Language and National Identity in AfricaAndrew Simpson This book focuses on language, culture, and national identity in Africa. Leading specialists examine countries in every part of the continent - Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Senegal, Mali, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanbia, South Africa, and the nations of the Horn, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. Each chapter describes and examines the country's linguistic and political history and the relation of its languages to national, ethnic, and cultural identities, and assesses the relative status of majority and minority languages and the role of language in ethnic conflict. Of the book's authors, fifteen are from Africa and seven from Europe and the USA. Jargon-free, fully referenced, and illustrated with seventeen maps, this book will be of value to a wide range of readers in linguistics, politics, history, sociology, and anthropology. It will interest everyone wishing to understand the dynamic interactions between language and politics in Africa, in the past and now. |
Contents
1 | |
From Egyptian to PanArab Nationalism | 26 |
Language Nationalism and Gender | 44 |
Majorities Minorities and Language Interactions | 61 |
The Emergence of a National Lingua Franca | 79 |
In Defence of Cultural and Linguistic Pluralism | 98 |
Krio and the Quest for National Integration | 122 |
Indigenous Languages English and an Emerging National Identity | 141 |
Official Bilingualism in a Multilingual State | 199 |
Language and Authentic Nationalism | 214 |
Language and the Search for a Coherent National Identity | 235 |
The Development of Swahili as a National and Official Language | 252 |
Ethiopia Eritrea Djibouti and Somalia | 267 |
One Zambia One Nation Many Languages | 291 |
The Rocky Road to Nation Building | 314 |
339 | |
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Common terms and phrases
administration adopted African languages Arabic associated Bambara become British Cameroon cent century chapter Coast colonial communication Congolese considered constitution continued cultural dialects dominant early East economic Egypt Egyptian English especially established Ethiopia ethnic groups European example fact formal French further important independence indigenous languages instruction interesting Islam issues Kenya known Krio learning lingua franca linguistic major Mali means medium minority mother tongue multilingual national identity national language nationalists Nigeria northern noted official language particular period political population position practice present primary promotion provinces recent referred regional result role rule schools seen Senegal Sierra Leone significant single situation social society Somali southern speak speakers spoken spread standard status Swahili territory tongue University urban variety various West Western Wolof written Zambia