Children in language shift: The syntax of fifth-generation, pre-school Indian South African English speakers

Language shift, the process by which a second language ousts a community's first language as the everyday vernacular, almost inevitably throws up a vast array of morpho-syntactic and phonetic variety in the new vernacular. This paper seeks to ascertain what choices the first post-shift generation of child learners makes from such an array of competing forms. Data from longitudinal studies undertaken in the early to mid-1990s is presented from Indian South African English, focussing on fifth generation, monolingual, pre-school children in a natural (i.e. non-classroom) setting. The paper shows that while these children do make a selection of the morpho-syntactic variants in the elder's speech, there is no syntactic innovation. On the other hand, a surprisingly large number of former second-language features persist in post-shift speech, probably enhanced by the peculiarities of apartheid society, during which these children acquired their vernacular

Putting some Linguistics into Applied Linguistics: a sociolinguistic study of left dislocation in South African Black EngUsh

No Abstrac

Cape Indians, Apartheid and Higher Education

On a Sunday afternoon, 15 November 2009, the Luxurama Theatre in Wynberg was filled to capacity as Indians in Cape Town gathered to launch the Cape Town 1860 Legacy Foundation in preparation for the 2010 events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indians in Natal. The Foundation had been constituted after meetings in Cape Town had been addressed by Satish Dhupelia and AV Mohammed who were members of the 1860 Legacy Foundation of Durban, tasked with co-ordinating a national movement. They and Ashwin Trikamjee, a religious leader who chaired the Durban committee were present. The gathering brought Gujarati Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Tamil Hindus of the city together. While the ancestors of many of those present had come as immigrants to the Cape directly from India and had little direct connection to indenture, the Tamils present did have their roots in the indenture system. The movement from Natal to the Cape Colony by the ex-indentured had, in fact, begun from the 1870s in response to the discovery of diamonds in Kimberley.1 Many Tamil Indians would continue to come to the Cape in the post-Union period often breaking inter-provincial restrictions on movement and settling in the Cape illegally.International Bibliography of Social Science

Undeletions in Black South African English

No Abstract

Paper regimes

In 1915 Baba Bapoo, a store assistant in Cape Town, was thrown into a state of great mental and emotional stress when he lost his permit en route to India. This was the only document that could guarantee his re-admission to South Africa. He wrote to a friend to apply for a replacement indicating, 'Since I have made the lost [sic] my heart has turned into madness'. He managed to secure a fresh permit as his application was on record in the Cape Town Immigration Department. Osman Vazir was less fortunate he left for India rather suddenly, in the process omitting to secure a permit. Later, he wrote an impassioned plea from India to the Immigration Department in Cape Town citing all the documents in his possession which proved he had been in South Africa: 'I have got a register of Transvaal, a pass of Free State, a certificate from Gas Co., a receipt for a pass which was received by me in 1907, a card from Somerset Hospital...' He, however, did not have the right paper needed to re-enter Cape Town. His plea to be allowed in 'with both hands joined, as one to the Almighty and a father' was in vain. In the late 1930s, Walter Sisulu was arrested and taken to the Hillbrow police station in Johannesburg because there was 'something wrong with my pass book'. After paying a fine he was released. The position of African males in South Africa's urban spaces was aptly summed up by a migrant labourer in Peter Abrahams' novel: 'Man's life is controlled by pieces of paper'.DHE

The risks of sociolinguistic crossing and cross-overs: A retrospective from apartheid South Africa

No abstract available

A history of the Bhojpuri (or "Hindi") language in South Africa

Bibliography: pages 308-318.Although Indian languages have existed in South Africa for the last 125 years, there are no academic studies of any of them - of their use in South Africa, their evolution and current decline. Many misconceptions persist concerning their names, their structure, and status as 'proper' languages. This thesis deals with the history of one such language, Bhojpuri (more usually, but incorrectly, referred to as "Hindi"). I attempt to trace the origins of the South African variety of this language by examining the places of origin of the original indentured migrants who brought it to South Africa. A complex sociolinguistic picture emerges, since these immigrants came from a very wide area in North India spanning several languages. I also attempt to describe the early history of Bhojpuri in South Africa as a 'plantation' language. Subsequent changing patterns of usage are then detailed, including phonetic, syntactic, lexical and semantic change. The influence of other South African languages - chiefly English, but also Zulu, Fanagalo, and other Indian languages - is described in detail, as well as changes not directly attributable to language contact. A final section focusses on the decline of the language and the process of language death. From another (more international) perspective this study lays the foundation for comparisons between Bhojpuri in South Africa and other 'overseas' varieties of it, spawned under very similar conditions, in ex-colonies like Surinam, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and others. Such a comparative study could well make as great a contribution to general and socio-linguistics as the study of creoles has in the recent past. Information concerning this unwritten language was gathered by field-work throughout Natal. This involved informal interviews with over two hundred fluent speakers, including four who had been born in India during the time of immigrations. The study also draws upon the author's observations on language practices as an 'inside' member of the community under study

Rethinking the sexual offenses exception to previous consistent statements: An evaluation of sections of 58 and 59 of SORMA.

This dissertation examined whether the rules contained in sections 58 and 59 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 (SORMA) could be reconciled with the aims and objectives of the legislation. It also considered whether these rules improved the position that previously existed under the common law. These provisions enable the first report made by a complainant in a sexual offence matter to be admitted into evidence at trial and constitute a statutory exception to the general rule that previous consistent statements are inadmissible. The methodology adopted in this investigation was a desktop review of secondary literature and reported cases. This dissertation analysed case law relating to the common law exception which existed prior to the enactment of SORMA and case law following the implementation of SORMA. This analysis makes it clear that the common law sexual offences exception was based on antiquated and misogynistic thinking about sexual offences and the behaviour of women. This dissertation ultimately determined that SORMA has not had the desired impact of reforming the common law on prior complaints as envisioned by the drafters. Instead, the analysis indicates that the undesirable common law position has been codified. It is argued that this can be attributed, in part, to the ambiguous drafting of sections 58 and 59 which do not clarify whether the prior complaint must have been made at the first reasonable opportunity, as was required under the common law. The analysis of case law demonstrates that this uncertainty has led to the timing of a complaint often being a central issue in sexual offence cases. This further perpetuates the anomaly which existed under the common law. This dissertation concludes that the failure by the legislature to expressly abolish the common law requirement that a prior complaint be made at the first reasonable opportunity is not congruent with the aims and objectives of SORMA. It is recommended that SORMA be amended to include an express provision that prior complaints in sexual offence cases are admissible regardless of the timing of the complaint. This would ensure that legal reform corresponds with social science evidence on the psychology of rape and the difficulties of disclosure