Revitalising and preserving endangered indigenous languages in South Africa through writing and publishing

Abstract

Libraries and librarians play a central role in organising and communicating knowledge. They are an important part of the knowledge production and use chain. The development and sustenance of a knowledge-based economy hinges on their ability to facilitate the accessibility, retrievability and usability of the knowledge and information that permeates the information society. Writers and publishers as part and parcel of the knowledge chain are central to the production and distribution of ideas. Language is fundamental to their ability to communicate and get their literal messages, expressions and ideas through. Their preferred language of writing and publishing may mean a difference between the growth and demise of a language of a society and its culture and civilisation. Many indigenous languages around the globe are struggling to survive because of various reasons including neglect by writers and publishers. Publishers and writers as major role players in the knowledge production and reproduction chain may assist in promoting and preserving indigenous languages in general and in South Africa in particular. This may ensure that South Africa's knowledge economy develops without sidelining or discriminating against any culture or language. There are challenges and opportunities that writers and publishers are likely to face in attempting to revitalise and empower indigenous languages in South Africa, but they are not insurmountable. Using a theoretical approach, the purpose of this article is to highlight the role that writers and publishers may play in revitalising and preserving endangered indigenous languages in South Africa. Recommendations are made on how the role players may deal with the challenges that have culminated in the neglect of the endangered indigenous languages. 1 Introduction and background Libraries and librarians play a pivotal role in organising and communicating knowledge. With writers and publishers, they are part and parcel of the knowledge production and use continuum. The development and sustenance of a knowledge-based economy hinges on the ability of librarians and libraries to facilitate the accessibility, retrievability and usability of the knowledge and information that typifies the information society on the one hand, and the publication of literary works by authors and publishers on the other. Knowledge becomes explicit through language. The majority of reading materials in South Africa are published predominantly in English and Afrikaans at the expense of indigenous languages (Fredericks & Mvunelo 2003). Publishing and writing in indigenous languages in South Africa has been neglected (Motsaathebe 2011). Writing about the situation in Namibia, Reiner (2011:319) concluded that: " Unfortunately, many countries on the continent have neglected the most important tools in the trade of African language publishing – African languages – in favour of official languages… " There is significant reluctance on the part of both the authors and publishers to produce indigenous titles because some languages are perceived to have a small market, and many rural people are thought to have limited disposable income. Publishing is a business concern and publishers must remain viable, but it is our argument that first and foremost publishing should serve a cultural, intellectual and social purpose rather than a commercial purpose per se. Publishers in South Africa should publish works in minority indigenous languages in order to end the siege of the 11 official languages on the minority indigenous languages that are tottering on the brink of extinction. Without publishers authors write in vain because publishers stand at the centre of the process of empowering authors and indeed the society. In other words, without a publisher there is no book. There is a communication and production chain at play starting with a mainly oral society " writing " its own primarily transient " biography " and history, or what Mutloatse (1992:211) terms " volumes of unwritten indigenous prose " , followed by the authors extracting various aspects of interest from the " biography " and repackaging them and giving them form and structure and then passing them on to publishers who configure and brand them for consumption by the readers in society.