Black South African English, or BSAE, is spoken by individuals whose first language is an
indigenous African tongue. BSAE is considered a "new" English because it has emerged through the education system among second-language speakers in places where English is not the majority language. The local native language of Black South African "new" English would lean more on the syllable side and would lean less on stress timing; due to this, the speech of the language would be affected by the length of vowel deduction in "new" English.
Phonology BSAE emerged from the influence of local native languages on the British English variety often taught in South African schools. After dispersing BSAE has been seen as three distinct subvarieties: the basilect, mesolect, and acrolect. Not much has yet been studied on the subvarieties of BSAE, and the distinctions between them are not yet fully defined. However, there are some notable pronunciation differences in the
mesolect and
acrolect. The vowels in BSAE can be realised as five key phonemes: /i/, pronounced in words like "FLEECE" or KIT, /u/ in "FOOT" or "GOOSE", /ɛ/ in "TRAP", "DRESS", or "NURSE", /ɔ/ in LOT or FORCE, and /a/ as in CAR. /i/ may occasionally be pronounced [ɪ] in the acrolectal variety, though there is no consistent change among speakers. One difference in the acrolect in comparison to the mesolect is that it often uses [ʌ] in place of [a]. Due to English being an official language of South Africa, dialects that have contrary methods in language and pronunciation to English become isolated from the speech in that area. For instance, "it lacks the tense/lax contrast and central vowels in the mesolectal variety."
History Historically, BSAE has been considered a "non-standard" variety of English, perceived as inappropriate for formal contexts, and influenced by indigenous African languages. BSAE, or Black South African English, has its roots in European colonialism of the African continent in the 19th century. As a result of English being pushed by the colonisers of the region, the British, English became widespread in the South African region after it became necessary for indigenous African communities to use for success under the British. Much like in other colonies of the British, English became a necessity for advancement and economic security in the colony for indigenous Africans. According to the Central Statistical Services, as of 1994, about seven million black people spoke English in South Africa. BSAE originated in the South African school system when the 1953
Bantu Education Act mandated the use of native African languages in the classroom. When this law was established, most of the native English-speaking teachers were removed from schools. This limited the exposure that black students received to standard varieties of English. As a result, the English spoken in black schools developed distinctive patterns of pronunciation and syntax, leading to the formation of BSAE. Some of these characteristic features can be linked to the mother tongues of the early BSAE speakers. The policy of mother tongue promotion in schools ultimately failed, and in 1979, the
Department of Bantu Education allowed schools to choose their own language of instruction. English was largely the language of choice because it was viewed as a key tool of social and economic advancement.
Geography South Africa occupies the southern area of Africa, its coastline stretching more than from the desert border within
Namibia on the
Atlantic (western) coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then northeast to the border with
Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The low-lying
coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous
escarpment (
Great Escarpment) that separates the coast from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of
KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although much of the country is classified as
semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as
topography. The total land area is . It has the 23rd largest
Exclusive Economic Zone of . The South African Central Plateau only contains two major rivers: The
Limpopo and The
Orange (with its tributary, the
Vaal). These rivers mainly flow across the central places in the east and west off the coast until they reach the
Atlantic Ocean through the
Namibian border. == Indian South African English ==