Language policy, linguistic hegemony and exclusion in the Zimbabwean print and broadcasting media
This article examines linguistic hegemony and linguistic exclusion in the Zimbabwean print and broadcasting media. The discussion is based on the fact that the media carry language, operate through language and contribute to language promotion and development. Therefore, this article argues that there is need for a sound and working language policy for the print and broadcasting media in Zimbabwe. The language used in information dissemination, public debates and communication can include or exclude some speech communities in the country. However, the language choices in the media in Zimbabwe demonstrate multilayered linguistic hegemonies where English is generally the dominant language, while Shona and Ndebele are hegemonic to the other languages in Zimbabwe. This situation is attributed to the fact that the broadcasting media in Zimbabwe are part of the colonial heritage; that there is a lack of a clear and consistent language policy of the media in Zimbabwe, which is reflective of the absence of a comprehensible national language policy; that the domination of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation leaves no room for meaningful and authentic competing community radio and television stations; that the media in Zimbabwe are business and political organisations; and that the media in Zimbabwe are appendages of the global media system which favour the use of English.
Multilingual broadcasting in post-2000 Zimbabwe: Design, implementation and language parity
Abstract Zimbabwe’s Broadcasting Services Amendment Act (BSAA; 2007) unveils a commitment towards multilingual broadcasting for public broadcasting. This study cross-examines the design of the multilingual broadcasting policy in the Act, and its subsequent implementation at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), with particular attention to the treatment of indigenous languages. Empirical data for this study is drawn from purposively selected broadcasting personnel, academics and radio/television audiences. The study is grounded in the concepts of linguistic hegemony, political economy of communication and media economics. The study shows that the implementation of the multilingual broadcasting policy apparent in the BSAA (2007) is restricted by the sociolinguistic, political, economic and global factors which determine language choices and practices in broadcast media. This study is a significant contribution to the meagre scholarship on the nexus between language and media policy, particularly language policy of broadcast media in Zimbabwe, and Africa in general.
From linguistic liberalism to legal regulation: The Greek language in Cyprus
One of the main difficulties in describing state language policies and planning has to do with the fact that very often one has to decide whether changes observed in state attitude vis-a-vis specific languages indicate the adoption of a new policy or reflect activation processes which tend to unveil previously covert or de facto policies. The interpretation of apparent changes in policy often becomes more difficult because of the existence of divergent, even conflicting, linguistic practices within the same polity. The introduction of legislation aiming to protect the Greek language in Cyprus in the mid 80s can be interpreted as an activation of the Cypriot state de facto policy in favor of the Greek language, a policy that marks the history of the Greek Cypriot community even before the creation of the Cypriot state. The shift from a laissez faire attitude that prevailed in the years after Independence (1960) toward legal intervention in favor of the Greek language in the mid 1980s cannot be understood without reference to a set of interrelated factors that distinguish this period from previous periods of the history of the Cypriot state.