'Taking language issues to the people': language development in context

Abstract

This paper represents a prologue to a taxonomy of participatory language development strategies, one which argues that some re-orientation of thinking about Language Planning is needed for South Africa's linguistic 'renaissance' to make progress. The immediate institutional argument is for the creation of modestly equipped and staffed Language Development Centres easily accessible to the speech communities responsible for the maintenance and development of their languages, particularly the nine official PMLs (Previously Marginalised Languages), but also the dialects. The paper sets out to suggest why such centres may be necessary if we are serious about creating conditions in which the PMLs can be successfully developed without thoughtlessly damaging South Africa's linguistic diversity.