Critical perspectives on language planning and policy in Africa: Accounting for the notion of multilingualism

Felix Banda

doi:10.5842/38-0-50

Abstract

This paper draws on the notion of multilingualism as social practice (Heller 2007) to critiquepostcolonial language planning and policies in Africa. Drawing on illustrations fromEthnologue's(2009) languages of Africa, studies on language planning and policy in Africa, and recentdevelopments in harmonisation of cross-border language research (Prah 1998; Banda 2008), the paperargues that there are distortions in the conceptualisation of multilingualism and what it entails inAfrica's socio-cultural contexts. In turn, the paper faults monolingual biases in the notions and modelsused to describe and promote multilingualism in Africa, which mirror descriptions of the languagesituation in Western socio-cultural contexts. The paper argues for cross-linguistic and cross-borderstatus and corpus planning to take advantage of multilingualism as a linguistic resource for socioeconomicdevelopment in Africa. The paper concludes by highlighting the prospects for linguisticrepertoire-based multilingual models for language planning and policy in Africa.Keywords : multilingualism, language policy, linguistic repertoire, urbanization, postcolonial

Highlights

The aim of the paper is to critique the monolingual characterisation that has informed language planning and policy in Africa. This entails an exploration of the utility of certain language planning and policy pronouncements, as well as models arising out of these
For instance, promotion of multilingualism in South Africa is erroneously seen as a case of promoting 11 monolingual streams of distinctive languages in their homogenous speech communities, and bilingualism is paradoxically said to arise through education using a singular language
2.1 African languages for tradition and culture Despite the fact that, after independence, most African countries recognised several languages as official languages, classroom practice and official government functions remain the domain of colonial languages

Summary

Introduction

The paper contends that one of the main drawbacks of current policy is that it is still based on Western and colonial notions of multilingualism, which basically involves multiple monolingualisms On this view, for instance, promotion of multilingualism in South Africa is erroneously seen as a case of promoting 11 monolingual streams of distinctive languages in their homogenous speech communities, and bilingualism is paradoxically said to arise through education using a singular language (albeit the mother tongue). Both the mother tongue debate and linguistic imperialist arguments find focus in the perceived "sanctity" of monolingualism and monoculturalism. Current models focus on one language, while the other languages are seen as optional "additional" languages

Multilingualism and the colonial legacy and ideology in Africa

Concluding remarks