COVER PAGE

SURNAME NTOMBELA
NAME MDUDUZI

STUDENT NUMBER 14256835

MODULE CODE AFL3703
DATE 26 October 2022
Exam

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 QUESTION 01

Language planning and policy in South Africa proceed from

the premise that a language is a resource, and policy
statements are used to preserve, manage and develop
languages through cooperative efforts of political,
educational, economic and linguistic authorities.
In the past in South Africa, linguistic human rights were
violated. If a language was declared official in a country,
that language will assume the functions of the language of
education, government, commerce and the courts of law.
That meant that the other languages not chosen for official
purposes assumed a relatively lower status in terms of
functions that they can perform in that society.
This process is said that it took place in 1996 when the 11
languages spoken in South Africa, including Sign Language,
were accorded status. But before 1996, English and
Afrikaans were the only languages, and recognition of the
indigenous African languages of South Africa beyond their
vernacular status had not been envisaged, even though
they were widely taught and used as media of instruction in
primary schools.
People’s choice of languages was violated. They were
forced to forget about their languages. Their indigenous
languages were not recognised. In South Africa, the
indigenous African languages have been rehabilitated from
the vernacular to gain official status, mainly to redress
issues that were neglected in the past, such as language
equity, language as a resource, literacy, language as a
medium of instruction, language in the public service,
heritage languages, sign language and language
development. Thus, in practice, the indigenous African
languages are effectively official in name only because they
are not actually used for higher functions.
An official language is normally expected to serve as a
medium of communication and medium of instruction
across language boundaries within a state, and must live up
to its official status, to which end it must receive

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appropriate support from government. In South Africa, the
indigenous African languages are not defined as languages
that the government uses as a medium for its day-to-day
activities or for national symbolic purposes, as expected of
official languages (Phaahla 2006). Human rights state that
everyone has a right to speak any language of their choice,
of which this was forbidden in the past. African languages
or indigenous languages were disrespected. They were not
recognised enough.
Language planning is a complex issue that has no easy
solution. This statement applies par excellence to South
Africa with its history of racial inequality to which language
policies have been linked (Satyo 1999:41).
The government after the post-apartheid government
made all 11 languages in South Africa official. They granted
everyone choice to use the language of their choice.
English and Afrikaans were only languages that were
recognised as official languages. Even in schools, kids were
taught in English and Afrikaans. The indigenous languages
were not allowed. Later, government implanted laws and
rules which changed the language policies of South Africa.

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 QUESTION 02

The concept language rights refer to the rights of people

concerning the use of their language choice. Citizens are
entitled to enjoy in a participatory democracy. The linguistic
human rights framework is motivated by the desire to
combat linguistic discrimination, where speakers of
languages that have been discriminated against find
themselves unable to use their preferred languages in
society at large.

While these rights are intended to be broadly applicable,

members of minority groups are considered particularly
vulnerable to discrimination, and the goal is to ensure that
the languages of these groups are accepted and respected
by the wider society, so that the speakers can use them in a
number of social domains.
Fortunately, in South Africa, equality of language rights is
guaranteed by the fact that these rights fall under
individual human rights, which ensure equality for all and
equal treatment for all who wish to exercise their rights.
The Constitution states that everyone has the right to use
the language and participate in the cultural life of his or her
choice, though no one may do so in a manner inconsistent
with any provision of the Bill of Rights. The constitutional
language stipulations provide for 11 official languages. Not
only are the 11 official languages and their uses and right to
promotion specified, but specific attention is also paid to
the Khoi, Nama and San languages and sign language.
The objectives of South Africa’s language policy are to
promote national unity within the country’s linguistic and
cultural diversity and entrench democracy, which includes
the protection of language rights. It also promotes respect
for and tolerance towards linguistic and cultural diversity.
I will say that such rights are protected. If the rights are not
protected people may use them badly. They may abuse
them. For instance, as the constitution state that everyone
has a right to use language of their choice, this statement

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might give people power to misuse language rights. Of
which is why language rights are protected.
The language policy is intended as an enabling framework
for promoting South Africa’s linguistic diversity and
encouraging respect for language rights within the policy
framework of building and consolidating a united
democratic South African nation.

We come to deduce that the Constitution prescribes parity

of esteem and equitable treatment for all 11 official
languages, includes linguistic human rights as a cornerstone
of public life, prohibits discrimination, commits the
government to the promotion of all non-official languages
commonly used by communities, and gives explicit
recognition to the principle of linguistic diversity. Together,
these constitutional stipulations express a philosophy of
political pluralism in South Africa.
Section 6 of the Constitution of South Africa gives one of
only a very small number of founding principles, stating
further that everyone has the right to use their language
and to participate in the cultural life of their choice, but no
one exercising these rights may do so in a manner
inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights.

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 QUESTION 03

The Pan South African Language Board was established

through an Act of parliament as a strategy by government
to promote a rich tapestry of an all-inclusive multilingual
language policy, and to develop the previously
disadvantaged or marginalised official languages, while
encouraging the use of the many other languages spoken in
the country. The real mandate and priority of the board is
the development and promotion of the 11 official
languages of South Africa.
PanSALB plays a role in the development and promotion of
Khoi, San and sign languages in order to raise their status.
With regard to this, in 1999, the Khoi and San National
Language Body was established. Mostly, PanSALB also
supports structures that are responsible for the
development of sign language and cross-border projects.
PanSALB also established electronic translation with
Afrilingo, a company that has translated English computer
programs into some of the African languages. This was
meant to break linguistic barriers and to assist tourists with
basics.
One of the major roles of PanSALB, namely, to see to it that
linguistic human rights are upheld. Regarding this, it is
essential for you to know that in South Africa, you have the
right to report to PanSALB if your linguistic rights are
infringed.
You should now know that PanSALB is mandated by law to
investigate complaints about language rights violations
from any individual, organisation or institution. PanSALB
conducts hearings at which complainants and respondents
are present and, depending on its findings, may
recommend steps to be taken by the department or
institution concerned.
The Pan South African Language Board has subsidiary
structures in all the provinces, namely, the provincial
language committees, national language bodies and
national lexicography units, which are instrumental in

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promoting and creating conditions for the development
and use of the indigenous languages. In its advisory
capacity, it creates an enabling environment, which is
essential for the various language units to deliver quality
language products on language issues and the development
of terminologies and monolingual dictionaries.
At this stage it is essential to inform you that the structure
that is instrumental in advancing the implementation plan
in DAC is the National Language Service (NLS). The NLS is
the main language office in South Africa and is the centre of
excellence as far as language innovation and research work
is concerned. In other words, it is the hub of the country’s
language implementation plan.
The Implementation Plan that the DAC spearheads is part of
the national Language Policy Framework (NLPF), which
gives effect to the provisions on language as set out in
section 6 of the Constitution, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996). What
the DAC purports to achieve in its endeavour is the
equitable use of all official languages with a view to
facilitating equitable access to government services,
knowledge and information, as well as respect for linguistic
human rights.
The NLS comprises sections for terminology coordination,
language planning, translation, editing and interpreting for
official languages, as well as a foreign language component.
Chief editors for all languages are appointed and housed in
this department.
According to the government implementation plan
(http://www.fs.gov.za/ Departments 2009:8), the NLS is
also active in establishing a large core of well-qualified and
well-trained language practitioners, such as translators and
lexicographers, for all the official languages by appointing
junior would-be practitioners who have just completed
their academic qualifications at a university and subjecting
them to a year of inhouse training.
According to the Department of Arts and Culture (2009:1),
language units are the nuts and bolts of the
implementation guidelines. Language units are established
in departments as a core strategy to implement the

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national language policy framework. They are the
facilitators of multilingualism and, hence, foster the use of
11 official languages as part of their day-to-day function.
The national language policy framework provides guidelines
for the establishment and functions of language units in
each national government department and provinces.

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 QUESTION 04

Language attitudes exist. People have either negative or

positive value beliefs, feelings and intentions when faced
with various languages or varieties of a particular language.
The degree of a group’s external strength is kept in balance
by the group’s internal strength, which is the power of the
feeling of group identity prevalent among the group
members.
In each society, every group’s place in relation to other
groups is defined by the amount of power this group has,
that is, its external strength within society. The more
powerful a group is socially, the more internal strength the
group will have; the higher its degree of group identity, the
more internal strength the group will have.
Attitudes cannot be directly observed, because they are
complex mental entities that influence and are influenced
by an individual’s thinking, feeling and acting with regard to
a referent, which in this case is language. Attitudes are
learnt through experience; they can also change. Attitudes
towards language can only exist because language fulfils a
social function.
Language attitudes (Smit 1996:38–39) are subdivided into
three basic (but partly overlapping) fi elds, namely,
attitudes towards certain languages, varieties of a language
and sociolinguistic topics. Attitudes towards certain
languages tend to produce uniform attitudes or
stereotypes, since language is generally seen as a symbol of
the corresponding ethnic or social group.
The general attitude is, therefore, the common
denominator of all the specific attitudes, which means that
the differences of the specific attitudes are either balanced
out or intensified, depending on the differences between
them. In both cases, the general attitude reflects the
individual’s basic attitude towards that language. Since
individual attitudes are, furthermore, influenced by those
of other people, especially other in-group members, it can

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be expected that his/her basic attitudes are those of the in-
group.
If we look at attitudes towards sociolinguistic topic, it is said
that the e third type covers all those investigations that
study attitudes towards language uses, that is, the use of
specific varieties for specific domains.
Since this field is close to linguistic practice, the responses
are influenced more by the informants’ knowledge of the
situation than those of the other fi elds. For this reason,
many language attitudes might be more accurately termed
language beliefs or opinions, especially in those cases in
which responses are supported by communicative,
national, personal, educational and cognitive arguments.
Attitudes are very important in any study since, among
other things, they protect people’s self-esteem and allow
people to express their fundamental values. Language
attitudes are also considered to be more than a barometer
of social structures; they can be used to support the
sociolinguistic changes as intended by language planning.
Language attitudes can also play a role in language learning.
Language attitudes, together with other factors such as the
learning situation or the motivation, are of importance to
learning that specific language. To understand fully how
language attitudes develop, it is necessary to go back into
the past and investigate the social and political forces that
operated in the history of a nation.
Language attitudes can also influence the phonological and
phonetic systems of a language. Specific sound changes can
take place more quickly or slowly depending on the
speakers’ attitudes to these speech variables. Attitudes also
influence how people perceive their interlocutor’s speech.
It can be manifested by using persuasion, regulation,
inducement or force, or by the suppression of a particular
language variety and the elevation of another.

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 QUESTION 05

1. Research helps us to gain new knowledge and

information. It make us see things differently
from what we knew before. Research reveal
things that people longed to know but didn’t
know how they may have knew about. It give us
knowledge about the things that surround us.
Most importantly it teaches us about life.
2. It would be, Which one is better between home
schooling and education in school.
3. It would be to differentiate which is better
between home schooling and education in
school.
4. It is the question of how to distinguish between
science and non science. It is the mark of line.
5. a. I would use qualitative method. Because it
would make me understand the feelings or
opinions of the people. It would help me to gain
insights into relationships or patterns. It would
also help me to gather multiple perspectives on
a particular subjects or problem. And it would
help me to identify approximate rather than
exact information.
b. It would be the parents and their kids.
6. Yes, I think it would be necessary to conduct
literature review, because it is based on the
findings that have been already conducted by
other scholars or researchers. Literature review
can be seen as a description of what has already
been published by acknowledged scholars and
researchers to show that new research is built
on a sound foundation. As mentioned in the
scenario above that some researchers found out
that the education system in South Africa is not
improving. This mean that the person who
conducted this research, conducted it based on
the findings of other researchers.
7. The findings are that parents want their kids
in school to be taught in their home language.

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8. Yes it is, because the question papers does
not come written in home language. They come
written in English. If they use their home
language, that means they will have a problem
during exams.

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REFERENCES

AFL3705 Study Guide, Unisa. 2022

Bekker, I. 2004. Language Attitudes and
Ethnolinguistic Identity in South Africa: A Critical
Review. Unpublished paper.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,
1996 (Act 108 of 1996). South Africa:
Constitutional Assembly.
Newman, WL. 1997. Social Research Methods:
Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches.
Viacom Company: USA.

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DECLARATION OF OWN WORK
I,

MDUDUZI NTOMBELA

(NAME and SURNAME) confirm that:

 this MODULE contains my own, original ideas and work

 those ideas, or work, that are not my own, have been cited through the prescribed
referencing system which I have familiarised myself with in the TL CMNALL/E/301
 I have not submitted the ideas or work contained in this MODULE for any other
tertiary education credit

Policy on Research
 I have read the University’s Policy of Research Ethics Ethics.pdf

 I have read and understood the PLAGIARISM POWERPOINT FOR

UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES (available under ADDITIONAL SOURCES on myUnisa)
 I have familiarised myself with the library guides ON PLAGIARISM AND ETHICS
offered by Unisa’s library: https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/research-support/plagiarism
 I have read and understood Unisa’s Policy for Copyright Infringement and
Plagiarism, and I am aware that plagiarism is punishable in terms of the Copyright Act
(Act 98 of 1978) and I have read the regulations of the University of South Africa in this
respect, available online:

https://www.unisa.ac.za/static/corporate_web/Content/Apply%20for%20admission/Documents/
Policy_copyright_infringement_plagiarism_16November2005.pdf

142568084

STUDENT NUMBER 14256835

M NTOMBELA 2022/04/09

SIGNATURE DATE

NTANDO 2022/04/09
WITNESS DATE