The construction of linguistic identities in Levubu : an investigation of language attitudes and perceptions of Black Afrikaans speakers towards Afrikaans in post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract

The notion of identity is complex. Identities are not fixed, but fluid and multifaceted. They are constantly negotiated and re-negotiated under different circumstances and situations for a variety of reasons. Human identity is negotiated through various aspects, such as, among others, language, accent, religion, dress, location and dance. Identity acts and performances can evoke different responses from people, for example when one speaks a certain variety of a language, people may respond to it either negatively, positively or have no response to the variety at all. Having said that, this thesis explored and investigated the language attitudes of black Afrikaans 1speakers (who speak and identify with Afrikaans, together with Tsonga and/or Venda) of Levubu (a farming community in the outskirts of Louis Trichardt), towards Afrikaans in post-apartheid South Africa. It also explored how the Afrikaans language is used as an identity marker and a distinguishing factor amongst inhabitants of Levubu. Levubu is a small farming community with a population estimated at 207 (Census 2012), therefore 40 participants 2(both male and female, and young and old) were selected for this study. To answer the research question and elicit rich data from the participants, this study was guided by and employed a multisemiotic approach to data collection in the form of questionnaires, language portraits and interviews. Results from data analysis reveal that participants generally have positive attitudes towards Afrikaans and the language is used as a medium of communication on a daily basis in Levubu. Subjects also revealed positive attitudes towards Afrikaans by associating the language with positive attributes such as farming, love, green pastures, food etc. in their mapping of the language portrait. Together with the continued use and dominance of Afrikaans, multilingualism, code-switching and code-mixing are also prevalent in Levubu. In other words, Levubu residents transcend their linguistic and cultural boundaries to reach their communication goals. To sum up, this thesis finds identity, particularly linguistic ones, to be slippery, a social construct, contradictory and location (speech community) based.