“You Dare Not Bring the What Do you Calls…”: Marginalization of Indigenous Languages in Higher Education

Abstract

Whereas the multilingual language policies adopted by some of the South African Institutions of Higher Education are laudable, the policy implementation is a solid bedrock of linguicism that perpetuates the English language imperialism (and to certain extent Afrikaans) at the expense of the South African indigenous languages. The purported inaptness purposely assigned to the latter languages is valorised and the essence of their constructed peripheral position is naturalised and sealed beyond question. It has therefore been universalised that the natural, meaningful and practicable approach to learning and teaching is through the medium of the English language despite evidence from research that points to the contrary. Despite the South African Institutions of Higher Education practices that favour the English- only medium, there are very few studies that have analysed the ideological positions found in the universities in South Africa’s post-apartheid era, which began with the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1991. In this chapter I use the “what you call” metaphor to argue that post-apartheid linguistic higher education landscape has not changed meaningfully. The “what you call” metaphor refers to anyone that is regarded as insignificant, a useless no hoper and a loser. It is here that I present and analyse data emanating from these institutions to demonstrate the typical treatment of South African indigenous languages in post-apartheid South African institute of higher learning. In conclusion, I draw key learning sets from the study and offer insights on future research direction.