Language activists and linguists in pursuit of the siPhuthi cause

Abstract

The paper stresses the importance of collaboration by referring to experiences made by speakers and linguists in the siPhuthi documentation and revitalization project. With only a few thousand speakers remaining, siPhuthi is severely endangered; furthermore, the language and its speakers are neglected and marginalized in the national contexts of Lesotho and South Africa. The three authors of the paper, an L1 siPhuthi speaker and two linguists from abroad, have been collaborating on this project over the past six years. The involved language activists and linguists assume different responsibilities in addressing the key issues in this project, that is, the empowerment of the ebaPhuthi people, as well as the documentation and uplifting of the siPhuthi language. The four abstracts above appear in: (1) siPhuthi, the community language under discussion; (2) Sesotho, the dominant language in the national context of Lesotho; (3) isiXhosa, the most important contact language on the local level; and (4) English, the international language in which the article is written.