南非憲法語言政策變遷與發展

The Evolution of South Africa Language Policy and its Reality: Constitutional Perspectives

1994 年民主新南非成立之後，面對過去數十年來，因為種族隔離政策所造成的非白人文化受到壓制的遺續，亦思考如何進行回復有色人種的文化尊嚴，此明顯行動表現於南非憲法的語言條款。南非憲法第6 條明訂該國有11 種官方語言，僅次於印度是全世界官方語言第二多的國家。本論文以憲法途徑，採用歷史回顧與文獻分析法，研究分析後發現1910 年的南非聯邦至1994 年民主新南非成立前的雙語政策實際上差異不大，而目前南非憲法在語言政策上迥異於前幾部憲法，它不僅摒棄了實行80 多年的雙語主義，更揭櫫多元主義大旗的語言政策，而南非政府也想有所作為，但實際上的發展，卻未能盡如期待，只能說僅僅造就了後種族隔離時代語言的多樣性。與許多國家或地區一樣，南非的語言發展仍舊擺脫不了「工具價值」與「經濟價值」的制約，這些制約在教育文化、經濟、社會各個層面上展現出來，在此現實環境下，英語仍然是最強勢的語言，然此趨勢勢必持續下去，這對憲法高舉的語言多元主義雖是一種打擊，但是基於法下平等的理念，該憲法明文揭櫫語言平等的精神，仍應受到肯定。

With the founding of New South Africa in May 1994, the new democratic government began to address legacy of the Apartheid era. One of the most important matters is to restore human dignity for Black people, which has been reflected in the language policy of The Constitution of 1996. According to Article 6, South African has 11 official languages: Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu. In this regard it is the second only to India in number. This essay used meta-analysis method under constitutional approach, in order to understand the language development of it in 20 century in South Africa. The results show that due to the new positive economic, social and cultural human rights of the people of South Africa, English is still the most popular and strongest language under Language policies of pluralism in the Constitution. However the effort to preserve language equity and linguistic diversity in the Constitution is highly appreciated.