The impact of social media on the development and promotion of Indigenous African Languages: a case study of the Rural University

Abstract

This study explores the impact of social media on the development and promotion of indigenous African languages at a rural university. The study adopts a qualitative approach in order to attain holistic results. Data collected from social media platforms, namely; Facebook and WhatsApp from the students‟ chat groups were analysed within the scope of some linguistic devices such as grammar rules and orthography. The study captures the students‟ conversations as they appear in Facebook and WhatsApp for the purpose of analysis (discourse analysis). The findings of the study could benefit the South African society, especially the university communities. Through this study, the importance of using standardised indigenous African languages on social media platforms shall be realised. The study could create awareness to the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) and its related structures about the importance of using standard indigenous African languages on social media.