Original scientific paper
Language and Identity – The Afrikaans Community in the UK
Ernst Kotzé
Abstract
The role of language in the identity package of Afrikaans-speaking South African expatriates
in the UK is investigated in this paper. A description of the community is provided
and the domains of use of their first language identified. The main research problem
is the relationship between language and identity in a diasporic community such as
this. The main findings of the study: In all modes of communication, the percentage of
Afrikaans (in a bilingual relation with English) progressively decreased the closer the
ties between the interlocutors became. The identification of 73% of all respondents with
positive language-related statements correlated with 82% of the group’s support for various
types of cultural activities involving visiting South Africans. In conclusion: The
mix of functions pointed to a more complex configuration of bilingual and monolingual
domains, with some elements of a heterolocal cultural enclave, in which similar domain
types are maintained in parallel, but with differences in actual context of usage.
Keywords
language; identity; Afrikaans; bilingualism
Hrčak ID:
27936
URI
Publication date:
24.6.2004.
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