Is Afrikaans a suitable model in planning the development of African Languages?

The repeated claim that Afrikaans provides a useful model for planning the development of theAfrican languages is examined critically in this article with a view to elucidating importantissues in South African language planning. The first part acknowledges the fascination of alanguage which has developed sofast for all domains of use, before examining thefactors whichdrove that development, identifying particularly its affinity to Dutch and its tempestuous politicaland social history as making it a deceptive model for African languages. The second partexplores some aspects of its history which do suggest valuable perspectives for other languagesat this stage of our history. The examples discussed are language medium in schooling, thedangers of loss of confidence in a language considered with the possibilities of effective statusinterventions, and the complex issues surrounding language standards. The third part brieflyexamines the history of Afrikaans's ambiguous relation to English. It notes the persistence of theEnglish 'enemy' metaphor along with a practical demand for English, considers the racialpolitics of the statutory equality debate at the time of Union, and analyses three distortionsoccasioned by an ambiguous attitude to English in a contemporary discussion of the role of Afrikaans. Finally, the notion of a model or example is itself questioned. The article proposesdeveloping a deeper understanding of actual needs and attitudes in an ongoing process oflanguage planning as the most likely way of doingjustice to all South Africa's languages.Die herhaalde aanspraak dat Afrikaans 'n bruikbare model bied waarvolgens die ontwikkelingvan Afrika-tale beplan kan word, word in hierdie artikel krities ondersoek met die oog daaropom belangrike vraagstukke in die Suid-Afrikaanse taalbeplanning toe te lig. Die eerste deel geeerkenning aan die bekoring van 'n taal wat op aile gebruiksterreine baie vinnig ontwikkel het,voordat die faktore wat aan daardie ontwikkeling stukrag verleen het, van nader bekyk en dieverwantskap met Nederlands in die besonder aangedui word, asook die stormagtige politieke ensosiale geskiedenis wat dit 'n misleidende model vir Afrika-tale maak. Die tweede deel verkensekere aspekte van die taal se geskiedenis waaruit op hierdie stadium van ons geskiedeniswaardevolle perspektiewe vir ander tale na vore kom. Die voorbeelde wat bespreek word, istaalmedium in skole, die gevare van 'n gebrek aan vertroue in 'n taal met inagneming van diemoontl