My church – my language?: Language attitudes and language policiy in South African church

Abstract

This study examines the language attitudes of members of three (formerly) Afrikaans-speaking congregations of the multilingual Moravian Church in South Africa (MCSA) with regard to current language practices within the Church and their ideas for a future language policy. It is based on interviews held with members of these congregations, while concepts of identity serve as a theoretical framework. Through these, it is shown that the MCSA could neither pursue a monolingual nor a consistently multilingual language policy in order not to aggravate the identification of its members with the Church.