Language Contact, Language Policy and Education in South Africa

Abstract

Languages users may cause violence and racism: in 1976, protests against the imposition of Afrikaans at South African schools became a massacre when the police killed 172 native protesters. But, which language to choose as language of instruction since South Africa counts eleven official languages. Therefore, this paper discusses whether English should be South Africa's sole language of instruction, to stimulate the native population's presence at universities. To support the research, governmental documents on language policy and education have been examined. Also, the linguistic diversity of South African English through language contact has been described. South Africa's language policy underlines education in vernacular languages at public schools, whereas English is used at universities. This generates a low proficiency in English; therefore, many native South Africans do not enroll at universities. The result is once again an Apartheid-like segregation, which calls for the use of English as the sole language of education.