Vic Webb

Vic Webb is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Pretoria and Director of CentRePoL (Centre for Research in the Politics of Language) . He  has taught linguistics at a number of South African universities, including the University of Natal, the Rand Afrikaans University and the University of Port Elizabeth. He obtained a D Litt et Phil at the University of South Africa (1976) and currently teaches the politics of language and sociolinguistics at the University of Pretoria. 

His fields of specialisation are: politics of language, language and development, multilingualism, language planning, language policy and language in education.

Vic Webb has worked at several universities outside of South Africa, including the University of Pennsylvania (USA - 1980/81), the Universität - Gesamthochschule - Duisburg (Germany - 1992) and the Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven (Belgium - 1995). In 1999 he was a visiting scholar at the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg, Germany.

He was president of the Linguistics Society of Southern Africa from 1993 to 1998, and the international chairperson of the Languages in Contact and Conflict in Africa programme (LiCCA) from 1993 to 1996, which was directed at descriptions of the language politics of African countries. In 1995/6 he was a member of the main committee of LANGTAG, a government appointed body instructed to describe the framework within which a comprehensive national language plan can be developed.

He initiated and completed a number of research projects, such as The language behaviour of pupils in ten Gauteng schools in Mathematics and Science classes (with Dr Helma Pasch - 1998), The language political character of the Greater Pretoria Region (1997), Multilingualism as a developmental resource(1997-2000), Languages in Contact and Conflict in Africa (1991-1997), The linguistics bases of first-language teaching (1989), The position of Afrikaans among Std 9 pupils in Pretoria (1988), Computer applications in linguistics (1985-1987), Vernacular Afrikaans in Pretoria (1983-1986) and Sociolinguistics patterns in the Afrikaans of the Port Elizabeth Region (1979-1982).

He has edited a number of books, has written about 85 scientific articles and presented several papers at linguistics conferences in the USA, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, and, of course, in southern Africa.

Recent publications include:

Webb, V N. 2002. Language in South Africa. The contribution of language to the transformation, reconstruction and development of South Africa. Amsterdam/New York: John Benjamins. 367pp.

Webb, V N. 2002. English as a second language in South Africa's tertiary institutions: A case study at the University of Pretoria. World Englishes, Vol 21 (1), pp. 49-61.

Webb, V N. 2002 Language policy in post-apartheid South Africa. In: James W. Tollefson & Amy B.M. Tsui (Eds.). Medium of Instruction Policies: Which Agenda? Whose Agenda. Lawrence Elbaum Associates.

Webb, V N (Main Ed.) & Kembo-Sure (Co-ed.). 2000. African Voices. An introduction to the languages and linguistics of Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press. 280pp.

Resource: CentRePol

 

Opgedateer/Updated: 2006-09-01
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LitNet Akademies-resensie-essay: Ons gaan 'n taal maak deur JC Steyn

Vic Webb Academic research 2014-10-22

Steyn gee ’n deeglike oorsig van die taalpolitieke geskiedenis van Afrikaans vanaf die stigting van die Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners (GRA) en die verskyning van die eerste Afrikaanse koerant, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, in 1875 tot vandag.

Sensus 2011: Taallandskap en taalpolitieke karakter

Vic Webb, Naomi Meyer 2012-12-04 "Wat die land se taalpolitieke karakter betref, is dit dus duidelik dat Suid-Afrika gekenmerk word deur linguistiese ongelykhede, met Engels die taal van mag: opvoedkundig, ekonomies, polities en sosiaal."

Voorwaardes vir die behoud van Afrikaans as wetenskapstaal: ’n taalbeplanningsperspektief 2006

Vic Webb Akademies en skole 2007-06-29

"US se bestaande taalbeleid is redelik, maar die taalplan was nie toereikend nie, wat een van die vernaamste redes is waarom hierdie beraad plaasvind. ’n Taalbeleid sonder ’n spesifieke en voldoende plan van implementering het min waarde."

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