Language maintenance and shift among the Rehoboth Basters of Namibia ca. 1868-2008
Doctoral Thesis
2010
Permanent link to this Item
Authors
Supervisors
Journal Title
Link to Journal
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Publisher
University of Cape Town
Department
Faculty
License
Series
Abstract
The main theme of the thesis is language endangerment, which represents a subfield of enquiry in sociolinguistics. The language under investigation is Afrikaans in its setting in Rehoboth, Namibia. Afrikaans was maintained as mother tongue and has been the dominant language as well as lingua franca in Rehoboth for some hundred years but could be losing these positions to English because of function and status loss and changes in the demographic mix of the area after Namibia's Independence in 1990. The Afrikaans-speaking Rehoboth Basters were initially the primary research subjects but it soon transpired that the Afrikaans-speaking Coloureds of the town need focused attention too because their language behaviour is as vital to the future of Afrikaans in the area.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-276).
Keywords
Reference:
Louw, A. 2010. Language maintenance and shift among the Rehoboth Basters of Namibia ca. 1868-2008. University of Cape Town.