Multilingualism: the role of languages in South Africa
80 Marks
Duration: 2 Hours
First Examiner: Ms HA van Zweel
Second Examiner: Ms J Raison
,SECTION A: Multiple-choice questions
Answer all the questions by writing the correct answer on your exam
answer document.
1. Which of the following is considered a divergent strategy?
[1] Using in-group slang when addressing a friend in an informal situation.
[2] Codeswitching when addressing a monolingual person.
[3] Speaking slowly and clearly to a beginner second-language learner.
[4] Answering in the language in which you were addressed.
2. Government policy relating to the use of the various languages in a country is known as
[1] language shift
[2] language planning
[3] governmental linguistics [4] None of the above.
Read the following case study, then answer Questions 3 to 4. Some of the questions relate
directly to the data while others relate to the topic in a more general way:
In Mauritius, French coexists with a regional, colloquial variety of French known as Mauritian
Creole. Each of these varieties has a different social function: French is learnt at school and
used for official and literary purposes, while Creole is the language used for everyday
conversation.
4. In Mauritius, French is known as the ----- variety.
[1] dominant
[2] minority
[3] high
[4] low
Read the following case study and then answer Questions 5 to 14. Some of the questions relate
directly to the data while others relate to the topic in a more general way:
, Xhosa is an African language that is spoken all over South Africa, but particularly in the Eastern
Cape and Western Cape regions. Xhosa belongs to the Nguni language family and is thus related
to Zulu. Xhosa and Zulu are similar enough to be mutually intelligible. However, the history of
Southern Africa has emphasised the distinctions between the two communities - Xhosa and Zulu
have different writing and spelling systems, developed by different missionary societies in the two
communities, and the policies of the colonial and apartheid governments emphasised political and
cultural differences by setting up different geographical areas for different language groups.
Different geographical regions use slightly different varieties of Xhosa, for example, Xhosa speakers
from Middelburg use the terms ipiringi ‘saucer’ and ikamire ‘room’, while Xhosa speakers from
Cradock use isosara ‘saucer’ and irum ‘room’. Despite these differences in vocabulary and accent,
Xhosa speakers have no difficulty understanding each other.
5. Zulu and Xhosa are considered separate languages because
[1] they are mutually intelligible
[2] they are not mutually intelligible
[3] their speakers are culturally and politically distinct [4] they are completely
unrelated.
6. Which of the following offers the best definition of the sociolinguistic term dialect?
[1] Dialects are mutually intelligible forms of different languages.
[2] A dialect is a substandard, low status, often rustic form of language.
[3] Dialects are language varieties associated with particular geographical areas.
[4] Dialects are language varieties associated with particular social classes.
[5] The term ‘dialect’ refers to languages that have no written form.
7. Which of the following statements is true of accents?
[1] Speakers’ accents may reveal where they grew up.
[2] Speakers’ accents may reveal that they are speaking a language other than their
native language.
[3] Both [1] and [2] are true.
[4] None of the above.
8. Which of the following statements is false?
[1] Some dialects are better than others.
[2] Some dialects have a higher status than others.
[3] Any dialect can be raised to language status if its speakers have sufficient economic
and/or military power.
[4] The standard language of a nation can be spread via the education system.
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