Language Attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Sociolinguistic Overview, by Efurosibina Adegbija. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1994. Pp. viii + 130 pp.

Abstract

A Language Attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Sociolinguistic Overview by Efurosibina Adegbija. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters Ltd., 1994. Pp. viii + 130 pp. Reviewed by Leslie C. Moore University of California, Los Angeles Language planning has been a primary focus of African sociolinguistics since the fOTmation of independent states three and a half decades ago (Bokamba, 1990). Still, the 'language problem' remains unresolved from one end of the continent to the other. In Ethiopia, where Amharic was imposed as the sole ofQcial language and all other languages were sujp-essed for over Africa, apartheid promoted years, educatOTS are purging Amharic fr«n the curriculum (Honig, 1994). In South ethnic conflict (Harlech- JcHies, 1990), a legacy confronting the by segregating language groups new governments as they struggle to create post-apartheid language policy that will foster national unity (Luckett, 1992). In Language Attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Sociolinguistic Overview, Adegbija outlines the historical and current sociopolitical factors that make language planning in African nations so complex and contentious. Central to his discussion is the argument for further and more in-depth research on language attitudes. In the first two chapters, the author provides a basic sociolinguistic profile of Sub-Saharan Africa. He draws most of his examples of language policy and attitudes from Nigeria, his country of origin. From the outset, Adegbija is forthright about his ideological perspective: he supports multilingual policy based on an asset and resource perspective to diversity (p. 1 13). The third ch^ter acWresses research of the past decade on language attitudes in Africa. This includes a description of some previous studies and their methodological deficiencies, as well as a call iot more rigorous research in fields relevant to language planning. By applying Lambert and Gardno-'s model of motivation to Africans' acquisition of European Languages of Wider Communication, Adegbija raises an intriguing question: how readily can the instrumental drive for upward socioeconomic mobility be separated from the integrative desire to affiliate oneself with the European or the African elite? He thus emjrfiasizes the need for culturally sensitive application of western theories to individuals' language learning in the African context. The fourth ch^ter is a plea for the jH-otection of small minority languages against regi(Hial Languages of Wider Communication. A more concrete connection between access to resources and competence in prestige languages would have strengthened his argument that language promotion is Issues in Applied Linguistics ISSN 1050-4273 Vol. 6 No. 2 153-154 © Regents of the University of California