Complexities of Languages and Multilingualism

This paper came about as a direct result of LOITASA`s (Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa) conference held in May 2009 at the Faculty of Education, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. I am grateful for the invitation to take part extended by Professor Desai while I was doing his research work in Kerala, India. I also extend special thanks to both Patric Solomons and Dr. Shaun Viljoen in Cape Town for the unstinting support provided over the years. In Kerala, Nandan Kumar and G. Devika in Trivandrum, as well as Gopinath Arunima from Jawarhalal Nehru University in Delhi and Udayan Kumar from Delhi University, have provided support and friendship. I am also grateful to Rochelle Pinto, formerly with the Centre for the Study of Society and Culture in Bangalore, as well as to her former Centre. I am also grateful to Claudia Wanderley, with University of Campinas, for many conversations that have proved important in writing this chapter. My research in India and South Africa in 2009 was financed by Fundação de Amparo À Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo.