The racial hierarchisation of the isiXhosa language in South Africa: A post-colonial discourse

Mlamli Diko
Additional contact information
Mlamli Diko: Lecturer, Department of African Languages, University of South Africa (UNISA), South Africa

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), 2023, vol. 12, issue 2, 598-607

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. Key Words:isiXhosa language, South Africa, racial hierarchisation, oppression, post-colonialism

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/2318/1747 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v12i2.2318 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rbs:ijbrss:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:598-607

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) is currently edited by Prof.Dr.Umit Hacioglu

More articles in International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478) from Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance Editorial Office,Baris Mah. Enver Adakan Cd. No: 5/8, Beylikduzu, Istanbul, Turkey. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Umit Hacioglu ().