ABSTRACT
Language is a tool for communication. It is the medium through which thoughts, values, attitudes, are transmitted within and between cultural groups. It is also an index of group and class categorization and identification, a tool for group mobilization, a medium for expressing and assessing knowledge and a tool for gaining access to class mobility. In South Africa the communicative function of language has been obscured by the tendency of those in power to use language as means to maintain relations of dominance of Whites over Blacks. In what follows, ‘Black’ is used as a collective term for all those who are not White South Africans. Where necessary, for instance when discussing the effects of Apartheid, reference will be made to ‘Coloureds’, ‘Indians’ and ‘Africans’.
