Politics of Language in COVID-19: Multilingual Perspectives from South Africa

IF 0.9 4区社会学 Q3 POLITICAL SCIENCE

Politikon Pub Date : 2021-04-03 DOI:10.1080/02589346.2021.1917206

Stephanie Rudwick, Z. Sijadu, I. Turner

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引用次数: 6

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study is based on a discourse analysis of official COVID-19 addresses by South African national government ministers with a focus on linguistic choices. While access to healthcare is an obvious issue of social justice during the pandemic, language plays a covert role in processes of access and inequality. Linguistic understanding influences social participation and during an epidemic crisis, access to language plays a significant role in improving responses of affected individuals. Although English is widely accepted as a common lingua franca in the country, it excludes those who are not proficient in the language. In this article, we analyse code-switching practices, translanguaging, and increasing African language usage among ministers of parliament during official COVID-19 speeches and briefings. We argue that the growing use of multilingual resources among South African politicians carries ramifications on language politics, i.e. a shift away from an unquestioned monolingual discourse purporting English as ‘the’ lingua franca which has in the past characterised most national speeches. From this new multilingual perspective, the pandemic has effected an inward orientation rather than the previously dominating concern with international relations.

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2019冠状病毒病中的语言政治:来自南非的多语言视角

本研究基于南非国家政府部长对官方COVID-19演讲的话语分析，重点关注语言选择。虽然在大流行期间，获得医疗保健是一个明显的社会正义问题，但语言在获得和不平等的过程中发挥着隐蔽的作用。语言理解影响社会参与，在流行病危机期间，获得语言在改善受影响个人的反应方面发挥着重要作用。虽然英语在这个国家被广泛接受为通用语言，但那些不精通这门语言的人却被排斥在外。在本文中，我们分析了议会部长在COVID-19官方演讲和简报期间的代码转换做法、语言翻译以及增加非洲语言的使用。我们认为，南非政治家越来越多地使用多语言资源，对语言政治产生了影响，即从毫无疑问的单语话语转向，声称英语是“通用语”，这在过去是大多数国家演讲的特征。从这一新的多语种角度来看，这一流行病已使人们不再像以前那样主要关注国际关系，而是转向国内。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Politikon POLITICAL SCIENCE-

CiteScore

1.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

32 weeks

期刊介绍： Politikon focuses primarily on South African politics, but not exclusively so. Over the years the journal has published articles by some of the world" leading political scientists, including Arend Lijphart, Samuel Huntingdon, and Philippe Schmitter. It has also featured important contributions from South Africa"s leading political philosophers, political scientists and international relations experts. It has proved an influential journal, particularly in debates over the merits of South Africa"s constitutional reforms (in 1983 and 1994). In the last few years special issues have focused on women and politics in South Africa, and the South African election of 1999.