Cover not available
Part of
The Dynamics of English in Namibia: Perspectives on an emerging variety
Edited by Anne Schröder
[Varieties of English Around the World G65] 2021
► pp. 83–108

Chapter 5
The linguistic landscape and soundscape of Windhoek

| Bielefeld University
Both the pre-independence lingua franca Afrikaans and the post-independence official language English are used to communicate in public contexts in Namibia although most Namibians speak other languages at home. This article aims to find out which languages are used for communication in public spaces in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital. It is based on linguistic landscaping and soundscaping data and compares this contemporary data with the pre-independence linguistic landscape reported in Kleinz (1984) to assess the diachronic development of public language use. This investigation finds that English is the most frequent language used in written communication in the public sphere. English also seems to be favoured by non-White Namibians in service encounters, while many White Namibians select Afrikaans in these situations.
Keywords: linguistic landscape, linguistic soundscape, public language use, language and power
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Public language use in Namibia
    • 2.1Previous linguistic studies
    • 2.2Language policy and census data
  • 3.Linguistic landscaping
  • 4.Language use in Windhoek
    • 4.1Data and methodology
    • 4.2The linguistic landscape of Windhoek
    • 4.3The linguistic soundscape of Windhoek
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/veaw.g65.05sch
References (33)
References
Backhaus, Peter. 2007. Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Banda, Felix & Jimaima, Hambaba. 2015. The semiotic ecology of linguistic landscapes in rural Zambia. Journal of Sociolinguistics 19(5): 643–670. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ben-Rafael, Eliezer. 2009. A sociological approach to the study of linguistic landscapes. In Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery, Elana Shohamy & Durk Gorter (eds), 40–54. New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Birnie, Inge. 2018. Gaelic language use in public domains. In Gaelic in Contemporary Scotland: The Revitalisation of an Endangered Language, Marsaili MacLeod & Cassie Smith-Christmas (eds), 128–140. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan. 2013. Ethnography, Superdiversity and Linguistic Landscapes: Chronicles of Complexity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brock-Utne, Birgit & Holmarsdottir, Halla B. 2001. The choice of English as medium of instruction and its effects on the African languages in Namibia. International Review of Education 47(3–4): 293–322. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buschfeld, Sarah & Kautzsch, Alexander. 2014. English in Namibia: A first approach. English World-Wide 35(2): 121–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buschfeld, Sarah & Schröder, Anne. 2020. English and German in Namibia. In English in the German-Speaking World, Raymond Hickey (ed.), 334–360. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Cenoz, Jasone & Gorter, Durk. 2006. Linguistic landscape and minority languages. International Journal of Multilingualism 3(1): 67–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Constitution of Namibia. <[URL]> (29 May 2018).
Dąbrowska, Marta. 2017. Global English in its local contexts: Manifestations of the social English language stratification in Namibia. Part 2: Analysis of selected written texts. Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis 134: 67–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duggal, N. K., Chamberlain, R., Diallo, A. & John, E. J. 1981. Toward a Language Policy for Namibia: English as the Official Language: Perspectives and Strategies. Lusaka: United Nations Institute for Namibia.Google Scholar
Frydman, Jenna. 2011. A critical analysis of Namibia’s English-only language policy. In Selected Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Eyamba G. Bokamba, Ryan K. Shosted & Bezza Tesfaw Ayalew (eds), 178–189. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Harris, Priscilla G. 2011. Language in Schools in Namibia: The Missing Link in Educational Achievement? Windhoek: Solitaire Press.Google Scholar
Hazel, Spencer. 2015. Identities at odds: Embedded and implicit language policing in the internationalized workplace. Language and Intercultural Communication 15(1): 141–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jansen, Jonathan D. 1995. Understanding social transition through the lens of curriculum policy: Namibia/South Africa. Curriculum Planning 27: 245–261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kallen, Jeffrey L. & Ní Dhonnacha, Esther. 2010. Language and inter-language in urban Irish and Japanese linguistic landscapes. In Linguistic Landscape in the City, Elana Shohamy, Eliezer Ben-Rafael & Monica Barni (eds), 19–36. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kautzsch, Alexander & Schröder, Anne. 2016. English in multilingual and multiethnic Namibia: Some evidence on language attitudes and on the pronunciation of vowels. In Anglistentag 2015 Paderborn: Proceedings, Christoph Ehland, Ilka Mindt & Merle Tönnies (eds), 277–288. Trier: WVT.Google Scholar
Kleinz, Norbert. 1984. Deutsche Sprache im Kontakt in Südwestafrika: Der heutige Gebrauch der Sprachen Deutsch, Afrikaans und Englisch in Namibia. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Landry, Rodrigue & Bourhis, Richard Y. 1997. Linguistic landscape and ethnolinguistic vitality: An empirical study. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 16(1): 23–49. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Language Policy for Schools. 1993. Ministry of Education and Culture. <[URL]> (29 May 2018).
. 2003. The language policy for schools in Namibia. Discussion document. <[URL]> (29 May 2018).
Mondada, Lorenza. 2018. Greetings as a device to find out and establish the language of service encounters in multilingual settings. Journal of Pragmatics 126: 10–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pappenhagen, Ruth, Scarvaglieri, Claudio & Redder, Angelika. 2016. Expanding the linguistic landscape scenery? Action theory and ‘linguistic soundscaping’. In Negotiating and Contesting Identities in Linguistic Landscapes, Robert Blackwood, Elizabeth Lanza & Hirut Woldemariam (eds), 147–162. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Population and Housing Census. 2011. <[URL]> (28 May 2018).
Pütz, Martin. 1995. Attitudes and language: An empirical investigation into the status and use of English in Namibia. In Discrimination through Language in Africa? Perspectives on the Namibian Experience, Martin Pütz (ed.), 245–284. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schröder, Anne & Zähres, Frederic. 2020. English in Namibia: Multilingualism and ethnic variation in the extra and intra-territorial forces model. In Modelling World Englishes: A Joint Approach Towards Postcolonial and Non-Postcolonial Varieties, Sarah Buschfeld & Alexander Kautzsch (eds.), 38–62. Edinburgh: EUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schulte, Marion. 2016. Language contact and language politics in Ireland: Linguistic landscapes in south Dublin. 10plus 1: 118–130.Google Scholar
Stell, Gerald. 2014. Uses and functions of English in Namibia’s multiethnic settings. World Englishes 33(2): 223–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. Trends in linguistic diversity in post-independence Windhoek: A qualitative appraisal. Language Matters 47(3): 326–348. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stell, Gerald & Beyer, Herman L. 2012. Interethnic relations and language variation: Language use and identity negotiation among Namibian Coloureds and Whites in interactional settings. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics 41: 115–139. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stell, Gerald & Dragojevic, Marko. 2016. Multilingual accommodation in Namibia: An examination of six ethnolinguistic groups’ language use in intra- and intergroup interactions. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 36(2): 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stroud, Christopher. 2007. Multilingualism in ex-colonial countries. In Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication, Peter Auer & Li Wei (eds), 509–538. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Volvach, Natalia
2023. Shouting absences: Disentangling the ghosts of Ukraine in occupied Crimea. Language in Society ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2023. The Sociophonetics of Dublin English [Studies in Language Variation, 30], DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.