While we are discussing language and syntax, let me share my thoughts on the short, choppy sentences we are having so much trouble reading. I think that they are written in English, but it is English as a foreign language. They seem to be the words and constructions of a non-native speaker. This is literally true when Abdu talks, but in general we are made to feel uncomfortable with our own language. It is both familiar and foreign to us all at the same time, it is not quite what we expect to read or hear.
Language is part of our identity. We are what we speak. And what we can understand.
Let's put this in context. Gordimer, a South African, is writing in English, but English is one of eleven official languages used in the country: Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, and Xitsonga.
At The Languages of South Africa web site we learn that:
"English is generally understood across the country, being the language of business, politics and the media, and the country's lingua franca. But it only ranks joint fifth out of 11 as a home language...As a home language, English is spoken by 10% of the population - one in three of which are not white. South Africa's Asian people, most of whom are Indian in origin, are largely English-speaking, although many also retain their languages of origin. There is also a significant group of Chinese South Africans, also largely English-speaking but who also retain their languages of origin as well."
On the very first page of the book we hear Julie being cursed in a language she does not fully understand. A friend offers a polite translation a few pages later. And when she first walks into the garage she encounters a "white man speaking Afrikaans to the black man at the machine."
Think of the complexity of this multlingual and multicultural environment. Think of the difficulties in communication and understanding. As a for instance, I leave you with the following set of instructions: Inserting Tshivenda diacritic symbols into MS Word.
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