South African Language Policy

Normally, I post linguistics papers on my language-only blog, LINGUISTIquips. This particular paper, however, is more related to sociolinguistic aspects of language (a largely sociopolitical issue), and so I decided it was worthy of the pages of Crispy Quips.

I recently completed this paper for a class in Multilingualism at UC Davis. It’s got a few illustrations, so I’m providing it in PDF form instead of formatting it for the web.

The work is concerned with the language policy of South Africa, and how English seems to retain political dominance even though native languages (such as Zulu and Xhosa) are more commonly spoken. Do give it a read; it’s worth your time.

Click here for PDF: South African Language Policy

Soon.

Top Gear Series 11… yes, it’s really happening.

Good ol’ Andy Wilman (Top Gear’s producer) sent me (and millions of others) an email this morning, and it’s primarily about the Top Gear gang getting together to brainstorm for new ideas.

At 10.30, half an hour after the appointed start time, James rang and said he was lost, going round in circles in Watford. Jeremy meanwhile, in honour of the brainstorm, had brought along a laser pointer for the power point presentation, with which he managed to blind the waitress bringing in the tea and coffee facilities.

Humor aside, there are several juicy details concerning the upcoming season.

“Gear” becoming official?

We’ve all known for some time now that NBC was (supposedly) preparing an American Top Gear spinoff called “Gear,” which was to star Adam Carolla as the host. Amazingly, it seems that this story wasn’t complete bollocks, as NBC now has mention of a Top Gear-esque “new show” on their website.

In fact, it’s so Top Gear-esque, it’s called… Top Gear? Huh?

Sounds good to me. Don’t worry about making some crappy American spinoff that can’t do auto reviews because of corporate sponsorship. Jeremy Clarkson is oodles better than ol’ Adam, anyway.

To Africa.

It’s not often that one finds religious quotation on Crispy Quips, but the other day I found a beautifully written piece by Bishop Catherine Roskam concerning western relations with Africa and the situation that much outside influence has created. A short quotation from this wonderful piece follows.

I am sorry, Africa.
Of all the places we have exploited - and we have exploited many - it is only from you that we have also stolen the people.

I would strongly encourage everyone to browse to “Blane,” a blog written by a Rhodesian which has a copy of Roskam’s transcript… amazingly appropriate considering that Rhodesia itself no longer exists due to the strife of Africa.

Britain smells the Germans.

It seems that a pungent odor has permeated southern England… yes, almost all of southern England.

The so-called “Euro-whiff” has been described as reminding one of “manure or sulphur”, and the predominant theory points to one origin: the Germans.

Straight from the source.

Addicted to international relations? World news junkie?

Many of you may be surprised to know that the United Nations Daily Briefing is available everyday, online, at no cost.

Surely, it’s the finest way to keep abreast of world affairs, without relying on AP!

And for all of you who are really particular about getting authentic reports… it’s also available in French (une langue officielle de l’Organisation des Nations unies)!

Nokia novelettes?

If you’ve ever texted before, you know that it can be a trying experience, especially at first. Even with predictive text, SMS messaging is really only practical for exactly what its name implies: Short Messaging Service.

It seems some folks in Japan are out to disprove that assumption, however, as several novels written on cell phones have surfaced in the market.

RIP MLK

Musharraf blames Bhutto for her own assassination.

Here at Crispy Quips, we pride ourselves for our left-wing, progressive (read: intelligent) thinking, and with so much corruption running rampant even in the government of the United States, the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto raised an obvious question: if Bhutto was assassinated so near an election, who would have the motive to carry out such an act?

The answer accepted by Bush et al. is that al Qaeda killed Bhutto. However, as this is the answer accepted by Bush et al. (!), it is probably completely incorrect and has been knowingly spewed to the masses anyway by a corrupt political machine.

Call me a conspiracy theorist if you must, but there is one person in Pakistan who screams motive: Pervez Musharraf. After all, Musharraf was the one who plunged Pakistan into a state of marshall law for his own personal gain. The upcoming election would have taken him out of office, and Bhutto was the likely successor.