Post-colonial Language Policies Research Articles

INTERTEXTUALITY AND INTERDISCURSIVITY IN POST-COLONIAL LANGUAGE POLICIES IN KENYA

Addressing the intricate challenges within the realm of language planning and policy involves establishing meaningful connections between language policy texts, discourse, and actual language practices. Moreover, navigating connections across diverse domains, contexts, levels, layers, and scales presents a formidable challenge. Therefore, this study endeavours to unravel intertextual connections as a means of comprehending language-policy texts in the Kenyan context. Focusing on post-colonial language policies in Kenya, this paper explores intertextuality and interdiscursivity. Employing Fairclough's (1992) Critical Discourse approach, this analysis explores how language policy documents undergo decontextualization from prior discourses (intertextuality) and examine their correlation with different generic chains (interdiscursivity). The study employs a qualitative research design, specifically historical and documentary analysis. The study's findings reveal that post-colonial language policies exhibit links to both pre-colonial and current policy documents, showcasing vertical and horizontal intertextuality. Additionally, these policies are linked to a myriad of past and present discourses, such as those related to culture and diversity (interdiscursivity). Notably, the analysis of intertextuality and interdiscursive discourse reveals revisions to language policy and tracks the shifts in discourses surrounding this policy over time. In conclusion, this study emphasises that the meaningful interpretation of intertextuality and interdiscursivity renders language policy texts significant. It is anticipated that this research will shed light on understanding language policy through the lens of intertextuality and interdiscursivity, contributing to a more comprehensive perspective on language policy dynamics.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0089/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Postcolonial Language Policy and Planning and the Limits of the Notion of the Modern State

In this review, we discuss the limits of the concept of the modern nation-state to explore language issues in postcolonial contexts, as in Africa. We argue in favor of a revision of the history of the field of language policy and planning (LPP) and sociolinguistics, paying attention to how the colonial issue has been erased and downplayed. We first explore the colonial history of LPP and how this field contributed to frame African multilingualisms as problems to be solved. Second, we briefly discuss how the contemporary understanding of citizenship in Africa is entangled with the colonial history of a particular version of the state in Africa; we focus on Sudan as an example. We problematize the construct of “developing nation” inscribed in the methodological nationalism that characterizes the early LPP framework, which reverberates in contemporary public policies. By doing so, we advocate for a perspective of language that is historically and locally embedded, following a politics that recognizes the importance of Southern epistemologies to language studies.

Indonesian TV anchors’ final -k sound shift: The nature and the cause

This study aimed, firstly, to observe the phonological change of the Standard Indonesian (SI), particularly the final-k syllabic pronunciation used in the journalistic videos aired between 1980 – 2019. Secondly, the study investigated the nature of the sound change by taking into account the theories of Lexical Diffusion. Lastly, the plausibly cause of the sound change was figured out, considering the sociolinguistic factors; orthographic re-regulation, post-colonial language policy, borrowing, and contacts. Methodologically, it is a diachronic study using a set of television news videos as the main source of data. A battery of findings from other related studies was employed to support the discussion on the nature and the reason for the sound change. The results show that the phonological shift of coda /ʔ/ ~ /k/ happened to most final -k syllabic words across the periods observed, but with varying degrees of rapidity, where the high-frequency words tend to be more sustained. The results also indicated that phonological shift of coda /ʔ/ ~ /k/ that occurred in the Indonesian TV-broadcast language was transferred from the Jakartan dialect, although some evidence of the 1972’s alphabetic writing system reformation also plays a considerable role in the TV News readers’ final -k sound shift.

España ante el mundo: Spain’s colonial language policies in North Africa

During its presence in Northern Morocco and the Western Sahara, Spain lauded its colonial policies, and relations with the native populations in general, as being more successful than those of the other colonial power present in the region, France. While it is true that France’s educational policies were narrowly aimed at forming acquiescent elites of the Maghrebi societies, Spain’s policies in turn were severely conditioned by a hyper-awareness of existing ethno-religious divisions, a product of the prominence of religion in the historical relations between Iberia and the Maghreb. In this essay, I discuss the differences in Spain’s educational policies between Northern Morocco and the Western Sahara with a special focus on the implications for the postcolonial language policies and the current linguistic landscape in both areas. The main argument is that ethno-religious divisions and political propaganda, particularly during the Francoist dictatorship, were the two most important factors that shaped Spain’s linguistic incursion in Western North Africa and its legacy today.

Competition between four “world” languages in Algeria

Abstract As a post-colonial society with an almost unique colonial history on the African continent and in the Arabophone zone, Algeria can serve as a focus on this millennium’s rivalry between a few “world” languages – namely Arabic, Chinese, English, and French. This article highlights the importance of the influence of colonialism in shaping post-colonial language policy in a multilingual society. It also looks at the role of elites and the effects of their top-down language implementation on planned and unplanned developments as related to the position and status of “world” languages within a polity. And it reasserts the dominant position of English as a global language despite the maintenance of the former colonial language, French. From a theoretical and applied perspective, this article raises questions about what constitutes a “world” language, and it shows the importance of some indicators in measuring the international standing of languages in the globalized world.

The Great Delusion: Post-Colonial Language Policy for Mission and Development in Africa Reviewed

This paper demonstrates the importance of the use of indigenous languages in formal contexts for the future of Africa’s peoples. Inter-cultural communication using one language wrongly assumes that the unfamiliar can be expressed using familiar terms. This author argues that long-term immersion by a Westerner amongst a non-Western people is a singular means of acquiring insights about them. Long-term participant observation forms the basis of the research for this article. When communicated globally, anti- racism strategies are found to be problematic in their apparent denial of realities of non-Western cultures. The failure of many African communities to recognize and deal with the peculiarities of their own cultural contexts has potentially tragic consequences. Use of European languages (especially in Africa) is contributing to enormous dependence on the West and/or magic, and to gross under-development. Vulnerable intercultural exposure using non-Western languages and resources with concentrated efforts at understanding people’s theologies is advocated as the way forward.

Linguistic capital: continuity and change in educational language polices for South Asians in Hong Kong primary schools

Language-in-education policies within post-colonization, nationalism, and globalization are currently key concerns of the sociology of language as they impact language teaching and learning in multilingual contexts. Despite these concerns, studies of educational language policies for ethnic minorities, in this case, those of South Asians in Hong Kong, are rare. This paper looks at colonial and post-colonial language policies in education with an eye to shedding light on continuity and change of linguistic capital for this group. Given the complexity, contextuality, complicity, complementarity, and continuity of the approach, the research analyzes the influences of educational language policies concerning South Asians, especially at primary school level, in pre- and post-colonial times. It argues that while English linguistic capital predominates during both pre- and post-colonial periods, this predominant status has begun to be shared by Cantonese, which has emerged as the ‘high’ language in post-handover Hong Kong and forms the main barrier for South Asians to learn Chinese as a second language to enable upward mobility in Hong Kong society.

Vernacularization, globalization, and language economics in non-English-speaking countries in Africa

Research into language policy in Africa has addressed the impact of colonial language policies on efforts to formulate and implement post-colonial language policies aimed at vernacularization, defined as the use of indigenous African languages in higher domains such as education. What seems to have received very little attention to date, however, is the effect of globalization, through the medium of English, on vernacularization not only in Anglophone but also in non-English-speaking countries in the African continent. Focusing on the latter territories, this paper explores this issue from the perspective of recent theoretical developments in the field of language economics, an area of study whose focus is on the theoretical and empirical ways in which linguistic and economic variables influence one another. It argues that the spread of English to these historically non-English-speaking territories in Africa represents the second challenge to largely symbolic language policies aimed at promoting vernacularization, the first one being other western languages (e.g. French, Portuguese, Spanish). Drawing on language economics, the paper argues that the prospects for the indigenous languages will continue to be bleak, especially in the era of globalization, unless these languages are viewed as a commodity rather than as a token for cultural preservation, and are associated with some of the advantages and material gains that have for decades been the preserve of western languages. Resistance against, and successful case studies of, vernacularization informed by language economics in various parts of the world are presented in support of the proposed argument for the promotion of Africa’s indigenous languages in education.

The politics of writing tribal identities in the Sudan: the case of the colonial Nuba Policy

Linguistics is implicated in the colonial project of the invention of ‘self-contained’ ‘racial’ and ‘tribal units’ in the Sudan. This paper has two objectives. First, to historicise the notions of ‘language’ in the postcolonial discourse of language planning in the Sudan by reviewing one of the significant colonial policies: the colonial Nuba Policy. The analysis shows that the colonial Nuba Policy intended to build up artificial racial tribal Nuba identities in the Nuba Mountains. Language and literacy were instrumental in the accomplishment of this inventionist project. The second objective is to argue that both colonial and postcolonial state-oriented language policy discourses in the Sudan have strategically mobilised the traditional sociolinguistic essentialising framing of language and literacy as a proxy for resisting or imposing nationalist ideologies. Within a social context as riddled with tensions and contradictions as the Sudan, the selection of a graphic representation of language is a mode of political action. Hence, literacy is inherently an ideological practice. The analysis points to the conclusion that there is intertextuality between colonial and postcolonial language policies where discursive resources are manipulated as sites of social struggle over the distribution of material resources in the Sudan. This renders ‘socially situated’ views of language problematic as an epistemic foundation for non-essentialising linguistics.

Pitfalls in Kenya's postcolonial language policy: Ambivalence in choice and development

Kenya's trifocal language policy is discussed with particular reference to the challenges andopportunities that African states have to grapple with in establishing a sound and workablelanguage policy that will meet national and international needs. It is argued that fundamentalquestions have yet to be given serious attention. The focus of the discussion is on languageuse in education, but reference is also made to parliament and the media. A solution to thecomplex problems in Kenya cannot be found in the adoption of a national or officiallanguage. It is essential that particular roles and functions continue to be assigned todifferent languages, with appropriate provision made to equip citizens to use the variousindigenous languages effectively for these purposes. The role or status enjoyed by anylanguage should be complementary to those of the other languages and should also bedetermined by the prevailing socio-political needs and realities. This should make it possibleto ensure that all Kenya's languages will enjoy desirable freedom to develop and expand.In hierdie artikel word 'n aantal probleme wat eie is aan die onderrig van Arabies in Moslem privaatskole in Suid-Afrika en Botswana bespreek. Daar word spesifiek aandag gegee aan onderrigaspekte wat instrumentee! is tot die leerders se onvermoe om 'n mate van kommunikatiewe bevoegdheid in Arabies te bereik en om die Koran met begrip te lees (ten spyte daarvan dat dU 'n belangrike doelstelling met die onderrig van Arabies is). Vit 'n ondersoek wat met behulp van vraelyste gedoen is, blyk dit dat die meerderheid Arabiese onderwysers nie vertroue het in hul eie taalvaardigheid en hul vermoe om vlot in Arabies te kommunikeer nie. Daar word ook aangedui dat onderrig hooftaaklik gebaseer is op die grammatika-vertaalmetode, die aanleer van nuwe woordeskat en die leer van grammatikareels. Dit blyk ook dat die meerderheid onderwysers van mening is dat leerders Arabies bestudeer vir religieuse doeleindes (om die Koran te kan lees) en daarom nie soseer ingestel is op die ontwikkeling van kommunikatiewe vaardighede nie, maar eerder op die nodige woordeskatuitbereiding en grammatika wat hulle in staat sal stel om die formele taalgebruik van die Koran te kan verstaan.

A postcolonial perspective on language and difference in social work: bilingual practitioners working in the linguistic borderlands

This paper employs a postcolonial perspective to explore the issue of language identity and difference in social work. It presents a case study of three bilingual practitioners who acquired English either as a result of colonial or postcolonial language policies in their respective countries of birth and who at the time of the study were residing in Australia. These informants demonstrate a variety of patterns of cross-border mobility currently being exercised by social workers in an era marked by transnational activities such as education and practice. The three accounts are mediated through a postcolonial lens in order to reveal some of the distinct linguistic dimensions of social work in terms of how and why personal language biography may become a salient issue in practice. The discussion that follows illustrates the potential of a postcolonial perspective for enhancing understandings of language in social work in terms of four themes: the relocation of difference from the margins to the centre; the historical dimensions of language identity; the spatial dimensions of linguistic relations; and the role of English in knowledge production.

Promoting the use and teaching of African languages in Zimbabwe

This paper is a discussion of the work that has been done by the Zimbabwe Government and This The African Languages Research Institute in trying to promote the use and teaching of African languages in the coubtry. It briefly discusses the colonial and post-colonial language policies that resulted in the marginalisation of African languages. The discussion also focuses on the challenges and constraints that have been encountered in trying to use an African language as a language of wider communication and medium of instruction. The paper finally gives some practical suggestions on how Zimbabwe and other African countries can promote indigenous languages.Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research Vol. 17 (1) March 2005: pp. 54-68

Zimbabwe Colonial and Post-Colonial Language Policy and Planning Practices

This monograph focuses on the development of colonial and post-colonial language policies and practices in Zimbabwe, attributing changes to evolving philosophies and politics in colonial and post-colonial Zimbabwe. In colonial Zimbabwe, we argue that the language policies had as one of their key objectives the development of a bilingual white colonial ruling class proficient in both English and at least one African language. Contrary to what some scholars might think, we will show that what was being imposed during the colonial era was not English on Africans but European variants of African languages on Europeans. The monograph also describes how, through linguistic description, Europeans appropriated African languages as a prelude to the imposition of European variants of African languages on Africans under the guise of the promotion of indigenous language. Despite the power and influence of the colonial regime, we demonstrate how Africans still retained a strong sense of agency during the colonial period which enabled them to select, albeit within restricted limits, the nature and type of education they received, the languages through which they were taught, and indeed even the materials which were used in teaching them languages, particularly English.

Language Policy in Sudan

The study and analysis in this paper is presented in three parts. Part one opens with a brief survey of the language policy followed by the colonial rule. Part two traces the post-colonial language policy and the question of Arabicization. Part three offers a critical conclusion.

Contested and Contesting Identities: Conceptualising Linguistic Minority Rights within the Global Cultural Economy

This paper juxtaposes postmodernist discourses on language, identity and cultural power with historical forms of language inequalities grounded in the nation-state. The discussion is presented in three sections. The first section focuses on the mixed legacies of language-state relations within the pluralist nation-state, colonial and postcolonial language policies. The second section examines the concept of linguistic minority rights beyond the nation-state. This incorporates discussion of transmigration, the breaking up of previous power blocs in Eastern Europe and the role of language in the articulation of emergent 'ethnic' nationalisms. The third section examines the concept of multilingualism within the interactive cultural landscape defined by 'informationalism'. Discussing the collective impact of these variables on the shaping of new cultural, economic and political inequalities, the paper highlights the tensions in which the concept of linguistic minority rights exists in the world today.

Multilingualism and Nation Building: Language and Education in Eritrea

This paper focuses on language choice in the newest nation in the Horn of Africa within a broader context of language policy in multilingual states. Pre-colonial and post-colonial language policies in Eritrea are surveyed in relation to evolving linguistic and political nationalism. Language contact and its social consequences are discussed in an attempt to shed light on language policies pursued during different periods in the colonial history of Eritrea. Using descriptive frameworks provided by contemporary sociolinguistics, post-independence language policy, with language and education at the centre, is looked at from the perspective of the functional allocation of nine Eritrean languages and the points at which they conflict and complement each other. Public responses and evaluations are analysed and implications for further research are advanced.