Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 November 2008
Academic involvement in language policy and planning in South Africa must be seen within the context of the country's sociolinguistic complexity and the relationship between language and a number of serious problems in the country. South Africa's sociolinguistic complexity (see Appendix) is a function of a number of factors: 1) a multiplicity of languages and cultures; 2) the overlapping demographical and geographical distribution of the country's major languages; and 3) the politicization of these languages and cultures due to both the colonial past and the policy of apartheid, and the differentiated linguistic manifestation of their politicization.