The Linguistic Landscape of Post-Apartheid South Africa : Politics and Discourse

This book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa’s inhabitants have changed since the African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994, and where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead. Contents Preface Introduction 1. The Release of Nelson Mandela as the Advent of Democracy 2. Shifts in the Linguistic Landscape, post 1994 3. Linguistic Changes in Parliament 1994–1998: Paving the Way for Linguistic Democracy 4. Reconfigured Features of the African Oral Tradition 5. Recontextualised Residues of Rhetoric from the Previous Era 6. Historical Explanations for Literacy Backlogs in South Africa 7. Black South African English Versus Other African Englishes in the 1990s 8. The Rhetoric of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance 9. The Debate on African Identity in South Africa 10. Expressions of Neo-Traditional Patriarchy in the Speeches of President Zuma 11. Return to Self-Censorship in Political Journalism: Echoes of the 1950s and 1960s 12. Localisation Initiatives 13. The Position of African Languages 14. Superdiversity and Translanguaging: A New Discursive Order References Index

The appointment of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 signalled the end of apartheid and transition to a new democratic constitution. This book studies discursive trends during the first twenty years of the new democracy, outlining the highlights and challenges of transforming policy, practice and discursive formations. The book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa’s inhabitants have changed in this time, finding that struggles in South African politics go hand in hand with shifts in the linguistic landscape. In a country now characterised by multilingualism, heteroglossia, polyphony and translanguaging, the author debates where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead.