Multilingual Landscapes : The Politics of Language and Self in a South African Township in Transformation
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Date
2009
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Much language planning and policy in recent years in South Africa tends to overlook linguistic situations and practices, and focuses on notions of top-down language policy and implementation. This does not fit easily with the current multilingualism dynamics of late post-modern societies, which are increasingly characterized by a culture of consumerism and politics of aspiration. Taking its point of departure from a critical analysis of linguistic practices, in the form of visual literacies (billboards) in a township in South Africa, this thesis aims to draw forth alternative approaches that focus on the notion of sociolinguistic consumption, politics of aspiration and stylization of self, as a means of addressing the linguistic situation, and highlighting implications for language planning and multilingualism.
Description
Magister Artium - MA
Keywords
Multilingualism, Politics of aspiration, Stylisation of self, Linguistic landscape, Visual semiotics, Transgressive theories