kofi agyekum

Kofi Agyekum

Department of Linguistics University of Ghana, Legon ACAL KANSAS 17th April 2014

Introduc)on � This presentation addresses the politics of language use in African nations, societies, and institutions. It highlights the role of power and economics on the choice of language.

� The paper discusses linguistic imperialism, and lang shift and how they lead to language endangerment.

�  We will discuss language conflicts and linguistic decolonisation whereby societies resist linguistic domination and endangerment and embark on language resistance and maintenance.

Introduc)on 2 � We will touch on the methods employed in language decolonisation namely, language revitalisation, resistance, maintenance, documentation and preservation.

� Attention will be on lexicology, lexicography, terminology, ICT and the role of the media, especially radio and TV.

� As a society redeems itself from linguistic imperialism through decolonisation, certain stronger politico-‐economic factors push it back into linguistic imperialism.

�  Examples are taken from African and Ghanaian languages with emphasis on Akan.

Research Ques)ons � The major questions to be asked include �  (a) What is linguistic imperialism and what are the causes?

�  Why is it more prevalent in the developing countries? �  What accounts for language shift and domination? � What is linguistic decolonisation? � What factors account for language decolonisation, resistance and maintenance?

� What is the role of radio, language documentation and preservation in language decolonisation?

Linguis)c Imperialism �  Linguistic imperialism is the notion that certain langs dominate internationally on others.

�  Linguistic Imperialism is the way nation-‐states privileged one lang, and often sought actively to eradicate others, forcing their speakers to shift to the dominant language.”

� Phillipson (2009:780) “L. Imperialism entails unequal resource allocation and communicative rights between people,

�  defined in terms of their competence in specific languages, with unequal benefits as a result.”.

Ansre’s Defini)on of L. Imp �  Linguistic imperialism is the phenomena in which the minds and lives of the speakers of a language are dominated by another language

�  to the point where they believe that they can and should use only that foreign language when it comes to transactions dealing with more advanced aspects of life such as education, philosophy, literature, governments, the administration of justice, etc…

�  L imperialism has a way of warping the minds, attitudes, and aspirations of even the most noble in society

�  and preventing him from appreciating and realising the full potentialities of the indigenous languages.

Phillipson (2009:782) �  L. imperialism is the maintenance of injustice and inequality by means of language policies and it is strongly connected to policies in commerce, science, international affairs, education, culture and the media, and all of these involve material resources and attitudes.

�  Politically, the world's information channels are dominated by English, French and Spanish

� To follow the global trends of information, one needs to know one or more of these langs

L. Imperialism and Economy �  L imperialism & education, and the expansion of the English lang have provided a market & economic force for TESL for foreigners.

�  Phillipson (2009:781) records that the British economy benefits by £11billion directly and a further £11billion indirectly from their intake of foreign students in Higher education.

� Over half a million foreign students attend lang schools in Britain each year, spending time in learning English.

�  The English Language Teaching and Learning business is a major pillar for the British economy.

Linguis(c Imperialism & Economy �  Linguistic imperialism has made the English language a global commodity sold in the international market.

� The socio-‐economic factors in language shift to a language like English for economic integration, cultural shifts, international networks and employment makes language a more marketable commodity than a marker of identity.

�  Students from Equatorial Guinea come to Ghana to learn English, and their government pays heavy sums to sponsor them. The whole world needs English and nobody wants to be left behind.

Linguis(c Imperialism & Economy �  At the department of Linguistics, Legon, we have a full-‐fee Sandwich Masters programme in TESL, and it is oversubscribed. We started with about 20 students, and in June 2013, we admitted 82 students.

� The situation is different with MA sandwich in Ghanaian Languages at the University of Education Winneba. Very few students are ready to pay full-‐fee to study Ghanaian languages.

�  The Presbyterian University of Ghana has a department of Ghanaian languages but has not been able to enroll a single student to pay full fees since it was established 5 years ago.

Language ShiI and Endangerment

�  In lang contact, Linguistic Imperialism leads to lang shift.

�  Lang shift refers to a situation in which a community of speakers effectively abandon one lang and shift to another Garret (2006:63)

�  The basic determining factor in lang shift relates to particular benefits to be derived from the use of the target lang; especially economic benefits ( Mufwene 2002:175).

Lang ShiI and Endangerment 2 � Lang shift is the gradual replacement of the communicative functions of one lang by another which users consider to serve the maximum linguistic, political & social benefits (Agyekum 2009).

� Pandharipande (2002: 213-‐214) adopts the term functional load and asserts that the higher the functional load, the more powerful the language is perceived to be.

Func(onal Load and Lang Shi9 � An increase in the functional load implies the promotion and sustenance of the language while the trend of “linguistic diminishing returns” in the functional load is serious.

� The functions of the more “prestigious and politically powerful lang. become expanded to cater for previous functions of the minor lang.

� The functions of the minority lang diminishes or shrinks .

L ShiI and Endangerment 3 �  If “linguistic diminishing returns” in lang shift is uncontrolled it can lead to language endangerment, extinction and death.

� Derhemi (2002:151) “ An endangered lang is a lang that may soon vanish, ceasing to be used as a vehicle of communication, perhaps even disappearing completely from human history.

� The functional roles and communicative loads of an endangered language is reduced and taken over by the target language in the language contact.

Causes of L. ShiI and Endangerment

�  Lang shift and death are engineered by lang ideologies, lang policies, lang attitudes and everyday communicative practices in bilingual or multilingual communities.

� Communities that have positive feelings and attitudes about their own lang and community try to embark on lang revitalisation and maintenance.

� Negative attitude to one’s own lang results in lang shift, and further into lang death.

Other Factors in Lang ShiI

� Minority lang can die when societies that use these langs are indifferent

�  Lack of effective institutional intervention and protection of the minority lang.

� The other major factors for L shift and endangerment include social status of the lang, cultural factors,

�  power relations of the langs that are in contact, �  economic, migration and settlement patterns, �  exogamous marriages and religion.

Interna)onal Policies & Globalisa)on �  Some few imperial langs are used as supra-‐regional or

global lang of communication in international organizations & communication.

�  In L shift within globalisation very few langs benefit from international trade and exchange.

�  Imperial langs are used in UN, Council of Europe, NATO, EU, AU, and ECOWAS deliberations.

� English is increasingly becoming an international lingua franca in negotiations between two or more states, langs of diplomacy, international agreements and pacts.

Language and Poli)cal Policies � Within the same nat ion some langs are instrumentalized by govts, and they receive official support and recognition in the nation.

�  In N. Africa, Arabic varieties are fast expanding � Kiswahili as a nationwide lingua franca in Tanzania, is threatening more than 130 other Tanzanian langs.

�  In Botswana Setswana lang is dominating about 30 other langs in the country.

� Most African use the former colonial masters’ languages as the official languages

Language and Poli(cal Policies 2 �  Politically, very few of the masses in the African countries speak the colonial languages. It is limited to the few elites and this creates a political class system.

�  By the official lang policy of Ghana, our constitution, public documents and all formal interactions at the governmental levels are done in English.

�  In Ghana, the language for proceedings in parliament is English and nobody will be voted into power as an MP if he/she cannot speak English

�  In some countries, speakers are even forbidden to use their languages and personal names, as happened to the Kurds in Turkey (see Austin and Sallabank 2011:9).

Educa)on and Language ShiI �  Language shift occurs due to the type of language policy in education

� Where a colonial lang is the lang of education there is a shift from the indigenous languages.

�  In Ghana, one cannot enter any high school or tertiary institution without passing English.

�  Many families forbid their children to learn or communicate with them in the Ghanaian languages even at home.

� Most private basic schools prohibit their pupils from speaking any of the Ghanaian languages

Lang ShiI in the Media � African media agencies mostly use the colonial langs especially English, French or Portuguese

� Most programmes, classified advertisements, conferences& other important announcements in the print media, radio &TV are mostly in the colonial langs.

� There is a social stratification based on the degree of access to communication in the colonial langs.

� The speakers of the indigenous langs do not have access to their own langs in broadcasting.

� They are compelled to use the dominant languages and this shift can lead to language endangerment.

Religion and Lang ShiI � Adherents to new religion have to learn the lang associated with it, and shift from their indigenous languages any time they are worshipping.

�  In Ghana, the Roman Catholic Church formerly conducted their mass and liturgy in Latin.

� By convention, all priests in the Catholic Church in Ghana should study Latin in addition to theology.

� Arabic, Hausa and Dyula languages have spread in West Africa along with Islam.

�  Some Asian religious groups from India and Pakistan have also introduced their languages to Ghanaians

Economics and Occupa)on �  Economic survival is a major influence in lang learning, shift and lang endangerment.

� Obtaining a job is one of the most obvious reasons for learning a second language

� People can be strongly attached to their langs and cultures but;

�  the socio-‐economic pressures in modern global world makes it difficult for them to glue themselves to ancestral lang and cultures.

�  They have to adopt language shift. Lack of language and cultural practices gradually lead to language attrition and death.

Migra)on and SeRlement PaRerns �  Social mobility, migration and settlement patterns result in lang contact and lang shift.

�  L shift occurs as a result of forced or voluntary immigration or conquest to a place where it is impossible to maintain one’s native lang.

� Voluntary migration results in much faster shift than annexation or colonization. Nahir (2003:402)

�  The motivational factors are both integrational and instrumental

Linguis)c Decolonisa)on �  LD describes the actions taken in postcolonial

contexts to undo the social, political, and cultural effects of the dominance of colonial langs

�  It is a philosophical challenge to the Western lang ideologies that underpinned the colonial project, and that have persisted in the postcolonial period (Jaffe 2009:534)

�  In LD, states and societies take nationalist projects and action plans to legitimate their langs and identities that have been suppressed by linguistic imperialism during colonisation.

Strategies for Lang Decolonisa)on �  Lang decolonisers employ sociological, ideological and

pragmatic concepts to fight against lang shift, endangerment, extinction and death.

� They embark on lang revitalization, resistance and maintenance.

� The use educational curriculum, literary and awareness of language death,

� Media, especially radio, linguistic pluralism and official multilingualism are employed

Radio and TV in Lang Decolonisa)on � The media is a strong tool for L revitalising, resisting,

maintaining, preserving and documenting of African langs from linguistic imperialism.

� Radio is a powerful tool for the dissemination, interpretation & recontextualisation of media discourse.

� Mass media is a storage of expressions, phrases, proverbs and lang and culture.

�  It serves as a platform for the use and development of the endangered langs

�  It serves as an unplanned and surest area where lang changes and practical lang policies can be employed spontaneously by the speech community

Terminology and Lexical Expansion �  Radio helps in the modernization, devt. and elaboration of terms to cater for most aspects of human life. Some coined terms that have been accepted for use outside radio include

�  (a) dums dums, ‘power outage’, �  (b) prepre, feefee ne akontabupa, ‘integrity, transparency and accountability’, and

�  (c) ankorankor kypn, for ‘human rights’ � mampanin, ‘head of state/president’, soafo, ‘minister’ and mmarahybadwam, ‘parliament’

Radio and Oral Literature � African oral literature genres appear on radio because they are less available in urbanized cultures where the heterogeneous nature makes people lose their cultural heritage.

�  The radio is a repository & innovator for the African langs, especially, its orality.

�  Story telling and proverb sections that were earlier provided by the elders in the villages are now done effectively on African radio for a wider audience at the same time

Ling Pluralism and Mul)lingualism

�  Linguistic Pluralism or official multilingualism is a system that promotes the coexistence of different languages in a nation and allows them to operate on equitable basis.

� The same opportunity for development and usage are given to all the langs irrespective of their number of speakers.

�  Linguistic pluralism (LP) is a democratic way of dealing with linguistic varieties in a nation where multilingualism creates conflicts

Lang Resistance and Maintenance �  “L maintenance is the preservation of the use of a

group’s native lang, where political, social, economic, educational, or other pressures threaten a decline in the status of the lang as a means of communication, a cultural medium, or a symbol of group or national identity. (Nahir (2003:439).”

�  “Lang maintenance is the effort to arrest and reverse the process of lang shift

� An effort is made to endure that a vulnerable lang doesn’t decline & eventually disappear, but rather continues to be spoken by a sustainable community of people Lewis (2013: 673)

Reasons for Lang Maintenance � Crystal (2000) identifies five main reasons why langs should be protected from being dying;

� preservation of our diverse traditional cultural wealth,

� ethnic identity through language, � languages serving as repositories of history,

� language as source of human knowledge, � the fascinating nature of language.

Factors Blocking L Decolonisa)on �  Lack of resources and materials to develop and raise

African langs to the levels that can replace the status and functions of the colonial languages in all domains.

�  The colonial masters are politically and economically powerful, and their langs resist the challenges of decolonisation, and embark on official monolingualism

� The use of colonial langs bring about elitism &social stratification that help the elite to lord over the non-‐elite. They thwart the efforts of the linguistic decolonisers.

Factors Blocking L Decolonisa)on �  L Planning policies favour foreign langs. Majority langs prevent postcolonial lang planners from reaching their aims towards LD.

�  Conventions and treaties adopted by international organisations and agencies recommending the use of minority languages in education usually lack power to reinforce them. Policies have negligible impact on home use, which is essential for continued natural transmission of endangered languages (Romaine: 2002: 194).

�  In Ghana, where the official language policy states that the medium of instruction for the first three years should be the indigenous Ghanaian languages, but the “international and preparatory” schools in the towns and cities rather use the English language as the medium from day one.

Blocking L. Decolonisa)on 2 �  Scholars argue that lang preservation and documentation is very costly and the result is not cost effective.

�  Lang shift, endangerment and death are all part of lang evolution and must be allowed to take their natural path based on human behavior.

� Generally if speakers of endangered lang have more pressing socio-‐economic concerns and prospects to think about,

� They are less worried about the fates of their langs and how to salvage them from linguistic imperialism

Lang Documenta)on & Preserva)on �  The linguistic documentation of dying lang is sometimes labelled as “salvage linguistics”.

� The documentation of lang and oral art is the major technique that acts as the catalyst for its preservation and lang decolonization

�  It is a way of putting up materials in the form of books, CD Rom, and all kinds of electronic forms

�  Lang doc is a proactive process and actions meant to record, maintain and preserve a lang for the future and to protect it from lang shift and death.

Techniques in Lang Documenta)on � The strategies include audio or video recording of all

communicative events � Narratives/folktales, myths, proverbs, folksongs, dirges, appellations, ordinary conversations and observable linguistic behaviour.

�  In documentation, we collect the lang materials, and put them into archival database, and then disseminate the information for public use

� We record data on lang use in their natural sociocultural settings such as funerals, traditional rituals, greetings, requests, apology, thanking, political discourse and chieftaincy.

FormaZng Data in L Doc � Data is of no importance if it is not well formatted, documented and catalogued for easier accessibility.

�  the data should be accessible to the compilers of the document

�  it should be user-‐friendly and accessible to a broad range of users including children, researchers, and foreigners who want to learn the lang in future.

�  For audio or video recordings of communicative events, the documenter should provide an accurate transcription and translation to help non-‐native users to understand it better.

Problems of Documenta)on 1 �  Lack of cooperation from the informants, especially on issues relating to the secret elements of the oral art. There are problems in filming materials or the performance itself.

�  Some informants are too demanding (money). Some think that the researcher is conducting it for commercial motives.

� Translation Problems: many archaic and obsolete words and concepts, some flora, fauna and particular names are untranslatable

Problems of Documenta)on 2 � Many African universities are not interested in the teaching, learning and research in African langs, oral literature and cultural studies.

�  Lack of funds, interest and negative attitude do not promote the devt of African langs

�  Finding outlets for publication of research materials are very difficult.

� Many manuscripts in oral literature, lexicology and other aspects of African languages are still on bookshelves crying for publishers.

Recommenda)ons 1 �  Linguistically, there is nothing in the structure of any lang which precludes it from becoming a vehicle of modern civilization to meet the demands of her people.

� We must attach much importance to the devt of our African langs and literature; they should be an integral part of our educational curriculum.

�  The absence of written forms of a lang contributes to lang decay and loss, and restricts its functional usage,

� The codification of a lang is a big step in the process of lang survival and restoration

Recommenda)on 2 �  There should be explicit policies and planning on MTE and not mere theory and paper work.

�  Africans should have a practically implementable and firm lang policy on education not a “skip-‐hopping policy”.

�  Terminology projects should be expanded and provide metalanguage for the teaching and learning of African langs. It should be made an important aspect of lang devt.

� We must elevate the status of the African langs and use them to teach our langs and other subjects like science, mathematics and technology at all levels, including basic, secondary and tertiary education.

Recommenda)on 3 � We could make textbooks available in African langs by translating some of the African, Caribbean, and Western literature into the various African langs.

�  At the tertiary level, we should teach and study world literatures in relation to African indigenous literature.

� We should have lang planning branches that would liaise with the universities on regular basis to deliberate on lexical elaboration and expansion of the various langs.

Recommenda)on 4 � We should have national interdiscipl inary lexicographical and terminological centres to deal with African lang documentation projects.

� The Lang centres should be well-‐equipped to produce word lists, terms and special dictionaries, glossary books on African langs, Eng-‐African as reference books for African lang students, broadcasters, translators, etc.

� The centres can liaise with established terminological academies in countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Norway, Germany and Russia for their rich experience.

� The findings of the centres can be tested at the educational levels & on radio and TV. We should publish newspapers that deal solely with our African langs.

Prospects for African Langs �  A lang begins to lose its prestige and eventually decays if it is restricted to only informal usage.

�  A lang can only expand both internally and internationally if there is adequate up-‐to-‐date terminology that allows it to refer to all new concepts in lang, science, technology and the social sciences.

�  Our languages should be integrated into ICT. �  It is only when our langs are able to cope with most of our societal needs that Africa’s independence can be said to be complete. Political independence without linguistic independence is partial independence.

The Way Forward � We should appeal to the various UN and Donor Agencies like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, WORLD BANK, etc., to assist in the devt. of African indigenous langs.

� African agencies like the AU, ECOWAS and the other African zonal groups to forge ahead and establish Bureaus of African Langs in our countries.

� The 21st century should be dubbed “Afro-‐ lingual Independence and Development”.

�  If the modern ideas and information are disseminated in the indigenous African langs, their impact will be greater.

�  This will help the majority of the masses to understand them better and use them effectively.

Conclusion �  In this presentation we have seen a lot about �  language manipulation, linguistic imperialism, �  language shift, language endangerment, death �  linguistic decolonisation, & documentation. �  L. Imperialism is the way nation-‐states privileged one lang, and often sought actively to eradicate others, forcing their speakers to shift to the dominant lang

�  Linguistic decolonisation is a process where a society wants to reinstate its lang status.

Ac)on on Decolonisa)on �  Let us stand up now to decolonize our langs to let our human and African identity be strong.

� No matter what the skeptics say and argue about the cost effect iveness o f lang rev i ta l izat ion , decolonisation and language’s natural path based on language evolution,

�  We need a strong will and positive attitude towards our language so as to redeem our languages and cultures and restore our African identity.

� THANK YOU VERY MUCH

kofi agyekum

Documents