Interrogating the politicisation of indigenous South African languages: An obstruction to equitable advancement and cultural preservation

The politicisation of indigenous South African languages remains an obstruction to balanced linguistic advancement and the preservation of cultural heritage. Despite constitutional obligations to multilingualism, language policy remains captive to linguistic imperialism, which cements hegemonic languages while reducing indigenous ones to token status. Accordingly, this conceptual discourse interrogates the extent to which political manipulation, globalisation and neoliberalism influence language policy practices. To do this, the article applies language politics and economics, along with sociolinguistics, as theoretical concepts. Findings suggest two political concerns. Firstly, the commodification of language under global neoliberal paradigms escalates linguistic hierarchies, which render indigenous languages economically and politically fragile. Secondly, sociolinguistic failures expose the fracture between policy rhetoric and practice, as structural neglect blocks the full integration of indigenous languages across education, law, governance, diplomacy and the economy. Jointly, these disconcerting findings underscore how contemporary language ideologies drive historical disparities and cultural distortion, despite their veneer of inclusivity. This article concludes by proposing a radically reimagined language policy that weakens symbolic recognition and forcefully weaves indigenous languages into the nation’s developmental trajectory.