Language policy and orthographic harmonization across linguistic, ethnic and national boundaries in Southern Africa

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dc.contributor.authorBanda, Felix
dc.date.accessioned24/04/2017 15:30
dc.date.available24/04/2017 15:30
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractDrawing on online and daily newspapers, speakers' language and writing practices, official government documents and prescribed spelling systems in Southern Africa, the paper explores the challenges and possibilities of orthographic reforms allowing for mobility across language clusters, ethnicity, regional and national borders. I argue that this entails a different theorisation of language, and for orthographies that account for the translocations and diasporic nature of late modern African identities and lifestyles. I suggest an ideological shift from prescriptivism to practice-orientated approaches to harmonisation in which orthographies are based on descriptions of observable writing practices in the mobile linguistic universe. The argument for orthographic reforms is counterbalanced with an expose on current language policies which appear designed for an increasing rare monoglot 'standard' speaker, who speaks only a 'tribal' language. The implications of the philosophical challenges this poses for linguists, language planners and policy makers are thereafter discussed.en_US
dc.description.accreditationISIen_US
dc.identifier.citationBanda, F. (2016). Language policy and orthographic harmonization across linguistic, ethnic and national boundaries in Southern Africa. Language Policy, 15: 257-275en_US
dc.identifier.issn1568-4555
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10566/2752
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10993-015-9370-2
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterFALSE
dc.publisherSpringer Verlagen_US
dc.rightsThis is the author version of the article found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10993-015-9370-2
dc.status.ispeerreviewedTRUE
dc.subjectHarmonizationen_US
dc.subjectOrthographyen_US
dc.subjectLanguage policyen_US
dc.subjectBantu languagesen_US
dc.subjectMultilingualismen_US
dc.subjectHybridityen_US
dc.titleLanguage policy and orthographic harmonization across linguistic, ethnic and national boundaries in Southern Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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