Language Affluence in Gender Dialectics: African Culture in Sustainable Development

Abstract

Virtually, all linguistic communities will aspire to undergo positive changes from one period of time to the other. This may be referred to as development which reflects on popular attitudes, social structures as well as national institutions. In fact, development entails cultural and linguistic change. Meanwhile, most African societies are traditionally oriented with adequate education to suit their purposes in all cultural aspects. Though on the issue of gender, African cultural societies in the majority apportion different rights to the two parties involved in gender. The female gender being accorded the lesser status in virtually all ramifications of developmental change, Language becomes paramount per excellence, when it serves as the tool through which the cultural beliefs and subsequently cultural change are disseminated in the society at large. In fact, language, culture and development are intricately woven. Language as a necessary means of communication and gender identification becomes of importance when it determines to a large extent the socio-cultural function of each of the individuals involved in the dialectics of gender.