The impact of African languages on Africa’s Socio-economic development: Perceptions and possibilities
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2018-05-11
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Africa is highly multilingual, with over 2,011 different languages being spoken in the continent. Nevertheless, the dominant languages in post-independent Africa have remained the ex-colonial codes: English, French and Portuguese. These languages continue to be used as the official media in education, mass communication, commerce, judiciary, and political administration in Africa. In almost all the African states, the ex-colonial languages are the privileged official codes. Ironically, in much of Africa, some 90% of the people have no knowledge of the official language of their country, even though these ex-colonial languages are presumed to be the vehicle of communication between the governments and the citizens. This in itself is a barrier to effective communication between the ruling class and the citizens; hence, a problem in terms of involving the latter in national development. The majority of African population is thus denied an opportunity to participate creatively and significantly in development activities, ultimately denying African nations a chance to grow at a rate that can enable them to provide for the needs of their citizens. Clearly, English, French and Portuguese in Africa are perceived to be of higher status, greater usefulness and to be the languages that are instrumental to economic and social development. The indigenous languages have very limited use in official domains. Thus with time, the population develops certain attitudes towards the different languages within their linguistic repertoire. The proposed chapter uses data collected through a questionnaire administered to 120 speakers of six minority African languages spoken in Kenya to assess perceptions and possibilities of the impact of African languages on the continent’s socioeconomic development. The analysis of data shows that the speakers see the continued use of excolonial languages as the main stumbling block for the growth and use of indigenous languages in former colonies. Some respondents reported that the use of these ex-colonial languages inhibits the interaction of indigenous languages with science, impedes generation of appropriate technology and creates an educated elite committed to pursuing the life styles of the former colonizers. The children develop a sense of shame in the indigenous language; thus, contributing to negative attitudes towards their own mother tongue. Some argue that the use of ex-colonial languages in Africa to transmit scientific and technological knowledge to a population that is not competent in the languages while at the same time expecting the same population to use these languages in creative and innovative ways for Africa’s development is indeed a daunting task.They all see the revitalization and use of Africa languages in all domains as a vehicle through which African socio-economic development will be enhanced.
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African languages, revitalization, minority languages, indigenous languages, ex-colonial language
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