The study of languages was crucial to the development and maintenance of colonial power in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century South Africa. This important book examines a wide range of representations of the South African Bantu languages Xhosa and Zulu, in travel narratives, as well as grammars, dictionaries and reading books, revealing the ways in which colonial linguistics contributed to the making of the colonial order, but also the instabilities at the heart of this project to 'make sense' of South Africa. 248pp, UK. PALGRAVE.

Study of linguistic, religious and cultural politics in the South African port city of Durban from around 1950, the world of the Arabic Study Circle. This association was led by a group of largely middle class, Indian, Muslim Gujurati-speaking men who were passionate about breaking out of the narrow confines of their origins and connecting to a larger changing world of learning rooted in Arabic and an Islamic modernity. They were gentlemen who believed in the transformative powers of reading and conversation. They exemplify the broader process, common among educated but disadvantaged people in apartheid South Africa and across the decolonising world, of the search for meaning, community and authenticity. Index, bib, notes, 136pp, SOUTH AFRICA. HUMAN SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL.

A study of the vernacular speech of a mixed race community in Cape Town. Looks at code switching and the sociolinguistic distinctions between Afrikaans and English. BNS, 288pp, UK. OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 0198235542

A comprehensive and wide-ranging guide to language and society in South Africa. The book surveys the most important language groupings in the region in terms of pre-colonial and colonial history; contact between the different language varieties, leading to language loss, pidginization, creolization and new mixed varieties; language and public policy issues associated with the transition to a post-apartheid society and its eleven official languages. It also details the history of indigenous languages, the impact of European languages upon them, and of transformations to the European languages themselves. Notes, maps, index. xvii, 485pp. UK. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 0521791057

Nineteen essays which look at the issues of standardisation and harmonisation of languages in Southern Africa. Bib, tables, xv, 297pp, SOUTH AFRICA. CENT.ADVANCED STUDIES AFRN SOCIETY, 1919799672

This is a handy and hip introduction to township talk, otherwise known as Scamto, which is now spoken widely on the streets of South Africa. If you want to know what's going on or want to take part in the new South Africa, this book will help you. 56pp, SOUTH AFRICA. DOUBLE STOREY BOOKS.

A dictionary of the Tsotsitaal language, the dynamic, black urban lingua franca of Sophiatown, a township outside of Johannesburg. The 3000 entries provide a comprehensive guide to the language, looking at the etymological sources of most words and phrases. The introduction outlines the history of the language and its development within a multilingual context. An important resource for students of Southern African linguistics and the processes of pidginisation and creolisation. Refs, xxix, 130pp, South Africa. UNISA PRESS, 1868881873