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Language attitudes in West Africa
Abstract
This study presents an overview of language attitudes in West Africa, tapping from a variety of methodological approaches, including the ethnographic, the questionnaire, and participant observation, which have been used by earlier scholars in their investigations. The importance of language attitudes for West Africa is examined: the language-attitude molders and shapers in West Africa are identified and the patterns of language attitudes within the subregion are described. The final section of the study probes language attitudes and language policy in West Africa. The paper concludes by submitting that West Africa represents a complex sociolinguistic reality, and language-attitude research as well as attempts by policy-makers to apply it must, at the very least, bear this important fact in mind. Furthermore, it posits that language-policy formulation not undergirded by satisfactory and valid language-attitude research is risky, unwise, and potentially damaging for societal language use and well-being because language attitudes crisscross language-policy planning, policy implementation, and policy consequences.
... Considering the above political patterns and language situation in Cameroon, one can perceive the difficulty of having a clear-cut policy statements in language(s) for education (Adegbija, 2000). ...
... Globally, speaking, the linguistic scenario in Cameroon like in most sub-Saharan African countries is characterized by dence multilingualism, the official dominance of ex-colonial languages; the official neglect of indigenous languages, the unservered colonial umbilical cord and socio-politically interwoven language-related problems; (Adegbija, 2000) are all parts of the inability to have clear-cut language policy in education. ...
The goals and overall philosophy of education in any nation is the pre-requisite to the formation oflanguage policy and planning for education. Language generally is always a crucial phenomenon and itbecomes more crucial and controversial when it has to do with formulation of policies in education(Dada, 2005) part of the reason for this is simply because most of the language problems in manyAfrican countries are colonial legacies. The language problem is even volatile in some Africancountries like Cameroon and Nigeria. As it is going to be expanciated in this write-up, both Cameroonand Nigeria are linguistically fragmented countries. This has affected the language policy and planningfor the education of the two African countries (Oyetade, 1995).
... In the "Outer Circle" where English was implanted through colonialism, English has continued to dominate sub-Saharan Africa (Adegbija, 2000) and is challenged in North Africa through the Arabisation policy. With Nigeria in focus, previous studies have explored and described the varieties of English in Nigeria (Bamgbose, 1998;Dadzie & Awonusi, 2004;Jowitt, 1991Jowitt, , 2019Kperogi, ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sopuruchi Christian Aboh is a PhD student of English and Communication of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. ...
... Even though many people claim to speak indigenous languages, many persons are not fluent in them. Lately, an observable phenomenon in Nigeria is that parents who only attained a primary or secondary education and had a poor command of English would prefer to speak English to their children instead of their mother tongue (Adegbija, 2000). More so, due to the poor support of the government towards education, students' competence in English continues to deteriorate. ...
This study explores the power of English in Nigeria following Kachruvian six parameters of the power of English. The paper indicates that the range and depth of English in Nigeria could be seen in the government, education, mass media, commerce, and religion. The positive attitudes towards English have negatively impacted mother-tongue education and have endangered many of Nigeria’s indigenous languages. The desire to learn English has also given rise to the pluricentric power of English, which has seen English “nativised” in Nigeria. Advocacies for the revitalisation and development of indigenous languages have followed the top-down perspective. However, I propose a bottom-up approach for developing indigenous languages in Nigeria. The study argues for the reawakening of the linguistic consciousness of Nigerians towards their languages.
... For ethnic minority groups such as the Sibe, their language attitude influences their practice of maintaining or managing their mother tongue language, the values and statuses they assign to it, and their willingness to preserve or promote it. As Adegbija (2000) argues, language attitude is a user's 'evaluative judgement made about a language or its variety, its speakers, towards efforts at promoting, maintaining, or planning a language, or even towards learning it ' (pp. 76-77). ...
... In this paradigm, language attitudes are seen as both resources and outcomes of meaning-making and social positioning processes. Studies have been conducted from a variety of angles, such as attitudes toward ethnicity, language varieties, accents and supra-dialectal norms, and language policy among the speakers of particular languages (Adegbija, 2000). This approach emphasises individual and group differences in the nature of language attitudes (Dragojevic et al., 2018;Edwards, 1999Edwards, , 2011. ...
This paper reports on a study of 148 Sibe youths and their parents from the Charbuchar Sibe Autonomous County of Xinjiang, North-western China, investigating their attitudes toward their mother tongue. Language attitude questionnaires that looked into the youths’ and their parents’ perceptions of their mother tongue’s solidarity (friendliness, beautifulness, usefulness and learnability), status (significance in the country, in economic development, in daily life and in cultural wealth) and vitality (including linguistic, extralinguistic and related factors) were used to collect data. The results show that Sibe youth were more pessimistic than their parents about the solidarity and vitality of the Sibe language, but shared their parents’ optimistic perceptions of the Sibe language’s status. Parents’ attitudes differed by education, income, profession and residence, with high-income, highly educated parents in urban centres holding more pessimistic attitudes than low-income, rural parents. Students’ attitudes also varied by gender and grade levels, with girls being more positive than boys. The findings suggest that concerted efforts in school, home, and communities, especially in urban communities, must be devoted to bridging the intergenerational gaps in language attitudes. Emphasis should also be placed on supporting youths,’ especially boys,’ ethnic identity and affirmation.
... In Burkina Faso, this distance is particularly marked through the insistence on using only French and through the imposition of a French model judicial system. 22 The systematic, continuing marginalization of African languages on all levels of the educative system brought the population to believe African languages are unfit for technical, administrative, judicial, scientific or generally intellectual communication 27 . University students prefer a communication in French to a conversation in an African language, because speaking French makes their utterances more pertinent, they say 28 . ...
... Patrick was hired as agent de liaison by the appellate court in 2009. 27 In 2013 the Burkinabe government decided to put into action the law concerning language use in court, which had been ratified in 1999. But recruiting court interpreters was a challenge since the profession as such does not exist -there are no interpreting studies offered in Burkina Faso teaching African languages or court interpretation. ...
... In spite of the intricate components proposed in the above-mentioned models of language attitude and their overlaps and sharing boundaries, the present survey research draws on the language attitude and identity conceptualisations formulated in Adegbija (2000). Adegbija maintains that: Language attitude will be seen from a broad perspective which accommodates evaluative judgments made about a language or its variety, its speakers, towards efforts at promoting, maintaining, or planning a language, or towards learning it … attitudes could be observable or internal, or both simultaneously; temporary or lasting; or, of a surface-level or deep-rooted nature. ...
... For this purpose, initially a pool of items was generated based on the theoretical and empirical studies in attitude studies in the literature (e.g. Edwards 1999;Adegbija 2000). Afterwards, the items were given to a panel of experts to make sure about the relevance and appropriateness of the items. ...
This survey research investigated the attitude of Iranian Azeri native speakers towards Azeri language. A questionnaire was developed and its reliability was estimated (r = 0.74) through a piloting phase on 54 Azeri native speakers. The participants, for the main phase of this study, were 400 Azeri native speakers with different social and educational backgrounds and from some densely Azeri-populated provinces in Iran. They completed either the online or the printed version of the survey, the results of which indicated that Iranian Azeri native speakers have a high level of positive attitude towards their mother tongue in spite of the negligence of this language in the Iranian educational system. The results of this study are discussed from a sociopolitical standpoint and their implications for the Iranian context are provided.
... Esta marginalização, além de desenvolver atitudes negativas em relação às línguas e culturas locais (cf. Adegbija, 2000;McGroarty, 2010), perpetua, na comunidade, a ideia de que esta não tem voz em assuntos formais. Este facto contribui para que a comunidade não se sinta dona da escola e, por sua vez, a escola continue como uma ilha dentro da comunidade (cf. ...
In this article I explore the relationship between language, education and community. Based on the concepts of linguistic citizenship and funds of knowledge, I analyse education for citizenship in Mozambique, specifically the empowerment of communities and their knowledge in bilingual education as one of the impacts of the ideological and political orientations that govern the recent educational reform in Mozambique. Combining Linguistic Ethnography and Discourse Analysis, I discuss to what extent bilingual education in Mozambique allows communities to participate as active agents in education. This study is part of a lager ethnography research implemented in 5 rural primary schools of Matutuine and Manhiça Districts in Maputo province. The research involved 35 teachers, 5 school managers, 6 focus groups with parents and other community members and 2 representatives of ADPP-Mozambique. The study found that (i) communities have little participation and agency in the teaching and learning process, (ii) the school and its knowledge continue to be overvalued to the detriment of the communities and their knowledge
... This may be alluded to the fact that many people have a poor attitude to indigenous languages. Hence, it is only those who are favourably disposed to indigenous languages would be able to handle programmes that make use of it (Adegbija, 2000). Hence, human resources are likely to be scarce in respect to anchoring programmes that are aired through indigenous languages. ...
Nigeria has over 500 indigenous languages, out of which only three (Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba) are emphasized by the government in its education policy to be studied from primary up to junior secondary school level. As a result, curricula are developed in these three language subjects and books are published to meet the educational needs, translating into the gradual extinction of other indigenous languages. Unfortunately, however, serious politicking is being played within the three major languages by their original speakers, such that each of the three languages is not developing beyond the geopolitical zones where it is spoken as the primary language of communication due to unhealthy ethnocentric rivalry among the speakers of the languages. This makes it difficult to have an acceptable Nigerian language beyond the geopolitical zones where it is used as a medium of communication. Nigeria should re-trace its steps in the direction of indigenous language development through the formulation of indigenous language policy. There should also be a research and development center in the three major Nigerian languages and in all the recognized Nigerian languages that have achieved some level of codification. The government should encourage and subsidize publications in the local languages through loans to publishers and bulk purchases by the government.KeywordsIndigenous languageLanguage politicsDevelopmentPublishing
... The aggregate of opinions prior to the twenty-first century denote that attitude was traditionally circumscribed to include three, cognitive, affective, and behavioral components, with different models offering their own terminological version of the same framework (e.g., Agheyisi and Fishman 1970;Baker 1992;Edwards 1982;Fasold 1984;Mantle-Bromley 1995). Later postulations of the concept, including Adegbija (2000), have also tried to append a social-constructivist element to definitions of attitude and have stressed its evaluative nature as well as its covert and fluid dimensions. What is missing in these early definitions of attitude is probably its societal and political nature which are being incrementally highlighted in a poststructuralist world of contradictory and sometimes conflicting identities, especially when it comes to minority groups exposed to power practices of a larger political constituent. ...
... Attitude is often used as a general concept for "belief" or "knowledge" and "evaluation" (Adegbija, 2000). Attitudes do not only come from the internal aspects of the individual but also involve things brought by the closest group. ...
... As underlined in diverse studies about the attitudes towards languages in Nigeria (Oyetade, 2001;Igboanusi and Peter, 2005;Adegbija, 1994Adegbija, , 2000, while many Nigerians prefer to employ the vernacular languages in familiar situations, Nigerian Pidgin (NP) has been gaining ground in other contexts. This has been recorded in different literary productions. ...
Forensic Linguistics is a domain focused on the scientific study of language with forensic purposes. It is a recent adopted area
in Spain, which is generally defined as the interface between language and the law. Three main aspects are usually highlighted in
this subject: language of the law, language of the legal process, and, finally, language as evidence. This last field is one of the most
interesting nowadays, especially from the forensic phonetics area, which is bounded to forensic speaker identification. The workshop
given at VII Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Lenguas Modernas presents roughly what Forensic Linguistics is, and which are
their main working areas. Below, we introduce the main techniques related to forensic phonetics and speaker identification. These
techniques comprehend the ‘combined analysis/method’, which is considered the most appropriate one and which is composed
both for a traditional perceptive linguistic analysis based on articulatory phonetics and for the application of automatic voice
statistical analyses. Attendees will have to face the author identification of an oral emission by using the analytical application of the
techniques shown during the workshop.
... Deriving from this understanding, we argue for a move towards studying language attitudes with attention to the sociolinguistic realities of language communities. In line with previous research of this type (Adegbija, 1994(Adegbija, & 2000Ahn, 2017;Angelovska, 2018;Baker, 1992;Chun-Chun Yeh, 2014;Garrett et al, 2003;Garrett, 2010;Palfreyman & Al-Bataineh, 2018;Santello, 2015;Ting, 2003) which addresses factors such as group vitality, bi/multilingualism, language status, ethno-diversity, language planning in shaping language attitudes, our study stresses that agents' positionality is key to understanding their language attitudes. While focus/foci is both the entitative and ecological impetus which propels agents' language attitude or evaluation, positionality is the complex, everchanging societal space which they occupy in their sociolinguistic reality. ...
This study investigates language attitudes expressed by public university students in India at various layers of agentive positionality as an integral part of their dynamic language ecologies. This is achieved through the qualitative analysis of three focus group interviews conducted at three public universities in India with the object of eliciting the students’ language attitudes towards English and its use in India. This research perceives students as agents and explores their attitudes in the context of a language ecology Such an enquiry into language attitudes forms a part of a broader exploration into the nature of agency, agentive responses and their situatedness in an LPP context. It adds to existing scholarship on LPP by reinterpreting the meaning(s) of agency with a critical focus on ‘ground-up’ descriptions of language experiences. In this study, the researchers argue that nvisible language planners’ as Pakir describes,and interested stakeholders such as university students, provide a critical basis for the study of LPP in context. The authors argue that agency is multi-layered, and that agentive positionality is relative to agentive foci. Such reconfigurations of agency mark a shift from the view that language policies are the starting point for understanding an LPP ecology.
... As underlined in diverse studies about the attitudes towards languages in Nigeria (Oyetade, 2001;Igboanusi and Peter, 2005;Adegbija, 1994Adegbija, , 2000, while many Nigerians prefer to employ the vernacular languages in familiar situations, Nigerian Pidgin (NP) has been gaining ground in other contexts. This has been recorded in different literary productions. ...
The objective of this paper is to describe the communicative functions of US judgments and Spanish judgments on intellectual
property rights. Thus, first we will describe the macrostructure of US judgments and Spanish judgments individually, and then we will
check the similarities and differences between them in order to identify patterns that could be useful for professional translators as
well as for translation students. The analysis is based on two independent corpora. The first corpus includes thirty original judgments
from the United States (176,821 words) and the second corpus includes thirty original judgments from Spain (111,818 words). The
results of the analysis show that even though in the comparison of both corpora we can find some similarities concerning content,
there are important differences regarding form. It is due to the fact that formal comparison between parallel documents issued by
counterparts from different countries only shows relative similarities, as macrostructure characteristics follow the legal tradition of
each culture (Garofalo 2009: 232, en Pontrandolfo, 2012: 57.) This is the case of the countries included in this research, the United
States and Spain, since they not only show differences in their national legislation, but they also belong to two different legal systems
with different historical and cultural backgrounds: Common Law vs Civil Law (Borja Albi, 2005: 66).
... As underlined in diverse studies about the attitudes towards languages in Nigeria (Oyetade, 2001;Igboanusi and Peter, 2005;Adegbija, 1994Adegbija, , 2000, while many Nigerians prefer to employ the vernacular languages in familiar situations, Nigerian Pidgin (NP) has been gaining ground in other contexts. This has been recorded in different literary productions. ...
This book is a sample of the current approaches to Translation and Interpretation Studies that are covering a wide range of realities, from professional practice to the newest lines of research and teaching. The structure respects the conventional division between disciplines and the 20 chapters of this volume are organized in 2 parts: (1) General and Specialized Translation and (2) Interpretation. I hope that this volume will help to give a renewed perspective on Translation and Interpretation Studies. (Anne Bécart - Seville, 15th December 2017)
... Interestingly, many advocates of the promotion of the indigenous languages are academics (such as Adegbija 2000, Obeng 1997), whereas proponents of English language tend to be non-academics, e.g. reporters for newspapers. ...
Throughout the last decades corpus-based analyses of New English varieties have become extremely popular, but African varieties have been largely neglected in this research domain for the lack of available data. This study focuses on morphosyntactic variation in "Educated Ghanaian English", more specifically, on variation in the domains of tense, modality and aspect (TMA). It analyzes the use of the Progressive and the modal WILL in Ghanaian English as compared to British English on the basis of a collection of spoken texts gathered during fieldtrips in Ghana in 2008 and 2010 as well as data from different text categories from the International Corpus of English (ICE).
Using methodologies from quantitative corpus linguistics, probabilistic grammar and discourse analysis, the study not only offers analyses of the frequency and the variation of TMA constructions across syntactic and lexical contexts but draws particular attention to their uses in discourse.
The results are discussed in the light of previous research on TMA use in contact varieties of English and New Englishes in particular. Particular usage patterns are suggested as potential candidates for typical West African English features, which should be further analyzed in future comparative studies.
... chapter 8). Adegbija (2000) lucidly outlined the nature of a "bedevilling dilemma" that language and language-ineducation planners feel confronted with when it comes to medium-of-education policy in Africa: no matter which decision is taken in favour of either the mother tongue/national language or the foreign/official language, it will send out "wrong messages" (cf. Adegbija 2000: 316 ff.). ...
... While there is a scarcity of studies on linguistic culture as a comprehensive overarching concept, there appears to be abundant research on different aspects of language attitude (Bresnahan et al., 2002;Garrett, 2010;Giles & Billings, 2004). The use of the term linguistic culture is rare and Schiffman seems to be the only major scholar using the term, but language attitude studies are relatively widespread with studies conducted in a variety of contexts and through a variety of approaches (e.g., Adegbija, 1994Adegbija, , 2000Al-Zidjaly, 2008;Dailey et al., 2005;Saah, 1986;Sellner, 2003). ...
Traditional top-down conceptions of language policy and planning have been questioned by recent perspectives that advocate more localized accounts of language policy concerns in real-life social contexts. Schiffman’s (1996) conception of
linguistic culture
is one of these bottom-up approaches, which focuses on covert language policies. This study investigates some aspects of such covert orientations of speakers of the Mazandarani language towards their local vernacular in the bilingual Mazandarani–Farsi context of northern Iran. It specifically attempts to explore the current linguistic culture atmosphere in terms of assumptions, prejudices, attitudes, and stereotypes with regard to Mazandarani. These aspects of public belief are particularly investigated as referring to language use in ‘social situations’, ‘professional contexts’, ‘education’, and ‘media’. A group of 106 participants responded to a questionnaire that was aimed at eliciting their views on these linguistic culture domains as well as their ‘attitude’ towards Mazandarani. The study indicates that although the participants show very positive emotional attitudes towards their local language, their actual linguistic culture appears to be strongly in favor of the official national language, i.e. Farsi. Some concerns are raised as to the implications of such a
loving-but-not-living
linguistic culture for a more realistic understanding of language policy and planning.
... (Primary Education, Paragraph 19e and f) Pupils attend the primary school for six years from age six to eleven and are supposed to acquire bilingual education. Although the desire for the acquisition of bilingualism and biliteracy has been so clearly expressed politically, several factors have prevented the successful implementation of the programme; these include people's beliefs, attitudes and behaviours in languages as well as numerous problems in the educational system (Mohammed 1995, Adegbija 2000, Bamgbose 2001). ...
This study describes the orientations and responses of three major participants in the education system, viz. headteachers, teachers and pupils to the roles assigned to the mother tongue (in this context, Yoruba) and English in nursery education in Nigeria. It investigates the opinions and attitudes of headteachers as well as classroom practices of teachers and pupils in the school environment in relation to the national education policy that the medium of instruction in nursery education should be principally the mother tongue or the language of immediate community. The data for the study were derived from four sources: a tape recorded interview of selected head teachers on the roles of languages at the nursery level of education in the country; a questionnaire that requested information from teachers on the topic; casual observations of the language(s) of communication by teachers and pupils inside and outside the classroom in the school compound; and reading tests for pupils in Yoruba and English. The results of the study showed that, contrary to the policy, English served as the medium of teaching all the subjects. Although the headteachers and teachers were aware of the language policy, they ignored it for personal and societal reasons. The pupils generally read pictures well in both English and Yoruba, but some of them could not read the English sentences well.
This article reflects on the role of parents' and carers' attitudes in the (re)formulation of language policies on bilingual education in Maputo province in general and in Manhiça district in particular. Its specific objectives are (i) to identify the role of attitudes in the development of language policies; (ii) to survey the attitudes of parents and guardians when their children are placed in bilingual education classes; (iii) to analyse the attitudes of parents and guardians towards bilingual education. The methodological approach we followed is qualitative-interpretive. In this approach, we focus on the complexity of parents' and carers' perceptions and attitudes as they emerge, without predefining variables to obtain qualitative data. We used interviews and observation of the attitudes shown by parents and carers when approached about integrating their children into bilingual education classes as data collection techniques. The data was analysed using the content analysis method, which is seen as an instrument of communication analysis techniques (Bardin 2011, 1995).
The study was a formative programme evaluation in nature. It was carried out using an established evaluation model—CIPP Model to ascertain how the indigenous language radio stations or radio stations that are using indigenous languages for their programmes are faring. Specifically, this study evaluated a programme known as Asa ati Ise Ile Yoruba (The customs and traditions of Yoruba people) on Poly Ilaro 92.1 FM. Qualitative approach was used. In-depth interview was used to gather data from the presenter of the programme and a few listeners that the researchers were able to reach were interviewed. Twenty-four episodes of the programmes were content analysed as well. The study revealed that the objectives of Asa ati ise on Poly 92.1 FM were well spelt out to reflect the advocacy and struggle to decolonize media space and revitalize indigenous languages, customs and traditions. Financial and material resources were inadequate for the programme and the presenter was the only one handling the programme since its inception in July 2020. The items treated so far were in line with the objectives of the programme but only that the programme dwelt more on the sixth objective of the programme than others. However, the study revealed that listeners were always at home with the programme and it has significant impacts on them and such impacts of the programme were noticed especially in the area of homes and families. The presenter should consider touching on other objectives of the programme in order not to be one sided. The presenter should also involve experts to discuss issues on the objectives of the programme to avoid the monotony of weekly presentations. Also, varieties could be included in the programme such as quiz competition, treatment of Yoruba ancient and significant events.KeywordsPoly Ilaro 92.1 FMIndigenous language radio stationsYoruba languageRevitalizationDecolonizationProgramme
Education is a mind builder and should be taken as a matter of importance in any nation. Following this, the curriculum designer is responsible for building learners’ minds. Seen through this lens, this theoretical article intends to project the importance of community schools in conflict-stricken Ambazonia against the backdrop of the French curriculum. Education guidelines are addressed with reference to language planning, policy, and implementation. Additionally, the paper seeks to explain the current situation in Ambazonia and make arguments regarding the community schools’ guidelines that aspire for multilingualism, where indigenous languages are taken seriously in teaching and learning. Another point discussed is the transitional authority (Ambazonia Transitional Authority), which was put in place to deal with implementing education guidelines and administrative issues. The paper concludes with the argument that what we think must be transformed into what we do and be shown by what we have done.
Language attitude research is crucial for a deeper understanding of New Englishes. However, the most common attitude research methods often cause problems when applied to New Englishes contexts. We discuss the benefits and challenges of different methods used in two attitude studies on the perception of linguistic variation in Jamaica and Trinidad. Five major issues arise out of the discussion: the careful consideration of abstract labels, the need for contextualized research and authentic source material, the limited view of written data collection with closed questions, the crucial role of the researcher, and the opportunities of mixed-methods research. These conclusions are particularly relevant for research on New Englishes but also for language attitude research in general.
The aim of this study is to investigate whether the form of English spoken by Nigerian newscasters enjoys the status of a standard in Nigeria. The study employs a verbal guise test and a questionnaire to measure the attitudes of 137 Nigerian participants towards the variety of English used by Nigerian newscasters. The findings show that an exonormative orientation is still present in Nigeria: both British and American English accents are preferred over a Nigerian one for Nigerian newscasters, and a British accent is perceived to be more prevalent than a Nigerian one in Nigerian newscasting. However, the results of the verbal guise test demonstrate that there are very positive attitudes towards all Nigerian newscasters’ accents. The results also show that neither gender nor a stay abroad has a significant effect on Nigerians’ attitudes towards newscasters’ English, but that the age group of the participants significantly influences their evaluations: the older participants rated the newscasters’ English accents higher than the younger ones. Overall, the findings of the study suggest a limited potential of Nigerian newscasters’ English becoming a model of English in Nigeria, as British English as an exonormative norm seems to continue to play a major role.
O português vernáculo de Angola tem-se mostrado, com certa incidência, com uma morfologia aglutinante. Por isso, este estudo tem como objetivo a análise dos processos de formação de neologismos resultantes de hibridismos entre as línguas nativas angolanas e o português. Estes neologismos têm-se mostrado produtivos e enriquecedores para a variante do português falado localmente, a qual congrega elementos vernaculares referentes às línguas bantu e morfemas latinos incorporados através da única língua oficial em Angola. Servindo-nos, principalmente, de recolhas de vocábulos em obras literárias de referência, as quais constituem os corpora do presente estudo, apresentamos cinquenta neologismos híbridos, tendo por base o quimbundo, o umbundo, o tchókwe, o quicongo e formantes afixais latinos. Estes neologismos constituem um aporte de natureza deverbal, deadjetival e denominal que resultam das adjunções interlinguísticas. Com este estudo, pretendemos compreender a sistematização e operação a que os falantes procedem ao longo dos tempos, considerando as variedades linguísticas locais.
Research on bi- and multilingualism in connection to language aptitude has primarily shown that they are mostly positively related. Yet, learning a foreign language is not only associated with a person’s language aptitude, but language attitudes can also play a vital role. Having a high language aptitude does not necessarily result in acquiring a language more easily than someone who is highly motivated to learn a specific language and whose language attitudes regarding that tongue are positive. Thus, it seems reasonable to investigate both language aptitudes and language attitudes, especially of a minority group such as Burgenland Croats, as it could be argued that their minority language, Burgenland Croatian, is facing language death. Given previous research on bi- and multilingualism, it was assumed that bilingual Burgenland Croats have a higher language aptitude than monolingual Burgenland Croats. Additionally, because of their assumed closer affiliation with Burgenland Croatian and its corresponding culture and tradition, it was deduced that they have a more positive attitude towards their minority language. These hypotheses were tested by means of the MLAT Part V, as well as the LLAMA_B (online version) and an attitudes questionnaire. Calculations were done by using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 23). The research has shown that bilingual Burgenland Croats have a more positive attitude towards their minority language.
Employing ethnographic tool of inquiry in the current study, we explore Azerbaijani-speaking parents’ decisions on their own language practices and their children’s trajectories of language development in Ardebil where Azeri is the heritage language and Farsi enjoys official status. To this end, interview sessions up to 200 minutes were held with fourteen families from different socio-economical background; four upper class, 5 middle-class, and 5 lower-class families. The criteria for the classification of the families were the geographical places of their residence in the city, occupation, and level of education. Interview questions revolved around the themes, namely, parents and children’s language knowledge and practices, literacy practices within families,and attitudes towards the mainstream and heritage languages. The results suggest that on the one hand, in spite of the participants’ disparate socioeconomic background they had a strong attachment to their heritage language, Farsi is value-laden, and Azerbaijani is still the dominant language of the families and society despite of the varying patterns. This, however, does not entail that family intra-communications occurs in vacuum as the invisible forces projected on the families by nationwide language policies oblige the families to conform to the mainstream education and official language policies. In this respect, families’, particularly mothers’ language practices and accordingly ideologies as well as management strategies are touched and work for the upward social movement and economic advancement of the children. On the other hand, when social class is taken into account, inclination toward mother tongue increases as the social class rank with proletariat. This implies a relationship between parents’ education, social, and economic background and their surroundings to mainstream government policies.
Cet article a pour but de présenter une partie des résultats d’une recherche portant sur les représentations sociales de la réussite scolaire dans un pays dit en voie de développement . Une étude de cas a été menée au Gabon auprès de lycéens, d’enseignants et de parents vivant en milieux urbain et rural. Fondées sur la théorie des représentations sociales de Moscovici ainsi que sur la typologie de Rivière, Sauvé et Jacques (1997, 2002), des entrevues semi-dirigées ont été réalisées auprès de 23 élèves, 19 enseignants et 19 parents. Les données, analysées à l’aide du logiciel Alceste , ont permis de montrer la diversité des représentations sociales de la réussite scolaire au Gabon en fonction du rôle social (élève, enseignant, parent), du genre, du milieu géographique et des résultats scolaires. Les résultats mettent aussi en lumière une certaine confrontation entre ces représentations sociales, selon que la réussite scolaire est vue comme une condition pour la réussite financière, professionnelle, sociale ou personnelle.
Despite the vast research conducted on linguistic hegemony, linguistic inequality, multilingualism and multiculturalism in Cameroon, very little has been done in advertising as it reflects language representation. Much of the research has focused on the linguistic hegemony and privileging of French and English in administration, politics and education. The 1996 Constitution of Cameroon proclaims English and French as the two official languages and, as far as indigenous languages are concerned, the Constitution only states that they will be ‘promoted’ and ‘protected’. But, in effect, indigenous languages are marginalised. One of the areas in which this marginalisation and inequity is evident is in advertising. Leaving out advertising in indigenous languages, among other things, denies many Cameroonian speakers access to information in their vernaculars, and opportunities to participate in higher level, formal discourses of advertising. This article is mainly qualitative and examines the current state of affairs regarding print advertising in the city of Douala in Cameroon. For data collection, advertisements captured through the aid of a digital camera as well as a semi-structured face-to-face interview were utilised. The findings revealed that to bring about equitable advertising in Douala, the skewed current tradition of advertising in dominant varieties of English and French should be transformed to include the use of major indigenous languages.
La complessità contemporanea è anche complessità linguistica, che si manifesta in svariate e anche vistose forme di plurilinguismo. Per comprendere ed organizzare in modo organico e coerente lo spazio linguistico che ci circonda è necessario addestrarsi alla raccolta, all’analisi e all’interpretazione dei segnali linguistici in esso presenti, ed acquisire, a tale scopo, adeguati strumenti teorici e metodologici. Nei diversi capitoli che compongono questo volume si dà ampio spazio ad una prospettiva empirica che parte da dati familiari e facilmente osservabili, per allargarsi in un secondo momento a situazioni meno note o comunque meno vicine all’esperienza diretta del lettore italiano. Si parte dunque dall’analisi del contesto italiano, già di per sé complesso per la coesistenza di lingua, dialetti, lingue di minoranza e lingue immigrate, per aprirsi ad esempi europei sino a dedicare attenzione ad un ambito tipicamente “esotico”, quello del contesto sociolinguistico africano.
En Afrique sub-saharienne, le passe colonialiste a largement influence les attitudes linguistiques vis-a-vis des langues europeennes et des langues africaines, defavorisant les secondes. L'A. analyse la maniere dont se sont operes des changements dans ces attitudes, allant vers une appreciation plus positive des langues africaines indigenes, en accord avec les changements sociaux et economiques survenus dans cette partie du continent africain. La reconnaissance des minorites linguistiques est directement liee a tous les aspects du developpement humain et au respect de la diversite culturelle
This paper captures the life histories of two West African pre-service teachers pursuing their education in the United States. Based on a larger study examining the life histories of 45 undergraduate pre-service teachers, these narratives focus specifically on international student experiences in the US. Grounded in Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, capital, and field, the life histories of Bakar and Selma illustrate how their capital and habitus become contingent on the field(s) (i.e. sites, time, and agents within a specific context) in which they are situated. The narratives of Bakar and Selma captured their early educational experiences, teacher preparation practices, and future possibilities as they moved in and out of different fields where the exchange of capital occurred, which then led to restructuring and/or de-valuerization of certain habitus. The experiences of Bakar and Selma heighten our awareness of the capital and habitus deployed in a variety of contexts – fields – in the US and elsewhere. We conclude by incorporating discussion focused on working with international teacher candidates.
This study examines prospects and challenges of the teaching and learning of Nigerian languages in the information age. Studies have shown that the future of indigenous languages and indeed Nigerian languages in the 21st century is uncertain in the face of Information Technology and globalization (Adegbija, 2004; Jibril, 2004). With the encroachment of foreign languages like English and other predator Nigerian languages, which perform social, cultural, economic, and political functions for speakers, it becomes necessary to seek for ways to promote their use, expand their functional domains, and thus maintain Nigerian languages. In recent times, a number of initiatives that indicate a renewed interest in developing Nigerian languages have been undertaken in areas such as book publishing, speech technology, and Information Communication Technology (ICT). While the effects of these efforts are yet to be felt in terms of an upturn in the dwindling number of speakers, it is also a fact that there is the need to develop a new approach to the teaching and learning of Nigerian languages to support these initiatives, to attract learners, and to meet the demands of the 21st century society. This article discusses strategies from an education-oriented perspective for achieving this goal which are: 1) performing a needs assessment of the job market, 2) adopting a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, and 3) expanding functional domains of Nigerian languages.
Identity has become the watchword of our times. In sub-Saharan Africa, this certainly appears to be true and for particular reasons. Africa is urbanising rapidly, cross-border migration streams are swelling and globalising influences sweep across the continent. Africa is also facing up to the challenge of nurturing emergent democracies in which citizens often feel torn between older traditional and newer national loyalties. Accordingly, collective identities are deeply coloured by recent urban as well as international experience and are squarely located within identity politics where reconciliation is required between state nation-building strategies and sub-national affiliations. They are also fundamentally shaped by the growing inequality and the poverty found on this continent. These themes are explored by an international set of scholars in two South African and two Francophone cities. The relative importance to urban residents of race, class and ethnicity but also of work, space and language are compared in these cities. This volume also includes a chapter investigating the emergence of a continental African identity. A recent report of the Office of the South African President claims that a strong national identity is emerging among its citizens, and that race and ethnicity are waning whilst a class identity is in the ascendance. The evidence and analyses within this volume serve to gauge the extent to which such claims ring true, in what everyone knows is a much more complex and shifting terrain of shared meanings than can ever be captured by such generalisations.
This paper examines death prevention names among the Ibibio in South-eastern Nigeria, from their structural perspectives. Ibibio death prevention names can generate and maintain some level of assurance and security that is vital for a child's survival, given the implicit assumption that spiritual forces of some kind are at work. These names are believed to link their bearers to their past, ancestors and spirituality. This paper argues that these names represent enriching morphosyntactic properties that provide a window to the grammatical description of the Ibibio language. Their syntax is not constrained to a limited set of structures, thus they are structurally versatile and open ended, representing the various types and functions of sentences in the Ibibio language. The paper concludes with the claim that, in addition to the referential contents and metaphysical presuppositions of these names, they have other formal structural properties that distinguish them from ordinary Ibibio names.
Contemporary Bali Nyonga is a rapidly growing town of over 80,000 in habitants, sixteen kilometres southwest of Bamenda, the capital of the North West region, Cameroon. If Cameroon has been aptly referred to in many circles as Africa in miniature, then Bali Nyonga, since its founding in the mid 19th century is emblematic of this so-called multicultural region. This book is about change in Bali Nyonga, but it is also about change in a typical postcolonial African setting grappling with a challenging new world reality. It aims to provide cutting-edge analyses of cultural change in Bali as well as inspire a new kind of scholarship in the Cameroon Grasslands - championed by indigenous intellectuals. The contributors to this volume come from diverse academic backgrounds and as will be evident in the various chapters, their disciplinary perspectives have largely shaped their approaches to the topics under study. Hence, this book draws on anthropological, theological, literary and media studies perspective.
There have been serious concerns over the endangerment of small and indigenous languages all over the world. These languages are fast losing their domain and functions, which signals their impending death. This study examines the degree of the endangerment of a group of some related speech forms tagged Arigidi Cluster spoken in small communities in SouthOWest Nigeria. The study was conducted in line with the UNESCO expert model designed specifically for measuring the endangerment level of any language. Findings from data collected through interviews with native speakers of the speech forms revealed that they are critically endangered because their speakers now prefer Yoruba and English to the speech forms due to social factors. This study further confirmed the fears being expressed over the possible death of several worlds' languages in the next century. The study concluded that saving languages like those under Arigidi Cluster will definitely be a herculean task.
Most language documentation efforts focus on capturing lexico-grammatical information on individual languages. Comparatively little effort has been devoted to considering a language's sociolinguistic contexts. In parts of the world characterized by high degrees of multilingualism, questions surrounding the factors involved in language choice and the relationship between 'communities' and 'languages' are clearly of interest to documentary linguistics, and this paper considers these issues by reporting on the results of a workshop held on sociolinguistic documentation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Over sixty participants from Africa and elsewhere discussed theoretical and methodological issues relating to the documentation of language in its social context. Relevant recommendations for projects wishing to broaden into the realm of sociolinguistic language documentation include: a greater emphasis on conversational data and the documentation of naturally occurring conversation; developing metadata conventions to allow for more nuanced descriptions of socio-cultural settings; encouraging teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration in order to extend the scope of sociolinguistic documentation; collecting sociolinguistic data which can inform language planning and policy; and creating opportunities for training in sociolinguistic documentation. Consideration of sociolinguistic language documentation also raises significant questions regarding the ways in which Western language ideologies, which have been especially prominent in shaping documentary agendas, may be unduly influencing documentary practice in other parts of the world.
This study examined the effect of age, gender and socio-economic status on attitudes of Malaysians of Chinese descent towards their Chinese dialect and Mandarin, the standard Chinese language. A survey of 300 Chinese (150 Foochow and 150 Hokkien) living in Kuching, Sarawak was conducted. Their Chinese dialect is valued as an ethnic marker but does not derive its importance from numerical dominance or status of ingroup members. The Foochow and Hokkien participants are significantly different in their attitudes on the importance of their Chinese dialect and Mandarin, and their pride in using these languages but are similar in doubting the instrumental value of their Chinese dialect and Mandarin, feeling embarrassed for not speaking the Chinese languages, and valuing their Chinese dialect as an ethnic marker. Factor analyses identified four and six factors which explained 75.85% and 77.32% of the variance for the Foochow and Hokkien participants’ attitudes respectively. The Foochow participants have more homogenous language attitudes than the Hokkien participants. Gender did not have a significant main effect on the language attitudes of both groups but age significantly influenced the Hokkien participants’ attitudes. Socio-economic status has significant main and interaction effects on attitudes of both the Foochow and Hokkien participants.
This article investigates death prevention names among the Ibibio in south-eastern Nigeria from ethnographic and ethnopragmatic perspectives. Ibibio death prevention names can generate and maintain some level of assurance and security that is vital for a child's survival given the implicit assumption that some kind of spiritual forces are at work. These names are believed to link the name bearer to his/her past, ancestors and spirituality. The article argues that these names are not just ordinary labels or markers of identity but are of immense supernatural relevance, influencing among other things the notion of personhood, ethnocentrism, and celestial events. Ibibio death prevention names are pointers to the Ibibio social universe and cultural experience and give insights into their indigenous values, belief system, attitude, and emotions. The study aims to enrich ongoing dialogue on ethnicity and identity and illuminate the place of onomastics within a broad interdisciplinary spectrum.
The study examines the influence of gender, age and socio-economic status on attitudes of Foochow and Hokkien towards their ethnic language and Mandarin. The matched guise test results of 120 Foochow and 120 Hokkien participants in Kuching, Malaysia, showed positive attitudes towards Mandarin on all the 15 traits. The Hokkien participants were more positive than the Foochow participants towards speakers of their own ethnic language. Foochow speakers were perceived as loud, and the male Foochow speaker was rated unfavourably on five other traits. Multivariate analysis of variance results showed that gender significantly influenced the Foochow participants' ratings of the wealth of Foochow speakers and the Hokkien participants' ratings of the easy-going nature of Mandarin speakers, the gentleness and solidarity of the male Mandarin speaker, and the height and intelligence of the male Hokkien speaker. Age influenced the attributions of status to the female Foochow speaker and solidarity with the female Mandarin speaker. Socio-economic status influenced the ratings of the most number of traits. Interaction effects were also found. The underlying dimensions loaded onto one factor each for Foochow (easy-going and rich) and Hokkien (formal, strong solidarity) and two different factors for Mandarin, suggesting different stereotypes of dialect and Mandarin speakers.
Through a questionnaire, participant observation, as well as formal and informal interviews, the patterns and determining factors of attitudes towards English and indigenous languages in Kwara State, Nigeria, are investigated. The results reveal attitudinal ambivalence. There are very strong feelings of loyalty and love for the indigenous languages because of their symbolic value as emblems of cultural and national identity. Yet they are not perceived as contributing to the achievement of individual progress. This, along with their low development status, results in low evaluation, especially in the educational domain. On the other hand, English is highly valued for its official roles, its institutionalization as Nigeria’s language of education par excellence, its unifying functions in a multilingual polity and its association with progress. Yet its historical origin as an imposed language has not been forgotten. There are indications that such attitudinal patterns revolve around and have been entrenched through the impact of socio-historical forces, the intriguing and complex social politics of dense multilingualism, the irresistible pressures for vertical social mobility, the functional dynamo of the languages and the natural pressures for individual and community identity and survival. A few implications of the study for multilingual contexts are drawn and the paper concludes with the submission that positive changes in language attitudes often imply fundamental changes in societal structure.