ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background to the prominence of English despite less than 10 per cent of the ±54 million South Africans claiming it as their mother tongue. It describes the levels of proficiency and various forms of English in South Africa. The chapter also describes the functions of English and the domains where it dominates. It argues that in reality there is a disjuncture between the perceived status of English and its actual grassroots usage with several other viable contenders for the position of lingua franca. The initial linguistic landscape of South Africa was primarily shaped by African migration and Anglo-Dutch colonisation throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. South Africans have developed a taste for it and its continued use will depend on the degree to which it maintains a reputation as a language that empowers.
