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Examining African Languages as Tools for National Development: The Case of Kiswahili

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Language can be a key contributing force towards the consolidation of nationhood and the realization of national development. It is a means by which participation by citizens is facilitated or prevented and, it holds the key to the establishment of true democracy and equality in a country (Bamgbose 2000). There is a close relationship between language and development and meaningful development cannot take place where linguistic barriers exist. The failure of many states in Africa, to come out with a clear transformational language policy appears to be a major handicap in their experiences of nation-building. Despite the fact that language is a powerful tool of society, if its potential is fully recognised and exploited for development, ironically to-date European languages dominate in most African states in all the formal and technical domains, such as government, business administration, science and technology, trade commerce, international relations and education. Indigenous languages in Africa have been restricted to a few domains of use and the less formal ones such as intra-community communication, interpretational roles in local courts, use by politicians in local political rallies to name a few. There are only a few countries in Africa, e.g. Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia and most of the Arabic speaking countries, which opted to develop their indigenous linguae francae to serve as national languages. If we consider the case of Tanzania, Ethiopia and Egypt, Kiswahili, Amharic and
Arabic respectively, have been used as languages of education, trade and commerce. These are just but a few examples that illustrate successful government decisions to empower and develop common lingue francae for national development. In many other African countries, the excolonial languages have continued to strengthen their positions of prestige at the expense of the indigenous ones. This has partly been due to inherited colonial language legacy and partly because the African leaders are not willing to change the language policies they inherited from the colonial masters. Consequently, Development in Africa slows down because important communication relies on foreign languages and the parties involved in the process of development cannot interact effectively. A common language, therefore, should be seen as an integrating force, a means by which political empowerment and participation of all citizens is fully facilitated. This paper, therefore, seeks to explore how African languages, if developed, would foster development of Africa, to begin with, by involving the entire population of a nation, and consequently spill over to other countries of the world. It makes sense to argue that the dominance of foreign and largely colonial languages has undermined not only national cohesiveness and their perceptiveness of responsibilities as citizens but also seriously undercut their development of self-confidence and sense of Africanness. As a result many nationals are
rendered unable to access government information because of bridling communication barriers. Africa need not rely on foreign languages for its development when it has such diverse linguistic resources which are well saddled in its cultural heritage that is critical for social capital formation. If developed this capital can form a basis of uniting not only people of its various nations but also foster prospects of enhancing regional integration. We cannot ignore the fact that language has also been used as a divisive tool, e.g., in Kenya, indigenous languages were used to spread hate speech and incite ethnic animosity after the 2007 elections. However, language is not the only basis for such conflicts. Even in countries with a common language, e.g. Burundi, Rwanda among others, warring communities have used other methods to propagate ethnic hatred. That is basically why the paper seeks to show that if a common language is adopted, the transfer of skills, new knowledge and other vital information desired to effect radical and sustainable changes in 21st century African states will be both feasible and germane to the building of a true sense of Africanity.

Keywords: Linguae francae, trans-national languages, multilingualism, development

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Judul Seri

The Journal of Pan African Studies

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Journal of Pan African Studies., 2013

Deskripsi Fisik

The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.6, no.6, November 2013

Bahasa

English

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

BAHASA

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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