Family language policy in a xenophobic context:

Abstract

Due to globalisation and people’s mobility, transnational families have become a common feature worldwide. As they settle in host countries, a diminished need and opportunities to use their heritage languages usually follow. This tendency places pressure on immigrant languages, particularly in countries that do not support their teaching in education. In highly ethnicised and racialised contexts like South Africa, parents’ transnational experiences impact decisions regarding language use in identity construction in the host country. This study examines the family language policies of three transnational Zimbabwean Kalanga families in South Africa. It reveals how their language transactions, negotiations and contestations are enmeshed with considerations of the everpresent xenophobic sentiment in South African society. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with parents from three focal Zimbabwean families of Kalanga heritage. The findings show that parents’ experiences of xenophobia in South Africa shape their language acquisition decisions for their children in considerable ways. The preference for acquiring and using Zulu and English at the expense of Kalanga is motivated by parents’ desire and aspiration for their children’s assimilation into a South African identity to minimise exposure to xenophobic attacks, for children’s schooling and general upward social mobility. Findings also suggest that transnationalism presents challenges for the intergenerational transmission of Kalanga within the focal families. Given that Kalanga is already minoritised and marginalised in Zimbabwe, characterised by diminished use in public and official domains, parents’ language ideologies are key to its revitalisation, and the family domain is critical in that endeavour. Therefore, this study contributes to understanding the dynamics of intergenerational language transmission among transnational families, particularly those in hostile contexts