Land expropriation without compensation is the South African word of the year for 2018.
The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) in association media research companies Focal Points and Newsclip yesterday (1 October) announced that it is the term or expression preferred to reflect the passing year in language.
Candidates for word of the year were reviewed by PanSALB which then debated their merits, choosing one that captures the philosophy, mood, or obsessions of that particular year.
All findings are based on research conducted by Focal Points and Newsclip on factual statistics found within South African media and serve as credible sources.
Using Focal Points and Newsclip, keywords were tracked for the period 1 January to 15 October 2018. This media data was analysed to determine the prominence of the keywords within the media and to identify the frequency that they were used in credible print, broadcast and online media.
Definitions
Occurrences – The number of times the keyword was used in the articles.
Clip Count – The number of articles that the keyword was mentioned in.
Findings
It was found that “land expropriation without compensation” was used over 25 000 times in all South African media (print, broadcast and online) beating words like Commission (of inquiry) at 18 690 and Thuma mina at 5 228.
The use of “land expropriation without compensation” has increased significantly in 2018. The concept of land expropriation without compensation has been in existence, but PanSALB has seen a spike in frequency this year in the context of Parliament’s effort to change the constitution to allow land to be expropriated without compensation.