between change in society and change in
language that we are going to examine in the following study units.

Task 1.1
List and briefly describe any four recent changes in your community or society. Have any
of these been reflected in language change? Think of changes such as new clothing,
new transport, new technologies, changes in politics and education, words that have
`fallen out of fashion', a change in language preference in your family or the mixing of
languages at home or at work.
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Feedback
There are no right answers to this task, but its purpose is for you to start thinking and
acting like a linguist by becoming aware of language and language change, listening to
what people are saying, and thinking about the kind of language used by the people
around you. Some of the changes you may have noticed could include the appearance
of new words to refer to new inventions or new fashions, or borrowings from other
languages spoken around you. Your community may also be speaking one language
more often or codeswitching (mixing two languages) more and more. People may be
swearing more or using language in a different way, for example when texting on their cell
phones.
__________________________________________________________________________

LIN2602

1.2 Language change

Languages thrive and assure their futures when they continue to adapt to reflect the new
realities of their speakers as they live through changing times. But how far back can
historical linguists look as they trace the history of language?
Scientists generally agree that the first humans (homo sapiens) appeared on earth about
40 000 years ago. Unfortunately we do not know anything about the languages these
people spoke. By 10 000 BC the pace of change (which had been very slow up till then)
began to accelerate. The wheel, which brought about significant changes in the lifestyles
of the early humans, was believed to have been invented by the Sumerians who lived in
Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq ) in about 3 500 to 3 000 BC. The earliest form of writing
is also said to have been invented by the Sumerians around this time. Although the
language which the Sumerians spoke has long since died out, it is still preserved in a
written form. This form of writing, known as cuneiform, consisted of wedge-shaped
characters written on clay tablets with a wedge-shaped implement. This writing system
was taken over by the Babylonians who conquered Mesopotamia around 1850 BC, and
in the course of time it was adopted as the basis of many other writing systems,
including the modern Roman alphabet we use to write English and many other
languages.
Other early systems of writing developed independently in the ancient civilisations of
Egypt, India and China. The first form of writing in Egypt was a type of picture writing
called hieroglyphics. Initially hieroglyphics consisted of symbolic pictures. Later the
pictures acquired a phonetic value: each picture was associated with a sound.
FIGURE 1.1: Cuneiform writing (above) and Egyptian hieroglyphics (below)

Courtesy of Florida Center for Instructional Technology, downloaded 18 January 2012 from http://
etc.usf.edu/clipart.

Once people had learned to record events and thoughts by means of shapes on clay or
stone, we were able to study solid evidence of past languages. Not only did writing
enable our ancestors to record history but it also enabled modern linguists to trace the
early development of languages in the world. Writing had an immense effect on the
development of civilisations. It has played a major role in the development of literature
and virtually every branch of science and technology. Writing has also had an effect on
the development of most languages. Although written language was based on spoken
language, it has gained a life of its own apart from spoken language, and in many ways
has also influenced spoken language, particularly in literate societies. The idea of what
the `correct' form of a language is, is largely derived from the fact that languages can be
written down and the written forms can be standardised. This means that, over time, the
written form develops certain norms of spelling, punctuation and grammar that are
followed and are taught in the schools. Often this standard form is taught as the sole
representative of the language and deviations from this norm are viewed as `incorrect' or
`inferior'.

Task 1.2
Here is the opening extract from the Lord's Prayer from different periods of English. You
will notice that English has changed considerably in the last thousand years (in fact, it is
hardly recognisable as English to the speaker of Modern English). Try and identify some
specific ways that the English in Examples 1, 2 and 3 is similar to or differs from Modern
English in Example 4 focus on spelling, word meanings, grammar, etc.
1

Old English (c 400 AD to c 1100):

FKder ure, u e art on heofonum, si in nama gehalgod. To becume in rice. (West
Saxon text, end of tenth century, in W.B. Lockwood 1972:132)

Middle English (c 1100 to c 1500):

Fader oure at is i heuen. blessid bi i name to neuen. Come to us i kingdome. (In
C. Jones 1972)

Early Modern English (c 1500 to c 1800)

Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. (King
James Bible)

Modern English (from c 1800):

Our father who is in heaven, may your name be sacred. Let your kingdom come. (A
modern rendition)
Note: is an old symbol for th.
(Mesthrie 2000:114)

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LIN2602

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Feedback
The most obvious difference between Modern English and the Old English in Example 1
are the English letters Y (the vowel in cat) and `th', which no longer exist in Modern
English. Many of the words differ markedly from Modern English, for example FYder
`Father', gehalgod `blessed' and rice `kingdom' (but notice how similar these and other
words are to Afrikaans Vader, geheilig and ryk more on this later). There are also
significant differences in word order, for example To becume in rice (literally `Let come
your kingdom') where Modern English has Let your kingdom come and FYder ure where
Modern English has Our Father.
In Example 2, Middle English, the spelling of some words differs from Modern English,
for example oure, kingdome and heuen, but the words are generally more familiar than
they were in the Old English extract. The word order still differs, for example Come to us
i kingdome would not be grammatical in Modern English.
Example 3, Early Modern English, is fairly recognisable, although we don't use the word
hallowed any more (only Halloween, and maybe in the idiom hallowed halls). Are is now
used instead of art, who would be used to refer to people rather than which, and your
would be used instead of thy. The word order matches Modern English fairly closely.
__________________________________________________________________________
The sort of change that has occurred in English over the years has occurred in most
languages of the world. As we will see in this module, language change can occur to
varying degrees, from the smallest sound change to sweeping changes that turn
languages into new languages over time.
In first-year Linguistics you learnt about the various linguistic levels (see Figure 1.2
below). The phonetic or phonological level describes the sounds of language; the
morphological level looks at the smallest meaningful elements of language (e.g.
prefixes, stems and suffixes) that make up words; the syntactic level deals with word
order and grammar; the semantic level deals with meaning; and the pragmatic level
deals with the ways that language is actually used.

FIGURE 1.2: Linguistic levels

LEVELS OF LANGUAGE
Phonetics, Phonology

Morphology

Syntax

Semantics

Pragmatics

speech sounds

parts of words

grammar

meanings of
various kinds

language use

Some examples of language change at each of these linguistic levels are discussed
below.

1.2.1 Phonological change

Phonological (sound) changes often occur in languages. For instance, there are many
words in English like light, night, dough, drought, where the gh sound used to be
pronounced like the Scottish ch in loch or Afrikaans g in lig `light'. Today the gh is silent in
the pronunciation of these words, but the spelling has remained the same. Spelling is
often a clue to an earlier pronunciation, so the final g in words like long, sing and ring
used to be pronounced, as did the now-silent b at the ends of words like climb and lamb.
One of the main reasons for phonological change is simply to make words easier to
pronounce. An example is inserting a vowel in between two consonants to provide some
extra time for the tongue to travel between the two consonant articulations. You may have
heard people pronounce film as fillum, athlete as athalete, triathlon as triatholon and so
on. In English we also often delete `troublesome' consonants, so fifth is pronounced fith,
sixth becomes sikth, vulnerable becomes vunerable, etc. You will learn more about these
kinds of phonological changes in the module LIN2603 on Sounds and Sound Structure.
Words that are borrowed from one language into another often undergo sound changes
if the original sounds do not occur in the borrowing language. Japanese doesn't have an
l-sound for example, and so borrowings from English like helicopter, waffle and milk
become herikoputaa, waffuru and miruku in Japanese. Likewise, words borrowed from
English into Zulu tend not to contain a th- [K] or r-sound as Zulu did not have these
sounds originally:
English

Zulu

Catholic

ikatolika

South Africa

iSotafilika

paraffin

ipalafini

factory

ifeketili

Task 1.3
See if you can identify the sound changes from Latin to English in the following
examples:

LIN2602

Latin

English

ferre

to bear

frater

brother

pater

father

pes

foot

primus

first

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Feedback
The changes you may have noticed in the examples above include f ? b, p ? f and, if
you were looking closely, t ? th. Lists like this tell us that sound change over time is often
quite regular. By this we mean that all the examples of a particular sound changed in the
same way. All the Latin p's became English f and all the Latin d's became English t. While
most sound changes are regular, sporadic changes may also occur. These affect just
one or a handful of words without affecting the sound system as a whole. Also notice that
many of the Latin words have given rise to related English words, e.g. ferre `to carry', for
example, can still be seen in words like ferry and transfer, which relate to carrying.
__________________________________________________________________________

1.2.2 Morphological change

Changes may also affect the internal structure of words. An example of a change at the
morphological level is that some unusual plurals in English have become more regular.
This just means that an exception to the rule changes so that it follows the normal rule. At
school you probably learnt that the plural of formula is formulae and the plural of index is
indices and the plural of cactus is cacti. These days, even in written English, you will
commonly find that these plurals are now formed in the usual way, by adding -s or es.
We refer to this process as analogy, which simply means that an existing morphological
pattern is followed even for new words or for former exceptions to the rule. By analogy
with the existing morphological pattern dogdogs, cloudclouds, horsehorses, we now
say indexindexes, cactuscactuses and formulaformulas. The American past tense
form dove as in She dove into the water is based on analogy with other English word
pairs like drive and drove.
Sometimes speakers misinterpret the morphological structure of a word, leading to
reanalysis, where a word with one morphological structure is interpreted as having a

different morphological structure. Task 1.4 will give you an example of what we mean by
reanalysis.

Task 1.4
(a)

Have a look at the following early English words. Define the two words using full
sentences based on the glosses below:
naddre `poisonous snake'
napron `small skirt worn over clothes to keep clothes clean'
A naddre is a ..............................................................................................................
A napron is a ..............................................................................................................

(b) What are these words in modern English? How might this change have happened?
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Feedback
These days we refer to adders and aprons, not naddres and naprons. What happened
here was that in speech, the phrases a naddre and a napron were mistakenly reanalysed
by speakers as an adder and an apron, and as a result these words lost their initial n's.
The same happened to the Arabic borrowing naranj, which is now orange in English (but
kept its initial n in Afrikaans naartjie `mandarin orange').
__________________________________________________________________________
A final example of morphological change is the process known as morphologisation,
where a full word becomes a bound morpheme such as a prefix or suffix. An example of
this is the Old English word lic `like, having the characteristics of', which was used in
compound words like foederlic `father-like' and manlic `man-like'. In Modern English the
word lic has become the suffix -ly, giving us words like fatherly and manly.
Morphologisation has taken place as the -ly is now a suffix and cannot stand alone on
its own as a word. (If you have difficulty remembering the meaning of terms like bound
morpheme, prefix, suffix, etc. you may want to look back at the study guide LIN1501 on
Grammatical Patterns and Principles or consult an introductory Linguistics textbook or a
Dictionary of Linguistics.)

LIN2602

1.2.3 Syntactic change

The rules of syntax (or grammar) of a language often undergo changes over time. In Task
1.2 you observed some of the changes that have taken place in English over the last
2000 years. An example from Shakespeare's Hamlet, written in about 1601, shows that
there have been significant syntactic changes even in the last 400 years:
Hamlet:

What man dost thou dig it for?

Gravedigger:

For no man, sir.

Hamlet:

What woman then?

Gravedigger:

For none neither.

Task 1.5
(a)

Try and write the four lines above in Modern English:

Hamlet: ........................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
Gravedigger ................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
Hamlet: ........................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
Gravedigger: ...............................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Open a book of Shakespeare plays or any old text in your own language and
`translate' a few sentences into more modern language. Note down some of the
syntactic changes that have occurred.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

10

Feedback
Your answer to (a) might look something like this:
Hamlet:

Which man are you digging it for?

Gravedigger:

It's not for a man, sir.

Hamlet:

Which woman then?

Gravedigger:

It's not for a woman either.

Besides the changes in word order, the pronoun thou is now you and the auxiliary verb
dost `does' is no longer used. Also note the use of the double negative none neither. This
would be considered ungrammatical in many varieties of Modern English.
In (b) the idea was for you to find your own examples. If you can not do so at this stage,
you should not be too concerned, but bear the following in mind:
1

You will find that we give many more examples of language change from different
languages as we work through this module. Examples from other languages will
always include a gloss (word-for-word translation).
2 Learn to listen to what people around you are saying. The purpose of the tasks in
your linguistics study guides is often not for you to reproduce the material that you
have read, but to acquire the skill of seeing patterns. Make notes of all the examples
that you come across of words or phrases that have changed their meaning in your
lifetime and you will eventually build up a whole set of examples that you can use to
illustrate your discussions.
__________________________________________________________________________
In the same way that words can be reduced to morphemes through the process of
morphologisation, words can also change their function from content words (words that
carry the main meaning in a sentence) to function words words with a purely
grammatical function. This process is known as grammaticalisation. An example is the
English word wilt, which in Shakespeare's time was a verb meaning `want':
Hamlet:

But wilt thou hear now how I did proceed?

`But do you want to hear what I did next?'

In Modern English `will' is now an auxiliary verb with a purely grammatical function,
usually to indicate intention or future tense:
He will play for Mamelodi Sundowns from next season.
Another example of a syntactic change is when a new grammatical construction enters
the language. Millar (2007:185) suggests that a completely new construction has
appeared in English in the last 20 years, where reported speech is indicated as follows:
I'm like `What's going on?'
`I asked ``What's going on?'' '

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11

According to Millar (2007:1856):

It's too early to tell if this new construction will establish itself in the language,
although the fact that it is now found in the language of young people throughout
the English-speaking world suggests that it may; if it does, you will be able to tell
your grandchildren that a completely new syntactic structure appeared in English
during your lifetime.
English is also a good example of a language that has gradually changed its overall word
order from Subject Object Verb (SOV) to Verb Subject Object (SVO). This means that the
verb no longer appears at the end of the sentence, but in between the subject and the
object. Old English word order allowed sentences like:
Eanred mec agrof
Gloss:

Eanred me carved
`Eanred carved me' (inscription on an eighth century gold ring)

Make sure you can identify the subject, verb and object in the sentence Eanred mec
agrof and in the corresponding Modern English Eanred carved me. SOV word order
became increasingly rare in Old English texts, while SVO patterns became more and
more frequent. This shift in word order is not unique to English. Exactly the reverse has
happened with Chinese, with a gradual shift from SVO to SOV word order. While Modern
Chinese is not consistently an SOV language, it is much more strongly SOV than its
archaic ancestor (Millar 2007:190).

1.2.4 Semantic change

One of the most noticeable changes in language is semantic change, where the
meaning of words and linguistic expressions changes over time, becoming broader,
narrower or shifting completely. Some examples of each of these processes are given
below.
Broadening means that the meaning of a word is expanded to refer to `more' than it did
before. For instance, the word holiday is derived from holy day, the day on which a
religious festival takes place. Today the meaning of the word has been broadened to
refer to any day on which we do not have to work. Another example is the Middle English
word dogge which was used to refer to a specific breed of dog. Today the Modern
English word dog refers to all species of dog and not just one particular breed. Computer
terminology is also full of words that have had their original meanings broadened: the
word mouse originally referred only to a small rodent but now also refers to a device used
to operate the computer.
A Sepedi example is tshekase (`Checkers') which means not just a plastic bag from a
Checkers supermarket, but any plastic bag. In Sepedi the word nwa means `drink', as in
o nwa meetse (`he/she drinks water'). But the meaning of nwa in the following phrase
Malose o nwa dipuku (literally `Malose drinks his books') actually means that Malose
studies from his books. The word nwa (`drink') has broadened its meaning to mean not
just literal drinking but also `drinking up knowledge', absorbing knowledge and making it
your own.
In contrast, semantic narrowing means that a word becomes used in a more specific
sense than it was in the past. For example, the Middle English word meat was a general
word for 'food' and was used to refer to all types of food. Today the word meat refers only

12

to the flesh of animals. It has acquired a narrower, more specific meaning. Another
example of narrowing is the Sepedi word lerema, which used to mean `hunter' but now
refers to a particular person who is an expert in hunting and not just any hunter.
Semantic shift occurs when words (or lexical items) undergo a shift or change in
meaning. For example, in the Middle Ages the word bead meant `prayer'. Because of the
custom of saying repeated prayers and counting the number of prayers by means of little
wooden balls on a rosary, the meaning of bead shifted from prayer to the little wooden
balls on the rosary. Today beads are made of plastic, glass or other materials.
Apart from changes in meaning, old words may disappear from a language altogether.
The following words taken from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, written in the 16th
century, are no longer used in English today:
wot

`to know'

wherefore

`why'

fain

`gladly'

mammet

`a doll or puppet'

Task 1.6
In a language of your choice, give examples of the following lexical changes. Identify your
language and use a gloss as in the examples discussed above.
(a)

the broadening of the meaning of a word

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) the narrowing of the meaning of a word

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

semantic shift
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(d) word loss

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

LIN2602

13

(e)

Now try and decide whether the following semantic changes are examples of
broadening, narrowing, semantic shift or word loss:
.......................................................................................................................................
Sanction is a word that originally referred to a religious decree (from the Latin
`sanctus' meaning `holy'). In its more modern sense, sanctions are a penalty
imposed by one country upon another as a form of political power-play.
.......................................................................................................................................
The word robot was first recorded in about 1920, referring to a machine designed to
carry out mechanical tasks. While this sense is still in use, robot also refers to a
traffic light in South African English.
.......................................................................................................................................
The word riot used to refer to extravagant or outrageous `partying', as in the phrase
`riotous living'. A riot now refers to a limited demonstration of civil disobedience, e.g.
Burning tyres were used to block the highway during a riot over poor service delivery.
.......................................................................................................................................
Betwixt is an archaic word meaning `between'. It is no longer used in Modern
English although it survives in the fixed phrase `betwixt and between'.
.......................................................................................................................................
A springbok is a small Southern African antelope, the national animal of South
Africa. This word is also now used to refer to the South African national rugby team
and its players: Brian Habana will wear the Springbok rugby jersey for the last time
today.
.......................................................................................................................................

(f)

The table below illustrates some of the changes in meaning that occurred when
Afrikaans developed from Dutch. Do these examples illustrate broadening,
narrowing, semantic shift or word loss?
Dutch meaning

Afrikaans meaning

kombers

`rough blanket used on ships'

`soft blanket'

kombuis

`galley' (i.e. a ship's kitchen)

`kitchen'

vlei

`valley' (i.e. a place between mountains)

`wetland between high areas'

Feedback
In the examples in (e) above, betwixt is an example of word loss, while springbok and
robot cillustrate broadening. Sanction and riot illustrate semantic shift. In (f), the

14

examples illustrate that a semantic shift took place in many words as Afrikaans
developed from Dutch.
__________________________________________________________________________

1.2.5 Pragmatic change

One of the most obvious ways in which language is changing is at the pragmatic level,
as far as the norms of usage are concerned. In the early 1990s, for example, Unisa
Linguistics lecturers addressed their Afrikaans students as u (the polite form of the
pronoun `you', like French vous) in the tutorial letters. These days a friendly jy (`you')
would be seen as more appropriate. Afrikaans speakers report that the respectful u
(`you') is falling away altogether, even in the most formal domains such as between
teacher and student or doctor and patient. Whatever language you speak, you may have
noticed that formal titles and forms of address are falling away and that first names are
becoming more acceptable, even when addressing older or higher-status people in your
community. A gradual relaxing of politeness norms has been seen in many different
areas of life, and terms that were formerly offensive or taboo are becoming more and
more acceptable. You may even sympathise with the writer of this complaint:
The email from a work acquainttance (whose face I can't quite
recall) addressing me as `hon', the
perky intern who calls me `babe',
the Antipodean junior doctor ... who
repeatedly referred to me as `mate'.
Why this vogue for rampant overfamiliarity when it's least appropriate, nay, completely inappropriate? I
might barely know them or actively
want to keep a professional distance. I certainly don't feel anything
like affection for all the people who
inexplicably feel the need to
smother me with their verbal embraces ... Would everyone please
stop.
Beatrice Hodgkin `Being called
babe' Easy Living November 2011.
Another example of a pragmatic change that has taken place is in the accepted
standards for written communication. Although letter writing is still a powerful tool for
communication, it has changed its `look' over many years. The following are examples of
extracts from formal letters written by Batswana chiefs to British administrators and by
British administrators to other British administrators (These examples were taken from
the Batswana archival materials with a reference code at the end of each letter.) Notice
the abundance of politeness markers in these letters:

LIN2602

15

Letter 1
May it please your excellency,
I beg to draw your attention to the condition of certain parts of the interior from
my own point of view as a missionary and as a devoted subject of Her Majesty
the Queen.
It occurs to me that perhaps some of the sentences in this communication may
appear at a distance to be strongly expressed. My apology, it could be due to my
sense of the magnitude of imminence of the question, which alone could have
induced me to write at all.
With every expression of respect, I remain,
Your Excellency's humble servant,
John Mackenzie.
(Letter from John Mackenzie to Sir Henry Berkly, High Commissioner for the Zulu in
South Africa 2 May 1876) HC 48/1/2

Letter 2
Chief Ellenberger,
I have received your letter of 22nd March and I was very much pleased chief to hear
you speak of the trees saying that I should look after them, which I will do. And I wish
you to help me also chief if you see anyone cutting down trees prevent him from
doing so. Say to him `Sebele says that the trees must not be cut down, that he has
forbiddin it'. Please inform the people chief. I also ask chief, that the government help
me to protect them.
Greetings chief, to you and your children.
I am Sebele, chief of Bakwena.
(Letter from Sebele chief of Bakwena to Ellenberger 7 May 1897) HC 125/12

Contrast the level of formality and politeness of these letters from a hundred years ago
with the following `letters' sent via e-mail (electronic mail) and sms (cell phone `short
message service'):

16

E-mail 1
On 2011/11/17 5:29 PM, ``Penny Sanderson'' pennys@iafrica.com wrote:
Hello this is your new class mom speaking. I've just chatted to Debbie (other new
class mom) and our first job is to organise a gift voucher for Khanyi and Kate for all
the emails and organisation and behind-the-scenes things they have done for the
class and the school this year. If you want to contribute R10 or any amount of your
choice please give it to Debbie or me by next Friday 25 November and we will make
sure both class moms get the same thing. But no obligation, only if you want to ...
Thanks
Penny

E-mail 2
On 2011/11/18 10:19 AM ndladla@mweb.co.za replied:
Fab, I will get to you today Pens, love your mail !!!! I am happy to get the voucher for
you x Nonthando

sms 1
Hey ma, I jst found out dat iv gt toastmasters 2nyt from 6 till 8. So u can cum n fetch
me n I hav 2b bak 18er. N call me wen u gt here at skul. Luv ya Mpho
Hi Mom, I just found out that I've got toastmasters tonight from 6 to 8. So you can
come and fetch me and I have to be back at 18hrs. And call me when you get to
school. Love you, Mpho

sms 2
I can't hide this from u anymore,I don't wanna hurt u,but I'm sori I have 2 tel u b4 u
hear it from sumbody else. I know it'l not sound real bt its de truth de whole honest
truth. Its not my fault don't blame me. Here it goes ... . Plz acept it with ur whole heart
xmas is over. :(
I can't hide this from you anymore, I don't want to hurt you, but I'm sorry I have to tell
you before you hear it from somebody else. I know it will not sound real but it's the
truth, the whole honest truth. It's not my fault, don't blame me. Here it goes ... Please
accept it with your whole heart, Christmas is over.

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17

Task 1.7
(a)

Briefly explain the differences between formal letter writing that you were taught at
school and the letter writing in the e-mail and sms examples above.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Write down an example of a sms in the language that you normally use to write. If
your sms is not in English, give a gloss or word-for-word translation.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
From these examples, one can notice clear differences in the spelling, punctuation and
writing style in the e-mail and sms communication as opposed to the formal letters.
Letters usually have a form of address like Dear X, followed by the main news and a
formal ending of some sort, like With every expression of respect, I remain, Your
Excellency's humble servant,
John Mackenzie. Conventions like capital letters for names and standard punctuation are
usually followed. E-mail can be quite formal and follow these written norms, or it can be
more sms-like as in e-mail 2, with plenty of abbreviations like ur for your, minimal or
exaggerated punctuation, and its own special symbols in the form of `smileys' such as
the sad face at the end of sms 2. The main point to note here is how the pragmatic
norms of communication have changed with the coming of new technology and the fast
pace of modern life.
__________________________________________________________________________

1.3 Attitudes to language change

Language changes all the time, but not everybody accepts change graciously. While
some believe that `the spoken language is the language', others feel it is their duty to

18

make sure that the standard language is protected from too much change. Crystal
(2010:2) reminds us that `Language belongs to everyone; so most people feel they have
a right to hold an opinion about it. And when opinions differ, emotions can run high.'
Language teachers tend to hold particularly strong opinions about how language should
and shouldn't be used. For example, you were probably told at school that you shouldn't
split infinitives. A split infinitive occurs when an adverb is inserted between the word `to'
and the verb. So, to thoroughly believe is a split infinitive, while to believe thoroughly is
not. According to Is it Good English by John o'London (1924:18):
... the English-speaking world may be divided into
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)

Those
Those
Those
Those
Those

who
who
who
who
who

neither know nor care what a split infinitive is.

do not know, but care very much.
know and condemn split infinitives.
know and approve of split infinitives.
know and distinguish.

The school teacher's view, like (3) above, would be an example of a prescriptive
approach to language, which prescribes or dictates how people should use the
language. Crystal (2010:2) describes prescriptivism as `the view that one variety of
language has an inherently higher value than others, and that this ought to be imposed
on the whole of the speech community'. The standard form of the language is the form
that is most highly valued by prescriptivists. A prescriptive grammar book will give clear
rights and wrongs as far as grammar is concerned. As linguists, however, we prefer to
take a descriptive view of language. We don't tell people how to talk or write, but we are
very interested in how people actually do use language. Linguists therefore fall into
category (5): they know what split infinitives are, and they neither approve nor
disapprove, but they would be interested in collecting linguistic evidence of whether
people do or don't adhere to this rule in different places and contexts.

Task 1.8
Try and decide whether each of these extracts is taking a prescriptive or descriptive
attitude to language usage:
(a)

This authoritative dictionary is an indispensable aid to writers, editors, journalists,

publishers, and all those concerned with the written word. It provides rulings on a
variety of problems, including spelling, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviation,
foreign words and phrases commonly used in English, and ensures an up-to-date
and consistent style in material intended for publication.
(Jacket copy, The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors 1981)

(b) I have been correcting several Scotch accents in my friend Boswell. I doubt, Sir, if
any Scotchman ever attains to a perfect English pronunciation.
(Sir Alexander Macdonald 1776)

LIN2602

19

(c)

A correspondent asked me to give him certain precise rules in punctuation. I replied

that I knew of none, and if I did I should refuse to be bound by them ... Much must
be left to taste ...
(John o'London Is it Good English 1924)

(d) In sentences like _____ did you speak to?, whom is commonly used in writing, and
in more formal styles of speech; but who is more acceptable in informal speech.
The rules which govern acceptable speech and writing are often very different.
(Crystal The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language 2010:3)
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Extracts (a) and (b) illustrate a prescriptive attitude with clear rules and infringements of
rules. Both suggest that there is only one way to write or speak `correct' English. Extracts
(c) and (d) take a descriptive stance they allow for variation in usage without laying
down authoritarian rules. While linguists are descriptive and not prescriptive, Crystal
suggests that both views have a place. Teachers can't teach several varieties but must
take a prescriptive view, but ideally, the prescriptive view needs to be based on
descriptive facts about current language use. The prescriptive approach `provides a
focus for the sense of linguistic values which everyone possesses, and which ultimately
forms part of our view of social structure, and of our own place within it' (Crystal 2010:3).
__________________________________________________________________________
There is a common view that language change is equivalent to a drop in standards.
Older or more conservative people react to teenage slang or new journalistic
catchphrases and conclude that their language is being abused to the point of decay.
This phenomenon repeats itself every generation, with older people bemoaning every
change as a lapse or a misuse or a result of sheer ignorance. Despite the very strong
negative attitude to change that prevails, Aitchison (2001:6) points out that there are
three possible ways for us to view language change: as slow decay, as evolution or
`survival of the fittest', or as a kind of treading water, where the language remains in a
substantially similar state despite the small aspects of the language that are changing at
any single point in time. We will return to this point later in this module.

1.4 Themes and threads

You can think of the material in this module in the form of a journey through time and
space. We invite you to travel with us to explore the way language has changed in the
past and continues to change all over the world. The central theme of this module is:
Changes in language are the result of changes in the world and in society.

20

There are a number of sub-themes related to this central theme. Although each study
unit may focus on a particular sub-theme, the sub-themes are threaded through all the
study units. The units are presented progressively, so that each study unit builds on the
knowledge gained in the previous study units. As we go through a journey of exploration,
the broader picture unfolds and various sub-themes are introduced at different points
and are slowly woven into our picture.
The following sub-themes are covered in the next seven study units:
.
.
.
.

Language families.
Language variation and change.
Social class: the effect of class structure on language variation and change.
Contact and change: the effect of contact between people or groups of people on
language change.
. Dominant and minority language groups: the effect of prestige, political and
economic power on language use.
. The rise of world languages and lingua francas.
. Language birth, language shift and language loss.

1.5 Summary
In this study unit we gave some thought to the way in which the world is constantly
changing, with change in one area often leading to change in another area.
Sociolinguists believe that changes in language are closely related to the changes
around us in society the movement of people from one place to another, the rise and
fall of different groups and civilisations, the pressures of globalisation and new
technologies, and our own efforts to continually redefine our identities.
Languages developed some time after the first humans appeared on earth about 40 000
years ago. Written language began much later, around 3 000 BC. Not only did writing
enable our ancestors to record history but it also enabled modern linguists to trace the
early development of languages in the world. We saw that written forms of language tend
to become standardised, with certain norms of spelling, punctuation and grammar that
are viewed as the `correct' or educated variety. We also explored how language change
can affect all the various linguistic levels: phonological, morphological, syntactic,
semantic and pragmatic.
We concluded the unit by contrasting prescriptive and descriptive approaches to
language and language change. Prescriptivists view one variety of language as having
an inherently higher value than others and see clear rights and wrongs as far as grammar
and word usage is concerned. As linguists, however, we prefer to take a descriptive view
of language, focusing in a more objective way on the varied range of usage that actually
occurs in practice.

Further reading
Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay? (third edition). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 1 The prescriptive tradition

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21

Chapter 8 Geographical identity

Chapter 9 Ethnic and national identity
Chapter 10 Social identity
Chapter 65 Linguistics
Fromkin, V, Rodman, R & Hyams, N. 2006. An Introduction to Language (eighth edition).
International student edition. Boston: Heinle.

22

Study Unit 2
Language families
`Language is the archives of history'
Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet, Lecturer and
Essayist, 18031882)

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1
2
3
4
5

explain the method that historical linguists use to decide whether languages are
related;
explain which types of words should and should not be used when deciding whether
or not languages are related;
match the languages mentioned in this study unit to their appropriate Indo-European,
Bantu or Khoesan families;
describe the family relationships between the 11 official languages of South Africa;
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
language family
related languages
proto-language
the comparative historical method
Romance languages

Germanic languages
Indo-European languages
Bantu languages
Khoesan languages
lingua franca

In a nutshell
In this study unit we will see that language change that continues for generations can
cause a language to diverge over time into several distinct but related languages. In
this study unit we introduce you to the idea of language families and focus our
attention on the Indo-European, Bantu and Khoesan languages, which are all
represented in South Africa. Careful comparison of vocabulary items with the same
meaning allows historical linguists to identify correspondences between certain
languages and to speculate about the common ancestor of these languages.

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23

2.1 Introduction
Current estimates put the number of languages in the region of 7 000
(www.ethnologue.com). One of the issues that makes the exact number difficult to gauge
is the difficulty of distinguishing separate languages from dialects of the same language.
Another issue is the rapid disappearance of minority languages.
We saw in Study Unit 1 that all languages are in a constant process of change. This
means that languages that have been around for centuries or even longer have changed
so much that they are no longer recognisable as the same language. Movements of
people over time leads to division into separate dialects that continue to change until
they are no longer mutually intelligible and thus become separate languages. As Millar
(2007:219) comments: `the remorseless processes of language change invariably
produce ever-greater differences between the regional varieties of a language'. The
result is that one language breaks up over time into several different languages, forming
a language family a cluster of languages that have a common parent language and
are therefore all related to one another.

2.2 What is a language family?

Those of you who are familiar with more than one language will know that languages
usually have very different words to refer to the same things. For example:
English

Setswana

Xhosa

eagle

ntsu

ukhozi

giraffe

thutlwa

indlulamthi

drought

komelelo

imbalela

airport

boemalafofane isikhululo seenqwelo-moya

These words have nothing in common except their meanings. Their forms are completely
different. This is because language is essentially arbitrary, which means that there is no
intrinsic connection between the sound of a word and what it means. In a language
family, however, most words are very similar in form because they derive from a single,
older form. Sets of similar words are an indication that two or more languages are
related and come from the same language family:
Sepedi

Sesotho

Setswana

ntshu

ntsu

ntsu

`eagle'

thutlwa

thuhlo

thutlwa

`giraffe'

komelelo

komello

komelelo

`drought'

boemafofane boemafofane

boemelafofane

`airport'

tswalelo

tswala

`to close'

kwala

These lists show that Sepedi, Sesotho and Setswana are related languages. It is
important to note that related languages do not have to have similar grammatical
structures, nor do speakers of related languages need to be genetically or biologically

24

related (McGregor 2009:304). And even in related languages, not all the words will
necessarily be similar in form.

Task 2.1
Look at the following data and identify the word that is the `odd one out' in these word
lists from related languages. Can you suggest why one of the languages has a
completely different form to the others?
Sepedi

Sesotho

Setswana

tselanathoko

pheifomente

tselanathoko `pavement'

santa

lehlabathe

motlhaba

`sand'

...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
The odd one out in the words for `pavement' is Sesotho pheifomente, which if you say
out loud, you will realise is a borrowing from English. The same applies to Sepedi santa
`sand', which is borrowed from English/Afrikaans. Borrowing happens readily when
languages are in contact with one another, and borrowed forms need to be disregarded
when trying to establish whether languages are related or not, as these would be words
that entered the language later, superseding earlier words.
__________________________________________________________________________
One example of a language family that you may know is the family of languages known
as Romance languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and many
others. All these languages derive from Latin, the language of ancient Rome (founded in
753 BC). The political success of the Romans turned Latin into a world language
because as the armies of the Romans invaded other territories, they imposed their
language on the people they conquered. Latin was used in all the parts of the Roman
Empire and it became the dominant language of Western Europe until the end of the 5th
century AD. After the Roman Empire collapsed and was overrun by other tribes, Latin
came into contact with numerous foreign forms and began to change.
During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church continued to use Latin. All church
services and ceremonies were conducted in Latin, and it was the language spoken in
monasteries. As these places were the main centres of learning during the Middle Ages,
Latin became the language of scholars. By the 16th century Latin was used all over
Europe by scholars, diplomats and scientists.

LIN2602

25

While the Classical written Latin was used in the church, the everyday spoken Latin
(lingua Romana) started to undergo changes in the former provinces of Rome. In each
province a particular dialect or variety of lingua Romana began to develop. Within a few
hundred years, speakers of Latin in Spain, France and Italy could no longer understand
one another because the dialects had changed so much. Over the centuries these
varieties of Latin developed into the various Romance languages. Now, centuries after
the Roman Empire ceased to exist, traces of Latin can still be found in French, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian, as well as in other languages that have developed
from Latin. By comparing the following words for the numbers 1, 2 and 3, you can see for
yourself that the following languages all stem from and are all related to Latin.
Latin

French

Italian

Spanish

Portuguese

Romanian

1. unus
2. duo
3. tres

un
deux
trois

uno
due
tre

uno
dois
tres

um
dos
trez

un
doi
trei

The Romance languages of today represent developments (involving a great deal of

phonetic, syntactic and semantic change) of spoken Latin. As a result of the voyages of
exploration starting in the 15th century and the colonialism of the 17th, 18th and 19th
Centuries, the Romance languages have spread all over the world and it is estimated
(Crystal 2010:297) that 3 out of the 7 billion people in the world speak a Romance
language, or one of the Creoles based on French, Spanish or Portuguese.
Every language family has a common ancestor known as a proto-language. Proto- is
the Greek prefix meaning `first' or `original', as in English prototype. In the case of the
Romance languages, the proto-language (proto-Romance) is basically the same as
Latin and we therefore have a lot of written evidence of what the proto-Romance
language looked like. In the case of some other language families, however, the protolanguage is not documented and has to be hypothetically reconstructed by working
backwards from the set of related languages.

Task 2.2
(a)

Have a look at the following sentences, all of which mean the same thing. Three of
the five are from the language family known as Germanic. Which ones belong to the
Germanic family and which two examples are unrelated? You could also try and
guess the five languages just for fun ...
1. This is a good book.
2. Mae hwn yn llyfr da.
3. Dies ist ein gutes Buch.
4. Dit is 'n goeie boek.
5. Ez egy jo
ko
nyv.

...............................................................................................................................................

26

...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
(b) The Germanic language family probably originated some time around 500 BC in
northern Europe. What would the ancestor language of Germanic be known as?
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Examples 1 (English), 3 (German) and 4 (Afrikaans) are from the Germanic language
family while 2 (Welsh) and 5 (Hungarian) are not. Many of the words are similar in these
three Germanic languages, for example book, Buch and boek. In question (b) the
ancestor language of all the Germanic languages would be known as proto-Germanic,
just as the ancestor language of the Romance languages is proto-Romance.
__________________________________________________________________________

2.3 The Indo-European language family

Even further back in time, both the Germanic languages and the Romance languages,
as well as other language families like Celtic (including Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh)
and Indic (north Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali and Punjabi) derived from a
single parent language. All of these families and several others belong to a huge
language family known as Indo-European. This implies that all these languages are
derived from a single common ancestor language, Proto-Indo-European. Linguists
suggest that this language may have been spoken around 4 000 years ago in a region
near the Ukraine, but these conclusions remain unproven.

LIN2602

27

FIGURE 2.1
Simplified family tree of the present-day languages of the Indo-European language family
Proto-Indo-European

Celtic,
e.g.
Welsh,
Irish
Gaelic

Germanic

North
Germanic,
e.g.
Swedish,
Danish

West
Germanic,
e.g.
English,
German,
Yiddish,
Dutch,
Afrikaans

East
Germanic,
e.g.
Gothic

Italic or
Romance
e.g.
Spanish,
French,
Italian

Greek

Albanian

BaltoSlavic, e.g.
Russian,
Bulgarian,
Lithuanian

Armenian

IndoIranian,
e.g.
Persian,
Urdu,
Hindi,
Gujarati

The Indo-European language family consists of over 400 languages spoken from Ireland
all the way across Europe and into northern India (the diagram above represents the
language families in approximately their west-to-east distribution). Some of its branches,
like Tocharian and Anatolian, are no longer spoken and are not represented in the
diagram above. Some branches like Germanic and Indo-Iranian contain large numbers
of languages and several distinct sub-branches as indicated for the Germanic branch.
Other branches, like Greek, consist of just a single language.

28

FIGURE 2.2: Distribution of the language families of the world

(downloaded 13 January 2012 from http://www.freelang.net/families/index.php)

2.4 The comparative historical method

Building up a picture of the proto-language is one of the tasks of the branch of
Linguistics known as comparative historical linguistics. But how would this kind of
hypothetical reconstruction be done? Aitchison (2001:25) explains that reconstruction is
aided by the fact that sound changes tend to be consistent or regular rather than
haphazard. Within a particular dialect, for example, all the [s] sounds at the beginning of
words will become [j] (sh) sounds, while all the [s] sounds in the middles of words will
become [z] sounds. Different dialects will undergo different sound changes, but these
too will be regular. According to Aitchison (2001:2527):
If we find consistent sound correspondences between words with similar meanings
in languages where borrowing can be ruled out, the correspondences cannot be
due to chance. We therefore infer that the languages concerned are so-called
`daughter languages' descended from one `parent'. For example, English
repeatedly has f where Latin has p in words with similar meaning such as
father:pater, foot:pedem, fish:pisces, and so on. There is no evidence of a LatinEnglish cultural bond. When the Romans first came to Britain, the woad-painted
natives they found did not yet speak English, which was brought from across the
Channel at a later date. So borrowing can be eliminated as the source of the regular
f:p correspondence. We conclude therefore that Latin and English are both
descended from the same parent, which must have existed at some earlier age. Of
course, one single set of correspondences, such as the f:p set, is too frail a
foundation on which to set any firm conclusions, so this must be backed up with
others such as s:s in six:sex, seven:septem, salt:sal, sun:sol, and t:d in two:duo,

LIN2602

29

ten:decem, tooth:dens and so on. The more correspondences we find, the more
certain we become that the languages concerned are genetically related.
When we have assembled correspondences from two or more related languages,
we can begin to draw conclusions about the parent from which they sprang. ... We
take the majority verdict as our major guideline, and then check that we have not
proposed anything that is phonetically implausible. For example, a number of IndoEuropean languages have s at the beginning of certain words. English has six,
seven, sun, salt, sow (`female pig').Latin has sex, septem, sol, sal, sus and so on.
Greek, however, has an h in place of the expected s, with hex, hepta, helios, hals,
hus. Since Greek is the odd one out, we conclude that the original sound was
probably s, and that Greek changed an original s to h. We confirm that s to h is a
fairly common development (and note that the reverse, h to s, is unheard of). Our
hypothesis can therefore stand. We shall of course look for further corroborative
evidence, and amend our theory if we find any counter evidence.
What Aitchison describes here is the method known as comparative historical
reconstruction. This is one of the methods that has been used by linguists since the
nineteenth century to classify related languages and language families. According to
Harrison (2003:214), there are three major goals of comparative historical linguistics:
. To identify instances of genetic relatedness amongst languages
. To explore the history of individual languages
. To develop a theory of linguistic change.
Historical linguists view the last goal as the most important. According to Harrison
(2003:214), the kinds of questions a theory of linguistic change would try to answer
include Are there some kinds of linguistic change that are impossible or improbable? Are
some kinds more likely to happen than others? How does linguistic change begin? and
How does linguistic change move through linguistic communities? Some of these
questions will be discussed in more detail in later study units.
In the quote from Aitchison above, she mentions that in order to claim that two
languages are related, borrowing must be ruled out as the reason for similarities between
words in two languages. In practice, this is sometimes difficult to do. However Campbell
(2003:273) mentions that basic vocabulary (such as words for family members and body
parts) is less likely to be affected by borrowing than cultural vocabulary referring to the
manmade objects and cultural practices of the language group, and is therefore better
for establishing similarities than cultural vocabulary. Besides mistaking borrowed forms
for related terms, two other possible pitfalls that linguists might face when attempting
comparative historical reconstruction are illustrated by the following task.

Task 2.3
Historical linguist Doug Deep has made the following claims in the latest issue of the
South African Journal of Historical Linguistics. Do you see any problems with his claims in
(a) and (b) below?

30

(a)

The similar words for `mother' and `me' in six South African languages show that
these languages are related:
Zulu

Sesotho

Xhosa

Setswana

Afrikaans

Sepedi

`mother'

umama

mme

umama

mme

ma

mma

`me'

mina

nna

mna

nna

ek

nna

...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
(b) Further proof of genetic relatedness comes from the similar words for the words
`cry', `whisper' and `motorbike' in these languages.
Zulu

Sesotho

Xhosa

Setswana

Afrikaans

Sepedi

`cry'

-khala

lla

-khala/-lila

lela

huil

lla

`whisper'

-hlebeza

seba

-sebeza

seba

fluister

sebela

sethuuthuu

motorfiets

ethuthuthu

`motorbike' isithuthuthu sethuthuthu isithuthuthu

...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
One trap that Doug Deep has fallen into in (a) is that he has used babytalk-type words to
support his claims of alleged relatedness. You may remember from LIN1502
Multilingualism that children across the world tend to use repeated syllables containing
sounds like m, p, b, n and d in their first words as these are some of the easiest sounds
to produce. According to Campbell (2003:273):
it has been recognized for centuries that nursery formations (so-called Lallwo
rter,
the mama-nana-papa-dada-caca sort of words) should be avoided in considerations of potential linguistic affinities, since these typically share a high degree of
cross-linguistic similarity which is not due to common ancestry.
You may also have noticed that the Afrikaans term ek (and fluister and motorfiets in (b)) is
not in fact similar to the others, so Doug should not have included Afrikaans as part of
the alleged language family.
In data set (b) Doug has used onomatopoeic words where the sound of the word
imitates the thing it describes. So all the words for `motorbike' (except Afrikaans
motorfiets) imitate the repetitive engine sound and all the words for `whisper' start with
hissing (`fricative') sounds like s and hl. Onomatopoeic words for animal noises, bird
sounds and verbs referring to crying, hitting, shouting, whispering, snoring, etc. are

LIN2602

31

frequently similar across languages, simply because they attempt to replicate natural
sounds.
As with borrowed terms, babytalk words and onomatopoeic forms must therefore be
disregarded when comparing languages using comparative historical reconstruction.
This is because cross-linguistic similarities may occur in these words which are not due
to historical relatedness.
__________________________________________________________________________

2.5 Language families of Africa

For the linguist, Africa is a fascinating continent because of its amazing variety of
languages. According to Webb and Kembo Sure (1999:27) there are over 2 000
languages spoken in Africa. These come predominantly from four language families. In
the north are the Afro-Asiatic family (which includes Arabic and Hebrew) and the NiloSaharan family. South of the Sahara we find the small Khoesan family (also spelt
Khoisan) which includes the San languages and Nama, and the very large Niger-Congo
family, which includes over 1 500 languages (Grimes 1996), including all the African
languages spoken in South Africa. In addition to the languages of African origin there are
a number of European languages, imported through colonialism, and various new
varieties that have arisen as a result of language contact (see Study Unit 7).
FIGURE 2.3: Distribution of African language families

Berber
Arabic

Songhay
Hausa
Fulani
Yoruba

Amharic
Igbo

Oromo

Lingala
Kongo

Niger-Congo B (Bantu)
Khoi-San
Austronesian

lag

Niger-Congo A

Chewa
Showa

Ma

Nilo-Saharan

asy

Swahili

Afro-Asiatic

Sotho
Xhosa
Afrikaans
(Indo-European)

(downloaded 13 January 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_language_

families)

32

Task 2.4
Have a look at the following basic words in six African languages (data from McGregor
2009:308).
Gloss

Bemba

Kanuri

Chichewa

Shona

Swahili

`woman'

umwaanakashi
umwaaume
-tatu
ameenshi
-kulu
-suma
umuti

kamu

mkazi

mukadzi

mwanamke

kwa
yaskI
nji
kura
ngIla
kIska

mwamuna
-tatu
madzi
-kulu
-bwino
mtengo

murume
-tatu
mvura
-kuru
-naka
muti

mwanamme
tatu
maji
kubwa
nzuri
mti

`man'
`three'
`water'
`big'
`good'
`tree'

(a)

Which languages would you group together as likely members of a family?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) What does the little hyphen mean at the beginning of the words -tatu and -kulu
and -suma in Bemba?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
There are many resemblances between all the languages with the exception of Kanuri.
For example, the word for `three' is the same in Bemba, Chichewa, Shona and Swahili.
The word for `tree' has the letters m and t and the word for `man' has the letters mwa in
three of these four. The word for `big' is similar in all five of the languages, but this is the
only word where Kanuri is similar to the other four. If you were a historical linguist, you
could therefore tentatively group Bemba, Chichewa, Shona and Swahili together as
related languages, even if you had no knowledge of the proto-language from which
these derive.
To answer question (b), you need to reflect back to LIN1501 on grammatical patterns
and principles. The hyphen here means that the forms -kulu and -suma in Bemba are
bound morphemes, occurring as part of larger words rather than standing alone.
Because the hyphens are at the beginning, we know that other morphemes would be
attached in front of these morphemes.
__________________________________________________________________________

LIN2602

33

2.5.1 The Bantu language family

The Bantu language family falls into the Niger-Congo family and is found in the southern
half of Africa, stretching from Cameroon to Kenya and southwards to South Africa. The
name Bantu was coined by Wilhelm Bleek in about 1857 and means `people' (as in Zulu
abantu, Sepedi batho, Venda vhathu etc.). Note that the term `Bantu language' is an
accepted linguistic term for the family of languages in sub-Saharan Africa. (The term
Bantu subsequently acquired negative connotations in apartheid South Africa through its
association with repressive policies such as `Bantu education' and is no longer used
except in a linguistic sense.) The Bantu languages share similar vocabulary, but also a
similar grammatical structure, where nouns are classified into several different noun
classes. All the South African Bantu languages fall into the family known as the Southern
Bantu languages (Herbert & Bailey 2002:57).
FIGURE 2.4: Simplified family tree of the Southern Bantu language family
Southern Bantu

Nguni,
including Zulu,
Xhosa, Siswati,
Ndebele, etc.

Venda

Sotho, including
Sesotho,
Setswana,
Sepedi

Tsonga,
including
Ronga,
Tonga, Tswa

Inhambane,
including
Chopi and
giTonga

...

(based on Doke 1967 cited in Herbert & Bailey 2002)

Notice that, of South Africa's official languages, four fall into the Nguni sub-family, three
fall into the Sotho sub-family, while Venda and Tsonga each fall into their own separate
sub-families within the Southern Bantu group.

2.5.2 The Khoesan languages

Traill (2002:45) explains that the term Khoesan languages is somewhat misleading in that
it is made up of three unrelated groups of languages, the Northern (e.g. Ju), Central or
Khoe (including Nama, Cape Khoekhoe etc.) and Southern families (including /Xam,
/'Auni and Khomani). The Central or Khoe languages are genetically related but the San
languages of the Northern and Southern families are not related either to one another or
to the Khoe languages. Although some of these languages are still used by communities
in Namibia and Botswana, and to a lesser extent in South Africa, most of these
languages are extinct or highly threatened (see Study Unit 8). Genetic relations between
the various groups are not always clear due to a lack of historical evidence and the
difficulty of accurately transcribing languages with so many different click sounds.
The language of the so-called `Cape Bushmen' was /Xam, one of the Southern San
languages. WHI Bleek and Lucy Lloyd studied this language from 1857, relying on the
bilingualism of /Xam speakers who could speak Afrikaans due to their employment as
farm workers (Traill 2002:38, see also Skotnes 2007 Claim to the Country: the archive of
Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek). Forty years later, however, Dorothea Bleek visited the few
remaining speakers of /Xam who were working as farm or domestic workers near

34

Prieska, some of whom knew very little of their language. Several other San languages,
including /'Auni and Khomani were spoken in South Africa but have largely been wiped
out as their speakers were killed or merged with Afrikaans-speaking or Bantu-speaking
language groups (Traill 2002:36).
Traill (2002:29) explains some of the history of the Khoe languages in South Africa:
In the early seventeenth century there were about eleven closely similar Cape
Khoekhoe varieties spoken from the Cape of Good Hope in the west, along the
southern Cape coast and its hinterland as far east as the Fish River (Elphick
1985:51). Estimates of the number of all South African Khoekhoe (including the
Nama) in 1652 vary between 100,000 (Elphick 1985:23) and 200,000 (Wilson
1969:68). Within sixty years of that date `the traditional Khoekhoe economy, social
structure, and political order had almost entirely collapsed' (Elphick 1985:xvii), and
smallpox epidemics in 1713, 1735 and 1767 had ravaged the population, wiping
out virtually all the western Cape Khoekhoe. And within 100 years of 1652, the
western Cape Khoekhoe language had begun to disappear, being gradually
replaced by Khoe-Dutch (Nienaber 1963:97ff), and the Eastern Khoekhoe varieties
had been absorbed by Xhosa through political incorporation of the Khoekhoe
chiefdoms (Marai 1968:111).
This is the dramatic background to the extinction of the Cape Khoekhoe and the
death of their language. However, far from vanishing without a trace, the Cape
Khoekhoe have had a profound effect on the genetic features of many South
Africans. Their language has exerted an influence on the development of Afrikaans
and has extensively restructured the phonological systems of Xhosa and Zulu,
greatly enriching the lexicons of these two languages in the process.
Examples of Khoekhoe words include dagga, karos, kierie, kudu, kwagga and eina. They
became part of various varieties of Afrikaans very early on and were later borrowed into
South African English. A number of place names and words of Khoekhoe origin are given
below.

LIN2602

Gamka

`lion river' (ka = river);

Keiskamma

`shiny stream' (kamma = stream);

Tsitsikamma

`clear stream'

Karoo

`dry'

Kareedouw

karee + douw `shrub' + `mountain pass'.

35

Task 2.5
Match the languages on the left to their appropriate language families on the right.
Latin

Khoesan

Nama
Romanian
Tsonga
Xhosa
English

Bantu

/Xam
Greek
Ndebele

Indo-European

/'Auni
Hindi

Feedback
Nama, /Xam and /'Auni fall into the Khoesan family. Tsonga, Xhosa and Ndebele are
Bantu languages and Latin, Romanian, English, Greek and Hindi are Indo-European
languages.
__________________________________________________________________________

2.6 A language profile of South Africa

South Africa, with its unique language policy of 11 official languages, is certainly a most
linguistically diverse nation. This complex multilingual situation presents enormous
challenges for language planners, politicians and educators. In such a melting pot of
languages and cultures it is not surprising that language contact situations have led to
the development of many new linguistic varieties, and the possibilities for crossfertilisation and influence are endless. A brief language profile of South Africa is provided
below.
The majority of our population have as their mother-tongue one of nine languages
belonging to the Southern Bantu language family: Zulu (23,8%), Xhosa (17,6%), Sepedi
(9,4%), Setswana (8,2%), Sesotho (7,9%), Tsonga (4,4%), Siswati (2,7%), Venda (2,3%)
and Ndebele (1,6%) (the numbers in brackets refer to percentages of speakers as
reflected in the 2001 census data downloaded from http://www.statssa.gov.za/
census01/html/ RSAPrimary.pdf). In terms of the conventional South African racial
classifications (black, coloured, Indian and white), almost all of these speakers are black
Africans, though the census data shows that there are mother-tongue speakers from all
four race groups for each one of our 11 official languages, a fact which tends to be
overlooked.
In the north-west of the country we still have some remnants of the ancient Khoesan
languages (with their unique phonological feature, the click sounds, found nowhere else

36

in the world). These include the Nama speakers in the Richtersveld, Gordonia and
Namaqualand and a handful of speakers of /'Auni and Khomani near the Kalahari
Gemsbok Park.
Because of our colonial heritage, over the past three and a half centuries a considerable
number of European languages have been brought to this country and have taken root
here in varying degrees, for example, English, Dutch, Portuguese, German and Italian.
The first 80 Dutch settlers arrived in the Cape in 1652, bringing with them various dialects
of Dutch. The Dutch settlers came into contact with the indigenous people who were
speakers of Khoe languages and owned cattle which they traded with the Dutch. As time
went on, the need for more food and supplies arose and more Dutch settlers arrived in
the country to work as farmers. Slaves were brought to South Africa from Dutch colonies
in the East to supply additional labour for these farms. Many of these slaves spoke
Malay-Portuguese, a type of pidgin Portuguese spoken by Malay speakers to
communicate with Portuguese traders, soldiers and sailors. However a simplified form
of Dutch, influenced by Malay-Portuguese, was often used as a lingua franca (language
used for communication between speakers of different mother tongues) amongst the
slaves. Gradually this variety of Dutch was adopted as the mother tongue of the slaves
and they lost the ability to speak their original mother tongues. That was the beginning of
a variety of Dutch called Cape Afrikaans (Kaapse Afrikaans). Remnants of MalayPortuguese can still be seen in present-day Afrikaans in common words such as:
baie

`much, very'

koejawel

`guava'

makou

`a type of duck'

blatjang

`chutney'

bobotie

`a traditional Cape Dutch mince dish'

sosatie

`kebab'

piesang

`banana'

As a result of ongoing contact between Dutch, Malay-Portuguese and Khoe speakers, by

the end of the 19th century the varieties of Dutch spoken at the Cape were far removed
from standard Dutch. A movement arose towards establishing Afrikaans as a standard
language. Although Dutch and English were accepted as the two official languages of
the country when the Union of South Africa came into being in 1910, there was a strong
movement to have Afrikaans accepted as an official language and eventually in 1925
Afrikaans replaced Dutch as one of the official languages of South Africa. According to
the 2001 census, almost 6 million (or 13,3%) of South Africans have Afrikaans as their
mother tongue.
The Cape became a British colony in 1806, and another language, English, was
introduced to the Cape. English was introduced into South Africa largely by the group of
5 000 British settlers of 1820 and by subsequent waves of British settlers throughout the
19th century. English became the official language of the Cape Colony in 1822. English is
the mother tongue of 3,67 million or 8% of South Africans according to the 2001 census.
This includes half a percent of black South Africans, 19% of Coloured South Africans,
94% of the Indian and Asian population and 39% of the white population. Each of these
has its own ethnolect of South African English (Lass 2002:104), which we will look at in
more detail in Study Unit 6.

LIN2602

37

We also have small groups of speakers of a number of Indian and Asian languages.
Mesthrie (2002:161) describes the sociohistory of the Indian languages in South Africa,
from the arrival of 150 000 Indian farm workers between 1860 and 1911. Among the
languages that these workers spoke were the Indo-European language Hindi, as well as
Telugu and Tamil from the south of India (Mesthrie 2002:161). These languages were
used as home languages until the 1960s, but are being increasingly replaced with
English, though many younger speakers can still understand their heritage language and
continue to use it for cultural and religious purposes.

Task 2.6
Look at the following chart reflecting numbers of speakers of the 11 official languages in
South Africa in 2001 and answer the questions that follow:
FIGURE 2.6: First home language by number of speakers

(based on data from Statistics South Africa, 2001 Census in brief downloaded from
http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/html/).
(a)

What are the three most spoken home languages in South Africa?
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Which three languages have almost the same number of speakers?
.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

Which language has less than a million speakers? (Hint: there is only one)
.......................................................................................................................................

38

(d) Approximately how many South Africans speak Sepedi as a home language?
.......................................................................................................................................
(e)

Approximately how many South Africans speak a language from the Bantu
language family as their first home language? (Hint: There were a total of 45 million
people in South Africa according to the 2001 census)
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
The three most spoken home languages in South Africa are Zulu, followed by Xhosa,
followed by Afrikaans. Sesotho, Setswana and English all have approximately the same
number of speakers with approximately 3,5 million speakers each. The only official
language with under a million speakers is Ndebele (Venda and Siswati have just over a
million each). The chart shows that there are just over 4 million Sepedi speakers (4,2
million according to the data). To answer (e) you need to know that all the South African
languages except English and Afrikaans are Bantu languages (see section 2.5.1). The
chart shows that there are about 6 million Afrikaans speakers and about 3,5 million
English speakers and a small number of speakers of unspecified `other' languages. The
hint tells you that there were 45 million people in South Africa at the time, of which 9,5
million were not Bantu language speakers. So about 35,5 million South Africans have a
language from the Bantu language family as their home language.
__________________________________________________________________________

2.7 Summary
We saw in this study unit that movements of people over time can result in languages
dividing into separate dialects that continue to change until they become separate
languages. The result is a language family a cluster of languages that have a common
parent language and are therefore all related to one another. We discussed the IndoEuropean language family, a large family of over 400 languages spoken from Ireland all
the way across Europe and into northern India. All its subfamilies, including the
Germanic, Romance, Celtic and Indic languages, are derived from a single common
ancestor language, Proto-Indo-European.
Building up a picture of the proto-language is one of the tasks of the branch of
Linguistics known as comparative historical linguistics. Because sound changes tend to
be consistent or regular rather than haphazard, sound correspondences between words
with similar meanings in two different languages suggest that the languages are related.
The more correspondences we find, the more certain we become that the languages are
genetically related. However, it is important to rule out cases of borrowing, which lead to
similar words even in unrelated languages. Babytalk and onomatopoeic words should

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39

also be disregarded when attempting to prove genetic relatedness, since these typically
share a high degree of cross-linguistic similarity which is not due to common ancestry.
Among the African language families that we focused on were the small Khoesan family,
which is made up of three unrelated groups of languages, the Northern (e.g. Ju), Central
or Khoe (including Nama, Cape Khoekhoe etc.) and Southern families (including /Xam,
/'Auni and Khomani). Most of these languages are extinct or highly threatened. We also
looked at the very large Niger-Congo family, and in particular at the Bantu language
subfamily, which includes all the African languages spoken in South Africa. The Bantu
language family is found in the southern half of Africa, stretching from Cameroon to
Kenya and southwards to South Africa.
We concluded the study unit with a look at South Africa's multilingual language profile.
Among our 11 official languages we have nine languages belonging to the Southern
Bantu language family: Zulu, Xhosa, Sepedi, Setswana, Sesotho, Tsonga, Siswati, Venda
and Ndebele. Colonisation also left us with English and Afrikaans, a dialect of Dutch
which developed over time into an independent language.

Further reading
Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay? (third edition). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter

50
51
52
54

Families of languages
The Indo-European family
Other families
Language change

Skotnes, P. 2007. Claim to the Country: the archive of Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek.
Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jacana and Athens: Ohio University Press.

40

Study Unit 3
New words
`Words are the leaves of the tree of language, of which,
if some fall away, a new succession takes their place.'
John French (Earl of Ypres 18521925)

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1
2
3
4

describe various processes used for forming new words;

explain why languages might need new words;
analyse new words in terms of the word-formation processes used;
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
word form
lexeme
borrowing
compounding
head-initial compound
head-final compound

derivation
inflection
conversion
clipping
blending
acronym

In a nutshell
In this study unit we will look at how and why new words emerge in languages all the
time and at some specific word-formation processes that give rise to these new
words. By creating, borrowing, combining and recombining words in new ways,
languages can be endlessly novel in the words they use to describe our continually
changing world and worldviews.

3.1 Introduction
One of the most noticeable examples of language change is the appearance of new
words in a language.In this study unit we will look at how and why new words emerge in
languages all the time. We will also look into some specific word-formation processes
that give rise to these new words.

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41

Read the following article on some of the new lexemes that have recently been included
in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for the first time:

New Dictionary Words for 2011

SPRINGFIELD, MASS., August 25, 2011 In yet another sign of our era's communications
revolution, social media has found a home in this year's update of Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate1 Dictionary, giving word watchers everywhere something to tweet about. Social
media and tweet are just two of over 150 new words and definitions that have been added to
America's best-selling dictionary in 2011, available now in print and online at MerriamWebster.com.
``From the dramatic events of the Arab Spring to the scandal that brought down
Congressman Anthony Weiner, tweet is a word that has been part of the story,'' says
Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's Editor at Large. ``We've been tracking words like social
media and tweet for years, of course, and now we feel their meanings have stabilized
enough to include them in the dictionary.''
Tweet and social media join other technology-related terms including crowdsourcing (the
practice of obtaining information from a large group of people who contribute online) and mcommerce (``a business transaction conducted using a mobile electronic device'').
Pop culture brings us bromance (``a close nonsexual friendship between men'') and cougar
(``a middle-aged woman seeking a romantic relationship with a younger man''), a word
whose usage was bolstered by Courteney Cox's hit TV series Cougar Town ...
The additions also include an interesting pair reflecting the changing nature of parent-child
relationships: helicopter parent (``a parent who is overly involved in the life of his or her
child'') and boomerang child (``a young adult who returns to live at his or her family home
especially for financial reasons'').
http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/newwords11.htm downloaded 4 November 2011

The following new words were found on a website called Wordspy that aims to keep
track of new words. Whether these will survive long enough to become an established
part of the language and appear in future dictionary editions remains to be seen.

42

NEW

Janopause

n. The practice of abstaining from alcohol for the month of January. Also: janopause.
NEW

ineptocracy

n. A government or state ruled by people who are incompetent. Also: inept-ocracy.

UPDATED

brightsizing

n. Corporate downsizing in which the brightest workers are let go. Also: bright-sizing.
Downloaded 18 January 2012 from http://www.wordspy.com/

So where do all these new words come from? Many of them are in fact existing words
that have acquired new meanings by the process of semantic change. As we saw in
Study Unit 1, semantic change can include broadening or narrowing of an existing term
and semantic shift. For example, the word cougar in the Merriam-Webster article has
broadened from its initial meaning of `puma' (an American wild cat) to include a
secondary meaning, `a middle-aged woman seeking a romantic relationship with a
younger man', and tweet now also refers to short electronic communication `chirps' as
well as a bird's chirping. But many of the other words are completely new to English, for
example crowdsourcing and brightsizing. Before we look at some of the ways in which
words can enter a language for the first time, we need to look in more detail at what we
mean by a `word' in Linguistics.

3.2 What is a word?

You may think that everything that can be written down with spaces on either side of it is a
word. So the sentence you have just read contains 20 separate words. In Linguistics,
however, we need to distinguish between word forms, different forms of a single word,
e.g. baobab and baobabs, and the underlying abstract concept that links related word
forms together. Because we know intuitively that baobab and baobabs are two different
forms `of the same word', we say they are different forms of the same lexeme BAOBAB.
A lexeme is thus an abstract notion that includes different word forms such as singulars
and plurals. In other words, the lexeme BAOBAB can be realised in speech or writing
either as the word form baobab or as the word form baobabs. Bauer (1988:2) explains
that `the lexeme is, in a sense, what all the word forms associated with it have in
common'. Lexemes are usually written in capital letters to distinguish them from actual
instances when a word form is used. Dictionaries will have one alphabetical entry for
each lexeme and will list the other possible word forms alongside it. For example, the
`lookup function' on my computer offers the following definition of baobab from the
Encarta Dictionary: English (U.K.) The lexeme BAOBAB has its own entry and the
alternative word forms of this lexeme (in this case only baobabs) are listed in brackets
after the pronunciation guide:
baobab (noun) [ba
y o} bab] (baobabs)
a tree with a thick short trunk and edible fruit. Native to: southern Africa and
northwestern Australia. Latin name: Adansonia digitata

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43

Task 3.1
Here are some more examples of lexemes and their associated word forms. Try and
think of three more examples from your own language and write them in below:
English

Sepedi
Zulu

DIVE

dive, dives, dived, dove, diving

GO

go, goes, went, gone, going

CHILD

child, children

RUTA
THANDA

ruta `learn', rutega `able to be learnt, learnable',

rutisa `cause to learn, teach', rutwa `be learned'
thanda `love', thandana `love each other', thandeka
`lovable', thandisisa `love deeply', thandwa `be
loved'

...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Don't forget to write lexemes in capital letters and to provide glosses for each word form
if your examples are in a language other than English.
__________________________________________________________________________
As we saw above, new lexemes in a language are created all the time, noted by ordinary
people, by websites that like to keep tabs on new usages and eventually by the
publishers of dictionaries. The first and possibly most obvious source of new lexemes is
to take these from other languages by the process known as borrowing, although of
course, these words are copied rather than borrowed with the intention of being
returned ...

3.3 Borrowing
Since about three-quarters of the world population is multilingual, people often come
across words (usually nouns) in another language that they like or find particularly useful
or that have no equivalents in their own language. They then take these words over into
their own language, either exactly as they are or with a degree of phonological
adjustment to make them easier to pronounce in the target language. For example,
English borrowed the word cougar in its original sense of `puma' from the Guarani
language of Paraguay, changing it in the process from Guarani cuguac
uarana to simply
cougar.
African language speakers in South Africa will be very aware of all the borrowed words
from English and Afrikaans that have entered their languages as a result of two centuries

44

of daily contact between language groups: Zulu and Sepedi, for example, have borrowed
words like the following:
Zulu

Sepedi

isuthikesi

`suitcase'

isudi

`suit'

ujinja

`ginger'

isositshi

`sausage'

ibandeshi

`bandage'

sutu

`suit'

lepokisi

`box'

mmasepala

`municipality'

Borrowing also occurs in the opposite direction, with Northern Sotho words like lekgotla
`a conference' or Zulu words like muti `medicine', fundi `expert' and eish `an exclamation
meaning something like ``oh dear'' entering South African English.
Afrikaans has also borrowed from many world languages as you can see from the
following examples (adapted from https://aie.ned.univie.ac.at/node/13021 and glossed):
French:

ommelet `omelette', kommandant `commander'

German:

blits `lightning', angs `anxiety', nar `clown'

Portuguese:

aia `nursemaid', kiepersol `type of indigenous tree', kraal `pen for

animals', sambok `whip or cane', bredie `stew', ramkie `Khoisan
guitar', tamaai `enormous'

Khoekhoe:

oorbietjie `oribi', koedoe `kudu', kwagga `Cape mountain zebra',

geitjie `gecko or lizard', kambro `succulent plant endemic to SA',
gannabos `succulent shrub in Cape coastal regions', Karoo `semidesert region in SA', aitsa `expression of surprise', arrie `expression
of surprise', eina `ouch', kierie `walking stick or cudgel', gogga
`insect'

Malay:

baadjie `jacket', baie `very', baklei `fight', blatjang `chutney', doepa,

`muti or magic potion', kabaai `loose gown often used as a
nightgown', katel `bedstead or bedframe', koejawel `guava', nonnie
`young woman', piering `saucer', piesang `banana', soebat `plead or
beg'

Bantu:

konka `drum or large tin', donga `ditch', indaba `council', aiko

na `no
or not at all', tollie `young ox'

English speakers `have long been among the most enthusiastic borrowers of other
people's words on earth, and many, many thousands of English words have been
acquired in just this way' (Millar 2007:22). These days, English is itself a language of
prestige and borrowings are therefore pouring from English into languages like French,
German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese in vast numbers (Millar 2007:24).

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Task 3.2
(a)

Spot the English borrowings in this excerpt from a German fashion magazine. You
don't need to know any German to do this!
Retro-Kurven zu sexy Taille
Schlank schummeln: Retro-Formen treffen auf Colour-Blocking, wertvolle
Edelsteinfarben werden kontrastiert mit fro
hlichen Polka-Dots. Wir zeigen die
Highlights der Dessous-Trends im Herbst.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Take a dictionary of your own language that mentions the origins of words as well as
their meanings. Choose a page at random and write down all the borrowed words
and the languages they come from. These will usually be indicated in some way
after the word as coming from another language, e.g. Afrikaans or [Arabic].
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Fashion magazines all over the world are borrowing English words like `supermodel', `in'
and `catwalk'. The German extract, although it is very short, uses English retro, sexy,
colour-blocking, polka-dots, highlights and trends. The full translation is as follows:
Retro-curves for a sexy figure
Slender alternatives: Colour-blocking highlights retro figures, precious gem colours
are contrasted with cheerful polka dots. We show you the highlights of the lingerie
trends for autumn.
For question (b), the page I chose from The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1993)
has Tempranillo `a grape variety' from Spanish, temps `a ballet step' and temps perdu

46

`the irretrievable past' from French, tempura `food fried in a light batter' from Japanese
and temura `a method of interpreting the Hebrew scriptures' from Hebrew. The fact that
all of these are in the dictionary means that they have been borrowed and have now
come to be used as an accepted part of the English language.
A random page from Doke, Malcolm, Sikakana and Vilakazi's English-Zulu Zulu-English
Dictionary (1990) has borrowings such as -pristi from English `priest', -profetha from
English `prophet', -pulangwe from Afrikaans plank `plank', -pulani from English `plan',
-pulata from English `plate', -puluho from Afrikaans ploeg `plough', -pulupiti from English
`pulpit' and -punu from English `spoon'.
__________________________________________________________________________

3.4 Compounding
Another frequent technique for building new words is through compounding the
joining together of two or more complete words to make longer words like sandcastle,
cell phone, suntan lotion, world-class, or do-it-yourself. Compounds can be written as
single words, hyphenated or written with spaces in between, but what they have in
common is that they always combine existing full words (not morphemes) and combine
their meanings in some way to create a new concept.
. Head-initial compounds have the main element (or head) of the compound as the
first element of the compound, for example a Toyota Corolla is a kind of Toyota, where
Toyota is the head of the compound. These are rare in English, but common in other
languages. In Sepedi mothomoso `black person' is a head-initial compound formed
from motho `person' + moso `black'. In Xhosa, umninimzi `head of a homestead' is a
compound formed by combining umnini `owner' and umzi `homestead'. Umninimzi
refers to a particular kind of owner (not a kind of homestead), and umnini `owner' is
therefore the head of the compound. Another Xhosa head-initial compound is
intakomlilo (`Southern red bishop'), which refers to a kind of bird and is formed by
combining intaka (`bird') and umlilo `fire').
. Head-final compounds have the main element of the compound as the last element
of the compound. English tends to prefer head-final compounds, like tree house (a
type of house, where house is the head of the compound) and yellowwood tree (a
type of tree, where tree is the head of the compound).
. Some compounds have two heads, with both parts of the compound carrying equal
weight, e.g. bittersweet or blue-green.
. Some compounds have no head. For example, the word forget-me-not is a type of
flower, but the word flower doesn't occur in the compound at all, so there is no head.
Putt-putt is a game of miniature golf, but there is no head as the word game or golf
does not appear in the compound. The Sepedi for `donkey' is molahlwaleboya, which
literally means `discarded skin', from molahlwa `discard, throw away' + boya `skin'.

Task 3.3
Circle the heads (main elements) in the following compounds and decide whether they
are head-initial, head-final, have two heads or no head. Look at the glosses if the
compounds are in language other than English.
Italian

LIN2602

guastafeste `spoilsport' from guastare `spoil' and festa `holiday'

47

Chinese

bok choy `Chinese cabbage' from bok `white' and choy `vegetable'

Afrikaans

vraagteken `question mark' from vraag `question' and teken `mark'

Zulu

ugandaganda `tractor' from -ganda `tread hard'

English

vacuum cleaner

English

spring clean

English

Colgate-Palmolive

Welsh

brws danedd `toothbrush' from brws `brush' and danedd `teeth'

Feedback
Italian guastafeste is a compound with no head, as it refers to a kind of person who
spoils the fun. Zulu ugandaganda `tractor' is also a compound without a head as it is a
kind of machine that `treads hard' but does not include a word meaning `machine' or
`vehicle' in the compound. Since there is no head in these compounds, you didn't need
to circle anything here.
Bok choy is a kind of `choy' or `vegetable' so it is head-final, as are vacuum cleaner (a
type of cleaner) and spring clean (a type of cleaning) and Afrikaans vraagteken, which
refers to a kind of mark `teken' used for punctuation. You should have circled the final
element of all of these compounds.
Welsh brws danedd is a head-initial compound, as it refers to a kind of brws `brush'. The
head is therefore brws.
The company name Colgate-Palmolive is a compound with two equal heads, both of
which should have been circled.
__________________________________________________________________________

3.5 Derivation
Besides compounding or taking over entire terms from other languages, a very common
method for creating new words is by the process known as derivation. As you learned in
LIN1501 Grammatical patterns and principles, derivation is the process of creating new
words by adding affixes (prefixes and suffixes) to existing words. So from the lexeme
LINGUIST we can create new words such as linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and so on. From the lexeme HUMAN we can create new words such as
humanist, humanities, humanitarian, inhuman and many more. Derivation produces
completely new lexemes with a new meaning HUMANIST, HUMANITY, HUMANITARIAN, INHUMAN. This distinguishes it from the process known as inflection where the
alternative word forms which have a purely grammatical function, such as human for the
singular and humans for the plural.
There are three other important differences between inflection and derivation:
. Derivation causes a change of meaning. A human is not the same as a humanist.
. Derivation sometimes changes the part of speech of a word, e.g. from noun to verb.
For example, human is a noun, but inhuman is an adjective meaning `cruel'. Inflection
never changes the category of a word, so human and humans are both nouns.

48

. Inflectional affixes tend to have a regular meaning. For example, the plural-s in English
always changes a singular noun into a plural noun wherever it appears. The-s in the
word creates, changes the verb create into a third person singular verb form that goes
with he, she or it. Derivational affixes are less regular in meaning. The -ist of pianist
seems to refer to `someone who competently uses' the piano, as does the -ist of
violinist and typist. But the -ist of oral hygienist doesn't refer to someone who
competently uses oral hygiene, but rather to someone who cleans their teeth to
promote oral hygiene. And a humanist can mean either `someone concerned with the
wellbeing of people' or `a person who believes in human rather than supernatural
morality' or `a student of Roman and Greek culture'. The precise meaning of the
derivational affix -ist is therefore very difficult to define and seems to have several
different meanings.
These distinctions between inflection and derivation are summarised for you in the table
below:
Inflection

Examples of
inflection

Derivation

Examples of
derivation

Inflection creates
new word forms of
the same lexeme

language ? languages.

Derivation creates
new lexemes with a
completely new
meaning.

educate + -ion ? education

Inflection never
changes the part of
speech of a word.

language = noun
languages =
noun

Derivation sometimes changes the

part of speech of a
word

educate = verb
education = noun

Inflectional affixes
tend to have a regular meaning

The -s indicates
the plural form.

Derivational affixes
are less regular in
meaning

-ion can be used to convert a verb to a noun (e.g.

act ? action) or can create
a new word that signifies a
state (e.g. pigment ? pigmentation)

3.5.1 Greek and Latin derivations

It is also possible to use affixes from foreign languages to construct new words. English
has hundreds of thousands of scientific, medical and technical terms formed by
combining existing Greek and Latin morphemes. Since scientists of an earlier age were
all familiar with Greek and/or Latin, many of the terms that were developed for inventions,
new concepts or discoveries were formed from Greek and Latin elements, e.g.
supersonic, neutron and penicillin. An awareness of Greek and Latin affixes and how they
work will help you build your English vocabulary, and sharpen your awareness of
nuances in English usage. For example, a knowledge of Greek prefixes, lexemes and
suffixes like those below is very useful for working out the meaning of words in English.
(Remember that a prefix is attached before a lexeme and a suffix is attached after a
lexeme.)

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49

Greek prefixes

Greek lexemes/roots

Greek suffixes

a(n)ant(i)diaexepiprotomonoditri-

ot(o)rhin(o)laryng(o)phobos
hydrobios
phonos
algesi(a)
hem(ato)
path(y)
cardi(o)
tele
cyclos
demos
kratia

-itis
-ology
-otomy

`not'
`against'
`through'
`from, out of'
`upon'
`first'
`one'
`two'
`three'

`ear'
`nose'
`throat'
`fear'
`water'
`life'
`sound'
`pain'
`blood'
`disease'
`heart'
`far'
`circle'
`the people'
`power'

`inflammation'
`the study of'
`to cut'

Task 3.4
(a)

Try to work out the meaning of the following English terms after looking at the table
of Greek prefixes, roots and suffixes above.
otorhinolaryngitis
telephone
hydrophobia
analgesic
democracy
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Think of an English word that contains each of the following Greek prefixes and
write it down alongside:

50

a(n)-

`not'

ant(i)-

`against'

dia-

`through'

ex-

`from, out of'

epi-

`upon'

proto-

`first'

mono-

`one'

(c)

di-

`two'

tri-

`three'

Now devise a new word for `the fear you feel when you are about to write your first
phonology exam' ... Would this be an example of inflection or derivation?
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
If otitis means `inflammation of the ear', rhinitis means `inflammation of the nose', and
laryngitis means an `inflamed throat', then otorhinolaryngitis means `inflammation of the
ear, nose and throat'. The next time you see this word on a doctor's certificate, do not
think that the patient is very ill, s/he merely has a common cold! A telephone is an
instrument for `hearing sounds far away', hydrophobia is `fear of water', an analgesic
(literally `without pain') refers to something like aspirin that is used to lessen pain.
Democracy (literally `people's power') is a form of a government in which the people
have a voice in the exercise of power.
Question (b) has many possible answers, including amoral, anti-apartheid, diagonal,
exodus, epidural, prototype, monocle, dilemma, tricycle, etc. For (c) I suggest
protophonologophobia, but you may have other suggestions! This word would be an
example of a novel derivation. We know it is formed by derivation, not inflection, as it
creates a new lexeme with a new meaning.
__________________________________________________________________________

3.6 Conversion, clipping, blending and acronyms

The last four methods for forming new words covered in this study unit are described
briefly below:
Conversion is the process of turning a word from one part of speech into another part of
speech without adding any derivational affixes, e.g. nouns become verbs or verbs
become adjectives. For example, a batsman can sky the ball (`hit it high into the sky'),
where the noun sky becomes a verb or you can be quizzed (`questioned') on where you
were last night, where quiz becomes a verb.
Clipping is a process of word formation where a shortened form of the word is added to
the language or replaces the original longer word. For example, cellular telephone
becomes cell phone or even cell, violon cello becomes cello and influenza becomes flu.
Blending involves taking parts of words (not necessarily meaningful morphemes) and
combining them to form a new word, e.g. a biopic is a biographical film or `moving
picture', edutainment is a mixture of education and entertainment, and brunch is a meal
you eat sometime between breakfast and lunch.
Acronyms are words formed by taking the first letters of a longer phrase, for example
AIDS is acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and SMS is the short message service
available on your cell phone.

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Task 3.5
(a)

Have another look at the following new words mentioned in the Introduction to this
study unit. Can you identify the word-formation process that was used to create
each of these words? Choose from borrowing, compounding, derivation,
conversion, clipping, blending and acronyms.
social media
crowdsourcing
m-commerce
helicopter parent
Janopause

(b) Now try and identify the word-formation process for these new words:
happify

`to make someone happy'

.......................................................................................................................................
regifting

`to pass on an unwanted present to someone else as a gift from you'

.......................................................................................................................................
blog

a web log or `online journal of one's thoughts'

.......................................................................................................................................
blog

`to write a web log or online journal of one's thoughts'

.......................................................................................................................................
BRICS

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

.......................................................................................................................................
Karaoke

`singing against a prerecorded backing track', from Japanese kara

`empty' and oke, an abbreviation of okesutora `orchestra'

.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback

52

social media

compound

crowdsourcing

compound

m-commerce

clipping (m is a shortened form of mobile) and compounding

helicopter parent

compound

Janopause

blending January and pause

happify

derivation from happy

regifting

derivation from gift

blog

clipping of web log

blog

The verb blog is formed from the noun blog by conversion

BRICS

acronym

karaoke

borrowing (Interestingly, the Japanese term is a blend and also

involved clipping of the borrowed word okesutora to oke)
__________________________________________________________________________

3.7 Why do languages need new words?

In many cases, words are borrowed because they refer to something that is completely
new to a particular language community, like cougars to the early American settlers and
sausages, suits and suitcases to Zulu speakers of an earlier age. David Crystal (2008)
suggests that a few hundred new words have been introduced into English in recent
years as a result of a brand-new technology, namely the Internet:
There were dozens of new applications of old words, such as spam, menu and
mouse. There were dozens of new coinages, especially using new prefixes and
suffixes, such as e-books and e-voting, webcam and webcast, spybot and mailbot.
The -bot is from robot. It refers to a bit of software that automatically performs a
certain task. There were a few dozen new abbreviations, several of which have
become popular in text-messaging, such as cu (`see you'), afaik (`as far as I know')
and thx (`thanks'). And new spellings could also sometimes be seen ... Again, such
things may not last. The novelty might wear off. Or it mightn't. But when you add all
this up every new word, ending, spelling it doesn't amount to very much. A
thousand or so linguistic novelties, possibly. That is a few drops in the linguistic
ocean of English.
Besides borrowing terms to refer to things that were formerly unknown, new words are
sometimes borrowed for reasons of prestige. A borrowed term from a prestigious
language gives added prestige to its user. For example, the English have for many
generations associated the French language with refinement, elegance and high culture.
This accounts for the large number of French borrowings into English negligee and
lingerie, joie de vivre and savoir faire, mousse and mayonnaise, ballet and soirees. By
using borrowed words like negligee and lingerie (rather than nightie and underwear),
English speakers like to think they are displaying their elegance and refinement. Similarly,
those who use Greek and Latin terminology feel they are demonstrating their intellectual
natures or their scientific knowledge.
A third reason for coining new words is for the sake of politeness or political correctness.
New words or euphemisms become necessary when old words acquire too many
negative connotations. For example we prefer not to say a slum but rather an informal
settlement (which doesn't sound quite as bad), and retrenchment is now referred to as
rightsizing a company. According to Hughes (2000:44), while we might think of taboo as
a phenomenon that only happens in primitive or long-ago societies, taboo is alive and
well in all languages:

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Despite the exotic origins of the word taboo, the notions of things sacred and
unmentionable occurs at every level of civilization and in all kinds of environments.
Feared or prohibited semantic areas vary greatly, including the name of God,
reference to death, disease, madness, being crippled, as well as such common
aspects of physicality as copulation, the genitalia and the varieties of excretion,
even the most trivial of embarrassments, which in some societies include reference
to underclothes and humble occupations.
(Hughes 2000:44)
The apartheid government (like other oppressive regimes) was notorious for its
continually-changing set of euphemisms. The word apartheid (literally `separateness'),
possibly coined around 1917 (Hughes 1995:2) replaced the word segregation, and
became the rallying cry of Nationalists calling for racial separation of whites, blacks,
Indians and coloureds in South Africa. The word apartheid later gained a set of
euphemistic variants, including separate development, plural democracy and multinationalism. As Hughes commented drily in a 1987 article in the Star `The fact remains,
however, that more is needed than semantic subterfuge to remove a system so
iniquitous, ubiquitous and tenacious'. As our society becomes more and more politically
correct, we are using euphemisms not just for vulgar or unmentionable topics, but for
issues like poverty and race.
`Western society has since added other areas of taboo, such as matters of race,
financial collapse, poverty, going to prison, even trivialities which include fatness
and shortness. Hence terms like ethnic for racial, coloured folk for blacks, technical
correction for crash, recession for slump, financially underprivileged for poor ...
These are clearly more conscious, indeed highly contrived, part of the explicit
agendas of political correctness.
(Hughes 2000:49)

Task 3.6
(a)

Look back at section 3.7 and list three different reasons why languages might need
new words.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Keep a list here of 10 new words you encounter in your own language over the next
few months. Write down where you heard them, e.g. on the radio, in a magazine,
from a friend etc. and the word-formation process used in each case:

54

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
New words are needed when a language group encounters something for the first time,
possibly a new piece of technology or a new disease, or even a new issue that has
recently arisen, like cyberbullying. Words can also be borrowed from high status
languages for reasons of prestige, because they sound more impressive than the
existing words or because they capture a shade of meaning that is not present in the
existing word. New words are also sometimes deliberately coined when the old words
develop negative connotations and are then avoided by speakers. You may have some
other ideas on this topic.
__________________________________________________________________________

3.8 Summary
We began our investigation of new words by distinguishing between different word forms
of a single word, and the underlying abstract lexeme that links these related forms
together. New lexemes are created all the time, and this study unit focused on different
word-creation strategies that languages can draw on when creating new terms. Words
can be adopted from other languages by the process known as borrowing, or
alternatively two or more complete words can be combined in some way to create a new
compound. A third very common method for creating new words is by the process
known as derivation adding affixes to existing words, and we tried to draw a clear
distinction between the two morphological processes of derivation and inflection. Other
word-creation strategies that we identified include conversion turning a word from one
part of speech into another part of speech without adding any derivational affixes,
clipping or shortening words, blending parts of words to form a new word, or using the
initial letters of a phrase to form an acronym.

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We also discussed why languages might require new words. In many cases, a new word
becomes necessary to refer to something that is completely new to a particular language
community, but new words may also be borrowed or coined for reasons of prestige, or
for replacing words that are taboo or have acquired negative connotations.

Further reading
Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay? (third edition). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter

56

3 The magic of language

16 Grammar
18 Dictionaries
54 Language change

Study Unit 4
Language variation as a source of language
change
`Around the next corner is always a new linguistic experience,
waiting to be observed.'
David Crystal (linguist and author 1941)

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1
2
3
4
5
6

explain how particular language varieties reflect social class and social values;
explain the relationship between language variation and language change;
distinguish between change from above and change from below;
reflect on Labov's contribution to sociolinguistics as a discipline;
explain in broad terms how to conduct sociolinguistic research;
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
language variation
linguistic variable
generational change
change from below
change from above

hypothesis
pilot study
methodology
vernacular
variationist theory

In a nutshell
In this study unit we will focus on how variation between different dialects and
sociolects can lead to language change. We will examine some interesting linguistic
research conducted by the renowned American linguist, William Labov in the 1960s.
We begin in Martha's Vineyard, an island off the east coast of the USA. We will
examine the changes that took place in the pronunciation of the islanders. We then
proceed to equally interesting research which Labov conducted on the pronunciation
of New Yorkers.
These two studies represent two different types of language change: change from
below and change from above. These changes are examined within the variationist
theory of language change which asserts that language change is born out of
language variation. We also look at some studies of social variation in the South
African linguistic context and investigate how sociolinguistic research is conducted.

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4.1 Introduction
No language is totally homogeneous. You learnt in the LIN1502 course on Multilingualism
that language can be a powerful marker of individual and group identity. The language
we choose to speak in a particular situation can send subtle messages about how we
choose to portray ourselves and the relations between us and those we are speaking to.
For example, many people control more than one dialect (local accent, word choice and
grammar that marks the geographical area they are from) and can select the most
appropriate dialect for the particular communicative situation in which they find
themselves. A speaker of standard Venda, for example, may prefer to use his Tshironga
(Southern Venda) dialect when returning to his home village or switch to BSAE (Black
South African English) at work. Individuals may choose different vocabulary and
pronunciation depending on who they are addressing, the formality of the situation and
how carefully they are speaking. You might pronounce the word tune as tyoon on some
occasions and as choon on others. You might sometimes say gonna and sometimes say
going to. Or you might be on your best behaviour and want to impress someone by
asking To whom am I speaking? instead of Who am I speaking to?
The different classes within a society are also reflected in language, giving rise to
different sociolects (socially-determined language varieties). Similarly, a slang variety will
mark in-group identity, usually of a younger, non-conservative group in society. Selecting
jargon associated with the workplace will mark one's inclusion in a particular expert
group such as IT professionals, plumbers or linguists. Even men and women use
language in different ways, as do different generations of language speakers. Older
speakers use a more conservative form of the language with some elements that are
falling into disuse, and teenagers tend to use more new forms. In the example below, De
Bose (1992:157) gives the example of a parent using standard American English and the
teenage child using Black American English:
Parent:

Where have you been all day? Where have you been?

Scholar:

We just went up the mall. We was, just walkin' around. We just

lookin' at the mall ... we just lookin' around and we got us sumpn to
eat and stuff.

At any one point in time there are therefore several different forms of the language that
exist simultaneously. This is referred to as language variation: wherever you look you will
find small differences between speakers in their pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
Language variation is therefore a normal feature of any language. (Look back at your
study guide on Multilingualism: The role of language in South Africa if you need to refresh
your memory about different kinds of language variation.)
For generations, linguists had very little idea what to make of this kind of variation.
According to Millar (2007:335):
... The very high degree of variation within a single community was, for the most
part, simply ignored: at best it was considered to be a peripheral and insignificant
aspect of language, no more than erratic and even random departures from the
norms, while at worst it was regarded as a considerable nuisance, as a collection of
tiresome details getting in the way of good descriptions.
(Millar 2007:335)

58

In this study unit we will examine the linguistic research conducted by the renowned
American linguist, William Labov, which changed this view of language forever and
transformed our understanding of language variation and language change. Labov was
one of the pioneers of a new branch of linguistics that was just beginning to establish
itself in the 1960s, namely sociolinguistics:
Sociolinguistics, which may be briefly defined as socially-focused language study,
emerged in the 1960s as a response to the former inattention to social concerns.
The key dynamic in the social study of language is linguistic diversity, that is,
differences in language form. A central concern of the discipline of sociolinguistics
is the way in which these linguistic differences mirror social differences. Given the
fact that some hierarchical ranking of differences within populations seems to be a
universal of human societies, it is not surprising that language should be exploited
as a resource for marking social boundaries. Such exploitation may be conscious
or unconscious. At the same time that this boundary-marking function of language
variety operates at the level of the social group and may be used by the group to
distinguish between us and those who are not us, the sociolinguist recognises that
language simultaneously functions as a cultural resource for individuals who are
engaged in a constant process of (re)negotiating individual social roles and
relationships. Language diversity acts at once, then, as a social resource (in
shaping social action) and as a social problem (at the level of the nation-state
where linguistic diversity is often seen as a barrier to the integration of populations).
(Herbert 1992:12)
An important reason for studying variation within a language is that it provides us with
evidence about language change in action and about how far changes have progressed,
as well as where and by whom these changes have been taken up.
The two articles we focus on deal with the changes in pronunciation of the speech
sounds (aw) and (ay) on the island of Martha's Vineyard, USA, and the pronunciation of
the (r)-sound in New York. The basic research methods and principles in these articles,
focusing on observing variation among speakers of different ages and classes, are still in
use in sociolinguistic research today.

4.2 Language variation in Martha's Vineyard

4.2.1 The Island
The focus in this study unit is on a small island off the coast of North America called
Martha's Vineyard. This island was the location of the movie Jaws, directed by Steven
Spielberg. The film features a man-eating great white shark that attacks swimmers
(search Jaws filming locations on Youtube if you want to see footage of the island). This
island is part of the State of Massachusetts and it lies about four kilometres off the east
coast of the United States of America.
Martha's Vineyard has a permanent population of about 15 000. Every summer about
60 000 tourists, known as `summer people', flood the island. The eastern half of the
island, Down-Island, is more densely populated by permanent residents, and is also the
area most visited by summer people. Tourists have bought up almost the entire north
east coast of the island and raised property prices to almost double that of mainland

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America, a fact deeply resented by some of the old inhabitants. The rural, western part of
the island around Chilmark is known as Up-Island. Most of the original population of the
island live in Up-Island, working in the fishing industry.
FIGURE 4.1: Martha's Vineyard

Photograph courtesy of http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/massachusetts/

marthas-vineyard
Map courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Martha's_Vineyard_map.png#filelinks

4.2.2 Labov's sociolinguistic investigation of Martha's Vineyard

William Labov visited Martha's Vineyard in the 1960s to investigate the way the islanders
spoke. He recorded the speech of various islanders, excluding the summer visitors, and
looked specifically at the way in which they pronounced certain words. Approximately 30
years earlier another linguist had visited the island while conducting a survey for the
Linguistic Atlas of New England, and had interviewed members of the old families on the
island. When Labov compared this 30-year-old record with his own preliminary
observations, he discovered that the vowel sound ou in words such as out, trout,
pound, seemed to be changing. The vowel sound in each of these words is a diphthong,
which is actually two adjacent vowels. He noticed that some speakers were sometimes
centering this diphthong so that it sounded more like the vowel in bird. A similar change
was affecting the diphthong (ay) in words such as white, by, writes. In fact even individual
speakers used a range of pronunciations that varied in the degree of centralisation.
Labov refers to these sounds as the (aw) and (ay) variables because these were the
sounds that varied from speaker to speaker (linguistic variables are conventionally
written in round brackets). A linguistic variable always has alternative pronunciations (or
alternative grammatical forms) called the variants of the variable. This means that a
linguistic variable can be realised in various ways without changing the meaning of the
word. The variants of such a variable usually correlate with prominent social variables like
class, gender, ethnicity or age group. In the case of (aw) the one variant was the
standard USA mainland pronunciation like South African English out, while the other
variant was the centralised form which sounded more like South African English hurt.
Labov recorded hundreds of examples of words containing these vowel sounds and
classified each one using four categories of centralisation that his ear could distinguish,
namely 0 (no centralisation), 1, 2 and 3 (maximum centralisation). When the scores for
each (aw) and (ay) sound were averaged for each individual subject, each received an
overall rating between 0 (no centralisation) and 3 (maximum centralisation in every case).

60

Labov plotted the results of the (aw) and (ay) pronunciation survey on a series of charts
showing age, geographical distribution, ethnic group and occupation. These comparisons showed that geographically, the centralised vowels were far more widespread in
the rural, western Up-Island than in the more densely populated Down-Island. In terms of
occupational groups, it was the fishermen whose speech showed the highest number of
local diphthongs. In other words, the change was most noticeable in the speech of the
fishermen. Unlike earlier generations of linguists, Labov was not satisfied with identifying
the existence of this variation, but believed there was some underlying reason why
particular speakers chose particular pronunciations.

Task 4.1
Look at the data in the table below and answer the following questions:
FIGURE 4.3: Centralisation of (aw) by age level on Martha's Vineyard (Labov 1972:22)

(a)

Age range

Average centralisation rating for (aw)

75+
6175
4660
3145
14-30

0,23
0,37
0,44
0,88
0,46

Which two concepts are being mapped against one another in this table?
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Which age group shows the least vowel centralisation?

.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

Which age group shows the greatest degree of (aw) centralisation?

.......................................................................................................................................

(d) Given the tendencies evident in the data, what would you guess the average
centralisation rating would have been in the 1933 data from 30 years earlier?
.......................................................................................................................................
(e)

Which age group does not fit the general pattern or trend in the data?
.......................................................................................................................................

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Feedback
To answer (a), you need to look at the title of Table 4.1 and the headings of the columns.
These tell us that the table is mapping age range against average centralisation of the
(aw) variable. To answer questions (b) and (c) you need to refer to the previous page
where it explains Labov's method of assigning every vowel a rating of 0 (no
centralisation), 1, 2, or 3 (maximum centralisation) and then calculating average ratings
between 0 and 3. Lower averages are therefore indicative of less centralisation. Labov's
data indicated that the over 75s showed the least centralisation at an average of 0,23
and the 3145 age group displayed the most, with an average of 0,88. Centralisation is
therefore increasing gradually in Martha's Vineyard. This phenomenon is known as
generational change a language change that increases with each new generation of
speakers.
Because the pattern seems to be one of increasing centralization over time, we could
predict for Question (d) that the data from 30 years earlier would have even less
centralisation than the oldest generation's average of 0,23. In fact the average
centralisation for (aw) for the 4 speakers interviewed in 1933 was just 0,06, indicating
almost no centralisation at all. Surprisingly, the speech of the under-30s was less
affected than that of the 31 to 45-year-olds and doesn't fit the pattern of increasing
centralisation.
__________________________________________________________________________
So what conclusions did Labov draw from these findings? He noted that, compared with
mainland America and Martha's Vineyard in the 1930s, a change was taking place in
certain diphthongs on Martha's Vineyard. This change seemed to be most advanced in
the speech of the Up-Island fishermen. Labov concluded that the change he observed
had probably originated from this small group of working-class fishermen, and had then
spread to other people on the island, particularly those in the 31 to 45 age group. The
islanders were not particularly aware that this change was happening. In other words, it
was not a conscious change.
Historical evidence indicated that centralised diphthongs had always been present to
some extent in the fishermen's speech. Instead of representing an innovation (i.e.
something totally new), the vowels appeared to be a conservative, old-fashioned feature
in the fishermen's pronunciation. This vowel shift or change in some ways represented
an old-fashioned pronunciation prevalent in mainland America in the 18th and 19th
centuries. While the pronunciation of these diphthongs had changed over the course of
30 years in mainland America and on Martha's Vineyard, the fishermen had retained the
older pronunciation and started to exaggerate it.
Martha's Vineyard had been very isolated until about the 1940s, with a subsistence
agricultural and fishing industry. After 1940, declining fish stocks, war, and better
educational and economic opportunities drew young people increasingly to mainland
USA. Summer tourism became the main economic input and there was more and more
contact between the island and the mainland. The people of Martha's Vineyard had
started to lose the old diphthongs. In fact they had begun to speak like the neighbouring
mainland Americans, but this change appears to have been reversed. Why should such
a change be reversed and then move in the opposite direction with an exaggerated
pronunciation of the old vowels? The answer, Labov suggested, was connected with the

62

rise in popularity of the island as a tourist resort. The old inhabitants saw the tourists as
an intrusion and a threat to their traditional way of life. They disapproved of them and
regarded them as foreigners. The fishermen were the most close-knit social group on the
island and their occupation was independent of the summer people. The older
inhabitants of the island admired the fishermen, who appeared to exemplify the virtues
traditional to Martha's Vineyard. They viewed the fishermen as independent, skilful,
physically strong and hardy. In short, they epitomised the good old Island virtues as
opposed to the soft, consumer-orientated society of the summer visitors. The fishermen
came to represent the old, traditional Martha's Vineyard; this led a number of inhabitants
of Martha's Vineyard to subconsciously imitate the speech characteristics of the
fishermen in order to identify themselves as true islanders. This hypothesis was further
supported by Labov's findings that the local pronunciation was far stronger in those
inhabitants who were planning to stay on the island permanently. These were mostly in
the 31 to 45 year-old group. Those who planned to leave the island (including many
youngsters) had vowels which were more similar to the mainland USA pronunciation.
The spread of this change in pronunciation on Martha's Vineyard seemed to have taken
place in a series of overlapping stages. Labov identified these stages as follows:
Stage one:
An aspect of the speech of a particular social group differed from that of the
standard dialect of the area. In this case, the speech of the fishermen retained
certain old diphthongs which had ceased to exist in the standard speech of the
area.
Stage two:
Another social group on the island started to model itself on the first group and
subconsciously adopted and exaggerated certain features in the speech of the
fishermen. Because the fishermen were regarded as representing traditional virtues
and commitment to the island by those who lived permanently on the island, the
fishermen's diphthongs were subconsciously copied and exaggerated as a sign of
solidarity amongst islanders against the despised summer visitors.
Stage three:
The new speech feature gradually took hold among those who had adopted it. The
local diphthongs were adopted as the standard pronunciation by the 30 to 45 yearold age group.
Stage four:
The process began to repeat itself as other social groups started to model
themselves on the group which had now adopted the linguistic innovation as norm.
In this case, those in the 30 to 45 year-old age group were taken as models by other
groups on Martha's Vineyard.
In Labov's interpretation, centralisation in this context had become a linguistic marker of
a commitment to living permanently on Martha's Vineyard. This is why the youngest
group did not conform to the pattern, as many young people were intending to leave the

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island to study or get jobs on the mainland. Their vowels were therefore much closer to
those of mainland USA. By the age of 30, most of those who were intending to leave the
island had already left, and the remaining group was highly committed to staying and
thus adopted the vowels that indicated that positive attitude.
The type of change that occurred on Martha's Vineyard is sometimes referred to as
change from below. This means that a non-standard feature `which is widespread in
non-prestige speech begins to creep up the social ladder into the mouths of prestige
speakers, gaining ground steadily until it becomes accepted as the prestige norm, with
the older prestige form becoming stigmatized in turn' (Millar 2007:360).

Task 4.2
Use the following questions to help you revise the main points of Labov's research in
Martha's Vineyard.
(a)

In which group did the change originate?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Why should the adult population (between 31 and 45 years old) of Martha's
Vineyard start subconsciously imitating the speech of this group?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

Why had the original inhabitants of the island held on to the old speech habits and
not changed their pronunciation in line with that of the people around them?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(d) Why should such a change be reversed and then move in the opposite direction
with an exaggerated pronunciation of the old vowels?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

64

(e)

What is the type of change that occurred on Martha's Vineyard called?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
(a)

The vowel change originated in a small group of fishermen who subconsciously

exaggerated a tendency already in existence in their speech.

(b) Because the fishermen were regarded as representing traditional virtues and values
by those who lived permanently on the island, the fishermen's diphthongs were
subconsciously copied and exaggerated as a sign of solidarity amongst islanders
that distinguished them from the despised summer visitors.
(c)

The old inhabitants saw the tourists as an intrusion and a threat to their traditional
way of life. They disapproved of them and regarded them as foreigners.

(d) This was connected with the rise in popularity of the island as a tourist destination,
and the islanders' need to maintain a separate identity that distinguished them from
the tourists.
(e)

The type of change that occurred on Martha's Vineyard is called change from below
because a non-prestigious speech feature spread `upwards' into the speech of
higher social classes.
__________________________________________________________________________
Labov's study of language change on Martha's Vineyard is regarded as one of the
classic studies in sociolinguistics, as it delves deeply into the social meaning of different
values of a linguistic variable. Mesthrie (2000:84) describes it as `a clear illustration of the
interplay between linguistic and social factors in a relatively simple setting' in which `the
variation boiled down to a change in community norms ... arising out of a stronger sense
of ``us'' (islanders) versus ``them'' (mainlanders/tourists).'

4.3 Language variation in New York City

We will now look at another type of change that Labov discovered in a famous
sociolinguistic study that he conducted in New York City. In this study he investigated the
variable occurrence of (r) in the speech of New Yorkers. He noticed that some New
Yorkers pronounced the (r) in words such as beard and bear, while others usually left it
out. (In Standard South African English, [r] is not pronounced after a vowel). Listen to an
American TV programme if you want to hear the pronunciation of (r). Individuals always
used a combination of pronounced and unpronounced (r) sounds, which Labov
suspected was not random variation but correlated with social status. In a science like
Linguistics this type of suspicion or guess is called a hypothesis.
In order to check his hypothesis, Labov carried out a pilot study, which is a small-scale
investigation designed to give some idea of whether or not the hypothesis is supported.
Sociologists have found that salespeople in large department stores subconsciously
imitate the pronunciation of customers, particularly the customers who have relatively
high social status. Labov hoped that if he picked three New York department stores, one

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from the top of the price and fashion range, one from the middle and one from the
bottom, the salespeople would reflect the social pattern of the (r) variable in the
pronunciation of New York speech.
The choice of method used to collect and analyse data in research is known as the
methodology. The three stores that Labov picked were: Saks (a top of the range store in
the centre of the fashion area), Macy's (a middle of the range store) and S. Klein (an
inexpensive store in a poor area). This would probably be equivalent to picking
Stuttafords, Woolworths and Pep Stores in South Africa. According to Labov (1972:208),
observation of the vernacular gives us the most systematic data for analysing linguistic
variables. The vernacular is the speech style in which the minimum attention is given to
our own speech, resulting in the most usual, unmonitored style. Mesthrie (1992:42)
points out that the vernacular is not usually the `lowest' or most informal speech style.
Most speakers can adjust their styles upwards or downwards as the occasion demands,
using more formal styles or more informal ones. The vernacular usually lies somewhere
in between. Labov devised a clever way to elicit vernacular speech from the sales staff.
Hepretended to be a customer and asked a salesperson Excuse me, where are the
women's shoes? When the answer fourth floor was given, he would pretend he hadn't
heard and ask the salesperson to repeat the answer. This normally led to repetition of the
words fourth floor, usually spoken more carefully and with more emphasis the second
time. As soon as he had received these answers, he quickly moved out of sight and
made a note of the two pronunciations and other factors such as the age, sex and ethnic
group of the salesperson. In this way he was able to make a note of how each person
pronounced the words fourth floor and to see whether they used the variable (r) or not.
After carrying out 264 such inquiries in the three stores, Labov was able to correlate the
pronunciations of the salespeople with factors such as their age, sex and ethnic group.
His results showed an interesting correlation between the status of the shops and the
frequency of (r) after vowels. He noted that the overall percentage of (r) was higher in
Saks than in Macy's and higher in Macy's than in S. Klein. So far Labov's hypothesis was
confirmed. Those of the highest socio-economic groups tended to insert (r) far more
frequently than those in the lower socio-economic groups.

Task 4.3
Research is done in a very structured way and you need to become familiar with the
elements of sociolinguistic research. For Labov's pilot study in New York departmental
stores, try to identify the following research elements:
(a)

Write down Labov's hypothesis (Tip: a hypothesis is always a clear positive or

negative statement).
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

66

(b) Give a brief description of Labov's methodology.

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

Imagine you are Labov. Write down an (imaginary) example of what your raw data
(notes) might have looked like after interviewing two salespeople.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(d) In the figure below the use of (r) by the employees of the three stores is compared
by means of a bar graph. The shaded area represents the percentage who used (r)
in all utterances and the unshaded area represents the percentage who used (r) in
some utterances. (The percentage who did not use (r) is not shown.) (N = total
number of people interviewed.) Look carefully at the bar graph and then answer the
questions that follow.
FIGURE 4.4: Overall stratification of (r) across department stores (cf. Labov 1972:51)
Saks
32

Macy's
31
S. Klein

30
20

17

4
N = 68

N = 125

N = 71

In which store did the most interviews take place?

.......................................................................................................................................
What percentage of the Saks staff used (r) all the time?
.......................................................................................................................................

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What percentage of the Saks staff never used (r)?

.......................................................................................................................................
In which shop did the salespeople use (r) the least?
.......................................................................................................................................
Was Labov's hypothesis confirmed by the data or not?
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Labov's hypothesis was that the amount of (r) insertion depended on one's social class,
with the highest classes using more (r) than the middle and working classes. His
methodology was to collect samples of speech from three different socioeconomic
groups of salespeople at three different New York department stores. By pretending to
be a customer he got the salespeople to use the phrase fourth floor and then repeat it
more clearly. As soon as he had received these answers, he made a note of the
pronunciation and other factors such as the age, sex and ethnic group of the
salesperson. His notes or data probably looked something like the following, mentioning
where he collected the data, information about the salesperson and his or her
pronunciation ((0) indicates that (r) was not pronounced):
Store:

Saks

Date:

1 August 1969

Informant A
Age:

approx 25

Sex:

male

Ethnic group:

white

First pronunciation:

fou(r)th floo(r)

Repeated pronunciation:

fou(r)th floo(r)

Store:

Macy's

Date:

2 August 1969

Informant P

68

Age:

approx 55

Sex:

female

Ethnic group:

white

First pronunciation:

fou(0)th floo(r)

Repeated pronunciation:

fou(r)th floo(r)

In Question (d), underneath the bar graph we can see that N = 125 for Macy's, meaning
that 125 interviews were carried out in Macy's. 30% of the Saks informants used (r) all the
time and 32% used it some of the time, making a total of 62% who used (r). Hence we
can deduce that 38% never used (r) after a vowel (even though this isn't shown on the
graph). Similarly, we can add up the shaded and unshaded percentages and calculate
that 51% of Macy's informants and 21% of S. Klein informants used (r) at least some of
the time. These findings clearly indicate that (r) was used the most by Saks employees
(where the upper classes shopped) and the least by S. Klein employees (where the
working class shopped). This confirmed Labov's hypothesis that the (r) variable was
correlated with social status.
__________________________________________________________________________
We have seen that there were different pronunciations of (r) in the different stores, but
what evidence was there that a change was actually taking place? Labov noticed an
interesting point which seemed to indicate that change was occurring: there was a
difference between the vernacular speech (the first, most unmonitored utterance of fourth
floor by each salesperson) and the emphatic speech (the second utterance) in the data
from Klein's store. At Klein's, there was a significantly higher proportion of (r) in the more
careful, emphatic repetition of the words fourth floor. It seemed that these assistants had
at least two styles of speech: casual style, in which they did not consciously think about
what they said, and the more careful, formal style, in which they tried to insert (r), which
they felt was socially desirable. When they were speaking more carefully, they were
obviously trying to use what they considered a more prestigious pronunciation.
After his pilot study at the three departmental stores, Labov went on to do a more
detailed study of speech patterns in New York City. He studied the pronunciation of a
large number of people from all sectors of New York society, divided into social classes
on the basis of their socio-economic status (occupation, education level and income):
upper middle-class (UMC), lower middle-class (LMC), working class (WC) and lower
class (LC). He then identified four speech styles, ranging in order of formality. The four
styles were casual speech, formal speech, reading connected prose aloud and reading
word lists aloud. He then observed the speech of a range of subjects from each of the
social classes in all speech styles and noted the degree of the variable (r) used by each
subject.
When he analysed his results (as shown in Figure 4.5 below), it was clear that the
frequency of (r) varied directly according to social class: the higher the social class, the
greater the amount of (r) insertion. It was also clear that (r) for all classes varied
according to the level of formality of speech: the greater the level of formality, the greater
the frequency of (r).
But the most interesting feature of these findings was the speech behaviour of the LMC,
where there was an enormous difference between the percentage of (r) in casual speech
as opposed to more formal speech and reading aloud. In fact, the LMC used (r) more
than the UMC speakers when reading word lists aloud (note the second-highest line
crossing over the top line in the graph in Figure 4.5). The graph below clearly shows this
unusual result.

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FIGURE 4.5: Stratification of (r) in New York City(from Labov 1972:114)

% (r)
pronounced

Casual

Formal

Reading

Word list

Style
What is the significance of the overuse of (r) in the formal speech of the lower middle
class? Why should the LMC use (r) even more that the UMC? Labov suggested that the
reason for this is that members of the LMC tend to be socially and linguistically insecure
and anxious to improve their social status, with the result that they try to copy the
prestigious pronunciation of the UMC. When they are consciously thinking about their
pronunciation (i.e. when they are using formal speech styles) they then try harder to copy
the speech style of the UMC and consequently use (r) even more than the UMC would
normally use it. Labov claimed that this overuse of the prestige variant by the LMC
indicated that a sound change was in progress.
Let us summarise the results of the research done in New York City: the variable (r) was
socially prestigious as it increased according to social class and formality of style. This
increase in (r) in more formal speech styles was strongest in the language of the LMC
(especially LMC women) who imitated and sometimes exaggerated prestige features
(including (r)) found in the speech of the UMC. Because the LMC were consciously trying
to imitate the UMC use of (r) in their speech, the type of change that was occurring in
New York is termed a change from above. Change from above involves a linguistic
change that is introduced from a higher social class and spreads into the speech of
those with lower socioeconomic status. The study of New Yorkers' use of (r) represents a
change from above, where a lower class, the LMC in particular, consciously imitated a
prestige feature in a higher class, namely UMC.

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4.4 Comparison of the two studies: change from above versus

change from below
Labov's two classic studies of language change described above represent two types of
language change which sociolinguists term `change from above' and `change from
below' (`above' and `below' refer simultaneously to levels of conscious awareness as
well as position in the social hierarchy).
Change from above involves new sounds introduced from the dominant social class. In
this case it is the lower or non-dominant classes that generally consciously model their
speech on sounds used in other speech communities that have high social prestige.
This prestige is based on factors such as education, income and lifestyle. When people
subconsciously identify with a particular group, they often start to imitate features of their
speech. The study of (r) among New Yorkers represents a change from above, where
lower classes, the LMC in particular, (in many cases consciously) imitated a prestige
feature in a higher class, namely the UMC.
In the case of Martha's Vineyard the changes that took place were an example of change
from below, because they involved a variable that was below the level of consciousness
and that originated in the speech of a lower class. Certain groups of the islanders, the 31
to 45-year-olds in particular, identified with the fishermen and subconsciously imitated a
feature of their speech, thus spreading the centralised (aw) into sectors with higher
socioeconomic status.
An important distinction between change from above and below is the direction of the
change in relation to the standard dialect of the area. Change from above tends to move
in the direction of the generally accepted norm, while change from below tends to move
away from it.

4.5 Labov's contribution

As we noted in section 4.1 Labov is credited with putting the discipline of sociolinguistics
firmly on the linguistic map. Labov's studies are the basis of the variationist theory of
language change. According to this theory all language change is preceded by
variation. This, of course, is not the same as saying that all variation leads to change. In
many cases it does not, but what this theory emphasises is that change is born out of
variation. There must be variation in order for change to take place. Certain varieties used
by one group are adopted (and sometimes exaggerated) by another group and so
change spreads. According to this theory, in order to study language change it is
necessary to pay careful attention to the language system (linguistic variables relating to
pronunciation and grammar) as well as the social system (such as social class, age and
gender), as the two are closely interrelated. For instance, on Martha's Vineyard the
variants of the (aw) variable relate to factors such as age group and attitude (a
commitment to living permanently on the island).
Most studies in the variationist model argue that society is stratified in terms of class,
which is defined in terms of socio-economic factors such as income, occupation and
level of education. This stratification is marked by shifts towards the more prestigious
linguistic variants. The upwardly mobile LMC are concerned with increasing their status.
Their language is characterised in terms of overuse of certain prestigious variables.
Working-class speech, on the other hand, often expresses solidarity rather than
consciousness of status and upward mobility. Trudgill (1972) suggests that male

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working-class speech tends to be associated with roughness and toughness, which are
considered by many men to be desirable masculine attributes (but not desirable
feminine attributes). The subconscious changes (changes from below) are generally
initiated by LMC men imitating the speech of working-class men because they tend to
admire the supposed masculinity of their speech. These suggestions are supported by
the changes on Martha's Vineyard where the speech of the fishermen was admired. He
goes on to suggest that conscious changes (changes from above) tend to be initiated by
women as women are consciously striving to speak `better' and selecting more prestige
variants. In New York the change was led by LMC women, a grouping defined in terms of
both gender and class.
What was Labov's contribution to the theory of linguistic change? Previously linguists
were unsure how language change originated and spread. Thanks to the work of
scholars such as Labov, we are now able to observe changes happening with far greater
accuracy than before. We can see how they spread and trace them to their point of
origin, that is see where and how they began. Besides his influence in shaping the new
discipline of sociolinguistics, other innovative aspects of Labov's contribution were that
he
. recognised the importance of the linguistic variable as an indicator of individual and
group identity
. recognised that vernacular speech provided the most valuable and natural data for
sociolinguistic analysis
. used a quantitative (numerical and statistical) approach to variation to highlight
different language norms in different social groups
. showed for the first time that a linguistic change that is in process will manifest itself
as linguistic variation.
The type of studies done by Labov have not been carried out to any great extent in South
Africa. There are therefore still many opportunities for researchers who are interested in
investigating language variation and change in the South African context.One of the
reasons for this is that in a multilingual country like South Africa, the class distinctions
that are a basic component of Labov's studies are not so clear cut, and the concept of
class and ethnic group sometimes overlap. However, it is important to remember that
while we have eleven official languages in South Africa, `each language label represents
a range of language varieties which is often quite extensive' (Herbert 1992:3). Herbert
(1992:3) gives the example of attempting to teach standard (KwaZulu-Natal) Zulu to Zulu
learners in Gauteng for whom this variety is so far removed from their own that it is like
learning a foreign language. A diversity of varieties is therefore a significant feature of all
our languages.

Task 4.4
Some studies of South African Indian English (SAIE) have been based on Labov's
approach to variation. Mesthrie (1992:44) explains that the varieties of SAIE differ quite
markedly across different classes. Upper middle class SAIE is not very different from
SAE, but working class SAIE as spoken by older, less educated, rural speakers has
many linguistic characteristics that make this variety unique. In the example below, can
you identify any linguistic variables relating to pronunciation or grammar that
characterise this working class variety of SAIE?

72

Q:

How often you go to Durban?

A:

Where we go! Hardly we go, visit Durban too. Sometime 'olidays, my 'usband
take his brother's house an' his sistern-law there an' all of his connection. My
connection-all staying Merebank. Sometime holidays we go, but this year
'oliday we had y'know, like we had some problem an' all like we want to go
visit, I don' like to go stay that two-three weeks an' all they living 'ard life like
us too, they earn little bit money too.
(Mesthrie 1992:44)

...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
As far as phonology is concerned, you probably noticed the missing h sounds at the
beginning of words like 'olidays, 'usband, the missing t in don' (don't) and the missing d
in most occurrences of an' (and). Further research might show that initial (h) is a linguistic
variable that may be present in upper middle class SAIE but absent in the working class
variety. The syntax is also different from SAE. For example, SAIE seems to use more -ing
forms than simple present tense forms, for example they living 'ard life (`they live a hard
life') and My connection-all staying Merebank (`My side of the family all stay in
Merebank'). Whether this variation in SAIE represents a change in progress remains to
be seen.
__________________________________________________________________________

4.6 The sociolinguistic interview

Over years of collecting sociolinguistic data, Labov also gave considerable thought to
how to conduct a sociolinguistic interview that would lead to informal, spontaneous,
natural dialogue like that of the SAIE example above. One of his ideas was to ask a
question that would encourage the informants to talk about their own personal stories.
One way to obtain natural, informal speech samples is to ask the informants if they have
ever been in terrible danger or nearly died:
Were you ever in a situation where you thought, `This is it'?
The so-called `danger of death' question is said to be one of the best questions for
eliciting personal stories in the vernacular, but there are several other possibilities that
have been tried and tested in sociolinguistic interviews:
Did you ever have a dream that really scared you?

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Did you ever get blamed for something you never did?
What do you like best about living in X?
(Tagliamonte 2006:40)
The interviewer should use a variety that is informal and that approximates the vernacular
of the informant. This allows the informant to relax and feel comfortable. Here is an
example of a question posed to a teenage informant:
So, like, have you ever had like a really freaky experience?
(Tagliamonte 2006:41)
Letting the informant talk without interruption is also important, asking short, follow-up
questions to keep the conversation going (Tagliamonte 2006:47). Importantly, the
sociolinguistic interview needs to tailor itself to the cultural norms of the informants, for
example with regard to appropriate forms of address and avoidance of taboo subjects.
You can practise your sociolinguistic interview technique any time that you are at a family
gathering or waiting in a long queue. Start a conversation by asking a personal (but not
too personal) question and showing interest in the answer. Keep asking follow-up
questions and listen out for interesting linguistic variables. In fact, sociolinguistic
interviews can provide much more than just information about language use:
In the end, the data that you will collect using these strategies will be more
remarkable than you can imagine. I never cease to be amazed at how poignant
sociolinguistic interviews can be. In fact, some of the wisdom, sayings and thoughts
of people whose words I have analysed have been etched in my memory forever.
(Tagliamonte 2006:48)

Task 4.5
Is there any evidence that the interviewer in Task 4.4 (Mesthrie 1992:44) is following
Labov's advice for a successful sociolinguistic interview?
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
This interviewer is following the guidelines for a successful sociolinguistic interview by
asking a short, personal question that will keep the informant talking. He also makes sure

74

that he does not interrupt the informant while she is talking. The interviewer has adopted
an informal SAIE variety himself, omitting the do in the question How often you go to
Durban? Mesthrie says that most styles of SAIE omit the do, resulting in questions like
You saw me? rather than Did you see me? In this way the interviewer is adopting the
vernacular and making his informant feel at ease in order to collect speech samples that
are as informal and natural as possible to serve as data for sociolinguistic analysis.
__________________________________________________________________________

4.7 Summary
In this study unit we saw that language can be a powerful marker of social identity.
Individual speakers frequently control several varieties and can select the most
appropriate variety for the particular communicative situation in which they find
themselves. The discipline of sociolinguistics focuses on linguistic variation, that is,
differences in language form. A central concern of the discipline of sociolinguistics is the
way in which these linguistic differences mirror social differences between speakers.
We looked at two classic sociolinguistic studies carried out by the American linguist
William Labov. The Martha's Vineyard study illustrated the type of language change
known as change from below, where a linguistic change spread gradually from a nonstandard dialect into the prestige variety. The New York study illustrated change from
above, where a prestige variable spread into the speech of the middle and working
class. Labov is credited with putting the discipline of sociolinguistics firmly on the
linguistic map and his variationist theory of language change emphasised the
importance of the linguistic variable as an indicator of individual and group identity
and showed that a linguistic change that is in process will manifest itself as linguistic
variation.
We also focused on the various elements of sociolinguistic research, including the
research hypothesis and methodology. We concluded by discussing the best way to
collect sociolinguistic data, using an interview technique that makes the informant feel
comfortable and elicits informal, spontaneous, vernacular language data.

Further reading
Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay? (third edition). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter
Chapter

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8 Geographical identity
9 Ethnic and national identity
10 Social identity
54 Language change
59 World languages
60 Multilingualism

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Study Unit 5
Codeswitching and mixed languages
The use of multiple languages permits people to say and do,
indeed to be, two or more things where normally a choice is expected.
Monica Heller (Canadian linguist and academic)

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1
2
3
4
5

distinguish various types of language contact situations;

distinguish between codeswitching, language mixing and mixed languages;
show how codeswitching in multilingual societies and individuals can lead to
language change;
illustrate how mixed language varieties such as Tsotsitaal lead to language change;
and
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
superstratum
substratum
contact-induced language change
codeswitching
marked choice

unmarked choice
markedness model of codeswitching
language mixing
mixed language
Tsotsitaal

In a nutshell
In this study unit we look at situations in which languages come into frequent contact
and begin to have an influence on each other. We explore how bilinguals use two
languages as a resource to express aspects of their social identity. The purpose is to
show that multilingual situations with a high degree of language contact can lead to
codeswitching, mixed languages and eventually to language change.

5.1 Introduction
In a monolingual country, the country has only one main spoken language. However,
even countries such as France, Britain and the USA that claim to be monolingual in

76

fact accommodate a diverse variety of dialects along with a number of minority

languages. Incredibly, the Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Lewis 2009, http://
www.ethnologue.com) lists 364 languages for the USA, 62 for France and 56 for Britain!
Most societies therefore accommodate various language groups within a single nation,
and between 70% and 80% of the world's population is thought to be bilingual or
multilingual (Millar 2007:387). Language contact is therefore part of the social fabric of
everyday life for hundreds of millions of people in the 21st century (Sankoff 2001).

Task 5.1
(a)

Just for fun, search the Ethnologue table at http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno

_docs/distribution.asp?by=country to try and find any countries with only one
language listed.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) According to the Ethnologue table mentioned above, which three countries had the
most languages?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

How many languages would you estimate are spoken in South Africa?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
(a)

The only `genuine monolingual' countries I found were the British Indian Ocean
territory, the Falkland Islands, St Helena, the Vatican City and North Korea, most of
which are islands and all of which are highly isolated either politically or
geographically from the rest of the world. In our global world, these are the only
conditions under which a monolingual state seems to be able to exist.

(b) The countries with the most linguistic diversity are Papua New Guinea with 830
languages, Indonesia with 722 and Nigeria with 521.
(c)

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According to the Ethnologue: Languages of the World (http://www.ethnologue.com) there are 40 different languages spoken in South Africa. As we saw in Study
Unit 2, the linguistic situation in South Africa is complex, with 11 official languages

77

and other languages that are spoken as L1 but have no official status, such as the
Khoesan languages, Hindi and other Indian languages, Greek, German, etc. There
is a high degree of bi- and multilingualism in South Africa due to extensive contact
between speakers of various languages, especially in urban areas. The multilingual
situation in South Africa is, in fact, an ideal `research station' for studying various
language contact phenomena.
__________________________________________________________________________
A striking feature of the African continent is its linguistic diversity. Here is a sample list of
the total number of languages spoken in various African countries:
Country

Approximate number of languages spoken

Nigeria

521

Cameroon

279

Chad

133

Cote d'Ivoire

93

Ethiopia

88

Central African Republic

82

Burkina Faso

70

Congo

66

Benin

56

Gabon

43

Angola

41

South Africa

40

Botswana

40

Egypt

27

Algeria

22

(Source: http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=country downloaded

28 February 2012)

In terms of its sociolinguistic composition, Africa as a continent is characterised by the

following features:
. A large number of languages coexist within each country.
. Many African countries use an ex-colonial language as a lingua franca or common
language of communication (like Portuguese in Mozambique and Angola).
. Generally in African countries there is a low level of literacy and many people are not
literate in their primary language (L1). There are many population groups whose
languages are not written languages.

78

The above features lead to the use of various kinds of language mixing as a common
form of communication. The most obvious of these, as we saw in Study Unit 3, is the
borrowing of words from neighbouring languages. However, as we will see in this study
unit, there are many other forms of language mixing and language change that result
from language contact.

5.2 Types of language contact

Linguists distinguish between superstratum (Latin for `the level above') and substratum
(Latin for `the level below') contact situations. As the terms suggest, a substratum
language is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a
superstratum language is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both
substratum and superstratum languages may influence each other in a situation of
language contact. For example, in a colonial situation, words from the superstratum
colonial language would be borrowed into the indigenous languages. The reverse can
also occur, with the minority substratum language influencing the language with more
political or economic power. An example is the borrowing of words from the language of
an immigrant group into the majority language, e.g. Yiddish words like schmuck,
schlepp, chutzpah, bagel and kvetch and exclamations like Oi! and Enjoy! appear in
certain dialects of English, including South African English.
The type of language change we are referring to here is known as contact-induced
change, in other words change that would not have occurred without the contact
between two or more languages. According to Sankoff (2001):
Language contacts have, historically, taken place in large part under conditions of
social inequality resulting from wars, conquests, colonialism, slavery, and
migrations forced and otherwise. Relatively benign contacts involving urbanization
or trade as a contact motivation are also documented, as are some situations of
relative equality (Sorensen 1967, Sankoff 1980). Language contacts have in some
times and places been short-lived, with language loss and assimilation a relatively
short-term result, whereas other historical situations have produced relative longterm stability and acceptance by the bi- or multilingual population. The question for
the linguist interested in understanding the relationship between social forces and
linguistic outcomes is, to what extent do these kinds of social differences result in
different linguistic outcomes?
(Sankoff 2001:640641)
According to Thomason (2001), language contact is a matter of degree, and the degree
of contact can influence the degree of language change. As shown in the list below,
possibilities range from casual contact with little contact-induced language change to
intensive contact with dramatic influences of the languages upon one another:

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Casual contact where there are only a few bilinguals who may not even be fluent. This
results in borrowing of mostly content words, like the Italian musical terms that have
entered English sonata, staccato, crescendo, etc.

Slightly more intense contact where a greater proportion of the speakers are bilingual
and are reasonably fluent. This results in borrowing of content and function words,
and adoption of some speech sounds from the source language, especially in

79

borrowed words. An example is the borrowing of clicks into Xhosa and Zulu due to
contact with the Khoesan languages in South Africa.
More intense contact, with even more bilinguals and positive attitudes to the
language. This results in borrowing of content words, function words and affixes.
Structural changes can also occur to the language, including sound changes like the
addition of new phonemes from the source language, loss of original phonemes, and
changes in word order and other aspects of grammar. An example of this level of
contact would be contact between the various South African languages, e.g.
between English and Afrikaans, between Sesotho and Afrikaans or between Zulu and
English. Many words have been borrowed, both at an earlier stage and on an
ongoing basis. Word order patterns have also been borrowed to some extent, with
Afrikaans, for example, now allowing some SVO instead of the usual SOV word order.
Intensive contact with extensive bilingualism and positive attitudes to the source
language. This results in heavy borrowing and large-scale structural changes such
as sweeping changes in word order and grammar, loss or addition of rules, etc. An
example of this heavy degree of contact-induced change is the relationship between
Urdu, Marathi and Kannada in the Indian village of Kupwar. Urdu and Marathi are
Indo-European languages and Kannada is a Dravidian language, so these three
languages have very different sentence structures. In Kupwar, however, the pervasive
contact between the three languages has resulted in all three having the same word
order and sentence structure, so that they now no longer follow the rules of Urdu,
Marathi and Kannada spoken elsewhere. In effect, in Kupwar the vocabularies of
three different languages can be slotted into the same grammatical structure (Millar
2007:397).

It is clear from the categorisation above that two of the critical factors affecting the
amount of contact-induced change seem to be the degree of speaker bilingualism and
the attitudes of the speakers to the other language(s). Other critical factors are the length
of the contact (years, decades, centuries, etc.), the relative sizes of the speaker
populations, and the degree of socioeconomic or political pressure placed on speakers
to shift to the dominant language (Thomason 2003:689). However, it is important to note
that it is not always predictable why some language contact situations result in extensive
mutual influence while others leave the languages unaffected:
It is easy to find contact situations in which, despite (for instance) great pressure on
and universal bilingualism among speakers of one language, very little contactinduced change of any kind has occurred. One such example is Montana Salish
(also called Flathead), a Salishan language spoken in northwestern Montana. Of
the several thousand tribal members, fewer than 70 fluent speakers of the language
remain, and all of them have native fluency in English as well as in Montana Salish.
Nevertheless, the English intrusion into Montana Salish is minimal: a few loanwords
some of them dating back to the nineteenth century, when few if any tribal
members spoke English and no detectable grammatical influence of any kind.
(Thomason 2003:689)

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Task 5.2
Choose any two local languages in your region and classify the degree of contactinduced change between them using Thomason's (2001) 4-point scale above, from
casual contact to intensive contact (or the fifth possibility no contact-induced change).
You can focus on how one language has affected the other, you don't have to describe
changes in both languages. Describe the sociolinguistic situation (substratum and
superstratum languages, language statistics, the frequency of bilingual speakers,
attitudes of speakers to each other's language, etc.) and provide some linguistic
examples (borrowed words, borrowed speech sounds, syntactic changes etc.) to help
support your argument regarding the degree of contact-induced change.
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Feedback
Thomason (2001) argues that language contact is a matter of degree, and that the
degree of contact can influence the degree of language change. Your argument should
try and describe both of these factors. While casual contact usually results in little
contact-induced language change, more intense contact results in more noticeable
changes or even dramatic influence of one language upon the other. You need to give
actual concrete examples of how one language has affected the other, for example you
could look in a dictionary to find words borrowed from the other language, or search the
internet for websites or articles discussing the influence of one language on the other, or
give examples of actual conversations or written text that demonstrate this influence. You
need to state clearly which of the abovementioned categories your two languages fall
into (1, 2, 3 or 4), or perhaps the contact situation is an exception to the rule, where a

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language has been maintained largely untouched by other languages with which it is in
contact.
__________________________________________________________________________
So how do we know if a particular language change is a result of contact with another
language? Sometimes it is easy to identify a word as being borrowed because it contains
sound combinations that don't exist elsewhere in the language. An example is the nyasound of English words like Tanya and lasagna and nyala. These words are clearly
borrowed from other languages (Russian, Italian and Zulu respectively) because English
doesn't use this sound combination.
In other cases, however, it is not so easy for linguists to tell if a particular language
change in Language A is a result of contact with Language B. Firstly we would have to
show that a word or structural feature of Language A matches that of Language B. It
would also be necessary to show that Languages A and B were spoken in the same area
at the same time. Then we need to show that there are a number other features of
Language A that are similar to Language B but do not occur in other languages related
to A. If there is only one feature of Languages A and B that is similar, this is unlikely to be
a result of contact-induced change. However if there is a whole range of similar linguistic
features, then it is likely that these similarities resulted from language contact.

Task 5.3
Try and answer the following true or false questions, arguing your point logically using the
information you have been given in this study unit so far.
(a)

True or false? The influence of Khoe on Afrikaans in South Africa is an example of

substratum influence.
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(b) True or false? If Language X and Language Y fall into the third category of `more
intense' language contact above, with many fluent bilinguals and positive attitudes
to both languages, we can conclude that extensive borrowing and significant
contact-induced grammatical changes will take place in at least one of the
languages.
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Feedback
The statement in (a) is true. Dutch and later Afrikaans was the superstratum language,
the language of the socioeconomically powerful group of settlers, and as we saw in
Study Unit 3, it borrowed words and place names from the indigenous Khoe. Substratum
influence in a language contact situation means that the language of a minority group
influences that of a more powerful group.
You should have realised by now that very little about languages and language change is
completely predictable and so the statement in (b) is false. While category 3 contact may
well lead to heavy borrowing and structural change in one or both languages, the
Montana Salish example in 5.2 above shows us that this is not always the case. While
there is often a relationship between the intensity of the contact and the degree of
contact-induced change, some language contact situations leave the languages
unaffected.
__________________________________________________________________________

5.3 Codeswitching
One kind of contact-induced language change that you probably encounter every day is
codeswitching. Codeswitching, as you saw in LIN1502 Multilingualism, refers to the `use
of two or more languages in the same conversation, usually within the same
conversational turn, or even within the same sentence of that turn' (Myers-Scotton
1993:47). Codeswitching is thus the shifting by a speaker from Language A to Language
B, allowing the speaker to express his or her identity in terms of two different languages.
For example, a person may start a conversation in Sepedi, but use certain English words
and phrases as a replacement for Sepedi equivalents, as in the examples below:
Lehono ke swanetse go ya court. Ke swanetse go phakisa ka gore e thoma ka nine
in the morning.
`Today I have to go to court. I need to hurry up because it starts at nine in the
morning.'
Bana ba sekolo ba rata go gossip. Ke ka fao ka mehla ba le in conflict with one
another.
`School children like gossiping. That is why they are always in conflict with one
another.'

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Although there are Sepedi equivalents for the English phrases above, e.g. kgorong ya
tsheko for `court' and go seba for `gossip', the English equivalents are selected here in
order to express the speaker's bilingual identity and the presence of a bilingual hearer.
In McCormick's view (1995:194), codeswitching can often be seen to serve specific
purposes or have certain stylistic or social effects. Its function differs from one situation
to the other. For example, it can be used to quote another speaker, to have the last word
in an argument, to emphasise a point, to indicate one's expertise on a topic or to explain
a term. In other words, the shift in language is meaningful in some way within the context
of that particular conversation. For example, a person enters a bookshop and addresses
the person behind the counter in one of the African languages. The salesperson
responds in English, alerting the customer that the salesperson is in fact not a mothertongue speaker of her language. The customer then switches to English for the rest of
the conversation as a result of this new understanding of the speech situation and the
salesperson's identity. The importance of language(s) in negotiating and highlighting
different facets of our identity is captured in the following quote:
Who we display ourselves to be, as relevant from moment to moment in the
conduct of the interaction at hand, can change from moment to moment in the
interaction itself. We are not just typecast by a single category of social identity
throughout an entire encounter. Our social identity of the moment is situated in the
interaction at hand; we perform it as we go along and we do so co-jointly with the
other interactional partners.
(McKay & Hornberger 1996:292)
Codeswitching is thus a valuable linguistic and social resource that bilinguals can draw
on in their day-to-day interactions.

5.3.1 The markedness model of codeswitching

After extensive fieldwork in Nigeria and Kenya from 19641973, Carol Myers-Scotton
(1993) developed a model of codeswitching which identified several different types,
including the following:
. Codeswitching as a series of unmarked choices between different languages
. Codeswitching itself as the unmarked choice
. Codeswitching as a marked choice
The unmarked choice refers to the language choice that would be most usual or most
expected in that context, while a marked choice is one where a speaker chooses a
language that would not be expected in that context. This model is therefore referred to
as the markedness model of codeswitching.
Codeswitching occurs as a series of unmarked choices between different languages
when a change of topic or the entrance of a new speaker make a codeswitch an
expected choice. For example, an Afrikaans conversation in the Unisa Linguistics
tearoom would often be switched to English when I as an English speaker joined the
circle, even though I understood Afrikaans perfectly well. A change in topic, such as a
discussion about academic matters, might also produce a codeswitch from an African
language to English.

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Codeswitching itself as the unmarked choice means that no meaning need be

associated with any particular switch as the joint use of the two languages is the norm for
bilingual speakers in that particular context. The Sepedi examples above fall into this
category, as a mixture of English and Sepedi is the conversational norm amongst
bilinguals in South Africa. The mixed Afrikaans and English that is described in the
District Six case study in 5.4.2 below is also an example of codeswitching as the
unmarked choice.
Codeswitching as a marked choice occurs where it would not be expected, for example
in the South African National anthem where four different languages are used to express
a particularly multicultural national pride. Codeswitching as a marked choice can also be
used as a strategy to put social distance between speakers or to express irritation. Here
is a Swahili-English example from Myers-Scotton (1993:134):
Bus conductor:

Fugueni madirisha!
`Open the windows'

Passenger:

That is your job.

Bus conductor:

Wewe mjinga sana. Kama wewe unaketi karibu na

dirisha, mbona untaka mimi nije hapo kufungua hili
dirisha?
`You are a real fool! If you are seated near the window,
why on earth do you want me to come and open this
window?'

Task 5.4
Collect three of your own examples of codeswitching. Using the markedness model of
codeswitching described above, decide whether your examples illustrate codeswitching
as a series of unmarked choices between different languages, codeswitching itself as
the unmarked choice or codeswitching as a marked choice. Justify your decision by
referring to the context in which the conversation took place.
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Feedback
Remember to mention the languages used and provide English glosses for the portions
of the utterance that are not in English. Don't forget to explain the context in which the
conversation takes place (who is speaking to whom, in which setting, what is their
relationship, etc.). You also need to explain your decision regarding whether
codeswitching is marked or unmarked, i.e. why it is an expected or unexpected choice
in that specific conversation.
__________________________________________________________________________

5.3.2 Borrowing versus codeswitching

While borrowing involves single words from another language that become an accepted
part of the language and would be used even by monolingual speakers, codeswitching
is used only by bilinguals. This sometimes makes it difficult to decide if a single-word
switch is a codeswitch or a borrowing. Not all single-word switches are borrowed words
that have been fully accepted by the speech community. As we saw in the SesothoEnglish codeswitching example earlier, there is a single-word switch to English for the
word court, even though Sesotho has an existing equivalent kgorong ya tsheko and has
not `borrowed' the word court on a relatively long-term basis.
Lehono ke swanetse go ya court. Ke swanetse go phakisa ka gore e thoma ka nine
in the morning.
`Today I have to go to court. I need to hurry up because it starts at nine in the
morning'
Thomason (2003) suggests that there is no clear-cut line between the two phenomena.
In fact, Thomason suggests that codeswitching is one of the ways in which borrowed
words enter a language:
A code-switched word or other morpheme becomes a borrowing if it is used more
and more frequently with or without phonological adaptation until it is a regular
part of the recipient language, learned as such by new learners. ... The addition by
borrowing of a new word for a new concept, like bok choy in English, must begin

86

with a single use and continue with increasing usage by the innovating speaker(s)
and by other speakers, and the addition by invention of a new word, like photocopy,
must follow the same path.
(Thomason 2003:696)
Sankoff (2001:649) agrees that bilinguals' ability to draw on lexical items from both their
languages `can reasonably be considered as the beginning point of lexical borrowing'.
Codeswitching is therefore a process that can lead to language change due to its daily
use by bilingual speakers.

5.3.3 Codeswitching versus language mixing and mixed languages

Auer (1999) believes that a wide range of language alternation phenomena can be
positioned a continuum. The continuum ranges from codeswitching at the one extreme,
to stabilised mixed varieties at the other, with language mixing somewhere in between,
and a range of intermediate possibilities in between these three. This continuum is
represented in Figure 5.1 below:

FIGURE 5.1: Continuum of language alternation phenomena

CODESWITCHING

LANGUAGE MIXING

MIXED LANGUAGES

While we saw in 5.3 that codeswitching involves language switching that can be used in
creative ways by speakers to serve particular functions within a conversation, language
mixing involves very frequent switching in which it is difficult to tell what the primary
language of communication is. Language mixing therefore corresponds to `codeswitching as the unmarked choice' (see the markedness model in 5.3.1 above). While each
switch is not intended to be meaningful,the pervasive switching that characterises
language mixing is important as a signal of bilingual identity. According to Auer
(1999:318), `The very fact of selecting a mixing mode from the repertoire (to the exclusion
of other, more ``monolingual'' modes) can of course be of social significance; for
instance it may signal group identity'.
Language varieties that are strongly characterised by language mixing will often have a
particular name within the community, for example the mixing of Hebrew and English in
Israel is called Heblish (Auer 1999:318). It is usually only proficient bilinguals that will
engage in language mixing, and Auer (1999:318) therefore suggests that language
mixing requires a higher bilingual competence than codeswitching. The situations in
which language mixing becomes a code in its own right are usually where a bilingual
group wishes to differentiate itself from the communities of both individual languages.
For example, the Sesotho-English female friends below use language mixing to assert
their modern, urban, bilingual identity and differentiate themselves both from Sesotho
monolinguals and from English monolinguals:
Mmule:

LIN2602

Matsatsi a chentsitse (changed), banna le bona ba a reipiwa (raped), ga

go sa le motho yo a lego safe. We are all the same, we are exposed to
violence and rape. Ditsotsi di gaketse, they are out of control. Ba dirwa ke

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gore ba na le more rights than anybody else. Ga go fair gore bona ge ba

swarwa ba protect ke molao.
`Nowadays things have changed, men are also being raped, there is no
place where a person is safe. We are all the same, we are exposed to
violence and rape. Tsotsis (thugs) are ruthless, they are out of control.
The problem is that they have more rights than anybody else. It is not fair
because when they are arrested they are protected by the law.'
Matlakala:

It is true mogwera, ga re safe. Government e swanetse go dira something

ka taba ye, but it seems, ba bangwe ba di law enforcers ga ba na taba.
Ba itirela security ko dintlong tsa bona, what about us who cannot afford
those security walls?
`It is true my friend, we are not safe. Government must do something
about this, but it seems some of the law enforcers do not care. They
make their own security for their houses, what about us who cannot
afford those security walls?'

In the case of mixed languages (sometimes called `stabilised mixed varieties'), certain
switches become obligatory in the language. The Michif language of Canada, for
example, is the mixed language spoken by the descendants of indigenous Cree, Nakota
and Ojibwe women and fur trade workers of European ancestry (mainly French
Canadians and Scottish Canadians). As explained in the extract below, noun structures
are taken from French while the verb structures are from the indigenous language Cree.
In general, Michif noun phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and syntax are
derived from Me
tis French, while verb phrase phonology, lexicon, morphology, and
syntax are from a southern variety of Plains Cree. (Plains Cree is a western dialect of
Cree.) Articles and adjectives are also of Me
tis French origin, but demonstratives
are from Plains Cree ... The number of speakers is estimated at fewer than 1,000; it
was probably double or triple this number at the close of the 19th century, but never
much higher.
Downloaded 7 March 2012 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michif_language
Stabilised mixed varieties therefore develop a more fixed grammar, and are less open to
individual creativity than language mixing. They are also much rarer than language
mixing. The speakers of stabilised mixed varieties are usually not fluent bilinguals but
may be second or third generation speakers after first-generation mixed marriages. The
only African example of a mixed language is Mbugu or Ma'a, a language spoken in
Tanzania, which has a Cushitic vocabulary and Bantu morphology and grammar.
Because mixed languages come from two different parent languages, it is not possible
to classify them as belonging to either language family.

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Task 5.5
Decide whether the language variety described below is an example of codeswitching,
language mixing or a mixed language and explain your answer. Read the interview
transcription.
Tengo que ir al bus stop para pick up mi hija. (Overheard in the U.S.)
`I have to go to the bus stop to pick up my daughter.'
RAY SUAREZ:

Spanglish, The Making of a new American Language. The author

is Ilan Stavans, the president of Latin America and Latino culture
at Amherst college. Welcome.

ILAN STAVANS: Thank you.

RAY SUAREZ:

What is Spanglish?

ILAN STAVANS: Spanglish is the encounter, perhaps the word is marriage or

divorce of English and Spanish, but also of Anglo and Hispanic
civilizations not only in the United States, but in the entire
continent and perhaps also in Spain. It is the way of
communication where one starts in one language, switches to
the other back and forth or perhaps coins a few new words or
thinks in one language and reacts in another one. It is a very
creative jazzy way of being Latino in the U.S. today.
RAY SUAREZ:

But is it really a language? I don't want to sound pedantic, but is

what's being made by this encounter a language?

ILAN STAVANS: Not yet, not quite. Perhaps we're in the process of becoming
one. We are closer to being a dialect. There is really not one
Spanglish. There are varieties of Spanglish.
Downloaded 23 March 2012 from
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/
spanglish/book/
Spanglish is a type of codeswitching/ language mixing/mixed language (choose one)
because
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Feedback
Spanglish refers to the growing use of English vocabulary, phrases and syntax in the
everyday speech and writing of Spanish-English bilinguals, especially in the United
States. Often Spanish and English are used interchangeably, even in the same sentence.
This is obviously codeswitching, but the fact that the variety has a name, Spanglish,
suggests that it is an example of language mixing. Language mixing entails fluent
bilinguals selecting codeswitching as the unmarked choice, with very frequent switches
back and forth.
__________________________________________________________________________

5.4 South African case studies

Ntshangase (1995:291) makes the point that languages are `important social and
historical phenomena which bind, and sometimes mirror cleavages within, communities'.
Language varieties with extensive codeswitching and language mixing are used in
various South African cities to reflect speakers' multilingual urban identity while at the
same time identifying the social barriers between speakers and non-speakers. These
mixed varieties are used to identify speakers as members of an innovative, vibrant, urban
culture. Hudson (1980:27) cites Le Page who believes that `... each individual creates the
systems for his verbal behaviour so that they shall resemble those of the group or groups
with which from time he may wish to be identified'. This implies that speakers tend to
adopt and assume multi-dimensional identities depending on who they are with. Slang,
codeswitching and language mixing are important strategies for enacting shifts in a
speaker's identity to resemble the group with which he or she wishes to be identified.
The following examples serve to illustrate this point (all names have been changed,
translations are provided in square brackets where necessary):
Conversation 1:

90

Setting:

English-medium school in Pretoria, after school

Participants:

3 black male youths, aged between 17 and 18, all of whom attend
English-medium schools

Mpho:

Wassup [What's up], Blacks?

Thapelo:

Yo, cool my man! I'm cool!

Sgabi:

Yo bra [Hey brother], cool man! What you been up to lately?

Mpho:

Ag [Oh], just this and that ... Hey, have you guys heard Bonga is
having a 411 [party] this weekend? Has he invited you guys?

Sgabi:

Neh [No], not me ...

Thapelo:

Me neither, bra. Wassup wid de brother, has he forgotten who his

homies [friends] are?

Sgabi:

Clearly!

Mpho:

For sure! Eish [oh dear], how soon we forget! Anyway, it's cool, it's
cool. We'll gate-crash.

Sgabi:

Yeah, right Bro, which one? Maki? Or maybe Carey?

Thapelo:

C'mon man, why you go and diss [insult] the brother like that?

Conversation 2:
Setting:

The township (Mamelodi), at Mpho's house

Participants:

5 black male youths, aged between 17 and 18 (Mpho and Sgabi

attend English-medium schools and appeared in Conversation 1,
while Lehlogonolo, Miles and Kuni attend a local township school)

Mpho:

[to Sgabi] So, bro where's your bra [brother], Thapelo, today?

Sgabi:

Ag, com'on nigga he's your blood too. Anyway, don't know. Last
saw him walking his REGTE [real] home yesterday afternoon.
Maybe the brother c ... .

Kuni:

[arrives and joins the two] Heita ma-outie [Howzit guys]. Hoezet!
[Howzit]

Sgabi:

Neh, grand outie. [No, fine, brother]

Mpho:

Sharp, bra. Fede? [Great brother. And you?]

Kuni:

Neh, grand!

Lehlogonolo and Miles [arrive]: Hola, hola ma-gents! [Hi, hi gents!]

Mpho:

Heit! [Hi!]

Sgabi:

Hola! [Hi!]

Kuni:

Hola [Hi]

Lehlogonolo: So, u-waa uSipho vandag? ... [So, how is Sipho today?]
Mpho:

Eish, loyo! Uyankhinya, serious! [Oh no, that one! He gives me the
creeps, I'm serious!]

Lehlogonolo: Entlek, why nina ungathi ni ne beef so? Zikhiphani, vele? Or maybe
ni banga i-aidie? [Actually, why do you look so angry? What's
wrong? Or maybe what are you fighting about?]
Mpho:

Haa, uyabona ke ... [Ah you see now ...]

It is clear from Conversation 1 above that Mpho and Sgabi use a form of English slang at
school. Words like diss and nigger show the influence of Black American English, as do
the pronunciation and word choice of phrases like Wassup wid de brother? There are
also borrowed words from other South African languages, e.g. smaak `like' from
Afrikaans and Eish `oh dear' from African languages.
In Conversation 2, back in the township, the conversation starts off in English but soon
shifts to a mixture of local languages and slang as a way of locating themselves socially
as urban black youth. When asked about their adaptations in identity, they both argued
that they did not wish to be perceived by their peers (particularly in the township) as
arrogant `coconuts' (i.e. black people acting white), but that they wanted to be seen `as

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part of the black youth culture' (their words). As Joe explains in a mixture of English, Zulu
(italics) and Afrikaans (capitals) below, language choice is dependent on where you are
and who you are with:
It depends ukuthi unobani. For instance if nginabangane bam kuya ngokuthi bathole
sikhuluma ni if bafike ngikhuluma Zulu bazajoyina if islang sabangane ONS SAL
ALMAL WITIE. The situation ukuthi unabobani.
`It depends on who you are with. For instance, if I'm with my friends it depends on
what we are discussing if they find me speaking Zulu they will join me if it's my
friends' slang, then we will all speak it. The situation depends on who you are with.'
(Joe with shebeen friends, cited by Finlayson & Slabbert 1997:399)

Task 5.6
(a)

Do you speak more than one language? Which language do you speak with which
groups of people? Do you use different languages to express different aspects of
your identity?
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(b) Do you speak more than one variety of your mother tongue? Describe the varieties,
with examples of each. Do they involve codeswitching/language mixing? Which
language varieties do you speak with which groups of people? Do you use different
varieties to express different aspects of your identity?
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Feedback
This is your opportunity to think about how your own language usage is part of the
identity you assume when interacting with different groups of friends, family members
and colleagues. Try and use linguistic terms like dialect, accent, sociolect, codeswitching, language mixing, etc. to give your answers more weight.
__________________________________________________________________________
Two South African case studies are presented in 5.4.1 and 5.4.2 below.

5.4.1 Case study: Tsotsitaal

Tsotsitaal or Flaaitaal is a mixed language variety spoken predominantly by males in the
black and coloured township areas of Gauteng (Johannesburg, Pretoria, the East and
West Rand). Tsotsitaal is a spoken rather than written variety and it differs from place to
place. It is known by any of the following names: Iscamtho, Withi, Sepantsula, Lingo,
Lingam, Isikhumsha, Shalambombo, Hili, Himbul, Taal, Hova, Sjita, Setsotsi, Tsotsitaal
and Flaaitaal (Makhudu 1995:300).
The name Tsotsitaal literally means `thugs' language' as it was used by gangsters and
thugs to conceal their conversation from police and other people who were not part of
the group. Today Tsotsitaal is spoken across a more diverse group of township residents,
men and women, working class and professional. According to Ntshangase (1995:295),
these languages are growing in numbers of speakers and functions, beginning to appear
in radio and print adverts, songs and plays and even in classrooms:
Nowadays in deep Soweto, possibly up to 500,000 youths speak Iscamtho as their
main language or one of their main languages. Some of them have learnt it from
birth, and master Iscamtho better than any other language. As the South African
Constitution provides for everyone to be educated in his/her native language,
linguistic problems in the educational system are an important issue in Soweto:
children considered by the authorities as being Zulu- or Sotho-speakers are
educated in those languages. But the languages used at school are the standard
ones. As a result, many pupils face comprehension problems, as they don't really
know those rural standards. Some can miss up to 30% of the information which
they receive. And teachers are so far not allowed to use Iscamtho, although many
of them do it informally. (Downloaded 5 March 2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Tsotsitaal)
According to Makhudu (1995), Tsotsitaal is a mixed variety in so far as it seems to have
been initially reliant on Afrikaans for structure and a variety of languages for its
vocabulary. According to Msimang (1987:82), Zulu continues to have far-reaching
influence on the vocabulary of Tsotsitaal as it contains borrowed words that have
undergone semantic shift, new words that have been coined from Zulu roots and Zulu-

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ised English borrowings. An example of the former is the word ilahle which means `coal'
in Zulu but means `a stolen vehicle' in Tsotsitaal. Ipilisi means `a pill' in Zulu but refers
more specifically to mandrax or cocaine in Tsotsitaal.
Makhudu (1995) illustrates several interesting phonological and morphological
characteristics of Tsotsitaal, including a tendency to replace certain sounds in borrowed
words with n or m. For example English beer becomes miya, and Afrikaans baadjie
`jacket' becomes maikie.
Many words are formed by reduplication or syllable-repetition, with semantic shift from
the original, so English nice, for example, becomes naiza-naiza `party', Zulu thenga `buy'
becomes thenga-thenga `a cheap woman' and Afrikaans snaaks `funny' becomes
snakanaka `a fool'.
Morphologically the language draws on English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Sesotho, for
example using Afrikaans -kie or Zulu -wana to form diminutives like dronkie `drunkard'
and ntsundwana `a suit'. Tsotsitaal uses Sotho -eng to form locatives like bareng
`drinking place', and English -s to form plurals like ntwanas children.

Task 5.7
(a)

What is the difference between a mixed language and a mixed language variety?
.......................................................................................................................................
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(b) Tsotsitaal words and phrases are beginning to appear in the mainstream media. For
example, a well-known MTN cell phone advert used the phrase Ayoba, a slang word
expressing excitement or agreement or used simply as a greeting. SA Tourism had
a Sho't Left campaign, challenging South Africans to undertake more domestic
tourism. Sho't left is derived from everyday South African `taxi lingo'. A taxi
commuter wanting a ride to a destination close by will say Sho't left, driva meaning
`I want to get off just around the corner'. Would you agree that the appearance of
Tsotsitaal in print means that Tsotsitaal has become a standard language?
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.......................................................................................................................................
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Feedback
A mixed language (see 5.3.3 above) refers to the rare situation in which certain switches
become a stabilised, obligatory part of the grammar of the language. The Michif
language of Canada, for example, is a mixed language spoken by descendants of
intermarriage between two different parent languages, and requires verb forms to be in
one language and noun phrases to be in another. A mixed language variety, on the other
hand, is a more creative, less rigid combination of elements from different languages,
such as Tsotsitaal, which draws on English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Sesotho vocabulary and
morphology.
Mixed varieties like Tsotsitaal are unlikely to become standard languages as they are
essentially innovative and constantly changing, using vocabulary, morphology and
syntax from a variety of languages. Their vocabularies are so fluid that dictionaries would
probably be out of date before they were printed (but see Molamu 2003 Tsotsi-taal: A
dictionary of the language of Sophiatown). They are unlikely to become standard
languages that are taught in schools because speakers use them primarily for informal
in-group communication and because both speakers and non-speakers view them as
stigmatised varieties. The appearance of Tsotsitaal in South African advertising is an
attempt to appeal to the wallets of the upwardly mobile urban township dwellers who
constitute a growing market for South African goods and services.
__________________________________________________________________________

5.4.2 Case Study: District Six

The linguist Kay McCormick has undertaken detailed research on the Cape Town
community of District Six, noting the `deft weaving' of English and Afrikaans that
characterises the local dialect of this area (McCormick 1995:193). District Six is an area
of Cape Town which was settled from the 1830s onwards by former slaves and
immigrants from Europe and other parts of Africa. The inhabitants spoke a variety of
languages including Dutch, English and Yiddish (McCormick 1995:197). By the midtwentieth century the main language of the area was a variety of non-standard Afrikaans
with many English borrowings as well as a large proportion of English-Afrikaans
codeswitching. The locals refer to their dialect as kombuistaal `kitchen language', and
contrast it with `suiwer Afrikaans' `pure, i.e. standard Afrikaans' and with English, which is
the language with the highest prestige in the area. Their own dialect has low prestige
outside the area but is valued as a language of neighbourhood solidarity. According to
McCormick (1995:193):
At times it [language switching] is conscious and the listener is aware that the
speaker is enjoying playing with the languages, juxtaposing elements from each to
create a particular effect. At other times language switching appears to be quite
unconscious, with none of the participants noticing where switches occur ... That, of

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course, can happen only if frequent switching is part of the normal way of talking in
the community. Where it is, it can become a marker of the community's sense of
identity it has done so in District Six.
In District Six, language mixing is so entrenched that the variety can be seen as a fairly
stable, widely used mixed code, with codeswitching as the unmarked choice. Here are
some examples:
Example 1
`Kyk hier: ons coloureds het opgegroei om te praat kombuistaal, ne
? Which is
Afrikaans en Engels gemix.
`Look here: we coloureds grew up speaking kitchen language, right? Which is
Afrikaans and English mixed.'
Linguistic Informant, District 6, 1980s
(McCormick 2002)
Example 2
My ma het nie gewerk nie, my ouma het nie gewerk nie she was a housewife.
`My mother didn't work, my grandmother didn't work she was a housewife.'
(McCormick 1995:194)
Example 3
Want you see what the children are today? Hulle word so impatience vir ons en
die ... and dan gaan ek maar kamer toe, then I go lay down otherwise then we get
into trouble, dan word ons twee miskien in trouble nou weer.
`Because you see what the children are today? They get so impatient with us and
the ... and then I just go to my room, then I go and lie down otherwise then we get
into trouble, then maybe the two of us would get into trouble again.'
(McCormick 2002:182183)

Task 5.8
Where would you locate the District Six variety on the continuum discussed in 5.3.3
above? Circle the most appropriate term and explain your answer more fully below.

Continuum of language alternation phenomena

CODESWITCHING

LANGUAGE MIXING

MIXED LANGUAGES

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...............................................................................................................................................
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Feedback
The District Six variety seems to be one of language mixing. Firstly the examples
(particularly Example 3) involve very frequent back-and-forth switching in which it is
difficult to tell whether the primary language of communication is English or Afrikaans.
We are also told that in District Six, codeswitching is the unmarked choice, which implies
that we are dealing with language mixing rather than codeswitching where each switch
serves a specific function. The pervasive switching that characterises language mixing is
important as a signal of bilingual identity, and the case study explains that the District Six
identity is a bilingual one that differentiates itself from either standard English or standard
Afrikaans. The final clue is that the variety has its own name, kombuistaal, which
suggests that its speakers see it as a marker of communal identity. Usually names are
only given to language mixing and mixed languages, but since the degree of language
switching is left up to individual speakers' creativity, rather than dictated by stable
grammatical rules, this would fall into the category of language mixing.
__________________________________________________________________________

5.5 Summary
In this study unit, we have discussed the way in which languages may influence and
change each other in a situation of language contact. Speech sounds, words and
grammar from the superstratum (high status) language can be borrowed into the local
languages, or alternatively the minority substratum language can influence the dominant
language. We saw that language contact is a matter of degree, and that the degree of
contact between two groups can influence the degree of language change. Typically,
casual contact will result in little contact-induced language change, while intensive
contact can lead to dramatic influences of the languages upon one another.
We also looked at codeswitching and language mixing in multilingual societies as part of
the continually-changing repertoire that bilingual speakers can draw on to express their
fluid identities as members of a range of social groupings.
Codeswitching refers to the use of two or more languages in the same conversation, and
can often be seen to serve specific purposes or have certain stylistic or social effects. We

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looked at various types of codeswitching as distinguished in the markedness model of

codeswitching, and saw that while codeswitching and borrowing are different
phenomena, codeswitching is often the cause of loanwords entering a language on a
more permanent basis. We made a distinction between codeswitching that serves a
particular conversational purpose and language mixing, which involves pervasive and
frequent codeswitching that signals bilingual identity. In the much rarer case of mixed
languages like Michif or Ma'a, certain codeswitches become an obligatory part of the
grammar of the mixed language.
We explored the way in which slang, codeswitching and language mixing are important
strategies for enacting shifts in a speaker's identity. Finally we looked at two South
African case studies: Tsotsitaal is a mixed language variety spoken predominantly by
males in the black and coloured township areas of Gauteng, while Cape Town's District
Six has its own form of language mixing involving non-standard English and Afrikaans.

Further reading
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 54 Language change
Chapter 60 Multilingualism

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Study Unit 6
English as a global language
The English language is nobody's special property.
It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.
Derek Walcott (West Indian poet and playwright 1930)

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1
2
3
4

discuss the forces that have played a role in the development of English as an
international language;
explain and critically evaluate Kachru's circle model of World Englishes;
describe the linguistic features of the varieties of English used in South Africa; and
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
language of wider communication
World Englishes Inner Circle
Outer Circle
Expanding Circle

South African English (SAE)

Black South African English (BSAE)
South African Indian English (SAIE)

In a nutshell
In this study unit we examine the forces that have played a role in the development
and spread of English the language most widely spoken in the world today. We
look briefly at how various political and social upheavals and technological
innovations in the world influenced the English language and at the ways that
English has changed and been localised in various regions of the world. We look at
the debate between those who promote a single global standard for English and
those who accept different regional standards. We conclude by focusing on the
linguistic characteristics of three South African varieties of English.

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6.1 Introduction
From humble beginnings 1 500 years ago the English language has grown and changed
in many ways. At the beginning of the 21st century, English is now used as a global
language and can be regarded as the lingua franca of the world (a lingua franca is a
language used to communicate when people do not share a common mother tongue).
Today English has become the primary language for international communication.

6.2 The spread of English

Hasman (2000:3) maintains that three factors that have contributed to the spread of
English are:
. English usage in technology, commerce and science
. Its ability to incorporate vocabulary from other languages. Almost 80% of the
vocabulary of English is foreign. English has borrowed, and continues to borrow,
words from other languages such as French, Spanish, Hebrew and Arabic, HindiUrdu and Bengali, Malay and Chinese and languages from Africa.
. The acceptability of various dialects of English. As Kachru (1992:230) explains: `The
``seeds'' of the language were ``spread'' in enormously diverse sociocultural
environments and the resultant varieties of this language show this diversity'.
The list below contains the `Top 10' languages in terms of number of first language
speakers. Where available, numbers for second language speakers of these languages
are also given. (If you have access to the Internet go to http://www.ethnologue.com to
consult the Ethnologue for a more accurate update of the number of speakers of various
languages.) In calculating figures for first language (L1) speaker numbers and
distinguishing between these and second language (L2) and foreign language speakers,
statisticians have many problems to overcome. For example, it is not possible to obtain
statistics systematically from all countries in the world, not all people interpret questions
about language use in the same way and not all people give honest answers, but these
issues are beyond the scope of the present discussion. However, considerable efforts
have been made to establish approximate figures for present-day usage.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Language

L1 speakers

L2 speakers

Mandarin Chinese
Spanish
English
Hindi and Urdu
Arabic
Portuguese
Bengali
Russian
Japanese
German

940
391
370
370
284
206
206
158
127
92

350 million
1,5 billion
585 million
250 million

150 million

200 million

million
million
million
million
million
million
million
million
million
million

(Crystal 2010: Appendix III)

Although there are 7 000 languages in the world, half of the world's population speaks
only 10 of them. English is the single most dominant of these 10, due initially to British

100

colonialism and nowadays due to the global reach of American media.In the table above
we see that only Mandarin Chinese and Spanish have more speakers than English, but
neither is used as widely as English because English is a language of wider
communication in many parts of the world, in other words a language that people
commonly use to communicate across geographical, language and cultural barriers.
English therefore has many more second-language (L2) and foreign-language speakers
than first-language speakers. As a language of wider communication it fulfils many
functions it is used in a variety of domains and has developed the vocabulary to
express concepts in all fields of modern-day activities. This strength of English, its ability
to incorporate vocabulary from other languages, or what David Crystal (2008:143) refers
to as its `vacuum-cleaner' nature, is a theme that you have already come across when
we discussed borrowing in Study Unit 3. Hasman (2000:3) describes some of the global
functions of English:
When Mexican pilots land their aeroplanes in France, they and the ground
controllers use English for security reasons. When German physicists want to alert
the scientific community to new discoveries, they first publish their findings in
English. When Japanese executives conduct business with Scandinavian
entrepreneurs, they negotiate in English. When pop singers write their songs, they
often use lyrics or phrases in English. When demonstrators want to alert the world to
their problems, they display signs in English.
More statistics:
. McArthur (1998) lists 113 geographical areas where English is currently used regularly
on a widespread basis.
. English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language in over 100
countries.
. An estimated 1.4 billion people live in countries where English has official status.
. It is estimated that more than 70% of the world's scientists read English.
. About 85% of the world's mail is written in English.
. About 90% of all information used on computers is stored in English.
. English is the language of popular culture as embodied in music lyrics, television and
film.
. Statistics reveal that most of Unisa's 375 000 students conduct their studies through
the medium of English.
Look at the following map:

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FIGURE 6.1: English-speaking countries

Canada

United Kingdom
Rep. of Ireland

United Sates

Malta
The Bahamas

Belize

Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago Nigeria
Guyana

Philippines
Sri Lanka
Singapore

Australia
South Africa
New Zealand

(Downloaded 20 March 2012 from http://www.24point0.com/ppt-shop/media/catalog/product/

cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/o/world-map-countries-on-english-isan-official-language-and-widely-spoken-ppt-slide.jpg)

Task 6.1
In your view, why is English (with 370 million L1 speakers) the dominant global language
today even though Mandarin Chinese (with 940 million L1 speakers) has more native
speakers?
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Feedback
While Mandarin is spoken mainly in China, and mainly as an L1, colonisation spread
English all over the world. During the 20th century the number of people using English as
a second language (ESL) has steadily grown, due to the economic, political,
technological and cultural power of English and the global mobility that the language
provides.
__________________________________________________________________________

6.3 Historical perspective

In order to understand how a language that began in Britain 1 500 years ago when
Germanic tribes invaded Britain has today assumed such a significant role across the
world, we take a brief look at the history of the people who occupied the British Isles and
try to find reasons for the rise of English to a world language. From humble beginnings
this language (spoken by rural people who worked on the land with iron ploughs and
drove two-wheeled horse-drawn chariots) has become the language used most often in
today's global world.
Many hundreds of years ago the language we now know as English developed on a tiny
island known today as the United Kingdom. The original language(s) spoken by the
native inhabitants of the British Isles belonged to the Celtic family. The island had a
stormy history of repeated invasions and conquerors who sought to take control of the
land, starting with the Romans in 43 AD. After the Romans left in 410 AD, powerful
Germanic invaders from across the sea poured onto the island. These invaders were
Saxons, Angles and Jutes. The Jutes and Angles came from what is now known as
Denmark, while the Saxons came from what is now known as Germany. The Anglo Saxon
invaders drove the Celtic people out of England into Wales, Scotland and Brittany
(northern France). The Angles and the Saxons introduced a new language to Britain
known as Anglo-Saxon (also known as Old English) and this can be regarded as the
beginning of the English language that we know today.
During the end of the 8th century AD Britain was attacked by another wave of invaders,
the Vikings who came from Denmark and Norway. They spoke related north-Germanic
languages such as Old Norse. The Danes settled in the eastern part of England, and,
with the establishment of homes and families through intermarriage, they in turn
influenced English. Words pertaining to the sea, battle and social and administrative
systems were introduced. With two cultures in close contact for such a long time, a large
number of words for describing the same object or situation existed. In many cases both
words have been retained, with a slight difference in meaning, as can be seen from the
examples below:

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Old Norse

Old English

dike

ditch

raise

rise

scrub

shrub

skirt

shirt

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1066 is an important date in the history of England because this is the year that William
the Conqueror from Normandy (present-day France) crossed the channel between
England and France, defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings and was crowned
king of England on Christmas Day. A scholar describes the period of social upheaval and
transformation after the event as follows:
During the next four years William succeeded in destroying most of the Old English
nobility in a series of campaigns to subjugate the whole country. Important
positions in the King's court and government were filled by William's Normans who
also confiscated many of the great estates formerly owed by the English nobility.
English churchmen who had been responsible not only for the conduct of
ecclesiastical affairs but also for the maintenance and development of the great
centres of learning were replaced by French bishops, archbishops, abbots, and
monks. The literature produced for the upper social and political classes was
written in French, not in English.
(McLaughlin 1970:44)
After the conquest of England the ruling class of England were Normans who spoke a
variety of French. The French language had a profound effect on the development of
English, with extensive new borrowings in the areas of culture, law, fashion and food
among others (e.g. beauty, geometry, grammar, medicine, music, noun, painting, paper,
pen, poet, romance, sculpture, story, accuse, adultery, arrest, arson, attorney, bail, blame,
convict, crime, brooch, button, cloak, collar, diamond, dress, embroidery, jewel,
ornament, pearl, petticoat, appetite, bacon, beef, biscuit, dinner, feast, fry, grape, gravy).
In the latter quarter of the 15th century the technology that was to play such an important
role in the spread of English in the twentieth century was introduced when William Caxton
set up his printing press. Suddenly it was possible to reproduce written texts, and in the
next 150 years nearly 20 000 books appeared in English. Printers had to make decisions
about spelling, grammar, vocabulary and the writing system and this process helped to
develop a standard form of spelling and punctuation. By the late fifteenth century English
had already established itself as the language of literature and learning.
It was during this period that decisions were made about what constituted standard
English, and what did not. The speech of the London area was chosen as the standard
dialect. Crystal (1988:187) gives reasons why this particular dialect was chosen:
The East Midland area was the largest of the dialect areas, and contained more of
the population. In particular, it contained London, Cambridge, and (on the borders
with Southern) Oxford the main social and political centre, and the main seats of
learning. The presence of the Court in London was a compelling attraction for those
who wished for social prestige or career opportunities. The East Midlands 'triangle'
was a wealthy agricultural area, and the centre of the growing wool trade. And it was
also conveniently positioned between the Northern and Southern dialects, acting as
a kind of communication `bridge' between them. This last point was even
recognized at the time ... The clinching factor was William Caxton, who in 1476 set
up his printing press in Westminster, and chose to use the speech of the London
area as the basis for his translations and spelling. By the end of the fifteenth century,
the distinction between `central' and `provincial' life was firmly established. It was
reflected in the distinction between `standard' and `regional' speech the former
thought of as correct, proper and educated, the latter as incorrect, careless, and
inferior [an attitude] which is still with us today.

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Task 6.2
Make a list of the reasons why English became standardised around the 15th century.
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Feedback
The invention of the printing press was the most critical factor, as this allowed texts to be
written in a particular form with particular spelling and then distributed widely. The
London dialect became the basis for Standard English due to the economic and political
power of the capital city and the location of the London printing houses. Certain norms of
spelling, grammar and punctuation began to be evident in written documents, and were
then passed on from generation to generation within the literate classes, and the idea of
standard versus non-standard English began to emerge.
__________________________________________________________________________
The latter half of the 15th century is also regarded as the beginning of the Renaissance
(the French for rebirth) and during this time new attitudes and a sense of freedom
(political as well as religious) manifested itself. A spirit of exploration led adventurers to
travel to other parts of the world, and many of these areas were colonised.
The 16th century is often referred to as the Golden Age of English, when English began
to be used as a literary language instead of Latin and Greek. The writer who had the
profoundest effect on the development of English as a literary language was the poet
and playwright, William Shakespeare. He exploited the language as no other writer
before him had done. Many everyday expressions used today were introduced by
Shakespeare, e.g. hoodwinked, tongue-tied, a tower of strength, a fool's paradise, good
riddance.
The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century further helped to advance English as the
language of global trade. By 1860 the British had direct influence over many territories
throughout the world. In North America the numbers of English speakers had overtaken
those in the British Isles. It was also during this period of colonisation that so many
varieties of the language were born when the English carried their culture and language
to other parts of the world (the colonies of America in North America, the Caribbean, and
later to Australia, New Zealand, India and Africa).

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6.4 World Englishes

With the spread of English around the world, many new varieties of English have arisen.
Robert Birchfield, the editor of the Fourth Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary,
believes that
The English language is breaking up, and has been since the 18th century, into
quite a number of different dialects. In due course they will be as different as French
and Spanish and Portuguese are from one another. (Time Magazine, 19 May, 1986)

Task 6.3
What variety of English is spoken in your region? If there is more than one variety, choose
one. Is it an L1 or a L2 variety? Try and describe some of the linguistic features
(phonology, vocabulary, grammar etc.) that make this variety unique. Collect an audio or
video sample on your phone to illustrate this variety. Provide a written transcription of
what is said in the audio or video clip, explaining any non-standard words or phrases that
are used.
...............................................................................................................................................
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Feedback
Use this opportunity to listen closely and observe the linguistic features of one of the
varieties of English you hear around you. In my area of the Johannesburg northern
suburbs, for example, I tend to hear an L1 variety of SAE spoken by white and
increasingly by black speakers. The accent is slightly nasalised, and is also
characterised by a tendency to pronounce t sounds as ts, e.g. See you tsomorrow! In
the middle of words, t sounds are often pronounced as d, e.g. in words like Peter and

106

pretty. This dialect has borrowed words from Afrikaans (e.g. ja `yes', braai `barbecue',
pap `mealie-meal porridge') and from Yiddish (e.g. schlep `burden/effort') and also uses
the word no to mean `yes', e.g. How are you? No, I'm good thanks.
__________________________________________________________________________
New varieties or types of English are often referred to as different `Englishes' and several
academic journals are devoted to the study of new varieties, for example World Englishes
and English World-wide. Kachru, a major Indian linguist, has written extensively about the
varieties of English in the developing world. Together with Larry E Smith from Honolulu,
Hawaii, Kachru launched a journal called World Englishes: The Journal of English as an
International and Intranational Language. The journal's editorial stance is that all `world
Englishes' belong equally to all who use them (whether in its standard or any other form),
and that ways of speaking and patterns of discourse are different across nations.
This has important ramifications for users of the language worldwide, as it suggests that
all users of English have the right to help shape it. This view is in opposition to the school
of thought that believes that only first language speakers have a monopoly on the
language and can make decisions concerning its usage and `purity'.
The spread of English around the world has been represented by Kachru as three
concentric circles. Each circle represents different phases of the spread of English and
different ways in which the language has been acquired and is currently used, including
the depth of penetration of English at various societal levels (see Figure 6.4 below).
The core, or Inner Circle, is where English is the primary language the United
Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These varieties were essentially
the result of British colonisation the movement of English-speaking people from one
part of the world to another and therefore did not contribute to a significant increase in
speaker numbers. However, the transplantation of English to new contexts brought
English into contact with a variety of other languages and a variety of non-Western
cultures.
The Outer Circle represents the spread of English through British and later American
colonisation to multilingual settings where English became the language of the powerful
elite. Over time this resulted in a host of second-language speakers of the language as
the local elite saw English as a window to the scientific and technological developments
of the western world, to Christianity, to rich literary traditions and to expanding
educational opportunities. However, English was not always accepted without
resistance, and in many Outer Circle countries there is tension between enthusiastic
acceptance and a more negative view of English as `an intruder, slowly nibbling away at
the linguistic domains that rightfully belong to local languages' (Kachru 1992:246).
English is nevertheless an official language in all the Outer Circle countries, including
Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Malawi, Singapore and India. Each of these
has a range of varieties of English, including a form that has become accepted as the
regional standard.
The Expanding circle includes countries such as China, Thailand, Japan, Israel, Greece,
Poland and others that recognise the importance of English as an international language
but do not themselves have a history of colonisation by members of the Inner Circle nor
does English have a special place in their language policy that is, it is not an official
language.

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Task 6.4
(a)

Look back at the map of English-speaking countries in Figure 6.1. Which of

Kachru's circles does this map reflect? How do you know?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Kachru did not put South Africa into his model. Where do you think South Africa fits
and why?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
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FIGURE 6.4: Kachru's three-circle model of World Englishes

The `Expanding Circle'
China
Egypt
Indonesia
Israel
Japan
Korea
Nepal
Saudi Arabia
Taiwan
USSR
Zimbabwe

1,088,200,000
50,273,000
175,904,000
4,512,000
122,620,000
42,593,000
18,004,000
12,972,000
19,813,000
285,796,000
8,878,000

The `Outer Circle'

Bangladash
Ghana
India
Kenya
Malaysia
Nigeria
Pakistan
Philippines
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Tanzania
Zambia

107,756,000
13,754,000
810,806,000
22,919,000
16,965,000
112,258,000
109,434,000
58,723,000
2,641,000
16,606,000
23,996,000
7,334,000

The `Inner Circle'

USA
UK
Cananda
Australia
New Zealand

245,800,000
57,006,000
25,880,000
16,470,000
3,366,000

(Kachru 1992:233ff. Note that the speaker numbers are from 1988 and are now out of date.)

Feedback
The map heading tells us that it reflects countries where England is an official language
and is spoken by a significant population. This means that it covers both Inner Circle
countries like the UK and Australia and Outer Circle countries like Nigeria and Singapore.
You might argue that South Africa falls into the Inner Circle as it was a former British
colony, with a group of several thousand British settlers. The period of British settlement
in the early 1800s is roughly the same as that of New Zealand. However, one difference

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noted by Leith (1996), is that in the Inner Circle countries, substantial settlement by firstlanguage speakers of English largely displaced the precolonial population. In South
Africa, English did not displace the other languages but became part of a multilingual
melting pot. In this respect it is more like an Outer Circle country, where `sparser colonial
settlements' maintained the precolonial population and allowed a proportion of them
access to learning English as a second or additional language (Leith 1996:1812).
In South Africa English is one of the official languages (so we can't be in the Expanding
Circle) and is the most common language of education, business and politics. A regional
standard known as South African English exists and several dictionaries have been
published detailing the vocabulary and pronunciation of this variety. As in many Outer
Circle countries, the advancement of English into more and more areas of South African
life is contested by those who wish to retain and promote indigenous languages. The
situation is complicated further by the South African trend for L2 speakers of English to
raise their children in English and send them to English schools.
__________________________________________________________________________
The in-between nature of the South African example points out that Kachru's model,
while still widely influential, is not subtle enough to capture all the different ways that
English is used across the world. According to Jenkins (2003), there are grey areas
between Inner and Outer Circle countries and also between Outer and Expanding Circle
countries:
The model is based on geography and genetics rather than on the way speakers
identify with and use English. Some English users in the Outer Circle speak it as
their first language (occasionally as their only language) e.g. in Singapore.
Meanwhile an increasing number of speakers in the Expanding Circle use English
for a very wide range of purposes including social, with native speakers and even
more frequently with other non-native speakers from both their own and different
L1s, and both in their home country and abroad.
(Jenkins 2003:17)
A further problem with Kachru's model is that it implies that the situation is uniform for all
the countries within a particular circle, although this is clearly not the case:
Even within the Inner Circle, countries differ in the amount of linguistic diversity they
contain (e.g. there is far more diversity in the US than in the UK). In the Outer Circle,
countries differ in a number of respects such as whether English is spoken only by
an elite, as in India, or is widespread, as in Singapore; or whether it is spoken by a
single L1 group leading to one variety of English as in Bangladesh, or by several
different L1 groups leaning to several varieties of English as in India.
(Jenkins 2003:1718)
Another scholar who disagrees with Kachru's model is the British linguist Randolph Quirk
(1920). Quirk and Kachru have fundamentally different views that surfaced at a 1984
conference on standards of English. Quirk argued for the need to uphold standards in
the use of English in both Inner Circle countries and those outside the Inner Circle. Quirk
believes in the virtues of Standard English, arguing in favour of a British-based
international standard that is understood and valued everywhere, especially in written
communication. He disapproves of the trend towards greater tolerance for variation in

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language use, arguing that it is educationally disadvantageous. He therefore makes a

clear distinction between native speakers and second language speakers and argues
that Standard English must be based on an educated, native-speaker variety. He
acknowledges that while Standard English can be spoken in a variety of accents, it
should be an internationally intelligible, high-status variety, without elements of
vocabulary or grammar that are particular to certain localised dialects. He also believes
that Standard English should continue to be the variety of English taught in schools all
over the world:
It is silly to think that teaching Standard English invades a child's dialect space.
Children arrive in school not only used to hearing lots of Standard English: they
actually arrive in large measure already speaking it, since most of the vocabulary
and most of the grammar of most dialects are shared with Standard English. The
teacher helps to adjust, polish, and amplify the children's language (to parental
pride and joy), equipping them to join the vast community for whom Standard
English is their most precious bond.
Randolph Quirk Independent Sunday 18 April 1993
Downloaded 30 March 2012 from http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/morethan-just-talking-proper-randolph-quirk-argues-standard-english-is-about-wordsand-meanings-not-accents-1456061.html
Kachru, on the other hand, argues for the recognition of both L1 and L2 varieties of
English such as Nigerian English, Singapore English and Jamaican English varieties
which in his view are in no way inferior to Standard British English. His view is that Inner
Circle values and norms should not be used to define the lives of people in other circles,
and argues for a variety of norms rather than a single standard. Kachru rejects terms
such as interference (influence of L1 on L2 learning) because he regards these as terms
that reflect English from the view of a native speaker. Kachru tries to emphasise the `WEness' of English speakers (in other words he concentrates on what they have in
common) instead of concentrating on the `us' and `them' (i.e. differences between) users
of the language. Kachru is therefore clearly opposed to the model adopted by Quirk,
which views English as having only one recognised centre (England) that sets the
standard, and views diversity in the Outer and Expanding circles as deviations from the
standard. Instead Kachru believes that the norm-providing centres have multiplied in the
last century, and have led to creative use of English in various contexts and societies
throughout the world:
It does look as if the principal energies of the English language, as if its genius for
acquisition, for innovation, for metaphoric response, has also moved away from
England ...
(Steiner 1975 cited in Kachru 1992:248)
Kachru's rejection of the `single standard' notion supports his belief that the language
varieties used by Outer Circle countries reflect the cultures of the users and meet their
communicative needs. Many other scholars agree with Kachru's view:
The rise of these new varieties [of English] leads to a continual enriching and
renewal of the language and the literatures written in it, since these varieties often
export some of their original innovations back to the original users, often to the
dismay of the latter.
(Romaine 1992:254)

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Not only has `English' become international in the last half-century, but scholarship
about English has also become international; the ownership of an interest in English
has become international. We are no longer a language community which is
associated with a national community or even with a family of nations such as the
Commonwealth aspired to be. We are an international community.
(Brumfit 1995:16)

Task 6.5
(a)

Contrast Quirk's view and Kachru's view on Outer Circle varieties of English.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Have a look at the quote by Derek Walcott at the beginning of this study unit. Does
he fall into the Kachru camp or the Quirk camp?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Quirk uses Inner Circle values and norms to define a native speaker-based standard for
English, viewing second-language varieties as non-standard varieties resulting from
interference with other languages. He believes in a single international Standard English
that should be taught at school, would be understood by everyone and would unite the
global community of English speakers. In contrast, Kachru views the diverse varieties in
the Outer and Expanding Circles as new norms, with their own `world Englishes' that
belong equally to all who use them.
By asserting that English is `nobody's special property', Walcott is placing himself firmly
in Kachru's camp. The West Indian poet from St Lucia in the Caribbean won the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1992. He uses an `Outer Circle' variety of English in his poetry, and
recognises the right of Outer Circle countries to own their own varieties of English and
use them creatively in regional literature.
__________________________________________________________________________

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6.5 Varieties of English in South Africa

The varieties of English currently spoken in South Africa include South African English
(SAE), Black South African English (BSAE) and South African Indian English (SAIE).
English was brought to South Africa by the British military from 1795 and by a more
permanent group of settlers from 1820. English is viewed as important for economic
advancement in the region and is often used as a lingua franca in government, business
and public administration.

6.5.1 SAE
South African English (SAE) is itself divided into several different varieties based on
geographical origin and social class. Lass (2002:123) notes that `the morphology and
syntax of L1 varieties of SAE have not been well studied, and it would be premature to
give any kind of detailed account', but the phonology and vocabulary of the variety have
been studied in detail by South African linguists such as L.W. Lanham, Roger Lass,
William and Jean Branford, Vivian de Klerk, Rajend Mesthrie, Ian Bekker and Bertus van
Rooy.
According to Lass (2002:106), one of the phonological features of SAE is that the [I]
vowel in kit (and hit and it) is not the same as the [I] vowel in fit and pit. In words like bath
and rather, SAE uses the vowel in bar, or even the vowel in bore. South African English
also tends to use an [e] vowel in words like hat, so we are easy to identify as `South
Efrican', or even just `Seffrican'!
At the lexical level, we are unique in referring to traffic lights as robots and traffic officers
as speedcops. We are the only English speakers that use the term loadshedding
(`planned power cuts') and the only ones that use just now to mean `soon'. In many of
the local varieties of English, South Africans use sorry to express sympathy, even when
they are clearly not to blame:
Lecturer:

(trips over extension cord)

Class:

Sorry.

Loans from Afrikaans and other local languages are common, as david crystal
discovered on his travels:
And at various times, in South Africa or Zimbabwe, I was offered mealie-meal,
sadza, biltong, and bunny-chow respectively, fine maize-meal, a type of thick
porridge, salted meat, and curry in a hollowed out half-loaf. It is an unusual
experience, checking in a dictionary before you eat something.
(Crystal 2008:145)

6.5.2 BSAE
According to De Klerk and Gough (2002:356), Black South African English (BSAE) is
an L2 variety of English commonly used by the L1 speakers of South Africa's indigenous
African languages. In many schools, English is the medium of instruction either from the
start or after 4 years of mother-tongue education. However in many cases, the teachers
are L2 speakers and exposure to L1 English speakers in classrooms is limited. This has

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resulted in certain characteristic pronunciation and grammar, with influence from African
languages, becoming the BSAE norm.
Some of the phonological features of BSAE include a reduction of English vowels, as
African languages in the region have only 5 or 7 vowels (De Klerk & Gough 2002:360).
For example, the vowels in lot and port are both realised as the o-sound [ ], resulting in
lot and pot. A very noticeable feature is the word stresses, which tend to fall on the
second-last syllable, resulting in words like seVENty.
At the syntactic level, BSAE has fixed phrases like can be able to, in fact and each and
every. Another feature is the insertion of `extra' articles and pronouns and prepositions
(She was carrying a luggage, My Standard 9, I have enjoyed it very much, He explained
about the situation). Extension of the present progressive tense is also common, e.g. She
was loving him very much. Codeswitching and borrowing are also common features.
According to De Klerk and Gough (2002:357), this variety is increasing in prestige as the
socioeconomic status of black South Africans improves. It is also the variety most used
for government communication. However, the increase in black South Africans attending
suburban English-medium schools is resulting in an increasing number of youth
speaking SAE rather than BSAE, sometimes as their only language. It therefore remains
to be seen what the role and status of BSAE will be in the decades to come.

6.5.3 SAIE
South African Indian English (SAIE) is a variety of English used by about three-quarters of
a million South Africa Indians, usually as their first language. According to Bughwan
(1970:503), `English was first transmitted to Indians by native speakers of the language
English missionaries, British teachers and English-speaking sugar-estate owners'.
Mesthrie's research on SAIE gives a picture of a community that is `now largely urban,
largely moderately educated (with seven to twelve years of schooling), with a majority of
people having Tamil and Bhojpuri as ancestral languages' (Mesthrie 1992:38). SAIE is
therefore a second-language variety of English that has become a first language variety
over time.
SAIE shows signs of influence from the original Indian languages. Some examples of
SAIE words borrowed from Indian languages (taken from Mesthrie 1995:2545) are
given below:
isel

`a winged termite, flying ant' (Tamil, Telugu)

dhania

`coriander' (Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Urdu)

bhajia

`spicy fried snack' (Bhojpuri, Urdu)

nikah

`Islamic wedding ceremony' (Urdu)

thanni

`a popular card game' (Tamil)

ihanda

`flag hoisted by some Hindus after prayers' (Bhojpuri)

Semantic shifts often occur in SAIE where the meanings of words differ from Standard
English:

114

lazy

`unintelligent'

interfere

`to molest'

hint

`to speak ill of' (not necessarily obliquely)

independent

`stand-offish, haughty'

raw

`uncouth, vulgar'

healthy

`fat, overweight' (not a conscious euphemism)

goodwill

`compulsory payment to landlord to secure accommodation'

There are several different varieties of SAIE, dependent on the age, background, social
class and level of education of speakers. Mesthrie (1992:44) gives the following
examples of SAIE, the first from a 55-year-old, rural, working class speaker and the
second from a 60-year old urban, working class speaker.
Q:
A:

How often you go to Durban?

Where we go! Hardly we go, visit Durban too. Sometime 'olidays, my 'usband
take his brother's house an' his sistern-law there an' all of his connection. My
connection-all staying Merebank. Sometime holidays we go, but this year
'oliday we had y'know, like we had some problem an' all like we want to go
visit, I don' like to go stay that two-three weeks an' all they living 'ard life like
us too, they earn little bit money too.
(55-year-old, rural, working class speaker)

Q:

Tell me about the time you had a heart attack.

A:

I went an' bought one soda water. So I had a soda water in the cafe
, I took my
coat out, took my jersey an' all out, I chucked it on the table. I sat, sat, sat I
said no, I felt I must reach home. I didn't trust anybody to drive that van
because it was lent to me from somebody else. So somehow or other I
managed, I jumped into the van, an' I drove the van an' came, I just came an'
parked here an' lied down.
(60-year-old, urban, working class speaker)

Task 6.6
Look closely at the speech samples above. Can you identify any of the distinguishing
characteristics of SAIE? Focus on pronunciation, grammar, word order, word meaning
etc.
...............................................................................................................................................
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...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
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Feedback
As far as phonology is concerned, we have already commented on the missing h sounds
in words like 'olidays, 'usband in the first example and the missing d in most occurrences
of an' (and) in both examples.
The syntax is also different from SAE. Notice, for example, that there is no do in the first
question `How often you go to Durban?' Mesthrie says that most styles of SAIE omit the
do, resulting in questions like You saw me? rather than Did you see me? SAIE also seems
to use more -ing forms than simple present tense forms, for example they living 'ard life
(`they live a hard life') and My connection-all staying Merebank (`My side of the family all
stay in Merebank'). The past tense form of lie down in the second example is lied down,
which would not be used in Standard English. Some of the prepositions are omitted, e.g.
Sometime holidays we go (`Sometimes we go in the holidays') or differ from Standard
English, e.g. it was lent to me from somebody else (`it was lent to me by somebody else').
The word order is also sometimes noticeably different from SAE, e.g. Hardly we go (`we
hardly go'). According to Mesthrie (1992:115), objects are often placed first in SAIE,
resulting in OSV word order, for example, And ginger we should plant. Repetition of
words for emphasis is also used in the second example, for example I sat, sat, sat (`I sat
for a long time'). Mesthrie (1992:52) explains that this kind of reduplication is a favoured
device in SAIE to indicate intensity or frequency, e.g. waiting-waiting we got so fed up
(`we got fed up with waiting for so long').
SAIE also has particular words that distinguish the ethnolect from other forms of English
spoken in South Africa. One of these is the phrase an' all meaning `all of them/everything/
everybody'. Another example that is not found in the extracts is the frequent use of y'all
as the second person plural pronoun, as in I'm cross why y'all not eating (I'm upset that
you (pl.) are not eating'). In the examples, you may have noticed the word too is used
much more frequently and in a different way to SAE, e.g. Hardly we go, visit Durban too.
__________________________________________________________________________

6.6 Summary
English is now used as a global language and its L2 speakers alone number over 1,5
billion. It can be regarded as the lingua franca of the world due to its importance in
technology, commerce and science and its ability to borrow words from other languages
and continue to change and adapt to new realities. English is spoken in both standard
and non-standard varieties in many different parts of the world.
Looking back at the history of English, we saw that Germanic-speaking invaders
introduced a new language to Britain known as Anglo-Saxon or Old English. This

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language was later heavily influenced by French during the Norman occupation of
Britain. By the late fifteenth century the invention of the printing press allowed written
English texts to become more accessible and contributed to the acceptance of the
London dialect as the standard.
Colonisation in the 19th century spread the English culture and language to other parts
of the world. This ongoing spread of English has been represented by Kachru as three
concentric circles: In Inner Circle countries English is the primary language as a result of
British colonisation; in Outer Circle countries English is an official language but coexists
with other languages and has many second-language speakers of the regional standard;
while in Expanding circle countries, English is recognised as an important international
language but is not an official language.
We identified several criticisms that have been raised in relation to Kachru's model, and
noted the disagreement between Kachru and Quirk relating to whether English has only
one recognised centre (England) that sets the standard, or whether the norm-providing
centres have multiplied in the last century. We concluded our investigation of World
Englishes by looking at some of the linguistic and sociolinguistic features of the varieties
of English currently spoken in South Africa: South African English (SAE), Black South
African English (BSAE) and South African Indian English (SAIE).

Further reading
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 56 The language barrier
Chapter 59 World languages
Crystal, D. 2003. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. (second
edition). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Crystal, D. 2003. English as a Global Language (second edition). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press (or see sample at http://www.sprachshop.com/sixcms/media.php/
811/English_as_a_grobal_lang_sample_ch.pdf)
Jenkins, J. 2003. World Englishes: A resource book for students. Abingdon and New
York: Routledge.

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Study Unit 7
New languages: pidgins and creoles
A LETTER FROM PARENT TO TEACHER
dearest teacher,pls i not like how u give my son 0\10 in the english ezam. i have look at d
thing he write and everytin correct.so what
is the why that u now give him 0\10.i teach him english everyday and he has know it well
well and her hand written is dey correct.
so pls what is d y for little mark ...
Joke downloaded from http://www.onlinenigeria.com/jokes/ad/1-3644

OUTCOMES
After you have worked through this study unit you will be able to
1
2
3
4

discuss the sociolinguistic conditions that lead to the birth of a pidgin language;
distinguish between a pidgin and a creole and describe their linguistic characteristics;
explain the process of language change that results when a creole remains in contact
with the standard language on which it is based; and
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
pidgin
creole
lexifier language
base language
decreolisation

creole continuum
basilect
mesolect
acrolect
Fanakalo

In a nutshell
In this unit our attention is drawn to new linguistic varieties that arise as a result of
contact between two or more language groups, such as Portuguese traders along
the African coast and slaves forcibly relocated from West Africa to America and the
Caribbean. We look at the birth of new pidgin languages and their development into
creoles. The linguistic characteristics of pidgins and creoles are also investigated.
We also investigate how and why creole languages decline and move gradually
closer to standard languages. We conclude our investigation by focusing on two
case studies, namely Fanakalo in South Africa and Mauritian Creole. Although both
originated from language contact situations, they have developed in very different
ways.

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7.1 Introduction
The origins of language in the human species happened so long ago that we can only
speculate about how and when it happened, although it is thought to have occurred in
Africa. However, sometimes we can get a glimpse into how the process may have
happened by studying the birth of new languages in more recent times. In this study unit
we focus on the `makeshift' languages that arise when the need for communication
overcomes the barriers between speakers of two different languages.

7.2 The pidgin: a language in embryo

A pidgin can be defined in various ways but in essence is a simplified language used in
restricted contact situations. Pidgins are found in many places in the world, for example
Nigerian Pidgin English in Nigeria, Bahamian in the Bahamas and Tok Pisin in Papua
New Guinea (see also 7.3 below). Pidgins arise in situations where there is temporary
contact between two groups of monolingual speakers who belong to different
communities and who have limited social interaction. This type of situation is typical of
hunters or traders who are in occasional contact with speakers in whose area they hunt
or trade, but are not permanent enough to learn their language or interact socially with
members of the community. A similar situation may also arise when members of one
community move to another area to find work there but do not engage in much social
interaction with the dominant group. These situations are characterised by the fact that
the contact is often temporary and limited to certain contexts and by the fact that the two
groups are of differing social status. The dominant group does not take much trouble to
teach their language to the members of the group with which they have come into
contact, nor to learn the language of the less powerful group.
In such language contact situations a new language is often created which has a limited
vocabulary and a simplified grammar. This language is never spoken as a mother tongue
and is consequently a very unstable language (i.e. it can change or fall into disuse very
easily) and is used only as a secondary language.
Some linguists believe the word pidgin originated in the Chinese English pidgin language
in which the words talk business became tok pidgin. The main characteristics of pidgins
are drastic reduction in the vocabulary, sound system, morphological and syntactic
components. This does not mean, however, that pidgins are arbitrary combinations of
words. They are clearly rule-governed and as such need to be acquired. The pidgin is
therefore a language in embryo: it has all the basic elements of language. Ferguson and
Heath (1981:532) define a pidgin as follows:
A form of language, reduced in vocabulary, simplified in grammar, and typically
containing elements from several languages, which arises for restricted communication functions between speakers of different mother tongues.
Naro (1978:314) defines a pidgin slightly differently from Ferguson:
The term PIDGIN may be defined as referring to a rule governed system of verbal
communication, used by two or more groups, which neither is nor pretends to be
the native linguistic competence of any speaker or group. In most systems of this
type, it is possible to identify one natural language as the source of the great
majority of lexical items used; this is the BASE language.

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Naro (1978) makes the observation that pidgins are rule-governed languages rather than
an arbitrary mixture of languages. He also makes the observation that pidgins are no
one's languages they are always second languages. Note, however, that Naro (1978)
does not identify under what conditions pidgins are formed. To be able to account for the
type of situation in which pidgins are developed we need to take a closer look at
language contact situations.
Before a pidgin can be created, there must be contact between people who do not know
each other's languages. This suggests that pidgins arise amongst adults rather than
children. There must also be a need for monolinguals belonging to different speech
communities to communicate with each other. The contact situation must be temporary
and relatively informal. Although language contact is a necessary precondition for
pidgins to develop, it is not a sufficient one. By this we mean that not all contact
situations produce pidgins. In fact, most contact situations do not produce pidgins.

Task 7.1
(a)

What normally happens in a language contact situation when monolinguals

belonging to different speech communities need to communicate with each other?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) What are the main differences between a pidgin and a lingua franca?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Contact situations frequently lead to bilingualism or multilingualism, where speakers of
one language learn the language of other community members and speak to them in
their own language(s). Many examples of multilingualism can be seen in South Africa

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and it is not uncommon to come across people who can speak three or even more
languages such as Zulu, English and Afrikaans. In pidgin contact situations bilingualism
does not occur. The speakers of different languages do not learn one another's
languages. They simply use a limited variety based on one or more of the languages
involved in the contact situation.
Another possible outcome of a contact situation in which speakers are not able to
understand each other's language, is for everyone to use a third or common language,
known as a lingua franca. As we saw in Study Unit 2, a lingua franca is a language used
to communicate when people do not share a common mother tongue. For instance,
when students from different parts of the world study together in the United States of
America and speak (reasonably) correct English to each other, they are not using a
pidgin, but a lingua franca. In India, English is often used as a lingua franca between
members of widely differing Indian speech communities. Swahili is an important lingua
franca in East Africa. The term lingua franca therefore has a much wider meaning than
the term pidgin. Each pidgin functions as a type of lingua franca (because it is used for
communication between members of different speech communities) but a lingua franca
is not a pidgin. The key characteristic of a lingua franca is that it is a fully-fledged
(developed) language with mother-tongue speakers, such as English, whereas a pidgin
language has no native speakers.
__________________________________________________________________________

7.3 Where are pidgins spoken?

Pidgins and languages descended from pidgins are spoken all over the world, including
Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Australia.
Perhaps the most well-known pidgin languages are those like Jamaican which arose
amongst the slaves who were imported from West Africa in the 17th Century to work on
farms and develop the new colonies in the West Indies. Later, when it was discovered
that cotton grew well in the southern states of North America, slaves were also employed
on cotton plantations. It was difficult for these African slaves to keep their identities as
they came from different areas and language groups and were mixed together in the
colonies. In fact there is evidence that slave owners deliberately broke up families and
tribal groups to minimise the risk of rebellion. Obviously there was a need to
communicate with fellow slaves and their overseers, so in this situation pidgin languages
arose rapidly. These pidgin languages were based on the colonial languages (English,
French, Spanish and Dutch) but were influenced to some extent by the African
languages. They were used throughout the Caribbean and the southern states of North
America, such as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia.
The Portuguese expansion around West Africa starting in the 15th century gave rise to a
number of pidgins in Africa. Portuguese-based pidgins arose as a result of contact with
Portuguese-speaking sailors. These include Cape Verdean Creole, Guinea-Bissau Kriyol
and Angolar. Over time most of these pidgins disappeared and in parts of Africa that the
Portuguese colonised (such as Mozambique and Angola) the local population learned to
speak Portuguese and became bilingual. English-based pidgins in former British
colonies in Africa include Nigerian pidgin, Ghanaian Pidgin English, Cameroon Pidgin
English and Krio in Sierra Leone. French-based pidgins are spoken in the Indian Ocean

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Islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles and Reunion. There is also scholarly debate over the
extent to which the early forms of Afrikaans can be considered a pidgin, resulting from
contact between Dutch and other European settlers, the Khoekhoe substratum, and
Creole-Portuguese and Malay slaves (see e.g. Roberge 2002).

7.4 Characteristics of pidgins

A pidgin is very clearly a second language and the speech rate is usually slower than in
an ordinary language. A further important characteristic of a pidgin is that it is unstable. If
the contact between the groups ceases or if the groups break up, the pidgin will
disappear. According to Singh (2000:17), `social instability may have been a defining
feature of the environments that produced pidgins'. For example, on a sugar or cotton
plantation, the composition of the group fluctuated as many slaves died and large
numbers of new slaves from different language backgrounds were brought in or as
plantations changed hands.
A major source of variation in pidgins is the influence of the speakers' mother tongues on
the pidgin. Each group speaks the pidgin in their own way. Pidgins are seldom used in
written form. They are normally oral languages only.
The most important structural characteristic of pidgins is simplification. This is a result of
the fact that, in order to serve the purpose for which they were created, pidgins must be
easy to learn. This leads to their drastic simplification which affects all levels of the
language. Ferguson and DeBose (1977:105) describe simplification as follows:
... modification that seems intended in a fairly obvious way to make utterances
easier to perceive, understand, or produce may be regarded as simplifying
processes if they omit material, reduce irregularity, or make sound-meaning
correspondences more transparent.
The objective of simplification is therefore to help the learner understand what the
speaker is saying.
From this characteristic it follows that pidgins will have a limited number of linguistic units
and that the phonology and grammar will be highly simplified. However, it appears that
there are clear limits to simplification beyond which a language does not seem to be able
to function. For instance, no normal language seems to be able to function unless there
are at least five different vowels. This type of restriction leads to great structural
similarities in the phonology of pidgins throughout the world, since most of them have
five vowels. On the syntactic level it seems that the most basic structure of most pidgins
is a subject verb object (SVO) word order.
A brief overview is given below of how the simplification process affects the vocabulary,
grammar, phonology and syntax of pidgins (based on Hudson 1980:6265).

7.4.1 Vocabulary
The vocabulary of a pidgin is often based on the language of the dominant group. The
dominant language, that is the language from which most of the vocabulary is
introduced, is referred to as the lexifier language of the pidgin. One reason why the
dominant language tends to be the lexifier language is because the dominant language

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introduces a number of new concepts (with their original names) into the culture of the
non-dominant group. Thus in Khoi (or Khoekhoe) Pidgin Dutch most of the words are
Dutch. Among the most common lexifier languages of pidgins are English, French,
Portuguese, Spanish, and Arabic.

Task 7.2
English is the lexifier language of Hawaiian Pidgin English. See if your knowledge of
English allows you to translate the following example from Hawaiian Pidgin English (Hint:
The speaker is comparing life with a road. Try reading the sentence aloud; this will
probably make it easier to understand):
Samtaim gud rod get, samtaim, olsem ben get enguru get, no? enikain seim, olsem
hyuman life.
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
You probably recognised a few words like samtaim, `sometime', seim `same' and
hyuman life `human life', but notice the spelling is very sound-based, unlike Standard
English with all its idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies. However, you probably couldn't
follow the meaning. The gloss is provided below:
Samtaim

gud rod get, samtaim,

olsem

Sometimes good road get, sometimes all the same

ben

get enguru get, no? enikain seim, olsem

hyuman life.

bends get angles get, no? any kind same, all-same human life.
The English translation would run something like this:
`Sometimes you get a good road, sometimes you get, like, bends, corners, right?
Everything's like that. Human life's like that.'

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This example shows clearly that knowledge of the lexifier language does not enable you
to understand the pidgin. It still needs to be learnt.
__________________________________________________________________________
Because of the trend towards simplification, a pidgin is characterised by its limited
vocabulary and, consequently, pidgin speakers can only discuss certain topics (Hudson
1980:62). The small vocabulary implies that knowledge of the context and the topic of the
conversation play an important role in the interpretation of an utterance. Because the
vocabulary is small, each word has a wide meaning. The meaning of the Tok Pisin word
han illustrates this point (Tok Pisin is a pidgin/creole language spoken in Papua New
Guinea):
han bilong dok (`hands belong to a dog') `front paw of a dog'
han bilong pik (`hands belong to a pig') `shoulder of pork'
han bilong pisin (`hands belong to a pigeon') `wing of a pigeon'
han bilong diwai (`hands belong to a tree') `branch of a tree'
plantihan (`plenty hands') `centipede'.

Task 7.3
(a)

Based on the example above, can you identify the lexifier language of Tok Pisin?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) Where do you think the language Tok Pisin gets its name from?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
Because you can see from the glosses that Tok Pisin is based on English vocabulary,
e.g. han `hand' and bilong `belong', you can deduce that English is the lexifier language
of Tok Pisin. In fact, 80% of the vocabulary of the language comes from English. The
language gets its name from the phrase `talk pidgin'.
__________________________________________________________________________
As in speech addressed to children (motherese), reduplicated phrases are also typically
present in many pidgins. For example in Nigerian Pidgin, reduplicated words include
koro-koro `clear vision', yama-yama `disgusting', and doti-doti `garbage'.

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7.4.2 Phonology
As pointed out above, the simplification of the phonological (sound) system of pidgins
leads to certain similarities among pidgins worldwide. For example: the phonology of Tok
Pisin and many other pidgins shows only five vowels. In Tok Pisin, for example, this leads
to a neutralisation of the contrast between the English words work (Tok Pisin: wok) and
walk. The contrast between these two words is now expressed on the morphological
level: the word wokabout (`walk about') is used for `walk' and wok means `work'.
The number of consonants phonemes is also reduced in pidgin languages. For example,
the contrast between [p] and [f] is neutralised in Tok Pisin by the loss of [f]: The word
laugh thus becomes lap and leaf becomes lip. The reduction in the number of phonemes
(sounds) also leads to the loss of the contrast between [s], [l] and [tl]. This means that
the English words watch and wash are both pronounced as was in Tok Pisin.

7.4.3 Morphology
The simplification process is seen on the grammatical level in a sharp reduction of the
inflectional morphology of the lexifier languages in pidgins. Inflectional morphemes are
used in standard languages to:
. signal relationships between words in a sentence, for example, the agreement
between a subject and a verb in sentences such as The dog walks / The dogs walk;
. provide additional grammatical information such as tense, case, number, etc., for
example English cat cats, dog dogs
The loss of inflection in pidgins manifests differently in different types of languages but
the results tend to be very similar: a type of telegraphic speech. This simplification
implies that important meaning distinctions can no longer be expressed. For example,
the loss of the English possessive suffix the dog's paw in Tok Pisin is compensated for by
using the word bilong. Thus the Tok Pisin phrase han bilong dok `hand belonging to a
dog' refers to a dog's paw. The affixes expressing number (e.g. the -s added to nouns in
English to denote the concept `plural') are similarly lost in the pidginisation process. Thus
Tok Pisin expresses the concept `more than one' by a numeral: two boy bilong yu (`your
two sons'). This last example illustrates that important concepts that are expressed in the
lexifier language by an inflectional morpheme are expressed in the pidgin using a full
word.
A similar loss of inflectional morphology or grammatical morphemes is seen in African
pidgins in a loss of the Bantu noun prefix system. For instance, the fifteen noun classes
that occur in Zulu are reduced to one contrast in the Zulu-based pidgin Fanakalo (see
7.7.1), namely the contrast between the singular and the plural which is marked by maor zi-. A few nouns that refer to human beings take the prefix um- the singular and the
prefix ba- in the plural. The loss of the noun class markers means that the concord
system of Zulu is also lost in Fanakalo.
There are two possible reasons why the inflectional morphology has been lost in pidgins:
. It is easier to interpret a language where one form has one meaning. (The plural
morpheme -s in English has three forms: -s, z and -ez as in cats, dogs and horses)
. It is easier to learn a language with limited morphology such as English or Afrikaans
than one that has a complex morphology such as Latin or Zulu.

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Grammatical categories are often represented by function words rather than by

inflectional endings as in, for example, Cameroon Pidgin English:
a di tok

`I'm talking'

a bin tok

`I talked'

a go tok

`I will talk'

a bin don tok `I have talked'

7.4.4 Syntax
As pointed out earlier, many pidgins have SVO sequence even if one of the donor
languages has, for instance, a VSO sequence. There are, of course exceptions: Naga
Pidgin, spoken in northeast India, is reported to have a SOV basic word order. Nearly all
pidginised forms of English have an SVO sequence.
The auxiliary verb used to mark tense is lacking in most English-based pidgins. For
instance, an auxiliary verb such as has in He has gone would be dropped in pidgins. This
is usually compensated for by adding adverbs like today or tomorrow.
The verb to be is frequently omitted altogether in pidgins:
beam very strong `the beam is very strong'.
me angikele nau

`me hungry now'

Changes in word order to express questions, commands or statements seldom occur.

The following example from Tok Pisin illustrates this observation:
yu klinim pis

`You are cleaning the fish.'

yu klinim pis

`Are you cleaning the fish?'

yu klinim pis

`Clean the fish!'

7.5 The birth and growth of creoles

As we noted above, pidgins are only used in restricted or limited communicative
situations, such as trade. They have restricted vocabularies and grammars and they
come into existence so that people who speak different languages are able to
communicate in limited contact situations. There are no mother-tongue speakers of
pidgins. If a pidgin no longer serves a useful purpose, it can fall into disuse and die. For
example, once the trading situation no longer exists there is no need for the pidgin to
continue to be used and it dies. If the contact between groups of people becomes more
permanent and regular, as in the case of colonisation, the groups learn one another's
languages and become bilingual and so the pidgin falls away.
There are however other situations where the pidgin language does not die out, for
instance, when a generation of children adopt a pidgin as their mother tongue. This type
of situation can arise when a man and a woman who are speakers of different languages
marry. Both know a pidgin language but neither learns the other's language. The pidgin
is then adopted as the home language and becomes the mother tongue of their children.

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When a pidgin acquires mother-tongue speakers (i.e. children grow up and speak it as a
mother tongue), it starts to undergo various changes (this process is known as
elaboration). It then grows into a fully developed language which we call a creole.
All pidgins have the potential to develop into fully-developed languages. Pidgins can be
regarded as languages in embryo all the necessary linguistic elements are there in a
restricted form. Under the right circumstances a pidgin can be creolised (that is,
develop into a creole). Once a pidgin is adopted as a first language (that is, there are
mother tongue speakers) and it starts to be used for a wide range of functions (it is used
for other situations than trading), it begins to develop into a creole.
A good example is the Caribbean creoles. These first started as pidgins which were used
as a means of communication between master and slaves. Because many of the slaves
came from different linguistic backgrounds, pidgins developed as a means of
communication between them. Gradually the use of the pidgin expanded to cover
more and more situations. In the case of mixed marriages the pidgin became the main
means of communication between them and it was then passed on to the children as
their first language. Once the pidgin was adopted as a first language, it developed
rapidly and the old African languages fell into disuse and became forgotten, leaving the
way open for the new creole to become a fully developed language. Another example of
a pidgin that has been creolised is Nigerian pidgin, an English-based pidgin and creole
language spoken as a lingua franca across Nigeria. According to Wikipedia,
The language is commonly referred to as `Pidgin' or `Brokin'. It is often not
considered a creole language since most speakers are not native speakers,
although many children do learn it early. ... Ihemere (2006) reports that Nigerian
Pidgin is the native language of approximately 3 to 5 million people and is a second
language for at least another 75 million. Variations of Pidgin are also spoken across
West Africa, in countries such as Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. Pidgin English,
despite its common use throughout the country, has no official status.
Nigerian Pidgin, along with the various pidgin and creole languages of West Africa
share similarities to the various dialects of English found in the Caribbean. Some of
the returning descendants of slaves taken to the New World of West African origin
brought back many words and phrases to West Africa from the Jamaican Creole
(also known as Jamaican Patois or simply Patois) and the other creole languages of
the West Indies which are components of Nigerian Pidgin.
Downloaded from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Pidgin
on 19 March 2012
As the above extract suggests, it is not easy to draw an exact dividing line between a
pidgin and a creole. The point at which the pidgin is adopted as the mother tongue of
some speakers could be regarded as the birth of a new language, but like all babies it
still has to grow and mature. Once the pidgin becomes a first language, its development
is greatly accelerated. Its speakers may start to use it in new ways, for example, for
teaching children or for storytelling. It undergoes rapid alteration and expansion in its
grammar, vocabulary and phonology. The structure of the creole becomes more
complex.
Mature creoles can be regarded as fully developed languages because they can be
used in all normal communicative situations, i.e. they have a full range of functions in all
domains. Some creoles have been accepted as the language of government and

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administration as in the case of Tok Pisin and they also become literary languages. A
creole may even become a national language of a country. For instance, Sango is a
Ngbandi-based creole spoken in the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Congo,
and the DRC. Originally used by river traders, Sango is a Bantu language with some
French lexical influence used as a language of wider communication in the region. It is
the most widespread language in the Central African Republic with 400 000 mothertongue speakers and a further 1,6 million second-language speakers (1988 census). It
has been declared the national language of the Central African Republic and is used in
all domains, including as a language of instruction in many schools.

Task 7.4
Based on your reading of 7.3 and 7.4 above, can you summarise the major differences
between pidgins and creoles? Try and think of at least six points of difference:
Pidgins

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Creoles

Feedback
The table below shows some of the difference between pidgins and creoles that you may
have identified:
Pidgins

Creoles

(1) No first language speakers

Have first language speakers

(2) Used in a restricted communicative

context only

Used in a wide variety of communicative

contexts

(3) Unstable and variable due to influence of different L1s

More stable

(4) Normally only spoken

Spoken and written

(5) Relatively slow speech rate as everyone uses it as L2

Normal speech rate

(6) Very limited number of lexical items

Wide range of lexical items

(7) Simplified phonology, e.g. simple

vowel systems and fewer consonants than base or lexifier languages

More complex phonology, but still tend to

have fewer vowels and consonants than
base languages

(8) Simple morphology with few inflections

More inflection and derivation

(9) Reduced syntactic complexity

More complex syntax

7.6 Decreolisation: the death of a pidgin

It is possible to compare the development of a pidgin to the life cycle of some living
organism (such as a plant or animal). The pidgin is the embryo, or egg, stage of
development, the stage between conception and birth. Just as an animal needs two
parents for conception to take place, so the pidgin is born out of the contact between
two language groups. Often one of the two parent languages of the pidgin is more
dominant than the other, and it plays a bigger role in the composition of the pidgin. We
call this the base language. If the base language of a pidgin is English, we call it an
English-based pidgin.
The next stage is the creole stage. For a creole to be born, the pidgin must be adopted
by mother-tongue speakers. The creole then has to develop and grow to maturity. Once
the creole has grown to maturity, it becomes a highly developed language which can
function like any other normal language. It can be used for a variety of communicative
situations. It can be written. It can develop a literature. And it can become accepted as
an official language of a country.
The next stage is the decline of the creole, known as decreolisation. Decreolisation
normally occurs in a situation when a creole exists side by side with its base language.
For example decreolisation has occurred in the West Indies where English-based creoles
exist side by side with Standard English. In such a situation speakers of the creole may
start to adopt the base language, particularly if there are economic advantages in being

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able to speak the base language. Education also plays an important role here. The base
language has a higher status and is a language of education. Because of their origins,
creoles are often regarded as low prestige varieties. and once speakers of the creole
become educated, it is likely that they will start to adopt the standard language. If this
process continues throughout the creole-speaking community, the creole will disappear
completely, that is, it will have been decreolised and the speakers will all have adopted
the base language.
The process of decreolisation usually takes place slowly and unevenly. Some members
of the creole-speaking community adopt the base language which is more prestigious,
whereas others do not change their language so rapidly in that direction. Older, working
class or more rural community members typically still use a `deep creole', that is the
process of decreolisation has hardly touched them. This situation can be described in
terms of a creole continuum, in other words a range of varieties of the creole in various
stages of decreolisation.
Normally three stages are identified in the creole continuum: the basilect or `deep'
creole, which is most like the original creole, the mesolect(s) or various varieties in which
decreolisation is beginning to take place and the acrolect where decreolisation has
progressed the furthest. The acrolect is the form of the creole that is closest to the base
language. All three stages can exist simultaneously in a creole-speaking community as
speakers may be in different stages of decreolisation.
FIGURE 7.1: Creole continuum, with examples from Jamaican
Creole basilect ? Creole mesolects ? Creole ? acrolect ? Base language
Mi a nyam ? Me a eat

Me eatin' I eatin' ? I am eating ? I am eating

The process of decreolisation may lead to the development of new language varieties. In
the United States of America the pidgin languages of the slaves gradually developed into
a creole which they adopted as their mother tongue. Because of contact with mothertongue speakers of English and increased levels of education after the emancipation of
the slaves, the creole varieties started to become decreolised with the result that Black
American English is a decreolised variety of English. It is a dialect of American English
which has grown out of a creole variety. It retains certain creole elements, although it is
no longer regarded as a creole and is moving closer to standard American English.
The case of Afrikaans is quite a complex situation in which the creole varieties of the
Dutch spoken by the Khoekhoe and the slaves started to be decreolised through contact
with mother-tongue speakers of Dutch. At the same time the mother-tongue speakers of
Dutch were influenced by these creole varieties. As a result many creole elements have
been absorbed into Afrikaans. For instance, constructions like the reduplication of verbs
(singsing, dansdans) which do not appear in Dutch can be traced back to MalayPortuguese elements in the variety of Dutch spoken by the slaves. The influence on
Afrikaans of these creolised varieties led to Afrikaans absorbing many creole elements.
Afrikaans is sometimes referred to as a partial creole language.

7.7 The development of Afrikaans

Afrikaans has its roots both inside and outside of South Africa. The European roots of
Afrikaans come via the Dutch Republic consisting of the United Provinces. The officials,

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soldiers and workers from the Dutch East India Company Dutch who came to the Cape
from the Dutch Repblic in the 17th century, brought with them the various dialects of
Dutch. The slaves who came from the East brought with them various eastern languages
which had an influence on the development of Afrikaans, and the Khoe speakers who
formed the indigenous population of the Cape influenced the development of Afrikaans
as well.
Many of the officials and soldiers who were employed by the Dutch East India Company
at the Cape resigned and began farming. These farmers were called the freeburghers.
The freeburghers mainly became stock farmers and they gradually moved away from the
Cape into the interior in search of pastures for their stock. They lived on the eastern
border of the Cape which they continually expanded. Although these settlers came from
various European countries (The Dutch Republic, Germany and France were the main
countries of origin) and spoke various varieties of Dutch and other European languages,
they adopted Dutch as their mother tongue. The variety of Dutch that they spoke
however was influenced by the different varieties of Dutch and other European
languages which the settlers brought with them. The type of Dutch that they spoke is
called Border Afrikaans (Oosgrensafrikaans).
The slaves came from various linguistic backgrounds and from countries diverse as
India, Madagascar, Benin, Angola and Liberia amongst others. One of the languages
which most of the slaves knew to some extent was a creolised variety of Portuguese
spoken in the East which was called Malay-Portuguese. It originated from a type of
pidgin Portuguese spoken by Malay speakers who wanted to learn Portuguese but had
not quite mastered it. Malay-Portuguese was the language which was used to
communicate with Portuguese traders, soldiers and sailors. It was well-known in the
East and even many Dutch sailors could speak it. At the Cape the slaves began to speak
Dutch with their new masters and with their fellow slaves. Dutch was often used as a
lingua franca amongst the slaves because many of them spoke different languages.
Many of the slaves did not learn Dutch from mother-tongue speakers, but from the fellow
slaves who spoke a type of learner Dutch. This type of Dutch was simplified (as it was not
their mother tongue) and it was also influenced by elements from their various mother
tongues (particularly Malay-Portuguese). Gradually this variety of Dutch was adopted as
the mother tongue of the slaves and they lost the ability to speak their original mother
tongues. That was the beginning of a variety of Dutch called Cape Afrikaans (Kaapse
Afrikaans). The slaves remained mainly at the Cape and did not move into the interior of
South Africa, so their variety of Dutch has had an influence on the type of Afrikaans
spoken in the Cape today. Remnants of Malay-Portuguese can still be seen in present
day Afrikaans in common words such as baie, koejawel and piesang as mentioned in
Study Unit 2
Because of the need to trade, particularly for cattle and livestock, the Dutch settlers
found it necessary to trade with the Khoe. This trade lead to the development of a
contact language, pidgin Dutch. Contact with the Dutch had important consequences for
the Khoi. As a result of this contact their social system was destroyed, new chiefs were
appointed by the Dutch, unknown illnesses such as small-lpox led to the breakdown of
the traditional society and to a large extent they began to adopt the Dutch language.
Many of the Khoi were frightened by the small pox epidemic so they moved away from
the Cape. Most of them moved in a North Westerly direction and settled in the region of
the Orange River. The variety of Dutch that they spoke is known as Orange River
Afrikaans (Oranjerivierafrikaans). The Khoe who did not move to the Orange River region
began to work for the Dutch farmers as herdsmen. Their status changed from providers

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of livestock to herders of livestock. Traces of the Khoi languages can be seen in modern
Afrikaans. A number of words of Khoi origin such as Gamka, Keiskamma and Karoo as
discussed in Study Unit 2.
As we have seen above, during the first years after the arrival of the Dutch at the Cape a
large variety of people settled at the Cape. Apart from the Dutch settlers, there were three
other important groups of speakers in the community. They were the slaves, who spoke
various Asian and African languages; the Khoi speakers; and the freeburghers, who
spoke a variety of Dutch. Each one of these groups spoke their own distinctive variety of
the early Afrikaans. There were therefore three dialects or varieties of early Afrikaans:
Cape Afrikaans (Kaapse Afrikaans), originally spoken by the slaves; Orange River
Afrikaans (Oranjerivierafrikaans), originally spoken by the Khoi; and Border Afrikaans
(Oosgrensafrikaans), spoken by the stock farmers who had trekked away from the Cape.
The people who spoke these various varieties of Afrikaans did not live in isolation from
one another. They constantly came into contact with one another and naturally these
various dialects influenced one another. Modern Afrikaans can be seen as a mixture of
these various dialects.
By the end of the 19th century the varieties of Dutch spoken at the Cape were so far
removed from standard Dutch that a movement arose towards establishing Afrikaans as
a standard language. Although Dutch and English were accepted as the two official
languages of the country when the Union of South Africa came into being in 1910, there
was a strong movement to have Afrikaans accepted as an official language and
eventually in 1925 Afrikaans replaced Dutch as one of the official languages of South
Africa.
It is possible that many of the languages of the world may have developed out of creole
languages or that creolisation may have played a role in their development (as it did in
the case of Afrikaans). A major language like French, for example, may have started as a
pidgin Latin spoken in Gaul, which later became creolised and then developed into a
fully-fledged language with the status of a literary and national language. There is even
some evidence that creolisation many have played a role in the development of Middle
English. Unfortunately, we do not always have evidence of the role of creolisation in the
development of languages as we do not have written records of the earlier stages.

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Task 7.5
Match the examples and definitions in the left-hand column with the appropriate terms in
the right-hand column. You won't need all the terms in the right-hand column.
(a) The language that plays the most significant role in the composition of the
pidgin
(b) The adoption of a pidgin as a first
language, with consequent linguistic elaboration and extension into a wider range
of domains
(c) The development of a language used in
restricted contact situations
(d) The creole language variety closest to the
original pidgin language
(e) The creole language variety closest to the
original base language
(f) The language from which a pidgin derives
most of its vocabulary
(g) a situation where a creole language
consists of a spectrum of varieties
between those most and least similar to
the superstrate language
(h) Hawaiian Pidgin originated as a form of
communication on the plantations.
Based on English, it has also been
influenced by Portuguese, Hawaiian, Japanese and Cantonese. In the 19th and
20th centuries, Pidgin started to be used
outside the plantation between ethnic
groups and eventually it became the
primary language of most people in
Hawaii, replacing the original languages
such as Hawaiian.
(i) Bahamian is an English-based language
spoken by approximately 400,000 people
in the Bahamas. Bahamian is spoken as
L1 by both white and black Bahamians,
although in slightly different forms. Less
educated speakers have merged /v/ and
/w/ into a single phoneme, and words with
th in English are usually pronounced with
[d] or [t] as in dis `this' and tink `think'.
(j) English first arrived in China in the 1630s,
and a modified form of English known as
Chinese Pidgin English developed in the
17th century for use as a trade language.

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creole continuum
lexifier language
pidgin
creolisation
acrolect
mesolect
basilect

pidginisation

base language

decreolisation
creole

133

Feedback
The term defined in (a) is base language, (b) is creolisation, (c) is pidginisation, (d) is
basilect, (e) is acrolect and (f) is lexifier language and (g) is creole continuum. The
situation described in (h) (Hawaiian Pidgin) is one of pidginisation, followed by
creolisation. Case study (i) (Bahamian) is also a creole because we are told that
Bahamian has L1 speakers. The pidgin origins of the Bahamian language are displayed
in the reduced consonant phonology described in the case study. The situation in (j)
(Chinese Pidgin English) describes pidginisation (or just a pidgin).
__________________________________________________________________________

7.8 Two African case studies

In Africa's melting pot of languages and cultures it is not surprising that language contact
situations have led to the development of many new linguistic varieties, and the
possibilities for cross-fertilisation and influence are endless. We will not be able to
discuss all these complex contact situations in a single study unit, and so we must
narrow our focus to two cases where language contact has led to the development of
new contact varieties in Africa. The one is Fanakalo, a pidgin variety well-known on South
African mines and farms, and the other is Mauritian Creole. They represent two extremes
in the study of language contact variation. But they also share some interesting features.

7.8.1 Fanakalo
In the previous section we noted that Afrikaans emerged as a contact language between
the Dutch settlers in South Africa and the local people. Another contact language which
arose in the eastern parts of South Africa is Fanakalo. Fanakalo is basically a simplified
form of Zulu with a large number of words derived from English and to a lesser extent
Afrikaans included in its vocabulary. Adendorff (2002:181) cites Cole's estimation that
Fanakalo vocabulary is 70% Zulu, 24% English and 6% Afrikaans. What is interesting
about Fanakalo is that it is still alive today as a pidgin language, used for communication
between different linguistic groups. As a pidgin, it has no mother-tongue speakers.
Most South African are aware of Fanakalo as a language that is used on the mines,
where it has become somewhat institutionalised, but it seems that it originally came from
the Colony of Natal (KwaZulu-Natal today). The origins of Fanakalo are to some degree
uncertain, but the most likely theory of origin is put forward by Mesthrie (1995). He
maintains that Fanakalo arose as a result of contact between British settlers in Natal and
local Zulu speakers. This contact pidgin language was in general use in the colony of
Natal when the first indentured Indian labourers arrived in 1861. Mesthrie argues that as
Fanakalo was used widely in contact situations between Indians and Zulu speakers, the
Indians played a role in stabilising this pidgin, which was adopted by them as their
standard form of communication with Zulu speakers.
Adendorff (1995) argues that the role that the missionaries played in the development of
Fanakalo is underestimated. The form of Zulu used by the missionaries influenced the
development of Fanakalo. It seems that Fanakalo developed because white farmers,
missionaries and Indian traders wanted to communicate with the Zulu-speaking majority

134

and so used their limited, simplified form of Zulu mixed with English as a common basis
for communication. Later, Fanakalo spread to other areas. When the gold mines were
developed on the reef around Johannesburg early in the 20th century, many Zulu
speakers sought employment on the mines and Fanakalo came to be used on the mines
as a general means of communication, particularly between foremen and mineworkers.
While it tends to be used in situations where there is a difference of power between
speakers, according to Adendorff (2002:180), Fanakalo `can be used to play down
asymmetry in a relationship; indeed, rather than signalling disparities in power, it is
always instrumental in signalling solidarity'. Some examples of Fanakalo from Adendorff
(2002) are provided below:
Mina washa

ka

lo

manzi

with

the

water

wash

`I wash with water'

Lo

pomp

The pump

yena

donsa

lo

manzi

it is

release

the

water

`The pump releases the water'

Mina khona siks mapikinin
I

have

six

children

`I have six children'.

White farmers and Indian traders who moved up into the colony of Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) possibly took this contact language with them which was then introduced as
a pidgin language called Chilapalapa. It is remarkable that Fanakalo is still in use as it
arose as a contact language over a century ago. Most people in South Africa have
learned English and other languages which can be used for communication between
different language groups. If we compare it with other pidgin languages that were used in
the Cape two centuries ago, we note that they have all died out or been absorbed into
Afrikaans or had an influence in the development of Afrikaans.
These days attitudes towards Fanakalo are beginning to change. Some people see it as
a legacy of the apartheid era, a tool of oppression, and feel that it no longer serves a
function, as most people in South Africa, including mineworkers, are bilingual or
multilingual. There is a move to phase Fanakalo out of the mines. However one of the
problems with phasing out Fanakalo is that people on the mines come from different
linguistic backgrounds and it is difficult to know what common language to adopt. Some
argue that English should be used as the common language. But not everybody has a
fluent command of English whereas Fanakalo has been used by generations of
mineworkers and is established on the mines. Working on the mines is a dangerous
occupation and it is important that there is clear communication between everyone
concerned so the problem of phasing out Fanakalo is not a simple one. It will be
interesting to see whether Fanakalo dies out in the next few decades.

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7.8.2 Mauritian Creole

The island of Mauritius, located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, has a
population of about 1,2 million, all descendants of immigrants from France, China,
Africa, Madagascar, and India. The island was colonised by the French in 1715 and most
Mauritians speak a French-based creole language fluently, which is used as a lingua
franca and is the mother-tongue of a substantial majority (Eriksen 1999). The history of
the language is described by Eriksen (1999), who explains that it arose among
... slaves from different parts of Africa and Madagascar, brought there between
1715 (the beginning of French colonisation) and 1810 (when the slave trade was
banned). Like in other plantation colonies based on slavery, slave owners in Ile-deFrance (as Mauritius was called during French rule) mixed individuals from different
ethnic groups together, dissolving family structures and forms of political
organisation. As a result, in a given compound, there were few shared collective
cultural resources; no shared language, no shared kinship structure, cosmology or
traditional system of social organisation that might have been transplanted and
eventually reproduced. Thus the degree of cultural continuity in the slave groups
was by default limited. Like in similar setups elsewhere in the world, particular in the
Caribbean, a creole language developed quickly, using French vocabulary, a
modified pronounciation and a simplified grammar.
While the majority of words are of French origin, there are also words derived from
English, Indian languages, Chinese and Arabic. While Mauritian Creole, also known as
`Kreole Maurisyen', is the national language that unites all Mauritians, English is the
official language of Mauritius today.Mauritian Creole tends to be spoken in homes and
informal situations, while French is used in work places and the media, and French and
English are used in schools and formal situations.
Examples from Morissey (http://linguistics.siu.edu/jpclfiles/maur.html) follow. You may
recognise some of the words if you know French:
Nu pu

envit

zot

pu

we will

invite them for

mariaz.
wedding

`We will invite them to the wedding.'

Mo ava al
I

will

get

go see

li

si

mo kapav.

him/her

if

`I will visit him/her if I can.'

Zot

ti

manz en

they past eat

`They ate an apple.'

136

pom.

an apple

can

Task 7.6
(a)

What are the lexifier languages of Fanakalo and Mauritian Creole?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) In your opinion, why has Fanakalo never been creolised?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
The lexifier languages of Fanakalo and Mauritian Creole are, respectively, Zulu and
French, as these form the primary source of vocabulary in the two languages. You may
have various ideas about why Fanakalo has never been creolized, but one possible
answer is that mineworkers were frequently male migrant labourers whose families and
home languages were based elsewhere. Fanakalo thus remained a pidgin second
language with limited use outside the workplace and was never passed on to children. It
also tends to be stigmatised, particularly by African language speakers.

7.9 Summary
This study unit introduced you to pidgin languages, the simplified languages like
Fanakalo that arise as a result of temporary contact between two groups of monolingual
speakers who belong to different communities and who have limited social interaction.
Pidgins are never spoken as a mother tongue and are consequently very unstable in that
they can change or fall into disuse very easily.
The most important structural characteristic of pidgins is simplification. This is a result of
the fact that, in order to serve the purpose for which they were created, pidgins must be
easy to learn. Some of the linguistic characteristics of pidgins include the slow speech
rate, the limited number of linguistic units and the highly simplified phonology,
morphology and grammar.
When contact continues and the pidgin undergoes elaboration and becomes used in a
wider range of situations, it can develop into a fully developed language which we call a
creole. This situation was illustrated in the case study of Mauritian Creole. A later
development known as decreolisation occurs when a creole exists side by side with its
base language. The process of decreolisation usually takes place slowly and unevenly,
resulting in the simultaneous existence of various varieties of the creole: the basilect or
`deep' creole, which is most like the original creole, the mesolect(s) in which
decreolisation is beginning to take place and the acrolect, the form of the creole that
is closest to the base language.

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Further reading
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 55 Pidgins and creoles
Chapter 56 The language barrier
Singh, I. 2000. Pidgins and Creoles: An introduction. London: Arnold.

138

Study Unit 8
Language shift, language death and language
revival
I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of
nations.
Samuel Johnson (English author, poet, literary critic and lexicographer 17091784)

OUTCOMES
After you have studied this unit you should be able to
1
2
3
4
5

explain the relationship between language shift and language death;

identify factors contributing to language shift and language death;
describe some observations that have been made about the linguistic structure and
value of dying languages;
identify ways in which dying languages can be revived and maintained;
explain and illustrate the following concepts:
language shift
diglossia
participant-observation
language death
endangered languages
viable languages

sudden death
gradual death
semi-speaker
rememberers
viable language
language maintenance

In a nutshell
In this study unit we reflect on the phenomenon of language shift in multilingual
settings and examine examples of shift in South Africa. We look at the various stages
of language shift and at how shift can lead in certain situations to the complete
disappearance of a language language death. We will touch on the research
methods used in studies of language shift, and explore the effects on the linguistic
structure and features of a dying language.
To end on a more positive note we will look at language maintenance and the revival
of dying languages, focusing on factors which prevent or slow down the rate of shift.

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8.1 Introduction
In this study unit we will look more closely at the effect of multilingualism on minority
languages. It is now well-known that the rise of dominant languages such as Mandarin,
Spanish, Swahili and particularly English often comes at the cost of minority languages in
the community. Television news and documentaries, the internet and social media have
brought many of these stories of threatened languages to the attention of a worldwide
audience:
It is difficult to imagine a period in the history of human development when issues of
language diversity, linguistic subordination, and language loss have been more
evident. Just a half-century ago, small, physically remote communities and socially
subordinate groups were relatively invisible and inaudible within the dominant,
mainstream society. Accordingly, the sociolinguistic status of these communities
was unrecognized and their voices unheard. Language varieties often developed,
lived and died without extensive public attention. Today, images and voices can be
beamed globally within milliseconds, and the naturalness of diversity is readily
transparent.
Wolfram (2008:188)
This study unit focuses on some of the issues relating to language shift, dying languages
and language varieties and the possibility of language revival.

8.2 Language shift

In Study Units 6 and 7 we read about situations where contact between languages can
give rise to new varieties of language or to new pidgin and creole languages. Language
contact can also give rise to language shift where a linguistic community changes
from the habitual use of one language to another. Language shift generally affects
minority languages those with lower status than the dominant language of the wider
community. Speakers of minority languages generally do not have the same social,
political and economic advantages as speakers of the dominant national languages.
There are always several complex factors that combine to cause language shift in a
community. According to Kamwangamalu (2003:227), these include `the numerical
strength of a group in relation to other minorities and majorities, language status and
language attitude, socioeconomic value, education, institutional support, and government policies'.
Language shift normally takes place over a long period of time in a number of stages.
Normally language shift begins with diglossia a situation in which two or more
languages co-occur throughout the speech community, each language serving a
different set of functions. At a later stage the speakers of the minority language all
become bilingual. But it is an asymmetrical or one-sided bilingualism, where speakers of
the dominant language are far less likely to become bilingual. This eventually leads to
language shift in which the speakers of the minority language begin to replace their
original language with the dominant language. They lose fluency and competence in
their original language and eventually this leads to a state of monolingualism in which the
speakers can no longer speak their original language altogether.
One classic study of language shift is by Susan Gal (1979), who studied the language
shift taking place in Oberwart, a town in Austria near the Hungarian border. Most

140

inhabitants were Hungarian mother-tongue speakers but also spoke German. Gal spent
a year living in the community, a research method known as participant-observation,
where one observes and records community behaviour while simultaneously experiencing their lifestyle. Gal interviewed many individual community members of various ages
about their language choices in various different situations. Table 8.1 below illustrates an
excerpt from her data:
TABLE 8.1: The choice of Hungarian (H) or German (G) by women speakers in
Oberwart (based on Gal 1979:102)
Age of
speaker

Church
services

Talking to
grandparents

Talking to
parents

Talking to
siblings

Talking to
children

Talking to
grandchildren

14

14

GH

17

GH

GH

22

GH

33

35

GH

GH

40

GH

50

63

GH

71

GH

Task 8.1
Have a look at Gal's data set above and answer the questions that follow:
(a)

What does the first column indicate and how is it arranged?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(b) What does the top row of the table represent as it moves from left to right?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
(c)

Why do you think some of the cells are left empty?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

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(d) Are there any monolinguals according to the data given above?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
(e)

Are there any domains/speech situations in which only one language is used?
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

(f)

In which direction is shift taking place in Oberwart? How do you know?

.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................

Feedback
(a)

The first column indicates the age of the speaker, arranged from youngest (14) to
oldest (71).

(b) The top row indicates the speech situation and with whom the conversation was
taking place. With the exception of the first two columns, the speech situations are
arranged in decreasing age of the interlocutor, with older relatives (grandparent and
parents) on the left and younger relatives (siblings, children, grandchildren) on the
right of the table.
(c)

Empty cells indicate speech situations that didn't apply to that particular speaker,
e.g. the 33-year-old has no siblings and the 14-year-olds do not yet have children or
grandchildren.

(d) The only monolingual in the data is the 71-year-old speaker who speaks only
Hungarian.
(e)
(f)

Church services are the only domain in which a single language, Hungarian, is used
by everyone.

Shift was taking place from Hungarian to German, with German gradually replacing
Hungarian in many domains. While the majority were Hungarian L1 and German L2
speakers, German was the language of economic success and was becoming
increasingly widespread among younger community members. We can see this
clearly from the table, as older community members are Hungarian monolinguals or
used mostly Hungarian, except when speaking to their grandchildren. Younger
community members use German in all situations although they still hear Hungarian
at church. Gal's data suggests that language choice is predictable in Oberwart: if
one knows the age of the speaker and the age of the interlocutor, one should be
able to make a fair prediction of which language will be selected.
__________________________________________________________________________

142

A South African example of language shift is the Khoe speakers who became bilingual in
Dutch and Khoe, eventually abandoning their own language and adopting a variety of
Dutch as their mother tongue. Two other examples of language shift are presented in the
following case studies:

8.2.1 Case study: Indian languages in South Africa

In 1861 speakers of various Indian languages were brought to South Africa from India to
work as labourers in the sugar cane fields. Most of their descendants settled in South
Africa and today form the Indian community in KwaZulu-Natal.
Over the past hundred years there has been a steady shift from the Indian languages to
the dominant language, English. The reasons for this shift are fairly clear. In the first
instance the Indians spoke different languages (such as Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Gujarati
and Urdu) which were not necessarily mutually intelligible, and therefore in order to
communicate with one another, it was necessary to have some type of lingua franca.
English began to fulfil this function, as English was the dominant language of the
community. It was necessary to learn English in order to get jobs, to trade and to be
successful in society. Access to education was also through the medium of English. This
led to the Indian community rapidly becoming bilingual in English and their mother
tongue. As the Indian community became more and more urbanised, as people moved
away from the sugar plantations and settled in the cities (such as Durban) and towns,
where they were exposed to more English than in the rural areas, English started to
become their mother tongue and the Indian languages became second languages. Over
a number of generations (150 years) most South African Indians have abandoned their
original languages and adopted English as a mother tongue. As seen in the table below,
the number of Indians who claimed to have an Indian language as their mother tongue in
1991 was very small and will be even lower today (more recent census data does not list
the various Indian languages individually):
TABLE 8.1: The number of speakers of Indian languages in South Africa in 1991 (3% of
40 million in 1991)
Gujarati

8 730

Hindi

5 848

Tamil

4 874

Telugu

762

8.2.2 Case study: European (immigrant) languages in South Africa

Another type of commonly observed language shift situation in South Africa is the shift
from the minority languages of immigrants (Portuguese, Italian, German, French) to one
of the dominant official languages, English or sometimes Afrikaans. Most of the speakers
of these languages have shifted from their original (heritage) languages to one of the
dominant languages. As in the case of the shift in the Indian community, the main causes
of the shift are economic factors and education. In order to communicate with the wider
South African community it is necessary to learn the dominant languages and it is vital to
learn English or Afrikaans for most jobs. Intermarriage with members of the dominant
linguistic groups and education also play a significant role in this shift.

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TABLE 8.2: Number of speakers of immigrant minority languages in South Africa in

1991 (out of total SA population of 40 million)
Portuguese

48 705

German

33 523

Greek

12 859

Italian

8 949

Chinese

4 572

The shift normally takes place over three generations: the first generation are bilingual
but their mother tongue remains the dominant language; in the second generation one of
the dominant languages starts to replace their mother tongue as their first language. By
the third generation their first language is now the dominant language of the community
and they have a very limited knowledge of the heritage language. Unless they maintain
close contact with their mother country or members of their ethnic community, their
children will grow up as monolinguals. Sometimes the third generation feels a great
sense of loss over the heritage language that has been replaced:
Third-generation pursuit of an ancestral language is a phenomenon with a fairly
obvious social basis. The generation who do not transmit an ethnic language are
usually actively in search of a social betterment that they believe they can only
achieve by abandoning, among other identifying behaviors, a stigmatizing
language. The first generation secure as to social position is often also the first
generation to yearn after the lost language, which by their time is no longer
regarded as particularly stigmatizing. Some of these descendants see an
ethnolinguistic heritage which eluded them and react to their loss, sadly or even
resentfully. This is so widespread and recurrent a response to ancestral-language
loss as to be something of a cliche
among immigrant-descended groups.
Dorian 1993:57677

Task 8.2
In South Africa, the African languages, Afrikaans and the European and Indian heritage
languages are under threat from English. Interview a group of 35 people of different
ages (perhaps a family) from any of these groups, or from any language in your area that
seems to be undergoing language shift. Write a short linguistic profile for each person. A
linguistic profile consists of the following information: Name, age, gender, a list of all the
languages the person speaks or understands with a proficiency rating (i.e. how well s/he
speaks and understands the language), when and where the languages were learnt,
education level and medium of instruction at each level, when and where s/he uses the
original language, attitude to the original language and to the dominant language that is
taking its place. Classify each family member as one of the following:

144

Monolingual in the original language

Bilingual (Explain the degree of proficiency in each language)
monolingual in the dominant language

You could also include a table of language choices like that of Gal in Table 8.1:
Age of
speaker

Church
services

Talking to
grandparents

Talking to
parents

Talking to
siblings

Talking to
children

Talking to
grandchildren

On the basis of the information you have gathered, is language shift taking place in this
group of speakers or not? Justify your answer.
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................

Feedback
This task is a great way to practise your sociolinguistic research skills. Choose a family or
group of speakers that you think might be exhibiting signs of language shift. Make sure

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there are older and younger people in the group so that you can compare the spread of
the two languages in the speech of older and younger people. You can practise your
sociolinguistic interview skills by referring back to section 4.6. Don't forget to make a list
of the questions you want to ask and make notes as you interview each person. Also
take an empty copy of the table above so that you can fill it in as you go. Don't forget to
come to a clear conclusion about whether your hypothesis of language shift in the group
was supported by the data or not.
__________________________________________________________________________

8.3 Language death

We saw in LIN1502 Multilingualism that when a language disappears and is no longer
spoken, we refer to it as language death. Languages that are under threat of language
death are known as endangered languages and are characterised by small population
groups, older speakers, and lower rates of language transmission. Viable languages,
on the other hand, are `healthy' languages whose long-term survival is relatively assured.
They have a large enough population (usually over 1 000) with both old and young
speakers, are successfully passed on between generations, and are spoken in wellorganised communities.
A distinction can be made between sudden death (when a language dies very rapidly)
and gradual death (as a more gradual process of language change, preceded by
language shift). Sometimes the death of a language occurs as a result of genocide, that
is when the speakers are killed or destroyed. In North America, many American Indian
languages disappeared first during the invasion of the Aztecs and later during the
invasion of the Spanish, English and French. In South America, the invasion of the
powerful Incas also meant the disappearance of many other indigenous languages,
which was followed by the Spanish and Portuguese invasions. Sudden death is however
only one type of language death. Language death does not only occur as a result of
genocide. There are many cases of language death in the history of the world which have
occurred for a variety of other reasons. Language death is often the result of language
shift in a context where the language is spoken nowhere else on earth. We cannot study
the one phenomenon without the other. As Sasse comments:
Every case of language death is embedded in a bilingual situation which involves
two languages, one which is dying out and one which continues.
Sasse 1992:12
Often speakers of a dying language develop a negative attitude to their own language,
and experience collective doubts about its usefulness. The gradual death of a language
usually implies that there are speakers with a range of language abilities: older people
usually speak the language well whereas the youth does not speak the language at all,
with some bilinguals and semi-speakers in-between. Semi-speakers may understand
the language well but speak it poorly, with limited vocabulary and grammatical errors.
Rememberers are older community members who once spoke a language fluently but
have lost much of their earlier ability due to a lack of practice.

146

In Study Unit 2 we discussed the historical events that led to language shift and death in
the case of Khoe and San languages in South Africa. The death of these two language
families illustrates two different types of language death. Many San languages died out
as a result of genocide. The languages died out because most of the speakers had died
out.
When the Dutch settlers first came to the Cape in 1652 they found two groups of people
there: the Khoe and the San. As the San were hunters who regarded cattle as fair game
for hunting and had no understanding of the concept of ownership of livestock (i.e. they
did not understand that cattle could belong to people), they used to hunt the settlers'
cattle. This led to clashes with the settlers, and it was common practice for San to be
shot on sight. At the same time the Bantu races moving down from the east were
encroaching on the San traditional hunting grounds and gradually destroying them. In
this sad chapter in the history of our country the San became victims of both black and
white expansion and aggression and were gradually exterminated by the other racial
groups who were encroaching on their land. The San, who together with the Khoe were
the original inhabitants of the southern part of Africa, have almost completely
disappeared as an ethnic group.
The few that remained sought refuge in the deserts of Namibia and Botswana or
intermarried with other racial groups and lost their identity as a separate ethnic group.
Today, as we have seen, only a few San remain in Botswana, parts of Namibia and the
northern Cape. As the race disappeared, so their languages disappeared. And today
they have virtually died out in South Africa.
The death of the Khoe languages is different, however. The Khoe society was strongly
influenced by the contact with the Dutch settlers. Over a period of time they learned the
Dutch language or at least a particular variety of that language. As their society
disintegrated, so their language was lost. There was a shift towards Dutch which
eventually lead to the death of their language as their language fell into disuse and was
replaced by a variety of the Dutch language. Today their languages have completely died
out in South Africa. The only surviving varieties of the Khoe languages (such as Nama)
are spoken in Namibia. But in South Africa these languages no longer exist. All the
descendants of the Khoe have adopted Afrikaans as their mother tongue (except those
who were absorbed by intermarriage into the Xhosa-speaking community). And they
form part of what is known as the Cape Coloured population today.
The story of the San is unfortunately not an isolated occurrence in the history of the
world. Many languages have died out in the past as a result of warfare and conquest by
other nations. In Study Unit 4 we read how the speakers of the Celtic languages in Britain
were driven by the Anglo-Saxon invaders into the western mountains of Wales or fled
across the sea to Brittany in France. Those who remained in that part of Britain which is
known as England today, were either taken into slavery or killed. Their language has
completely disappeared from England.

8.3.1 Structural changes in dying languages

The fact that a dying language is spoken by fewer and fewer speakers with decreasing
fluency in fewer and fewer domains has implications for the structure of the language
itself. There is a period when the language will be spoken by older people, but will only be
passed on in an imperfect or reduced form to younger semispeakers. A degree of
language variation is thus typical in a dying language community, with the degree of

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simplification of the traditional language correlating with the age of the speaker.
Eventually children no longer learn the dying language at all and the language dies out
together with its former speakers.
According to Palosaari and Campbell (2010), aspects of phonology, syntax and
morphology that are obligatory in a viable language may become optional in a dying
language, and may not appear in the language of semi-speakers at all. The rate of
change is also very fast, with changes occurring much more rapidly than language
change in viable languages. Some examples of structural linguistic changes at the
phonological, morphological and syntactic levels are given below:
An example of phonological change is found in Pipil, a language of El Salvador. In former
times the /l/ sound always became voiceless at the end of a word, but in the speech of
semi-speakers it can be either voiced or voiceless. In other words, a phonological rule
has ceased to apply. Unusual aspects of a dying language which are difficult to learn
may be lost or replaced with more common or easier ones. For example, the
endangered language Mam in Mexico is losing its uvular stop /q/ in favour of the velar
stop /k/ which is much more common in the world's languages. Interestingly, the reverse
can also occur, with rare or unusual sounds being overused in a dying language.
Speakers of the dying language Pipil tend to overuse the voiceless /l/ sound, using it
anywhere in a word where it was formerly restricted only to word-final position (Palosaari
& Campbell 2010).
At the morphological level it is common for dying languages to lose some of their
morphology and to take on a more rigid word order. For example, the Mexican language
Tlahuica used to make a distinction between singular (one person), dual (two people)
and plural (many people), but has lost the dual number marker as the language
becomes used less and less. A preference for synthetic constructions rather than
analytic ones is also a characteristic of dying languages. This means that dying
languages will tend to lose inflectional morphemes and will use full words (and a more
restricted word order) to express the same concept. The example given by Palosaari and
Campbell (2010) from Pipil is the loss of the future tense suffix:
ni- panu -s
I-

pass-

future tense

`I will pass'
This single-word construction is seldom heard any longer, and has been replaced by the
synthetic construction:
ni- yu ni- panu
I-

go I-

pass

`I am going to pass'
In Scottish Gaelic, Dorian noted that speakers now tend to use forms like ri mis `to me'
and bho aid `from them' rather than the original analytic forms riu-m `to-me' and bhu-atha
`from-them'.
Complex aspects of syntax are also likely to fall away in dying languages. For example,
speakers may use simple sentences rather than complex sentences with subordinate
clauses. Often, syntactic reduction goes hand in hand with a stylistic shrinkage of the

148

endangered language. As it becomes used in fewer and fewer situations, it loses the
variability of style and register that a viable language displays. Eventually the dying
language may have only a single possible style, for example the intimate form of the
language used in the home, or possibly a highly ritualised formal register used at
ceremonial occasions.

8.3.2 Does it matter if languages die?

Human language diversity was allegedly at its peak in pre-colonial times, with around
20 000 different languages spoken. This has dwindled to just 7 000 or so, with additional
languages being lost at an astonishing rate. Half the languages of the world are likely to
die out in the next 100 years and in Africa alone, at least 200 languages are endangered.
Linguists are among those who are most saddened by this kind of loss. David Crystal
comments that `the world is a mosaic of visions, expressed through language. If even
one language is lost, it is awful'. The linguist Nancy Dorian, who spent years tracing the
dying language Scottish Gaelic, agrees:
Languages not only reveal a great deal of human history that is often otherwise
unrecoverable, in their genetic affiliations and in the evidence of culture contact that
they contain, but they also carry truly vast cultural content, only a part of which is
typically passed over into another language in the process of language shift.
Dorian (1993:578)
For linguists, language loss represents the loss of potential data about how languages
might be structured and organised the loss of phonetic, morphological and syntactic
systems that may have been unique in the world's languages. Ethnographers and
anthropologists may also feel a sense of great loss when languages die as languages
represent vast storehouses of human knowledge about plants, animals, illnesses, cures
and oral stories accumulated over centuries. This kind of local knowledge can disappear
forever when languages die.
One striking example of the kind of unique knowledge that can be located within a
particular community in a particular language is given by Dalby (2002:212). The North
Frisian language, spoken on islands off the coast of Germany, has less than 2000
remaining speakers. Because whale hunting was part of their culture, the North Frisians
had detailed knowledge about the habits and biology of whales. They noticed that
whales who had suffered during a long, drawn-out whale hunt would have a burst or
damaged pituitary gland in the brain. It was only in the 1950s, however, that the scientist
Hans Selye demonstrated the biological indications of stress on the body, including
damage to the pituitary gland. This example illustrates that modern science can learn a
lot from the traditional knowledge embedded in minority and endangered languages.
While linguists and anthropologists mourn the loss of languages, speakers who have
decided not to pass a language on to their children often feel differently. They take the
pragmatic view that their old language is no longer serving their children's best interests
and that a new language will offer more opportunities:
The Toda, speakers of a Dravidian language in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India,
... realize that with less than 1,000 speakers they are unlikely to remain a distinct
entity. Many of the younger people want to honor their ancestors, but also to be a
part of modern India. They have accepted that, in their view, the cost of doing this is

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giving up the use of their language in their daily life. Surely this is a view to which
they are entitled, and it would not be the action of a responsible linguist to persuade
them to do otherwise. I was working with an Indian colleague who has decided to
forego the use of his and his wife's native language in their own home, so that the
child could be brought up as a native language speaker of English. This choice,
and any choices that the Toda might make, are clearly their prerogative.
(Ladefoged 1992:809810)

Task 8.3
Have a look at the quote from Samuel Johnson at the beginning of the study unit. Do you
agree with him? Does it matter if languages die? What will be lost? Or is it better for
communities to move forward and learn dominant languages that will improve their lives?
What is your view? Have you made any conscious decisions in your own life about
shifting away from one of your languages?
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Feedback
Any answers are fine here as long as you justify them carefully and thoughtfully. As a
linguist, however, you will probably agree with Johnson and Crystal that language loss is
always a pity, as languages that are lost can never again be studied in their living form.
Perhaps you agree with Dalby (2002:283286), who argues that the loss of language
diversity matters for three reasons: Firstly, we need the cultural knowledge that minority
languages preserve and transmit. Secondly, we need languages for the alternative worldviews that they can provide, and thirdly, we need other languages as resources to draw
on to keep our own language creative and continually renewed, for example through
borrowing.
If you have access on your phone or computer, you could watch the 28-minute
video lecture entitled Language Death: A Problem for All by David Crystal (Wiley
Blackwell Compass) on http://vimeo.com/6677955
__________________________________________________________________________

8.4 Language maintenance and revival

In multilingual societies minority languages frequently experience steady shift towards
the dominant language(s). However, there are sometimes factors which inhibit the rate of
shift and prevent the language from dying out completely. We call these factors
maintenance factors, because they help to maintain the continued existence of the
language despite the fact that a shift is taking place towards dominant neighbouring
languages.
Crystal (1987:360) defines language maintenance as a situation where `a language
holds onto its own despite the influence of powerful neighbours'. According to Michael
Krauss (cited in Nettle & Romaine 2000:8), not all languages with small number of
speakers are at risk of extinction and not all large languages are safe from extinction. Hill
and Hill (1980) in their study of Nahuatl, a Mexican Indian language, for example,
observe that language shift does not always occur as predicted. Although the range of
domains in which Nahuatl is used has decreased, it has become a language of solidarity
and the speakers still cling to it their language in certain restricted functional domains.
There are a number of factors which can facilitate the maintenance of a language,
including education, attitudes, religion, contact with the mother country and communication patterns within the family. Language maintenance is closely related to language
loyalty and the extent to which speakers consciously resist changes in language use.
Barnes and McDuling (1995) identified the following maintenance factors in a study of
language shift and maintenance in the Portuguese community in South Africa:
1

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Education. Education can be one of the most powerful factors in maintaining a

language. If parents send their children to Portuguese classes after school, where
they learn the Portuguese language formally, they have a strong chance of
maintaining the language for another generation.
Cultural organisations. If members of the community belong to cultural organisations
such as the Portuguese club, they are less likely to undergo a rapid language shift.

151

4
5
6

Religion. Religion can play an important role in mother tongue maintenance in an

immigrant community. Most Portuguese immigrants are members of the Catholic
church, which in some parishes offers Portuguese and bilingual church services.
There are also some Protestant groups who hold church services in Portuguese.
Membership of a church community which holds church services in Portuguese can
act as a maintenance factor.
The role of the family. The family play a vital role in maintaining the mother tongue.
Close-knit families that avoid intermarriage with other groups are more likely to
maintain their language.
Attitudes. If the immigrants have positive attitudes towards their language, it is not
likely to undergo shift so easily.
Maintaining contact with the mother country. Regular contact with Portugal (or
Mozambique or Angola or Brazil) through business trips or holidays and family visits
plays a vital role in maintaining the language.

It is however very difficult to maintain a language in the face of strong economic factors.
Economic factors are generally regarded as the major players in a language shift
situation. A shift to the dominant language of the host society in the domain of work and
business is a universal trend in immigrant societies throughout the world. Immigrants are
severely handicapped and suffer discrimination in the area of employment if they lack
competence in the dominant language of society. Education is also one of the most
powerful factors in bringing about language shift. Attitudes and loyalty to the minority
language also play a vital role in determining whether shift or maintenance will take
place.

Task 8.4
Choose any three of the language maintenance factors identified by Barnes and
McDuling (1995), and describe how they have affected the maintenance of one of the
minority languages in your own linguistic community.
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152

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Feedback
If you speak a minority language you could answer this question by discussing the
maintenance of the language in your own family or extended family with respect to three
of the factors above. Alternatively you could devise a set of questions based on three of
the above factors and interview some members of a minority or threatened language
who are making conscious efforts to maintain their language and pass the language on
to their children. Either way, you need to come to a clear conclusion about whether the
efforts have been effective in maintaining the language and preventing language shift.
__________________________________________________________________________

8.4.1 Case study: The revival of Malawian Chingoni

Kishindo (2002) explains that the Ngoni were an offshoot of the Nguni (Zulu) in South
Africa and settled in Malawi in the nineteenth century, assimilating with various other
ethnic groups over time. The 1966 census indicated that 1% of the Malawian population,
approximately 44 000 people, spoke Chingoni, but already most Ngoni were bilingual in
other Malawian languages such as Nsenga, Chitumbuka and Chichewa. Though Ngoni
was viewed as a prestigious language, it tended to be used for ceremonial occasions
and was not passed on to children or used as an everyday language. Kishindo (2002)
concludes that the 1966 census vastly overstated the number of true Chingoni speakers
as the ethnic group Ngoni and language group Chingoni were not differentiated on the
census form, and therefore even Ngoni members who spoke no Chingoni at all identified
themselves as Chingoni speakers in the census. According to Kishindo (2002:216),
`They would prefer to be associated with their ethnic group but not the language perhaps
because they accept the fact that their language is no longer viable'.
More recently, however, the Ngoni are anxious to reclaim their language, viewing it as
central to their historical and cultural identity. In 1998 the Abenguni Revival Association
was formed with the purpose of reviving the language and culture and fostering a Ngoni
identity. They distribute old Chingoni bibles, offer Zulu language classes and teach old
cultural dances and songs.
Kishindo (2002) is sceptical about these kinds of revival efforts. He comments that
language revival efforts may be viewed as artificial when they operate in the face of
historical realities, especially when the language has, to all intents and purposes, died
and the form of the language they are trying to revive is in fact not Chingoni but Zulu. He
believes that the link between original language and cultural identity is not essential, as
language is only one cultural manifestation among many. In the case of the Ngoni, most

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of them cannot utter a single word of Chingoni yet they do not doubt their Ngoni identity.
He concludes that
The Ngoni situation demonstrates that attempts to halt the decline of shrinking
minority language are not likely to be successful. This is because the shrinking itself
reflects larger trends, which cannot be significantly affected by linguistic action
alone. ... The Abenguni Revival Association's enthusiasm for the survival of
Chingoni may not be in the best interest of the ordinary Ngoni ... and if a community
seems not to feel the need to `protect' its distinct way of speaking, it may be
arrogant of any language association to regard the survival of the language as in
any way sacrosanct.
Kishindo (2002:218)

Task 8.5
Would you describe the situation in the Ngoni community in Malawi as one of language
shift, language death or language revival? Explain your answer.
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Feedback
Although the case study is entitled The revival of Malawia Chingoni, it appears that it is
only a very small pressure group within the community that is aiming for this goal. In fact,
Chingoni was already a dying language in the 1960s as it was not being passed on to
children. The efforts of the Abenguni Revival Association are on a very small scale and
are hampered by the lack of living speakers of the language who can teach it. Chingoni
bibles and Zulu materials will not be sufficient to bring back Chingoni, which is related to
but very different from Zulu. As Kishindo (2002) implies, the community is not buying in
strongly to revival efforts as they now speak other languages and identify themselves as
Ngoni purely on the basis of cultural traditions but not language.
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8.5 Summary
In this study unit we looked at the phenomenon of language shift, where a linguistic
community changes over a period of time from the habitual use of a minority language to
another more socioeconomically useful language. We looked at some examples of
research methods such as participant-observation and tables of language use within
community members of varying ages, and explored some examples of language shift in
South Africa.
We also saw how languages can die, either as a result of a sudden tragedy such as
violent conquest or genocide, or, more usually, by a gradual process of language shift
over generations. When languages are no longer passed on to younger generations,
they will die together with their last speakers, rememberers and semi-speakers. We
investigated some of the linguistic changes that take place in dying languages and noted
that the degree of fluency and simplification of the traditional language correlates with the
age of the speaker. Aspects of phonology, syntax and morphology that are obligatory in
a viable language may become optional in a dying language, and unusual aspects of a
dying language may either be overused or replaced with more common or easier ones. It
is also common for dying languages to take on a more rigid word order and a more
restricted range of styles. We concluded our discussion of language death by giving
some thought to the question of whether language death matters in the modern world.
We also explored the language maintenance factors that can inhibit the rate of shift and
prevent the language from dying out completely. These included education, attitudes,
religion, contact with the mother country and communication patterns within the family.
We concluded with a case study assessing the revival efforts of Chingoni in Malawi.

8.6 Concluding thoughts

We hope that this study guide has sensitised you to some of the issues surrounding the
way in which our changing society affects language use. We hope that you have used
this opportunity to familiarise yourself with sociolinguistic and historical linguistic
research methods and to begin to act like a linguist, collecting and analysing examples
of spoken language in your own linguistic context.
We have seen throughout this study guide that every language has many different
varieties, standard and non-standard. These are used by speakers, consciously or
unconsciously, to mirror social differences and express multiple sides of their identities.
As linguists we took a descriptive rather than a prescriptive view of language variation,
focusing in an objective way on the varied range of usage that actually occurs in practice.
We didn't argue that language change represents a decay in standards, but viewed it
more dispassionately, as an inevitable result of the way that humans continue to use
language in new ways and in new contexts.
We have also seen that prolonged language contact can cause language change, with
speakers becoming bilingual and the two languages beginning to influence each other in
various ways. These changes can include borrowing of words, codeswitching,
phonological, morphological, and syntactic influence, and even the death of a language,
or the birth of a new pidgin language or mixed language.
We have traced some historical changes in the world and seen how languages rise and
fall, spread and shrink, become simpler or more complex, and turn into other languages

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over time. The only constant is that language never stops changing and speakers never
stop using language in creative ways.

Further reading
Aitchison, J. 2001. Language Change: Progress or Decay? (third edition). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 16 Language death.
Crystal, D. 2010. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. (third edition). New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Chapter 61 Language planning
Crystal, D. 2000 Language Death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, or browse
sample pages at http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam032/99053220.pdf
Dalby, A. 2002. Language in Danger. London: Penguin.
Nettle, D & Romaine, S. 2000. Vanishing Voices: The Extinction of the World's Languages.
New York: Oxford University Press.

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Glossary
accents Regional or social differences in the way in which words are pronounced within
a language. (Afrikaans aksente)
accommodation When speakers adjust the way in which they speak in reaction to the
person or people they are talking to. (Afrikaans akkommodasie)
acrolect The form of the creole that is closest to the standard language, where
decreolisation has progressed the furthest. (Afrikaans akrolek)
acronym A word formed by combining the first letters of a longer phrase. (Afrikaans
akroniem)
analogy A process whereby an existing linguistic pattern is followed even for new words
or for former exceptions to the rule. (Afrikaans analogie)
arbitrary having no intrinsic connection between the sound of a word and what it means.
(Afrikaans arbitre
r)
baby-talk Simplified language used by adults when speaking to very young children.
(Afrikaans babataal)
balanced bilingual An individual who has roughly equal proficiency in two languages.
(Afrikaans gebalanseerde tweetalige)
Bantu languages A sub-family of the Niger-Congo language family, including Southern
African languages such as Sepedi, Sesotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Shona, Venda,
Xhosa, Zulu, Siswati and Ndebele. (Afrikaans Bantutale)
base language The language that plays the biggest role in the composition of a pidgin.
(Afrikaans basistaal)
basilect The `deepest' creole variety which is most like the original creole. (Afrikaans
basilek)
bilingual A person who can use two or more languages as a means of communication in
most situations and switch from one language to the other if necessary. (Afrikaans
tweetalige)
Black South African English A second-language variety of English spoken by black
South Africans (Afrikaans Swart Suid-Afrikaanse Engels)
blending A word-formation process in which parts of words are combined to form a new
word. (Afrikaans vermenging)
borrowed term A words or phrase from one language that is inserted into the
grammatical framework of another language, and is widely accepted, often taking
on the phonological form and affixes of the borrowing language. (Same as
loanword) (Afrikaans leenwoord or geleende term)
borrowing The process of taking words from another language into one's own
language, either as they are or with a degree of phonological adjustment to make
them easier to pronounce. (Afrikaans ontlening)
broadening A type of semantic change in which the meaning of a word is expanded to
refer to `more' than it did before. (Afrikaans verbreding)
BSAE See Black South African English

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change from above A linguistic change that is introduced from a higher social class and
spreads into the speech of those with lower socioeconomic status. (Afrikaans
verandering van bo)
change from below A process in which a non-standard linguistic feature gradually
becomes accepted as the prestige norm, with the older prestige form becoming
stigmatised in turn. (Afrikaans verandering van onder)
clipping A process of word formation in which a word is shortened. (Afrikaans verkorting)
code Any language, language variety or language style selected by a speaker. (Afrikaans
kode)
codeswitching The use of two or more linguistic varieties in the same conversation.
(Afrikaans kodewisseling)
comparative historical linguistics The branch of Linguistics that attempts to group
related languages together and build up a picture of the proto-language of each
language family. (Afrikaans vergelykende historiese linguistiek)
comparative historical reconstruction The method used by linguists to explore the
history of individual languages and classify related languages and language
families. (Afrikaans vergelykende historiese rekonstruksie)
compounding Joining together two or more complete words and combining their
meanings in some way to create a new concept. (Afrikaans samestelling)
contact-induced change language change that results from contact between two or
more languages. (Afrikaans verandering weens kontak)
content words Words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives that carry the main message
of a sentence. (Afrikaans inhoudswoorde)
conversion A word-formation process in which a word is turned from one part of speech
into another part of speech without adding any derivational affixes. (Afrikaans
omkering)
creole A fully developed language based on a pidgin that has acquired mother-tongue
speakers and undergone elaboration. (Afrikaans kreool)
creole continuum A range of varieties of a creole that coexist when the creole is in
various stages of decreolisation. (Afrikaans kreoolkontinuum)
creolisation The development of a creole from a pidgin. (Afrikaans kreolisering)
decreolisation The gradual decline of a creole as it moves towards the standard
language on which it is based. (Afrikaans dekreolisering)
derivation The process of creating new words by adding affixes to existing words.
(Afrikaans afleiding)
descriptive approach An approach to language which describes actual usage rather
than prescribing `correct' and `incorrect' language use. (Afrikaans beskrywende
benadering)
dialect A language variety which is associated with a particular geographical area and is
mutually intelligible to speakers of other varieties of the language; any regional,
social or ethnic language variety. (Afrikaans dialek)
diglossia A multilingual situation in which two or more languages co-occur throughout
the speech community, with each language serving a different set of functions.
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domains Social contexts in which language varieties are used. (Afrikaans domeine)
dominant language A language whose speakers have access to economic and political
power. (Afrikaans dominante taal)
endangered languages Languages with small population groups, older speakers, and
low rates of language transmission. (Same as threatened languages) (Afrikaans
bedreigde tale)
ethnolect A variety of language associated with a particular racial or ethnic group.
(Afrikaans etnolek)
Expanding circle Countries that recognise the importance of English as an international
language but do not themselves have a history of colonisation by members of the
Inner circle or use English as an official language. (Afrikaans Groeiende kring)
first language A person's home language or mother tongue. (Same as L1.) (Afrikaans
eerste taal)
foreign language A language that is not spoken in the society in which it is being learnt.
(Afrikaans vreemdetaal)
forms of address Terms used to address someone when we speak or write to them.
(Afrikaans aanspreekvorme)
function words Words such as the, is, in and that which serve a grammatical purpose
but do not contribute much to the meaning of a sentence. (Afrikaans
funksiewoorde)
generational change A language change that increases with each new generation of
speakers. (Afrikaans generasie gebasseerde verandering)
gloss A literal or word-for-word translation. (Afrikaans glos)
gradual death The death of a language due to language shift and a reduction in the
number of speakers over time, usually several generations. (Afrikaans geleidelike
dood)
grammaticalisation A process of syntactic change in which content words become
function words. (Afrikaans grammatikalisering)
head The main element of a compound term. (Afrikaans hoof)
Head-final compounds Two or more words joined together to create a new concept with
the main element as the last element of the compound. (Afrikaans samestellingsmet hoofwoord agterna)
head-initial compound Two or more words joined together to create a new concept with
the main element as the first element of the compound. (Afrikaans samestellings
met hoofwoord voor)
hypothesis A scientific statement expressing a researcher's guessed answer to a
particular research question. (Afrikaans hipotese)
idiolect A way of speaking that is unique to a particular person. (Afrikaans idiolek)

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Indo-European languages A large family of languages originating in Europe and

Southern Asia, including English, Afrikaans, German, French, Portuguese, Hindi,
Urdu, etc. (Afrikaans Indo-Europese tale)
Inner circle Countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand where English is the primary language. (Afrikaans Binnekring)
informant A mother-tongue speaker that provides researchers with information about the
language and culture of the community. (Afrikaans informant)
interference The transfer of elements from the source language (usually the first
language) to the target language (usually the second language) in the speech of a
bilingual. (Afrikaans inmenging)
jargon Specialised vocabulary used by people in the same job or profession. (Afrikaans
jargon)
Khoesan languages A group of less than 40 languages spoken by the San and Khoe
people, mostly of Southern Africa. (Afrikaans Khoesantale)
L1 A person's home language or mother tongue. (Same as first language.) (Afrikaans
T1)
L2 A language that is learnt after one's mother tongue. (Same as second language.)
(Afrikaans T2)
language acquisition The unconscious, informal process whereby a pre-adolescent
child learns a first or additional language through exposure. (Afrikaans taalverwerwing)
language change A process whereby languages change in terms of their phonology,
morphology, syntax, word meaning or patterns of usage over time. (Afrikaans
taalverandering)
language contact Interaction between two different speech communities as a result of
social conditions such as stable bilingualism, colonialism, migration, etc. (Afrikaans
taalkontak)
language death The complete disappearance of a language once it has no more
speakers. (Afrikaans taaldood)
language family A group of related languages that derive from a single, older language.
(Afrikaans taalfamilie)
language learning The conscious learning process that occurs when adolescents or
adults learn a second (or later) language through formal study. (Afrikaans
taalaanleerproses)
language maintenance The continued existence of a language, often due to deliberate
efforts by government and the community. (Afrikaans taalinstandhouding)
language mixing Pervasive and very frequent codeswitching used a signal of bilingual
identity. (Afrikaans taalvermenging)
language of wider communication A language that people from different speech
communities use to communicate across geographical, language and cultural
barriers. (Afrikaans taal van wyer kommunikasie)
language planning Deliberate top-down efforts to solve language problems within a

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particular socio-political context, including formulating government policy relating to

the use of the various languages in a country. (Afrikaans taalbeplanning)
language shift The change from the habitual use of one language to that of another
within a bilingual community. (Afrikaans taalverskuiwing)
lexeme the underlying abstract concept that links related word forms of a single word
together. (Afrikaans lekseem)
lexical change Vocabulary changes such as word loss, changes in word meaning or the
emergence of new words. (Afrikaans leksikaleverandering)
lexicon The list of words that exist in a language. (Afrikaans leksikon)
lexifier language The language from which most of the vocabulary of a pidgin is derived.
(Afrikaans)
lingua franca A language used to communicate when people do not share a common
mother tongue. (Afrikaans lingua franca)
linguistic variable A linguistic feature that can be realised in various ways that usually
correlate with prominent social variables like class, gender, ethnicity or age group.
(Afrikaans linguistiese veranderlike)
loanword A word whose form and meaning are imported into the language from another
language. (Same as borrowed term.) (Afrikaans leenwoord or geleende term)
markedness model of codeswitching Myers Scotton's model of codeswitching based
on whether language alternation occurs as a marked or unmarked choice in the
situation. (Afrikaans opmerklikheid kodewisselingsmodel)
unmarked choice A choice of language or language variety that would be most usual or
most expected in that context. (Afrikaans ongemerkde keuse)
marked choice The choice of language or language variety that would not be expected
in that context. (Afrikaans gemerkde keuse)
medium of instruction The language in which people are taught. (Afrikaans medium van
onderrig)
mesolect One of various intermediate varieties of a creole in which decreolisation is
beginning to take place. (Afrikaans mesolek)
methodology The choice of method used to collect and analyse data in research.
(Afrikaans metodologie)
minority language A language whose speakers do not have economic and political
power. (Afrikaans minderheidstaal)
mixed language a language based on two other languages in which language
alternation becomes an obligatory part of the grammar. (Same as stabilised mixed
variety) (Afrikaans gemengdetaal)
monolingual A person who speaks only one language. (Afrikaans eentalige)
morphological change Changes that affect the internal structure of words. (Afrikaans
morfologiese verandering)
morphologisation A type of morphological change where a full word becomes an affix.
(Afrikaans morfologisering)
motherese Adult speech directed at young children. (Same as caretaker speech.)
(Afrikaans oppassertaal)

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mother tongue A person's home language. (Same as first language and L1.) (Afrikaans
huistaal or moedertaal)
mother tongue instruction A situation where the language of instruction in schools is
the pupils' mother tongue. (Afrikaans moedertaalondeerrig)
mutually intelligible varieties Language varieties which are similar enough for
monolingual speakers to understand each other. (Afrikaans onderling verstaanbare
varie
teite)
narrowing A type of semantic change in which a word becomes used in a more specific
sense than it was in the past. (Afrikaans vernouing)
national language A language that is widely used and functions as a national symbol
uniting the citizens of the country. (Afrikaans nasionale taal or landstaal)
native speaker A person who speaks a language as his or her first language. (Afrikaans
moedertaalspreker)
Niger-Congo languages A large family of African languages, including the sub-family of
Bantu languages. (Afrikaans Niger-Kongo tale)
official language A standard language selected by government as the language used in
parliament and in the public service. (Afrikaans amptelike taal)
onomatopoeic words Words where the sound of the word imitates the thing it
describes. (Afrikaans klanknabootsende woorde)
Outer circle Countries to which English has spread through British and American
colonisation and become an official regional standard language in a multilingual
setting, with many second-language speakers of English. (Afrikaans Buitekring)
partial shift When speakers of one language start using another language in certain
circumstances while they retain their own language in other circumstances.
(Afrikaans gedeeltelike verskuiwing)
participant-observation a research method where one lives in a community and
observes and records community behaviour while simultaneously experiencing their
lifestyle. (Afrikaans deelnemer waarneming)
phonological change A sound change or pronunciation change. (Afrikaans fonologiese
verandering)
pidgin language A simplified language used in restricted contact situations. (Afrikaans
pidgintaal)
pilot study A small-scale investigation designed to give some idea of whether or not a
researcher's hypothesis is supported. (Afrikaans loodsondersoek or steekproef)
pragmatic change A change in the norms of language usage. (Afrikaans pragmatiese
verandering)
prefix A bound morpheme attached before a lexeme. (Afrikaans voorvoegsel)
prescriptive approach An approach to language which prescribes or dictates how
people should use the language. (Afrikaans voorskrywende benadering)
Proto-Indo-European The common ancestor language from which all the IndoEuropean languages are descended. (Afrikaans Proto-Indo-Europese)

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proto-language The common ancestor language of a language family. (Afrikaans

prototaal)
reanalysis A process whereby a word with one morphological structure is interpreted as
having a different morphological structure. (Afrikaans herontleding)
reduplication Die produksie van gebabbelde uitinge wat herhalende opeenvolgings van
konsonante en vokale bevat. (Afrikaans reduplikasie)
related languages Languages which are derived from a single parent language and
which therefore have similar words and grammatical structures. (Afrikaans verwante
tale)
rememberers People who once spoke a language fluently but have lost much of their
earlier ability due to a lack of practice. (Afrikaans onthouers)
replaced language The minority language which is becoming less widely used in
situations of language shift. (Afrikaans vervangde taal)
replacing language The dominant language which is becoming more widely used in
situations of language shift. (Afrikaans vervangertaal)
Romance languages a family of related languages that are all derived from Latin,
including French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. (Afrikaans Romaanse tale)
SAE See South African English.
SAIE See South African Indian English.
second language A language that is learnt after one's mother tongue. (Same as L2.)
(Afrikaans tweede taal)
second language learning The learning of any additional language. (Afrikaans
tweedetaalaanleer)
semantic change the process in which the meaning of words and linguistic expressions
changes over time, becoming broader, narrower or shifting completely. (Afrikaans
semantiese verandering)
semantic shift A process in which lexical items undergo a shift or change in meaning.
(Afrikaans semantiese verskuiwing)
semilingual A person who knows two languages but speaks neither of them as well as a
monolingual speaker. (Afrikaans semitalige)
semi-speakers People who speak a dying language imperfectly, with many mistakes
and a limited vocabulary. (Afrikaans semi-sprekers)
slang Specialised informal vocabulary associated with small, close-knit subcultures that
share knowledge and interests and want to differentiate themselves in some way
from the broader society. (Afrikaans sleng or groeptaal)
societal bilingualism When two or more languages are spoken within a particular
society. (Afrikaans gemeenskapstweetaligheid)
society A group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose, and who
communicate by means of language. (Afrikaans gemeenskap)
sociolect A language variety associated with a particular social class or social group
within the larger society. (Afrikaans sosiolek)
sociolinguistic interview A conversation with an informant used to obtain informal,

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spontaneous, natural dialogue in the vernacular. (Afrikaans sosiolinguistiese

onderhoud)
sociolinguistics A subdomain of linguistics which focuses on the relationship between
language and society and the way in which linguistic differences mirror social
differences. (Afrikaans sosiolinguistiek)
South African English (SAE) A mother-tongue variety of English spoken in South Africa.
(Afrikaans Suid-Afrikaanse Engels)
South African Indian English (SAIE) A mother-tongue variety of English spoken by
Indians in South Africa. (Afrikaans Suid-Afrikaanse Indiese Engels)
speech community A group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose,
and who communicate by means of the same language. (Afrikaans spraakgemeenskap)
standard language A particular dialect that is used by educated speakers and has been
chosen as a prestigious variety. It has a written form and is often used for wider
communication in the society. (Afrikaans standaardtaal)
standardisation The process whereby one dialect of a speech community is chosen as
the standard language for use in writing and formal contexts. (Afrikaans
standardisering)
substratum The language which has lower power or prestige than another in a language
contact situation. (Afrikaans substratum)
subtractive bilingualism A situation in which a second language is learned at the
expense of the first language, so that the speaker becomes less fluent in the first
language as he or she becomes more proficient in the second language. (Afrikaans
verminderende tweetaligheid)
sudden death The rapid death of a language when all its speakers are killed. (Afrikaans
skielike dood)
suffix A bound morpheme attached after a lexeme. (Afrikaans agtervoegsel)
superstratum The language that has higher power or prestige in a language contact
situation. (Afrikaans superstratum)
syntactic change a process whereby the grammatical rules of a language undergo
changes over time. (Afrikaans sintaktiese verandering)
taboo Words, expressions or topics which are considered socially inappropriate and are
avoided in conversation. (Afrikaans taboe)
telegraphic speech Children's early speech, consisting of short utterances without
function words. (Afrikaans telegrafiese spraak)
total shift When a bilingual community stop using their original language completely,
thus becoming monolingual in another language. (Afrikaans totale verskuiwing)
Tsotsitaal A mixed language variety spoken predominantly by males in the black and
coloured township areas of Gauteng, South Africa (Same as Flaaitaal).
variation Differences in language form. (Afrikaans variasie)
variationist theory A theory that all language change is preceded by variation, with
change spreading as the varieties used by one group are adopted by other groups.
(Afrikaans variasieteorie)

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variety Any speech pattern that differs systematically from others in terms of vocabulary,
pronunciation, grammar, etc. (Afrikaans varie
teit)
vernacular The speech style in which the minimum attention is given to our own speech,
resulting in the most unmonitored style. (Afrikaans omgangstaal)
viable languages `Healthy' languages whose long-term survival is relatively assured as
they are successfully passed on between generations. (Afrikaans lewensvatbare
tale)
word forms Different variants of the same word or lexeme. (Afrikaans woordvorme)

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