The use of South African languages by youth on social media
The focus of this article is to discuss new media choices and use of selected South African languages on social media by youth residing in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The use of language on social media facilitates communication between communicators and use of one’s cultural language can ensur...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Johannesburg
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Communicare |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1545 |
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| _version_ | 1832593767129939968 |
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| author | Carol Lesame Edgar Malatji |
| author_facet | Carol Lesame Edgar Malatji |
| author_sort | Carol Lesame |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The focus of this article is to discuss new media choices and use of selected South African
languages on social media by youth residing in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The use of
language on social media facilitates communication between communicators and use of one’s
cultural language can ensure that this communication is better. This paper summarises a study of
youth in Limpopo Province. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe languages used
by youth on social media and identify reasons for the communication engaged in. The research
methodology used to collect and analyse data was a combination of qualitative and quantitative
approaches. For the quantitative part of the research, a survey and online observation were used
for data collection and statistical methods and semiotic analysis used to analyse data. For the
qualitative aspects of the study, personal interviews and focus groups were employed for data
collection and thematic analysis used to analyse data. The findings indicated that the majority
of the youth do not prefer to use their African mother tongue languages to communicate on
Twitter and Facebook but chat in the English language on those forums. However, the young
people prefer to use their African languages when communicating to others on the WhatsApp
social media platform. Reasons for these choices are stated. The discussion contributes to the
academic debate on the role of language in decolonising higher education, and to debates about
promoting the use of African languages.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4342fb56a73f4155b1bcfaf0aae81cae |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0259-0069 2957-7950 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Johannesburg |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communicare |
| spelling | doaj-art-4342fb56a73f4155b1bcfaf0aae81cae2025-01-20T08:56:27ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0138110.36615/jcsa.v38i1.1545The use of South African languages by youth on social mediaCarol Lesame0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0096-1827Edgar Malatji1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0777-3925University of LimpopoUniversity of Limpopo The focus of this article is to discuss new media choices and use of selected South African languages on social media by youth residing in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The use of language on social media facilitates communication between communicators and use of one’s cultural language can ensure that this communication is better. This paper summarises a study of youth in Limpopo Province. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe languages used by youth on social media and identify reasons for the communication engaged in. The research methodology used to collect and analyse data was a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. For the quantitative part of the research, a survey and online observation were used for data collection and statistical methods and semiotic analysis used to analyse data. For the qualitative aspects of the study, personal interviews and focus groups were employed for data collection and thematic analysis used to analyse data. The findings indicated that the majority of the youth do not prefer to use their African mother tongue languages to communicate on Twitter and Facebook but chat in the English language on those forums. However, the young people prefer to use their African languages when communicating to others on the WhatsApp social media platform. Reasons for these choices are stated. The discussion contributes to the academic debate on the role of language in decolonising higher education, and to debates about promoting the use of African languages. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1545South African languagessocial mediaLimpopo Provinceyouthdecolonising |
| spellingShingle | Carol Lesame Edgar Malatji The use of South African languages by youth on social media Communicare South African languages social media Limpopo Province youth decolonising |
| title | The use of South African languages by youth on social media |
| title_full | The use of South African languages by youth on social media |
| title_fullStr | The use of South African languages by youth on social media |
| title_full_unstemmed | The use of South African languages by youth on social media |
| title_short | The use of South African languages by youth on social media |
| title_sort | use of south african languages by youth on social media |
| topic | South African languages social media Limpopo Province youth decolonising |
| url | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1545 |
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