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The present and future maintenance of German in the context of Namibia’s official language policy

The present and future maintenance of German in the context of Namibia’s official language policy The Constitution of the Republic of Namibia states that 'the official language in Namibia will be English'. From a historical point of view, the present paper discusses the Status and value of English and Afrikaans äs symbolic languages of 'liberation' and Oppression' respecüvely. The need to build national unity and at the same time to respect existing ethnic heterogeneity has, since independence (21 March 1990), been of great concern to language planners and educationists alike. In the light of the current discussion on language policy issues, the present paper also focuses on the speech behavior of members of the German Community in the capital Windhoek. By means of a sociolinguistic questionnaire and ethnographic observations, perceptions and attitudes towards language planning and language policy are investigated. The degree of use of German, Afrikaans and English in different domains (code-choice) äs well äs the importance of language ecology factors with regard to the maintenance (or shift) of the Gennan language in Namibia are assessed. Finally, the concept of ethnolinguistic vitality may contribute to an assessment of the future Status of German in independent Namibia. Introduction The present paper is part of a much larger research program called LiCCAN (Languages in http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Multilingua - Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication de Gruyter

The present and future maintenance of German in the context of Namibia’s official language policy

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References (20)

Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Walter de Gruyter
ISSN
0167-8507
eISSN
1613-3684
DOI
10.1515/mult.1992.11.3.293
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of Namibia states that 'the official language in Namibia will be English'. From a historical point of view, the present paper discusses the Status and value of English and Afrikaans äs symbolic languages of 'liberation' and Oppression' respecüvely. The need to build national unity and at the same time to respect existing ethnic heterogeneity has, since independence (21 March 1990), been of great concern to language planners and educationists alike. In the light of the current discussion on language policy issues, the present paper also focuses on the speech behavior of members of the German Community in the capital Windhoek. By means of a sociolinguistic questionnaire and ethnographic observations, perceptions and attitudes towards language planning and language policy are investigated. The degree of use of German, Afrikaans and English in different domains (code-choice) äs well äs the importance of language ecology factors with regard to the maintenance (or shift) of the Gennan language in Namibia are assessed. Finally, the concept of ethnolinguistic vitality may contribute to an assessment of the future Status of German in independent Namibia. Introduction The present paper is part of a much larger research program called LiCCAN (Languages in

Journal

Multilingua - Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communicationde Gruyter

Published: Jan 1, 1992

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