Can Authoritarian Separatism Give Way to Linguistic Rights? A South African Case Study

Abstract

This paper provides a background to recent developments in language planning in South Africa. Following a historical review, it focuses on a Bill of Rights in the new constitution which has, since 1993, demanded a shift towards rights-based language policy within a liberal framework. Debates within the Pan South African Language Board (PANSALB) swiftly gravitated towards aspects of corpus planning, particularly lexicography, and practices resorted to a multiplication of structures. It is through these debates, under the mantle of language rights and their institutionalisation, that it is possible to assess whether or not there has been a shift from segregationist planning to rights-based multilingualism/linguistic pluralism. Government's participation in the debates and its response to these also provide an opportunity to weigh the concepts of language planning from below (Alexander, 1992a) and 'governmentality' in relation to language planning (Pennycook, 2002) during a change from autocratic governance to a liberal democracy in South Africa. A National Sociolinguistic Survey conducted in 2000 and records of reported language rights' violations, provide statistical evidence of the degree to which the rights of formerly marginalised language groups are being upheld.

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