Resumen de Ethnicity and language crossing in post-apartheid South Africa

Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu

• This study examines some of the linguistic mechanisms that multilingual speakers in the new South Africa use to construct, maintain, manage, or negotiate their social identities, with a focus on language crossing and its derivatives, refusal and passing (Rampton 1992, 1994). It attempts to determine the social meanings of these phenomena against the backdrop of the political changes that have taken place in the country. For instance, to what extent have these changes permeated down to the level of everyday linguistic interactions? To what extent do the social meanings with which English, Afrikaans, and the ocial African languages have become associated impact on the speakers' patterns of language choice? To what extent does ``the other'' or ``the referee'' (Bell 1991) impact on these patterns in general, and on language crossing in particular?