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Language Policy and Economics: The Language Question in Africa pp 1–34Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Language Question in Africa

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Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities ((PSMLC))

Abstract

This introductory chapter surveys theoretical approaches to language planning to provide the background against which the language question in Africa may be examined. It reviews, in particular, language planning models in Africa as previously discussed in, for instance, Bamgbose (Language and Exclusion: The Consequences of Language Policies in Africa. LIT Verlag Munster, 2000), Brock-Utne (International Journal of Educational Development in Africa (IJEDA) 30:636–645, 2010), Brock-Utne and Qorro (Multilingualism and Language in Education—Sociolinguistic and Pedagogical Perspectives from Commonwealth Countries. Cambridge University Press, 2015), Djité (The Sociolinguistics of Development in Africa. Multilingual Matters, 2008), Fardon and Furniss (African Languages, Development and the State. Routledge, 1994), Koffi (Paradigm Shift in Language Planning and Policy—Game Theoretic Solutions. De Gruyter Mouton, 2012), Laitin (Transition 54:131–141, 1991), Organization of African Unity (OAU) (Language Plan of Action for Africa. Council of Ministers, 1986), Mazrui (Language Policies in Education—Critical Issues. Routledge, 2013), Prah (Language and Education in Africa: A Comparative and Transdisciplinary Discussion. Symposium Books, 2009), Qorro (Language and Education in Africa: A Comparative and Transdisciplinary Discussion. Symposium Books, 2009), Weinstein (Language Policy and Political Development. Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1990), and Wolfson and Manes (Language of Inequality. Mouton Publishers, 1985). It also shows the relation of the proposed Prestige Planning model to theoretical developments in language economics (Coulmas, Language and the Economy. Blackwell, 1992; Dustmann, Journal of Population Economics 7:133–156, 1994, Grin et al., The Economics of the Multilingual Workplace. Routledge, 2010) and in game theory (Harsanyi, Rational Behavior and Bargaining Equilibrium in Games and Social Situations. Cambridge University Press, 1977; Myerson, Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict. Harvard University Press, 1991). These two theoretical frameworks—language economics and game theory—are particularly relevant to this book, as they offer insights into why language planning for the indigenous languages of Africa has failed: language planning in this part of the world has never linked education through the medium of the indigenous languages with economic outcomes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Historically, Africa was indeed invaded by various foreign forces including the Arabs, Germans, Italians, and Gujaratis. However, these forces (except the Arabs in North Africa) did not have as much impact as Belgium, Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain did in the current debate over Africa’s language question. Therefore, I have not listed Germany and Italy, for instance, among former colonial masters whose languages continue to impact the language question in Africa. The point that Robert Kaplan (p.c.) makes, however, is worth noting: “Many scholars seem to perceive the African language question as a European matter; in fact, Indo-European languages are not the only invaders or the only villains.”

  2. 2.

    But consider the case of Afrikaans, in which both acquisition and particularly Prestige Planning have been implemented successfully, albeit with documented consequences (Alexander, 1992; Pansalb, 2002; Webb 1995). I will return to the case of Afrikaans in Chap. 8, where I present a survey of successful case studies of vernacular language education in polities around the world.

  3. 3.

    The 3 ± 1 language outcome is similar to what Canagarajah and Ashraf (2013: 260) refer to, in the case of India and Pakistan, as a tripartite language formula.

  4. 4.

    The concept of mother tongue is a “disputational designation.” However, I am using it in this book due to its widespread use in the literature on the language question in Africa. A detailed discussion of this and related concepts (e.g., mother tongue education, mother tongue-based multilingual education, minority and minoritized languages, majority and majoritized languages) is presented in Chap. 5.

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  1. Department of English, Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu

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Kamwangamalu, N.M. (2016). The Language Question in Africa. In: Language Policy and Economics: The Language Question in Africa. Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31623-3_1

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