The Pan South African Language Board (, abbreviated PanSALB) is an organisation in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
established to promote
multilingualism
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
, to develop and preserve th
12 official languages and to protect
language rights in South Africa. The Board was established in terms of Act 59 of 1995 by the
Parliament of South Africa
The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature. It is located in Cape Town; the country's legislative capital city, capital.
Under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameralism, bicameral Parliamen ...
.
In addition to the 12 official languages of South Africa, PanSALB also strives to create conditions for the use and development of all languages used by communities in the country including the
Khoe,
San, and
Nama.
PanSALB structures include: the Provincial Language Committees (PLCs), the National Language Bodies (NLBs), and the National Lexicography Units (NLUs
SWiP Collaboration
In 2023, a collaborative project began between PanSALB,
SADiLaR (the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources), and
Wikimedia ZA to advance the use of vernacular language on Wikipedia as well as the presence of indigenous South African languages in cyberspace. The project is abbreviated as SWiP: combining the names of SADiLAR, Wikipedia, and PanSALB. Participants are introduced to Wikipedia and attend authorship training on how to add content, citations, and photographs.
Controversy
In January 2016, South African
Minister of Arts and Culture,
Nathi Mthethwa dissolved the entire board of PanSALB, after a report that between 2014 and 2015, the board's administrative expenditure had increased from 8 million to 11 million
ZAR, while the expenditure on its mandate dropped to 17 million from 23 million ZAR, while its irregular expenditure was 28 million.
See also
*
Die Taalkommissie
*
Languages of South Africa
At least thirty-five languages are spoken in South Africa, twelve of which are official languages of South Africa: Southern Ndebele language, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Pedi, Sotho language, Sotho, South African Sign Language, Swazi language, ...
References
External links
Pan South African Language Board
{{Authority control
Languages of South Africa
1995 establishments in South Africa