A critical evaluation of the development of Rumanyo as a national language in Namibia
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Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Among others, the current study had been conceived due to the fact that, although Namibia is
endowed with multiple languages, their development throughout the long colonial history, had
been unequal. That is, some languages received more attention than others and some were
hardly developed at all. After independence, Namibians had legitimate expectations that all
their (different) languages would be developed equitably throughout all the regions, and among
all ethnic groups or speech communities. In the post-apartheid era, however, Namibians have
been subjected to a limited and unequal language and literacy development which encouraged
me to conduct a research to critically evaluate the development of Rumanyo or lack of thereof.
The focus of this study is on understanding the disparities in language and literacy
development in Namibia with particular emphasis on ethno-regional disparities and what
precipitates these inequalities. The reason for the emphasis on region and ethnicity in
researching language and literacy development was due to Namibia's multi-ethnicity and the
over-lapping of regions and ethnic groups.
Description
Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Linguistics, Language and Communication)
Keywords
African language, National language, Language planning, Language policy, Identity, Rumanyo, Orthography, Monolingualism, Bilingualism, Multilingualism, Southern Africa, Namibia