首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Under the 1996 constitution, all 11 of South Africa’s official languages "must enjoy equality of esteem and be treated equitably
Under the 1996 constitution, all 11 of South Africa’s official languages "must enjoy equality of esteem and be treated equitably
admin
2013-08-05
53
问题
Under the 1996 constitution, all 11 of South Africa’s official languages "must enjoy equality of esteem and be treated equitably". In practice English, the mother tongue of just 8% of the people, increasingly dominates all the others. Its hegemony may even threaten the long-term survival of the country’s African languages, spoken as the mother tongue of 80% of South Africans, despite the government’s repeated promises to promote and protect indigenous languages and culture.
Under apartheid, there were just two official languages, English and Afrikaans, a variant of Dutch with a dash of French, German, Khoisan (spoken by so-called Bushmen and Hottentots), Malay and Portuguese. Pre-colonial African languages were relegated to the black townships and tribal "homelands". Even there, English was often chosen as the medium of education in preference to the inhabitants’ mother tongues. Black South Africans increasingly rejected Afrikaans as the language of the main oppressor, English was a symbol of advancement and prestige.
Today, 16 years after the advent of black-majority rule, English reigns supreme. Not only is it the medium of business, finance, science and the internet, but also of government, education, broadcasting, the press, advertising, street signs, consumer products and the music industry. For such things Afrikaans is also occasionally used, especially in the Western Cape province, but almost never an African tongue. The country’s Zulu-speaking president, Jacob Zuma, makes all his speeches in English. Parliamentary debates are in English. Even the instructions on bottles of prescription drugs come only in English or Afrikaans.
Yet most black South Africans are not proficient in English. This is because most of their teachers give lessons in a language that is not their own. To give non-English-speaking children a leg-up, the government agreed last year that all pupils should be taught in their mother tongue for at least the first three years of primary school. But outside the rural areas, where one indigenous language prevails, this is neither financially nor logistically feasible.
Some people suggest reducing the number of official languages to a more manageable three: English, Afrikaans and Zulu, the mother tongue of nearly a quarter of South Africans. But non-Zulus would object. Unless brought up on a farm, few whites speak an African language. For the school-leaving exam, proficiency in at least two languages is required. But most native English-speakers opt for Afrikaans, said to be easy to learn, rather than a useful but harder African tongue. At universities African-language departments are closing.
Some effort is being made to protect African languages from this apparently inexorable decline. The Sunday Times, South Africa’s biggest-selling weekend paper, recently launched a Zulu edition. In September the Oxford University Press brought out the first isiZulu-English dictionary in more than 40 years.
Many of the black elite, who send their children to English-speaking private schools or former white state schools, may accept English emerging as the sole national language. Many talk English to their children at home. Fluency in the language of Shakespeare is regarded as a sign of modernity, sophistication and power.
Will South Africa’s black languages suffer the fate of the six languages brought by the country’s first Indian settlers 150 years ago? Maybe so, thinks Rajend Mesthrie at the University of Cape Town. For the first 100-odd years, he says, South Africa’s Indians taught and spoke to their children in their native tongues. But English is now increasingly seen as "the best way forward". Today most young Indians speak only English or are bilingual in English and Afrikaans, though they may continue to chat at home in a kind of pidgin English mixed with Indian and Zulu.
The word "hegemony" in the first paragraph means
选项
A、ascendancy
B、ownership
C、influence
D、reputation
答案
A
解析
第1段的第2句指出英语处于统治地位,第3句说甚至对非洲语的长期存活造成了威胁,因此可以推断hegemony是与“占优势或统治地位”相关的意思。故答案A“优势,支配力量”正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/2oZO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WilkinsMicawberisacharacterinthenovel______,aneternaloptimistwho,despiteevidencetothecontrary,continuestohav
TheCulturalRevivalintheByzantineEmpireBetweentheeighthandeleventhcenturiesA.D.,theByzantineEmpirestageda
TheDeathofaSpouseFormuchoftheworld,thedeathofRichardNixonwastheendofacomplexpubliclife.Butresearcher
SimilaritiesandDifferencesbetweenPublicSpeakingandConversationI.BothPublicSpeakingandConversationneedyouto1.or
A"scientistic"viewoflanguagewasdominantamongphilosophersandlinguistswhoaffectedtodevelopascientificanalysisof
MotivationforWordsMotivationdealswiththeconnectionbetweennameandsense.Basically,therearethreemotivationsforwor
TheAustralianpopulationisstillmainlyof______descendant.
______referstothestudyoftherulesgoverningthewaywordsarecombinedtoformsentencesinalanguage,orsimply,thestud
Mummiescaptureourimaginationsandourhearts.Fullofsecretsandmagic,theywereoncepeoplewholivedandloved,justasw
Askedwhatjobtheywouldtakeiftheycouldhaveany,peopleunleashtheirimaginationsanddreamofexoticplaces,powerfulpo
随机试题
申请复议的条件包括()。
患儿,见面色无华,神疲乏力,汗出,有浮肿,头晕耳鸣,长期咽痛,咽部暗红,手足心热,舌质稍红,舌苔少,脉细弱。应诊断为()
下列物质中参加胆固醇酯化成胆固醇酯过程的是
甲、乙、丙、丁共同投资设立了一个有限合伙企业,其中甲乙为普通合伙人,丙丁为有限合伙人。后因该合伙企业长期拖欠供货商货款,企业资产不足以清偿到期债务。依照我国相关法律的规定,下列哪些选项是正确的?()。
事故处理包括()
工程网络计划的计划工期的确定方法是()。[2003年真题]
某公司生产甲产品,一季度至四季度的预计销售量分别为1000件、800件、900件、850件,生产每件甲产品需要2千克A材料。公司的政策是每一季度末的产成品存货数量等于下一季度销售量的10%,每一季度末的材料存量等于下一季度生产需要量的20%。该公司二季度的
判断心理诊断是否具有科学性的依据是()。
金属历来都是通过采矿、冶金制取的,可是80年代初期,科学家发现在聚乙炔中加入强氧化剂或还原剂后,它的导电性能大大提高。因为这种塑料具有金属的一般特性,所以人们称它为“人造金属"。近年来,它的发展极为神速,人们又先后研制成功了聚苯乙炔、聚苯硫醚和聚双炔类等。
对软件开发的看法可有多种观点,敏捷软件开发方法是一种(118),代表性是极限编程XP,它的核心思想为(119)。
最新回复
(
0
)