The racial hierarchisation of the isiXhosa language in South Africa

Abstract

The reality is that there is a relationship between language and race as advanced and qualified by ethnolinguistics. Such a relationship points to the subjugation of the isiXhosa language (habitually situated in South Africa), among other prescripts, which was fueled by racial hierarchization that ought to be debated within the paradigm of scholarly discourses. The subjugation, distortion and erosion of the isiXhosa language were led by the colonial, apartheid governance and administration that sought to impose censorship. Therefore, this article employs post-colonial theory to argue and scholarly prove that the language and many South African indigenous languages were oppressed based on racial notions that sought to accelerate neo-liberalist and imperialist perceptions. Hypothetically speaking, the isiXhosa language still suffers from the effects of (post)colonialism carried by colonial agents who continue to mock and humiliate the language. The debates and findings underline that such claims (racial hierarchization of the language) must be validated through theoretical and practical discourses. As a result, closing remarks infuse potential recommendations open to public scrutiny regarding the problematised phenomenon and/or conundrum.

Keywords: {'name': 'isiXhosa language'}, {'name': 'South Africa'}, {'name': 'racial hierarchisation'}, {'name': 'oppression'}, {'name': 'post-colonialism'}

Authors & affiliations

Mlamli Diko
Affiliation not supplied

Deposited references

Supplied references, not a list of publications citing this article.

DOI: 10.1016/j.langsci.2022.101514

DOI: 10.4324/9781003155461-2

DOI: 10.1080/03057640601178998

DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2021.1953976

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114755

DOI: 10.1177/00113921221097157

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115217

DOI: 10.1007/s11135-022-01596-2

DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105169

DOI: 10.20355/jcie29494

Childs, P. (2022). Post-colonial theory and English literature. In Post-Colonial Theory and English Literature. Edinburgh University Press.

DOI: 10.17510/paradigma.v9i2.302

DOI: 10.1016/j.langcom.2022.12.003

Diko, M. (2020). Uphononongo nzulu lwamasiko nezithethe kwiincwadi ezichongiweyo zesiXhosa. (Masters Dissertation, Rhodes University). https://commons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/services/Download/vital:38420/SOURCE1?view=true.

DOI: 10.2989/16073614.2021.1999831

DOI: 10.1080/02572117.2022.2132689

DOI: 10.20525/ijrbs.v12i1.2274

DOI: 10.1080/02500167.2011.604170

DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2020.1817891

DOI: 10.1177/00219347221134282

DOI: 10.1080/14664200208668036

DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2020.1797627

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-22315-0_2

Jordan, A.C. (1940). Ingqumbo Yeminyanya. Lovedale Press: South Africa.

DOI: 10.4314/eia.v35i1.41394

Kaschula, R.H., and Maseko, P. (2014). The intellectualisation of African languages, multilingualism and education: A research-based approach. Alternation special edition, 13(1): 8-35.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9361.2004.00228.x

DOI: 10.1111/soc4.13004

Maseko, P. (2011). Intellectualisation of African languages with particular reference to isiXhosa. (Doctoral Thesis, Rhodes University, South Africa). https://commons.ru.ac.za/vital/access/services/Download/vital:27035/SOURCE1?view=true.

DOI: 10.20525/ijrbs.v11i8.2073

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-18583-0_31

DOI: 10.1177/1474022215613600

DOI: 10.1080/02572117.2022.2094063

DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12265

DOI: 10.15700/saje.v41ns1a2149

DOI: 10.17159/2520-9868/i72a02

DOI: 10.20355/jcie29495

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-85961-9_6

DOI: 10.5788/32-3-1736

DOI: 10.1080/10131752.2022.2105002

DOI: 10.1080/07481187.2020.1762263

DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2162084

DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2022.12.020

DOI: 10.1515/ijsl-2020-0104

DOI: 10.1515/ijsl-2020-0104

DOI: 10.1080/23323256.2022.2101498

Remmington, J. (2022). Rise of the 21st-Century Black South African travelogue: itineraries of touring and testing Freedoms. Research in African Literatures, 53(1): 67-87. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/873424.

DOI: 10.1558/firn.22823

DOI: 10.1515/ijsl-2020-0060

DOI: 10.1177/13540661211000114

DOI: 10.1177/16094069221076929

DOI: 10.1515/applirev-2022-0066

South Africa Statistics (SAS). (2022). https://www.statssa.gov.za/?m=2022.

DOI: 10.1111/anti.12913

DOI: 10.5430/elr.v7n2p46

DOI: 10.1080/00020184.2012.740886

DOI: 10.1017/S0261444820000269

DOI: 10.1017/S0261444812000420

DOI: 10.1080/01434632.2022.2078832

DOI: 10.20853/36-5-4788

DOI: 10.1177/08862605221092068

DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2022.2104317

DOI: 10.25159/1947-9417/4626