ABSTRACT
Despite the fact that many people outside South Africa have hailed our new language policy of eleven official languages as progressive and farreaching, many South Africans are concerned about the lack of promotion and development of African languages. These people often cite negative attitudes on the part of the speakers of African languages as the major stumbling block in promoting African languages (Alexander, 1999). The negative attitudes are perceived as being immutable and often overwhelm language activists with a sense of hopelessness.
