JOSEPH STALIN ON THE STANDARD AFRIKAANS/AFRIKAAPS ISSUE The current standard Afrikaans vs Afrikaaps medium of instruction in schools debate on the Cape Flats, forces one to re-examine the role of language teaching beyond its mere scholastic context, to consider broader socio-linguistic concerns involved. In the course of my attempts to explore this issue from a class perspective I came across a surprisingly unexpected, but incisive source on the issue - JOSEPH STALIN! In his book titled MARXISM AND PROBLEMS OF LINGUISTICS, Joseph Stalin argues on the matter as follows: Language exists, language has been created precisely in order to serve society as a whole, as a means of intercourse between people, in order to be common to the members of society and constitute the single language of society, serving members of society equally, irrespective of their class status. A language has only to depart from this position of being a language common to the whole people, it has only to give preference and support to some one social group to the detriment of other social groups of the society, and it loses its virtue, ceases to be a means of intercourse between the people of the society, and becomes the jargon of some social group, degenerates and is doomed to disappear. (Foreign. Language Press; Peking, 1972) Perhaps that is what has happened to this standard Afrikaans/Afrikaaps debate on commercial media platforms, where it is being waged exclusively by the literary, theatrical and academic domains. This almost bourgeoisification of the debate, runs the consequent risk of restricting its public scope, to what Stalin called, the jargon of some social group.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 05:22:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015