Every society has a number of choices to make in terms of which language to be used and when.

Southern Masbate Roosevelt College, Inc.

When it comes to multilingual societies, decisions also need to be made concerning how many languages the
Katipunan, Placer, Masbate society will support, how many languages members of the society are expected to learn and so on.
In this module, we will take a look at the layers of language use in bilingual and multilingual
----------00000---------- societies. We will also take into consideration the language policy choices that governments must make.
Finally, we will explore how individuals in a multilingual society use language.
Happy Learning at home!
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
After completion of the course students are expected to be able to:

Dr. Victor V. Lepiten Victor Elliot S. Lepiten, III

1. demonstrate a working awareness of the methodological processes around bilingualism and
FOUNDER PRESIDENT
multilingualism
2. engage with bilingualism and multilingualism within various educational contexts
LANGUAGE PROGRAMS AND POLICIES IN MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY 3. demonstrate an understanding of the policies on bilingualism and multilingualism and their relationships
to the language classroom
MIDTERM MODULE 4. demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural and educational issues specific to bilingual and
multilingual children and adults and their relationship to the larger society
5. review the literature and research on bilingualism and multilingualism and apply this to their academic
and professional context
6. demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between language acquisition and bilingualism and
multilingualism
7. engage in critical thinking and demonstrate skills in practicing reflective teaching

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:
 All activities enclosed should be carefully read and performed accordingly.
 In cases of printed and written activities, all tasks should be printed in a short bond paper following
the given format:
 Name
 Year Level, Subject, Time/Day
 Address
 Contact Info
 Printed activities should be in font size 11 and Font style “Candara.”
 Use cursive writing for every written task.
 Leave a great storage on your phones for video projects from time to time since your instructor
cannot see your live performances. In every video project, do not forget to introduce yourself. No
Name your file to your Last name and first name initial+ Name of the activity (Ex: ALBURO, G.--
NAME:__________________________________ CREDO by E. Christian Buckner)
CONTACT INFO.:__________________________ GERALYN P. ALBURO  Deadline is deadline. Late submissions will no longer be catered.
 Failure to follow the instructions would mean deductions on your submitted tasks.
ADDRESS:_______________________________
INSTRUCTOR  No part nor page of this module should be lost. Compilation will be checked at the end of the
semester.
YR. & SECTION:___________________________ Stay safe at home God bless!

THE NOTION OF LANGUAGE POLICY AND PLANNING

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS COURSE

The notion of language policy and planning emerged in the early 19th century along with the
concept of a nation-state, “when one language one nation ideology” was prominent. Many
sociolinguists and researchers argue that it is the joint venture of nation-states and linguists that
created or labeled languages such as mother-tongue, national, official, native, non-native and many
more different categories so that they (nation-states) were able to control and manipulate linguistic
behavior of their citizens (MAY, 2001; SHOHAMY, 2006; SPOLSKY, 2009).
It was mainly after World War II that many new independent nation states emerged, with
increasingly bilingual and multilingual policies, but most of them tried to maintain status-quos by
adopting the former colonial languages, mostly in Asia and Africa. Most of these newly independent
states followed the same old path of their former colonies by adopting the colonizer’s educational
policies in general and language polices in particular (SHOHAMY, 2006; SPOLSKY, 2009; WRIGHT,
2004). Some of the examples from Asia could be Cambodia and Vietnam, where French remained as
an official language, and also India, where English was kept as an official language along with Hindi.
Similarly, in Africa, many new nation-states kept French as their official language, such as Botswana,
Burundi, Cameroon, Mali, Niger and Rwanda (BROCK-UTNE, 2008; KAMWANGAMALU, 2010).
Four major factors that determine language policy of a nation-state On the other hand, as Spolsky
(2009) argues:
1. The sociolinguistic ecology (language practices)
2. A set of beliefs (language ideology) relating language to national identity
3. The effects of globalization (the pull towards international languages, especially English), and
4. Pressure for attention to the rights of indigenous or migrant linguistic minorities.
These factors have shaped the current bilingual and multilingual education complex in many
countries, especially in Himalayan regions and influenced their language policies and practices.
Wright (2004) -- argues that the residual legacy of nationalism, the perception that bilingualism is a
disadvantage and is to be avoided, is fading as more people become bilingual to function at the
supra-and international levels. She further states that national minorities in non-English-speaking
countries are now likely to be bilingual or multilingual.
LANGUAGE DIVERSITY AND DEVELOPMENT
Activity 1:
A. What is your stand on language diversity? Is it beneficial or does it contribute to one country’s
development? Justify.
B. Define the following terms:
 Migration  Ethno-linguistic enclaves  Education
 Colonization  Federation  Religion
 Policy interventions  Employment  Linguistic imperialism
 Willingness  Science & Technology  Pidgin
Bilingualism:
- It must be seen clearly and separately from multilingualism.
- Two and more than two are totally different.
- There is no precisely, genuinely bilingual country.
- In its strict, traditional sense, bilingualism is the native like use of two languages
(Compounded / Balanced bilingualism; Bloomfield, 1930s).
- In its extended, laissez-fairesense, bilingualism is the use of two languages with a minimum
competence in the four language skills alternatively (McNamaraa, 1980s).
- Child bilingualism (Compounded/ Balanced bilingualism; Very competent), -Adolescent
bilingualism (Competent) and -Adult bilingualism (Less competent) That is, with age,
competence level vice-versa: as age increases, competence level decreases.
- African, Oceanian and Caribbean borders are very rich in Pidgins and Croeles.
 Language development = revitalization, standardization, retrieval, etc.
 Language of development = language choice for development
 Language in development = the issues of language in development pipelines.
INTRODUCTION
There are more than 6000 languages spoken by about 6 billion people in the world today. However,
those languages are not evenly divided among the world‟s population-over 90% of people globally speak
only about 300 majority languages and the remaining 5700 languages are termed as “ minority languages”.
These languages represent the ethno-linguistic diversity of our world and the rich cultural heritage
embedded within cultural communities and the development or modernization (Dakker &Young, 2007). But
here is the big question: Is it multilingualism or monolingualism that facilities development in a certain
country?
Language diversity has been a much discussed and studied problem by elites in the field. By
language diversity, we mean the number of different languages spoken in a given area as is the case in Asia
and Africa ranging 2269 (32.8%) and 2092 (30.3%) respectively of the world languages, where a much larger
number of languages are spoken (Pool, 1972 and
Grauwe, 2006). The connection between language diversity and development had long been a subject of hot
debate between scholars. The link between language diversity and development is complex in that it is a
bidirectional causal relationship. There is a causal flow of connection from development to language
diversity. This pattern of relationship is well described by Grauwe (2006:2) as follows:
Economic development is based on specialization and trade. Individuals who specialize and
trade must develop common means of communication. This in turn leads to the use of a common
language. Thus as countries move on the ladder of economic development and increase the network of
trade both within and outside the country, a common language will impose itself and will be used by
an increasing number of individuals. This then puts pressure on the local languages, and in the long run
will push many of these into extinction. Thus in the long run economic development will lead to a decline in
the number of languages and in language diversity.
So, development imposes dynamic pressure on language diversity; because, as one language increases in
size, its communication value increases. As a result, the encouragements made to shift to its use by those
who do not speak that language increases. This process can, in some conditions, result in a situation
where everybody uses that common language. Therefore, the increase in the size of the common
language may adversely cause the local languages tend to disappear and the language diversity declines.
There is also an opposite causal relationship. The use of a common language strengthens trade because it
facilitates communication. That is countries that use the same language tend to do more business with
each other than those countries without a common language. Hence, the use of the same/common
language creates conducive situation for international trade which promotes economic growth and
development.
In general, economic development encourages the use of a common language by different countries
and/or nations, thus, declines language diversity; and the use of a common language between different
countries in turn leads to more growth and development. This can be better understood from the
following empirical data:
It is striking to find that the (economically) least developed parts of the world (Africa and
Oceania) are the habitat of about 50% of the spoken languages, while these regions represent
only 12% of world population. Conversely, Europe that belongs to the most developed part of the
world only has 3.5% of the world languages while it represents about 13% of world population
(Grauwe, 2006:2)
Activity 2:
What does the underlined words above tell us? Is development greatly affected by language
diversity?
MONOLINGUALISM OR MULTILINGUALISM?
Language Situations in a Society
For the purpose of studying the relationship between language and society from the view of
sociolinguistics, we would like to see the three major concepts, namely:
1. Monolingualism
2. Bilingualism, and
3. Multilingualism
Today, linguists have used each of the terms “monolingual”, “bilingual”, and “multilingual” in a
number of ways. Two noticeable divergences are how many languages they refer to for “bilingual” and
“multilingual”; and whether each term refers to the language use of both individuals and communities of
individuals in society or societal use alone.
What is Monolingualism?
Monolinguals -- are individuals who use one language and may be proficient at using a number of
different varieties of the language together with different registers in the variety of varieties they know,
and of switching between varieties and between registers in the appropriate context. Another native
term occasionally used is “monoglot‟.
Monoglot -- is the condition of being able to speak only a single language at individual or societal level. It
is a common phenomenon at individual level in the world. There are also many de jure monolingual
countries in the world (Wardhaugh, 2006:96).
Examples: America, French, Botswana and Somalia
Many think monolingualism as an asset but it has its own shortcoming. In monolingual countries there
may be both indigenous and non-indigenous minorities languages which are dispossessed of their being
national belonging officially. This officially marginalizing of the language and culture of minorities is
assumed as on “internal colonization” and political scientists and linguists called the situation the “fourth
world”(Romaine, 1994).
What is Bilingualism?
Bilinguals -- often described as person/people who use two languages, and
Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages, or the habitual use of two languages colloquially
(R.Ellis 1994).
- It is the ability to master the use of two languages.
Two Types of bilingualism:
1. Societal bilingualism- occurs when in a given society two or more languages are spoken. In this
sense, nearly all societies are bilingual, but they can differ with regard to the degree of the form
of bilingualism
2. Individual bilingualism
Two definitions of bilingualism according to Apple and Mysken:
1. A bilingual should possess native-like control of two or more languages.
2. Somebody should be called bilingual if he has some second language skills in one of the four
modalities (speaking, listening, writing and reading), in addition to his first language skills
(1987:3). (McNamara (1969)
Parameters to Determine the Degree of Individual Bilingualism
I. Relative competence: the situation in which the ability of language competence of an
individual compared with the native speaker of the other language. Based on this, there
might be either balanced bilinguals or dominated bilinguals.
Balanced bilinguals are individuals who are capable of using two languages equally, whereas
dominated is when there is a dominated language he/she has.
II. Cognitive organization: is the situation in which how one perceive his/her environment.
Based on this, there is one either compound or coordinate bilingualism.
 Compound bilingualism is when one has only one mental representation for one object
in the two languages. A compound bilingual is also balanced bilingual.
If there is d/t image creation or different proficiency for individual, he/she is said to be
coordinate bilingual.
III. Age of acquisition: if the age bilingual person is in his childhood, there is a probability of
being either simultaneous bilingual or consecutive bilingual.
Simultaneous bilinguality is when the person acquired both languages at the same time
Constructive biliniguality is when a person learn the languages at different time.
Based on this therefore, a person could be a childhood or adolescent or an adult bilingual.
IV. Exogenity Vs Endogenity- the Presence of second language speech community.
V. The Socio-cultural status of the two languages.
Additional bilingualism – a situation wherein one think that language has value and his/her
intention is to be improved in language.
Subtractive bilingual person -- when the native speaker or second language speaker assume
that language has less value and not use it much is said to be. The value the person related
with may be religion, poverty, ethnic identity etc.
Diglossia
- “A diglossic situation exists in a society when it has two distinct codes which show clear
functional separation; that is, one code is employed in one set of circumstances and the
other in an entirely different set.”[Wardhaugh(2006:89) ]
- It is the existence of a “divergent, highly codified” variety of language, which is used only in
particular situations. [Ferguson (1959:336)]
- The characteristic feature of diglossia is that the two varieties are kept quite apart in their
functions. For example, the high varieties may be used for delivering sermons and formal
lectures, especially in parliament or legislative body, for giving political speeches, for
broadcasting the news on radio and television, and for writing poetry, fine literature, and
editorials in newspapers. In contrast, the low varieties may be used in giving instructions to
workers in low prestige occupations or to household servants, in conversation with
familiars, in “soap operas” and popular programs on the radio, in captions on political
cartoons in newspapers, and in “folk literature.” On occasion, a person may lecture in an H
variety but answer questions about its contents or explain parts of it in an L variety so as to
ensure understanding.
- Diglossia refers to a situation in which two languages or varieties of a language are used in
a community for different functions. As Ferguson (1995) defines it is a use of different
languages or varieties of the same language for different functions and develop
corresponding pattern of language behaviour.
- Diglossia is used to describe any situation where two different languages or varieties are
used in everyday life for different usually complementary functions as a speech co
complementary functions in a speech community, however from these two languages or
varieties, the one is sociolinguisitically high, the other is with low function. The high
considered as more prestigious than the other.
Multilingualism
- Could be rigidly defined as being native-like in two or more languages. It could also be
loosely defined as being less than native-like but still able to communicate in two or more
languages. Multilinguals may not have equal proficiency in or control over all the languages
they know.
“A multilingual is a person who has the ability to use three or more languages, either separately or in
various degrees of code mixing. Different languages are used for different purposes, competence in each
varying according to such factors as register, occupation and education”(McArthur 1992). In other words,
multilingualism is mastery of multiple languages.
A person is multilingual if he or she knows several languages; a document or message is multilingual if it is
presented in multiple languages. For example: Ethiopia is one of the multilingual countries in Africa.
Multilingualism refers to an occurrence regarding an individual speaker who uses two or more
languages, a community of speakers where two or more languages are used, or between speakers of
different languages.
A multilingual person, in the broadest definition, is anyone who can communicate in more than one
language, be it active (through speaking and writing) or passive (through listening and reading). More
specifically, the terms bilingual and trilingual are used to describe comparable situations in which two or
three languages are involved.
Polyglot- generic term for multilingual persons.
A. Individual multilingualism
In a multilingual or monolingual situation, individuals might be multilingual (i.e. can speak more than one
language), this is called Individual multilingualism. The data gathered from survey in Nigeria, subjects of
the speech communities studied spoken a number of languages. 60% of them spoke two languages, 30%
three and 10% more than four. This is the case of many African countries. Individual multilingualism is very
usual in Africa than in any other continent because there are functional, social and the like factors which
enhance the situation (Nurse and Bernd, 2000 and Webb and Kembo-Sure, 2000).
Very common phenomena which are closely linked with Individual multilingualism and bilingualism are
code choice, code changing, code mixing and code switching.
B. Societal/national multilingualism
Languages have different functions in a society. In multilingual setting, different languages have different
legal status.
Institutional multilingualism – refers to some societies’ institutions which use one or two languages to
serve in its domain. It also refers to usage of language for certain function in the societies or states by
low. The constitution or decrees give this status, irrespective of the degree of implementation or actual
usage by people. Depending on this we can divide societal multilingualism in two:
a. De Jure (Official)- multilingual states or societies These are nations or societies which have legal
declaration of being a multilingual nation because they use different languages for different
function. For example, we can take South Africa; it is an official multilingual country which has
eleven official languages.
b. De Facto multilingual states or societies. These are nations or societies which are not legally
multilingual but practically they are. For example, Canada is a de facto multilingual country.
Officially it is a bilingual country, in which English and French is the official languages by
constitution. But most Canadians have regular contact with only one of these. Together with
this there are many languages spoken by different speech community (ibid). For example,
almost all nations of Africa are multilingual, with different degree of varieties. For example, in
Nigeria there are 450 languages spoken by 110 million populations, in Cameroon 180 languages
spoken by 13.5 million populations and in Tanzania 30 million populations there are 120
languages. On the other hand, some countries have very few languages. For example in
Mauritania there is only four languages, Niger has only ten languages and Benin with two
million. As a continent Africa, is a multilingual continent which has more than 2000 varieties (it
includes languages and dialects) (Nurse and Bernd, 2000).
 The spread of international languages- in this globalization era knowing international
languages like English is very vital. Such kind of spread lead individuals and nations to
multilingualism.
 Federation- it is the unity of diverse ethnic groups or nationalities under the political
control of one state particularly in forced federation countries that become colonies of
other country had no the same sociocultural and linguistic group for each other.
Therefore, when they become independent they made a federation with having a
common language.
Some more factors for Multilingualism are:
 Historical political movements such as imperialism or colonialism; for example, the
spread of Spanish to Latin America
 Increasing communications among different parts of the world and the need to be
competent in languages of wider communication.
 Social and cultural identify and the interest of maintenance and revival of minority
languages.
 Education: Second and foreign languages are part of the curriculum in many countries
 Religion movements that result in people moving to a new country
D. Is Multilingualism a blessing or a curse?
Activity 3:

C. Contextual Factors for Multilingualism Is Multilingualism a blessing or a curse? Explain your stand then create a table
of its advantages(if there is/are) and disadvantages. Follow the format below:
Factors that create societal multilingualism might be the following ((Nurse and Bernd, 2000):
Advantages Disadvantages
 Migration: societies migrate in large or small number. Such kind of community usually 1. 1.
tends to be able to speak the language of other. 2. 2.
 Colonialism: is a situation in which relatively large numbers of people from a given 3. 3.
nationality move into a certain geographical area and take control of them. This social 4.
situation leads the colonized nation and individuals to multilingualism. 5.
 International borders : there is diversified language situations in boarders. The 6.
members of the same speech community might live in different countries at borders
and so on…..
with different speech community. This situation leads individuals and both adjacent
countries to be multilingual.
 Sprachinseln (ethinolinguistic enclaves)- when the speaker of a certain language
enclave by another speech community, the community might going to be multilingual Monolingualism and Development
by acquiring the language of the other community
Monolingualism is a tendency of an individual or a community/country using only one language as a
means of social communication. The survey of literature about monolingualism shows that the concept is
widely accepted by the scholars and the individual monolinguals themselves in many parts of the world,
especially the Western societies, as a norm and a less challenging sociolinguistic phenomenon, thus was
given little attention as subject of sociolinguistic inquiry (Ellis, 2006 and Wardhaugh, 2006). Hence, we
can rarely find scholarly sociolinguistics publications with monolingualism as a title.
- It can be acquired from birth as a mother tongue or by adherence to the high status
language identified by a country’s language policy marginalizing the other minority
languages. According to the traditional view, the ideal model of a society in a whole
country or territories in a country is characterized as:
a. Monolingual
b. Monoethnic
c. Monoreligious
d. Monoideological
- It is the result of the rise of the European nation state that was later spread to their
colonies, and another is that powerful English-speaking nations are both the originators
and beneficiaries of English as a global language, and they tend to be monolingual.
Dangerous effects on the adherence to the “dogma of monolingualism”
1. The view that monolingualism is a common state of human individual, which is mainly prevalent
in Western, and English speaking societies, by itself overlooks the fact that the majority of the
world’s population is estimated to be bilingual or multilingual.
2. Monolingualism results in the absence of the benefits of learning a second language
summarized as enrichment (cultural and intellectual), economic (relating to vocations and
foreign trade), equality (social justice and overcoming disadvantage), external (relating to ones
country’s role in the world), “intellectual stimulus” and “new ways of thinking and learning and
organizing knowledge.
3. Monolingualism was described as a “pathology” or a “disability” because the monolingual
individual has suffered from lack of opportunity to learn (or maintain) a second language due to
discriminatory policies and practices which ignored how language shapes and reflects both
thought and social structures, and failed to see how monolingualism as an ideology is creating
restrictions, barriers, and conflicts for the society (Auer and Wei, 2007, and Ellis, 2006).
The summary of the arguments implies that language minorities in Western societies have been
marginalized and patronized and had their potential limited for too long and that now it is the
monolinguals‟ turn. To conclude, monolingualism is by any means a loss to the individuals or the country
as a whole.
Multilingualism and Development
In multilingual and multiethnic countries and states like America, Asia, Africa, Australia, etc.,
language use is not just a private matter, since a particular language is used in any public communication.
The central issue is which language or languages are used officially in the public sphere, i.e., in public
education, state administration, the army, the courts and so on. As a rule, ethnic harmony can be
promoted if multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural countries adopt a policy of pluralism that
recognizes the language rights of minorities while at the same time to form a common civic and cultural
identity, yet circumstances and ethnic groups differ. What is more, language pluralism is the most
democratic approach for multilingual societies.
Language is a core issue in the politics of ethnicity; fortunately, it is an easier issue to deal with
than some other ethnic issues because language allows for multiple identities. Language knowledge is
not an exclusive or immutable ethnic "given" similar to religion or race. People can speak several
languages, and several languages can coexist. Specific arrangements differ from case to case, but all
involve a two-track policy whereby one track gives space and guarantees for minority languages, and the
other track promotes the learning of one or several state languages to allow communication and
enhance mutual understanding towards a common goal-development.
Challenges of Multilingualism (Pluralist Policy) and the Remedy
First, one of the potential debilitating problems of multilingualism and the associated policy is
that language differentiation can be perceived as negative discrimination. As a result, the politics of
plurality must make sure that separate ethnic institutions, such as minority schools or separate
administrative offices, preserve rather than undermine the rights of minorities. Ethnic accord is most
likely to be enhanced if such arrangements are voluntary and if ethnic groups are autonomous in deciding
on specific programs and approaches. Second, language pluralism can turn into language separatism-the
undermining of a common language, e.g. refusing to learn and speak (use) local languages.
As a remedy, the citizenry needs a common language, both literally and figuratively, to promote
mutual understanding and to form and nurture one civic nation. Pluralist language policies require a
careful balancing of state support for both the distinct languages of minorities and the common state
language.
EXPERIENCES OF LANGUAGE DIVERSITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD
North America’s Languages and Development
In Canada, the demand of change in the status of French and an attempt to give it status in
higher domains than before had started sometime before with a top-down decision (policy) from the
government of Canada (Schiffman, 1996). It was a“not something speakers of French demand”. Hence,
the province of Québec (French Speaking Canadians) and (even, other provinces) were supposed to
implement this. Later, it resulted in the confusion in status of the French language; it saw the English
speaking Canadians failed to act (due to lack of incentives and absence of jurisdiction); it facilitated the
Canadian civil war; and the expected developments hampered. What is more, the United States of
America, for example, has presented the case of („Only English‟) assimilation to make monolingual
America for the sake of civic integration has been an explicit policy that has resulted in great loss and
failure in many socio-economic spheres.

Asian Languages and Development
The People’s Republic of China, according to Zhou (2007), has employed two means of literacy
promotion:
a. Campaign approach. From 1949 through to the late 1970s, the campaign approach was
motivated by a political rationale, but later an economic rationale also became important.
b. From the mid-1980s and continuing to the present, a legislative approach emerged which treats
compulsory education as the mainstream means for literacy development and illiteracy
eradication as a supplementary one.
Meanwhile, China’s language policy has also changed from allowing parallel development of
Chinese literacy and minority literacies to a linguistic hierarchy with Chinese (Mandarin) as dominant and
minority languages as subordinate. Minorities may challenge this order and in these challenges can be
seen differences between national legislation and local legislation. The national laws generally take a
“permission” stance towards literacy in minority languages, whereas local laws adopt stances ranging
from “promotion” to “permission” to “tolerance”, with the focus for contesting relative status
concentrating on the area of literacy education rather than illiteracy eradication.
Further, Schiffman (2006), India has at least 17 languages and has a “three language formula” for
development which indicates many “official” languages, but one “national‟ language (Hindi) and one
other link language (English), and all citizens are supposed to learn all the three (one in their respective
linguistic state) and use them on demand.
Similarly but with a slight difference, the Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-only law of 1956 disenfranchised the
Tamil language after many protests and a protracted civil war. Consequently, the 13th and 16th
amendments to the Constitution of 1978 made Sinhala and Tamil the two official languages, and English
the “link” language (Schiffman, 2006).
Likewise, the newly independent Malaysia illustrated the successful negotiation multilingualism
and development, according to which the Chinese settlers accepted the public dominance of the Malay
language in return for a liberal naturalization policy. In this case, it was also significant that the Chinese
diaspora has had alternative ways to safeguard the survival of their language, through contacts with
Chinese communities abroad, importing of books, and sending Chinese students to universities abroad.
European Languages and Development
France, once, has had an implicit policy of assimilation -- a “monolingual” France. Since the French
revolution, becoming a French citizen has meant that French was the only language used in schools,
administration, the army, and public life in general. While the dominance of the French language in
France appears "natural" today, it is in fact the result of deliberate ethnic engineering. Despite some
minority protest, it has been a successful policy of assimilation. Similar examples of assimilationist
success can be found in other parts of the world, but one also can find just as many examples of
assimilationist failure. Assimilation is most likely to fail if it is involuntary and if it involves territorially
based minorities. Assimilation is not a universal remedy, as it involves the loss of one identity for the sake
of another.
The African Languages and Development
According to Abdulaziz (1977) mentioned in Lodhi (2003), the following national/language typology
emerges for Africa.
1. First, there are countries which have one African language spoken by the vast majority of the
population. Countries such as Botswana (Setswana), Burundi (Kirundi), Lesotho (Sesotho),
Rwanda (Kinyarwanda), Somalia (Somali) and Swaziland (Seswati) are using Mother-Tongue.
But, Central African Republic (Sango), Ethiopia (Amharic), Kenya and Tanzania (Swahili), Mali
(Bambara), Senegal (Wolof) and Sudan (Arabic) are using LINGUA FRANCA. That is, countries in
this group appear to have a favorable basis for developing an African language and give it a
national/official status and facilitate their development in their own language (official).
2. Second, there are countries such as Ghana (Akan/Twi), Malawi (Chichewa), Niger (Hausa), Togo
(Ewe), Burkina Faso (Mosi/More) and Zimbabwe (Shona) which have predominant African
language.
3. Third, the groups of countries having several dominant indigenous African languages competing
with one another are Nigeria (Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, Kanuri), Sierra Leone (Mende,
Temme) and Zaire (Chiluba, Kikongo including Kituba, Kingwana i.e. Kongo Swahili, Lingala and
Standard Swahili).
4. What is more, in the fourth category, there are countries such as Cameroon, Ivory Coast and
Mozambique which have no predominant African language(s).
Let’s raise a big question about South Africa’s “Fashionable and Contemporary” language policy
with Eleven (11) languages which are given equal status in the country; is it workable and realistic for
development, or is it “compensatory”-trying to make up for past wrongs? In our opinion, we have
seen the 20th century as marked by innumerable ethnic conflicts based on the quest for native
language rights. As with other issues of ethnicity, language diversity cannot simply be ignored.
Indeed, demands for pluralist language policy are likely to accelerate in the future, and
policymakers will need to be prepared to accommodate language diversity while still promoting
overall integration.
How much have I learned so far?
Reflect on your learning on reading and studying this module.
Write your reflection on a separate bond paper.
Note: Compile and submit your outputs the same way before. No part of this module should be
submitted. Failure to adhere to the imposed directions means deductions.
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