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ERIC Number: ED155924
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1978
Pages: 187
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Language Loyalty in South Africa. Volume 2: Using and Improving Usage in the Second Language - Some Opinions of White Adults in Urban Areas.
Hauptfleisch, T.
This report is the second in a series of four intended to study language attitudes and language maintenance among whites in the Republic of South Africa. The series is based on data provided by a large-scale survey conducted during 1973-74. The present report deals with attitudes towards using and improving usage in the second language. Questionnaires were given to a country-wide urban sample of 1,607 adult whites. The primary finding was that the same behavioral and attitudinal patterns function in both language groups, affected in much the same way by the same variables. (The four basic variables involved with and influencing these attitudes are proficiency in the second language [L2], contact with L2, socioeconomic status, and overall attitudes towards the value and status of the language and language-group concerned.) For example, both Afrikaner and English-speaking South African bilinguals tend to evince adaptive tendencies in L2 contact situations. Also, in both groups the degree of L2 proficiency is directly related to desire to improve L2, that is, the less proficient a group, the more eager they are to improve. These facts hold true only for the respondents who profess themselves to be good or fair bilinguals. (Author/CFM)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria (South Africa).
Identifiers - Location: South Africa
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A