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Dear Sir/Madam
SUBMISSION ON THE CONSTITUTION@
In response to your
public invitation, I enclose a submission on LANGUAGE POLICY for the new
Constitution. I am not sure to which
Theme Committee it should be
directed.
Yours faithfully
(Prof.) Elwyn R.
Jenkine
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LANGUAGE
POLICY
SUBMISSION TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY
(PROF.) ELWYN R.
JENKINS
LANGUAGE POLICY
1. Lanauage and the Rill of
Rights
1.1 The new Constitution should continue to make language a
right.
1.2 Language rights should continue to be individual
rights, not group rights.
2. Official languages
2.1 The
official languages should continue to be the eleven languages that were made
official languages under the Interim Constitution.
2.2 The
"non-diminution" clause of the Interim Constitution that ensured the same rights
for languages that they had previously enjoyed
should be removed, for two
reasons:
(i) This clause contradicts the clause which makes all eleven
languages equal, and it is proving an obstacle to the implementation
of a policy
of equal treatment for all official languages.
(ii) By the end of the
period covered by the Interim Constitution, the country will have grown more
accustomed to the implications
of a policy of equal treatment for all eleven
languages, and patterns of language use will have changed accordingly. In its
submission
to CODESA, the English Academy of Southern Africa advised that a new
constitutional dispensation for languages kould have a rapid
effect on how
languages are used in practice, and that legislators should be prepared to make
fairly frequent changes to laws in
order to accommodate these changes. After a
few months people's attitudes and the practical use of languages have already
changed,
and these changes can be expected
-2-
to increase in the
remaining period before the new Constitution comes into effect. It is a well
known principle of language planning
that legislation has to follow practice
because it is not possible to control language use to a significant extent
through legislation.
The new Constitution should, therefore, be more open-ended
and not include such a stultifying, retrospective clause.
3.
in emph
The new Constitution should move from an emphasis on
protecting languages to puttina lanauaaes to use. The proposals
which follow have this aim in view.
4. National lanauage
Do
A national policy for languages should be developed which will
contribute to national goals. Languages should be approached as a
national
resource for the promotion of such matters as social development, employment and
the export trade, as well as in the traditional
fields of culture and the media.
PANSALB must have the powers to see that national policy is implemented in all
government departments.
For example, language policy in education should
be subordinate to national goals, and it should not be left to education
officials
to formulate this policy without reference to broader considerations.
Language policy in education includes what languages are taught
(including
foreign languages), in what school years, and for what,
purpose&. A much more subtle range of aims, content and methods for
language teaching than we have had in the past should be developed: for
example,
whether a language is to be taught only for receptive understanding, or whether
basic reading and writing skills will be
taught, or full spoken and written
competence; and whether language teaching should include the teaching of
the
-3-
associated culture of mother tongue speakers.
Naturally, the Constitution would not go into this sort of detail, but it is
mentioned here in order to indicate how important it
will be in future to ensure
that education policy is accountable to national goals.
5. The Pan-South
African Lanauaae R@.@
5.1 PANSALB should be kept, but the
Constitution should give more clarity on its line of responsibility, its
accountability, its source
of funding, and its relation to the
Provinces.
5.2 The position of PANSALB within government and its powers
should ensure that it is in a position to implement a national strategy
for
language development.
6. State gubsidi
The Constitution
should make it possible for the State to grant subsidies to private institutions
such as schools and cultural and
arts bodies, and projects such as dictionaries,
which are based on language criteria.
E.R.
Jenkins
27 December 1994
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