As clearly highlighted in the methodology section of this study, documentary analysis is one of the data collection techniques that are used to gather relevant data for the present research. Policy documents that speak to the language policy of the judiciary in Zimbabwe are supposed to be analysed from a historical perspective in order to reveal the trend in language policy pronouncements that have affected the justice delivery system in the country in general and the civil courts in particular. In addition, constitutional provisions that make reference to the language policy of Zimbabwe constitute the other set of documents that are put under scrutiny. The constitutional clauses to be examined should include both the pre-independence and the
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post-independence constitutional dispensations. This is done in order to understand the historical circumstances that might have given birth to certain constitutional provisions which have put certain constraints on people‟s language choices and uses in courtroom communication in general and the civil courts in particular.
Furthermore, the analysis of policy documents using CDA is meant to assist in the evaluation regarding the process of the implementation of language policies in Zimbabwe in general and the civil courts in particular with a focus on the selected minority languages whose use is under examination in this research. This makes it possible for the researcher to be able to interrogate the sociolinguistic status of the selected minority languages in Zimbabwean civil courts as well as highlighting the extent to which linguistic rights for minorities are upheld and respected in Zimbabwe.
According to Yeatman (1990) “… policy making is seen as an arena of struggle over meaning, or as „the politics of discourse.” Other researchers (Ball, 1993; Gale, 2003; Taylor, Rizvi, Lingard and Henry, 1997) weigh in saying the policy making process is a site of discursive struggle between competing but unequal interests. This means that policy making at different levels of society is a process which is characterised by undercurrents whose origins are the different social interests as represented by a variety of groups of people in a particular environment. The powerful groups in society normally attempt to try to safeguard their interests through policy making procedures at the expense of the less powerful groups hence the need to use CDA to reveal and critically analyze the power struggles surrounding the policy making processes in society.
Fulcher (1989:7) argues that policy is seen as a “struggle between contenders of competing objectives, where language – or more specifically, discourse - is used tactically.” Different groups of people according to this argument have different interests which should be catered for by policy. As such, the policy making process becomes a daunting task for policy makers should they make an effort to accommodate the interests of different groups of people whose activities are affected by the policies. Normally those people who have power are influential to the extent that the outcomes of the policy making processes would largely depend on their wishes. This implies that the outcome of policy making processes has its foundation on power dynamics between groups of people in society. For this reason CDA becomes an appropriate tool of
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analysis for the present study because of its major aims which border on revealing and critically analysing power and social inequality as demonstrated by language use in society. It is in this regard that policies that determine the status of Kalanga, Shangani and Tonga in the civil courts of Zimbabwe are examined in order to interrogate the issue of linguistic rights for these language groups.
According to Taylor (2004:1), “also associated with the increasing importance of language in social life, there have been „more conscious attempts to shape it and control it to meet institutional or organisational objectives‟, which Fairclough (2001a: 231) refers to as „the increased technologization of discourse.” It is in this regard that institutional language like courtroom discourse is an area where governments through judiciary institutions make deliberate decisions and actions in order to determine the choice of languages available to the people whenever they interact during courtroom procedures.
Language use in the courts and other institutions is, therefore, determined through the process of „spin doctoring‟ (Edwards and Nicoll, 2001:106) which gives birth to language policies. CDA plays a crucial role in carrying out the process of uncovering and analysing the language policies at both the level of the national constitutions as well as the judiciary in Zimbabwe. This is done in order to analyse the source of the current status of minority languages use in formal domains of life in general and the courts in particular.
Fairclough‟s (1989, 1992, 1993) thrust on language as social practice lays a strong foundation for critical policy analysis. The focus of Fairclough (1993:135) is specifically on examining “… the relationship between „discursive practices, events and texts‟ on the one hand, and „wider social and cultural structures, relationships and processes‟ on the other –in order to explore the linkages between discourse, ideology and power.” These relationships need to be examined in order to adequately analyse policy documents within the context of broader policy processes.
According to Taylor (1997:25) “… discourse theories have enhanced the scope of critical policy research. The most obvious influence is the increasing focus on policy documents as texts, but discourse theories can also be drawn on to explore policy-making processes within the broad discursive field within which policies are developed and implemented.” This implies that discourse theories are key analytical tools that can be used to examine and get an in-depth
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meaning of policy documents through textual analysis. In addition, discourse theories are used to analyse policy documents from a historical standpoint with a view to unravel the undercurrents that may have given birth to certain policy positions including the implementation processes involved. From this perspective, CDA thus becomes a relevant tool of linguistic analysis for examining the language policy documents which have an impact on language choices in courtroom discourse in Zimbabwe in general and in the civil courts in particular.
The policy documents are analysed as texts bearing in mind the contexts in which they were produced. It is from this perspective that Gale (1999:405) argues that “policy documents are discursively produced „within particular contexts whose parameters and particulars have been temporarily (and strategically) settled by discourse(s) in dominance.” Thus the policy process is about discursive and textual practices (Jones, Lee and Poynton 1998). This implies that a thorough understanding of the language policies of Zimbabwe vis- a-vis the status of the minority languages under investigation in this research can only be a reality when the historical underpinnings of the policies are explored. The process of developing a policy does not occur in a vacuum but it is closely linked with identifiable historical circumstances. This means that for one to have an in depth understanding of a policy there is a need to analyse it in accordance with the history behind it.
In support of the need to analyse policy within its context, Armstrong, Belmont and Verillon 2000:7) say “policies do not exist in a vacuum; they reflect underlying ideologies and assumptions in society….” From this perspective, it needs to be clearly understood that stripping context from the discussion of any policy document renders the policy meaningless. Policy from a CDA standpoint does ideological work and a critical analysis of policy reveals underlying beliefs which may have contributed to the birth of particular policies.
For the purposes of the present research, language policies as proclaimed by the national constitution from both the pre-independence and post-independence Zimbabwe are analysed using CDA. The reason for doing this is to explore issues of power and dominance and how these have contributed to social inequalities in language use in formal domains of life in general and the civil courts in particular. In addition, CDA is used as a tool of linguistic analysis to interrogate power relations in the production of policy documents governing language choice and use in the courts in both pre-independence and post-independence Zimbabwe.
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Carrying out an analysis of policy documents and the national constitutions from the pre- independence and post-independence Zimbabwe is a critical step in interrogating the historical and contemporary sociolinguistic status of the minority languages under study. It helps the researcher to understand the link between the policy making processes in the two historical periods. In other words, the investigator will be able to have a critical appreciation of the influence of the policy making processes of the pre-independence Zimbabwe on the present day current policy developments.