Language in South Africa by Mesthrie, Rajend

ISBN: 9780521791052

Cambridge University Press,18 November 2002

Hardcover, 504 pages

This is a comprehensive and wide-ranging guide to language and society in South Africa. The book surveys the most important language groupings in the region in terms of pre-colonial and colonial history; contact between the different language varieties (leading to language loss, pidginization, creolization and new mixed varieties). It examines language and public policy issues associated with the transition to a post-apartheid society and its eleven official languages. All the chapters are informed by the importance of socio-political history in understanding questions of language.

Editorial Reviews

Review
"[A] very handsome book, beautifully edited, carefully proofread, and produced on thick paper in elegant fonts." Christina Bratt Paulston, University of Pittsburgh, Language in Society

Book Description
This is a comprehensive and wide-ranging 2002 guide to language and society in South Africa.

About the Author
Rajend Mesthrie is Professor of Linguistics at the University of South Africa. He has researched and published extensively on a range of contact phenomena in South Africa.