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A number ofscholars (Fasold 1984; Aitchison 1991; Denison 1977; Dorian 1980; Gal 1979) have examined the issue oflanguage maintenance and shift, trying to discover why certain languages (or language variants) sometimes replace each other among some Speakers, particularly in certain domains of linguistic behaviour under some conditions or intergroup contact. This article provides an overview ofthe mainfactors that have been identifiedas playing an important role in influencing language shift and then reports on the relative importance of these factors in a survey that examined the experiences andattitudes of Xhosa-speaking parents who have recently chosen to send their children to English-medium schools in Grahamstown (Eastern Cape, South Africa). The research was carried out during 1998, and the project was a multifaceted quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study involving responses to a postal questionnaire sent to all non-English parents at English-medium schools in the town, and follow-up Interviews with 26 parents. The aim ofthe project äs a whole was to observe whether there is any evidence of a process of language shift taking place from Xhosa to English, both on an individual level and on a broader societal basis, to assess the linguistic and psychosocial effects on individuals who move to English-medium schools, and to monitor changing perceptions, language loyalty, and attitudes over this period. This paper attempts to assess the relative importance of a ränge of variables influencing the rate of possible language shift.
