International acclaim for Alexander

Honoured: Professor Neville Alexander has won the Linguapax Award.

Acclaimed linguist and anti-apartheid struggle veteran Professor Neville Alexander has won the prestigious Linguapax Award.

The annual award was presented to Alexander, director of the UCT-based Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA), on International Mother Language Day, 21 February, at the Intercultural Week organised by the Ramon Llull University in Spain.

The Spanish-based Linguapax Institute awards the prize to linguists, scholars and members of civil society to acknowledge their outstanding work in the field of linguistic diversity and/or multilingual education.

Alexander has done pioneering work in the field of language policy and planning in South Africa since the early 1980s, via organisations such as the National Language Project, PRAESA and the LANGTAG process.

His most recent work has focused on the tension between multilingualism and the hegemony of English in the public sphere.

Alexander was also honoured with the Steve Biko International Peace Award by the Umtapo Centre last year.