Browsing by Author "Fortuin, Esterline Diane"
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- ItemLanguage shift from Afrikaans to English in "Coloured" families in Port Elizabeth three case studies(Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009-12) Fortuin, Esterline Diane; Southwood, Frenette; University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of General Linguistics.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates whether language shift is occurring within the community of the northern areas of Port Elizabeth. These areas are historically predominantly “coloured” and Afrikaans-speaking, and are mixed in terms of the socioeconomic status of their inhabitants. Lately, there is a tendency for many of the younger generation to speak more English. Using the model of another study (Anthonissen and George 2003) done in the Cape Town area, three generations (grandparent, parent and grandchild) of three families were interviewed regarding their use of English and Afrikaans in various domains. The pattern of language shift in this study differs somewhat, but not totally, from that described in Anthonissen and George (2003) and Farmer (2009). In these two studies, there was a shift from predominantly Afrikaans in the older two generations to English in the youngest generation. In this study, the shift is also almost exclusively to English in the youngest generation, but the shift at times took place from English-Afrikaans bilingualism and not predominantly from Afrikaans. In two cases, the first generation was raised in English but raised their children in Afrikaans, and then the grandchildren were raised in English again. The reasons why the shift took place in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth appears to be similar to the reasons in the Cape Town area, namely perceived better education opportunities and better socio-economic prospects.