How Come Ikalanga has Maintained its Vitality Despite its Marginalization?

AbstractAccording to Batibo (2005:51), more than 81% of the African languages are minoritylanguages in that they are used only within their local confines. Apart from their relativelysmall number of speakers, they neither have official status nor national public functions in thecountries where they are spoken. However, one may recognize two types of minoritylanguages, namely the ones which are conspicuously vibrant in their community use and theones which are in danger of extinction, as their speakers are progressively shifting to otherlanguages.This article examines the case of Ikalanga, a Bantu language spoken in the northeastern part of Botswana (in southern Africa), which, although a marginalized minoritylanguage in view of its being confined to family and community use, has maintained itsvitality. The study investigates the factors which have favoured this state of language vitality.It discusses extensively the role of each of these factors. The main argument of the study isthat language vitality does not occur alone, but involves also other elements, such as cultural,autonymic and ethnonymic identities. The Lamy-Pool Identity Loss Model is invoked, so asto determine the extent to which Ikalanga has maintained all its identity features. The study isbased on findings from a set of data collected from north-eastern Botswana. The studyimportant, as demonstrates how a minority language can resist language marginalization,endangerment or shift, when certain factors are present.