Exploring language practices on Namibian social media platforms

Main Article Content

Julia Indongo - Haiduwa

Abstract

The goal of this qualitative study is to investigate Namibian users’ language practices in social discourses on Namibian social media platforms. A hybrid linguistic environment is created when users using multiple languages online.  However, there appear to be no studies that look at the language practices of users on Namibian social platforms online. The sample consisted of Facebook comments from users in responses to articles on the Fishrot case published in 2019. The first five posts published in each of the selected Namibian media were chosen, and comments in which users directly responded to each other's were studied using internet ethnography, which tracks discourses across multiple online user comments. Discourse analysis was used as a method to analyse the data. Other sources on languages and multilingualism in Namibia were also used to inform the data. The data was organised under emerging themes that were informed by the central ideas in metrolingualism theory. According to the study, the language of socialization in Namibia remains primarily English; multilingualism is reflected in social online discussion but is limited to a few majority indigenous languages, Oshiwambo and Afrikaans.

Article Details

How to Cite
Indongo - Haiduwa, J. (2023). Exploring language practices on Namibian social media platforms. Namibian Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Communication Studies, 16(2), 68–76. https://doi.org/10.59677/njlc.v16i2.30
Section
Articles
Author Biography

Julia Indongo - Haiduwa, Namibia University of Science and Technology

Julia Indongo-Haiduwa is a Namibian-born female sociolinguistic researcher. My research interest is in linguistic empirical studies that aim to uplift the linguistic situation in the country. I am a teacher by profession, and part of my research is in language education, curriculum development, and technological integration in language teaching. I believe Namibia will only be able to achieve its vision of 2030 if all societal challenges are addressed, and thus my contribution is to find solutions to the language-related problems in Namibian society through empirical research.

References

Antia, B. E., & Dyers, C. (2016). Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University. Language Policy, 15(4), 525-545.

Banda, F., & Bellononjengele, B. O. (2010). Style, repertoire, and identities in Zambian multilingual discourses. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 5(2), 107-119.

Ethnologue (2022). Namibian languages. Available from: http://www.ethnologue.com /country/NA

Haacke, W. (1994). Language policy and planning in independent Namibia. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 14, 240-253. Doi: 10.1017/S0267190500002919.

Harlech-Jones, B. (2001). Some prevalent assumptions in language policy, with contextualisation from Namibia. In R. Trewby & S. Fitchat (eds.). Language and Development in Southern Africa: Making the Right Choices (pp. 25-37). Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan Publishers (Pty) Ltd.

Iipinge, K., & Banda, F. (2020). Language ideology, policy and classroom practices in Oshiwambo speaking areas, Northern Namibia. Multilingual Margins, 7 (3), 14–32.

Indongo, J., N. (2020). Language and Mobility: A Study of Migrants’ Linguistic Repertoires and Discourses in Windhoek, Namibia. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Johannesburg.

Makoe, P. & Mckinney, C. (2014). Linguistic ideologies in multilingual South Africa suburban schools. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 35 (7), 658-673.

Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia 2011 Population and Housing Census Main Report. Available from: http://nsa.org.na/page/publications.

Namibian Constitution. (1990). Pretoria: VerLoren van themaat centre for public Law studies. University of South Africa.

National Planning Commission. (2003); 2001 Population and Housing Census: National. Available from: http://nsa.org.na/page/publication

NCBE (The National Curriculum for Basic Education). (2016). Okahandja: National Institute for Educational Development. Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture.

Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2014). Metrolingual multitasking and spatial repertoires:‘Pizza mo two minutes coming’. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 18(2), 161-184.

Pennycook, A., & Otsuji, E. (2015). Metrolingualism: Language in the city. Routledge.

Prah, K. K. (2010). Multilingualism in urban Africa: Bane or blessing. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 5(2), 169-182.

Simungala, G., Jimaima, H., & Chikuta, P. (2022). Indigenous Languages in an Online Space: Translanguaging for Visibilisation of Multilingualism and Multisemiotic Modes. Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Southern Africa, 53(2), 85-109.

Smackman, D. and Heinrich, P. (eds.). (2018). Urban Sociolinguistics: The City as a Linguistic Process and Experience. London: Routledge.

Smit, T. C. (2012). Is" English-centric bilingualism" suffocating Namibian national and indigenous languages?. NAWA Journal of Language & Communication, 6(2).

Stell, G. (2021). English in Namibia. The Dynamics of English in Namibia: Perspectives on an emerging variety, 21.

Stell, G., & Dragojevic, M. (2017). 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), 167-187. The Sociology of Language 11: 83–102.

Thurlow, C. (2018). Digital discourse: Locating language in new/social media. The SAGEhandbook of social media. New York: Sage, 135-145.

Tötemeyer, A.J. (2010). Multilingualism and the language policy for Namibian schools (PRAESA occasional papers, 37). Retrieved from http://www.praesa.org.za/files/2012/07/Paper37.pdf

Horner, K., & Weber, J. J. (2017). Introducing multilingualism: A social approach. RoutledgF

Yao, X. (2021). Metrolingualism in online linguistic landscapes. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1-17.

Zaidi, A. (2012) Language of ideology/ideology of language: Notes on theory and practice. New internationalist, 3 (1).