South African English (SAE) is a variety of English spoken in South Africa. It has its own varieties, which have been identified as belonging to three broad ethnolects, each of which is related to the geographical regions of speakers, and their socioeconomic backgrounds. SAE is characterized by 24 consonants, 14 vowels, and seven diphthongs. It is written from left to right using the Roman script and follows the conventions of British English spelling. There are few studies detailing speech acquisition of SAE. The trajectory of speech acquisition in SAE appears to be similar to that of British English. Some variations have been noted in the speech of monolingual and multilingual children, and these were found to be typical for the varieties of SAE spoken. For instance, word-final devoicing of plosives is typical for children acquiring SAE as a second language but is a phonological process typical in younger monolingual children. Furthermore, preliminary data estimated the prevalence of children with speech sound disorders (SSDs) in children acquiring SAE as 9.09%.

Key words:
South African English, sociolects, ethnolects, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Mahura, O., Pascoe, M., & Ribbens-Klein, Y. (2025). English (South African) speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

• Mahura, O., Pascoe, M., & Ribbens-Klein, Y. (forthcoming). English (South African): Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals