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Sozinho F. MATSINHE
Executive Secretary, African Academy of Languages
(Bamako, Mali)
African Languages in Cyberspace: Challenges and Prospects
One thumb alone cannot crush a louse
African proverb
Introduction
The advent of Cyberspace marked the dawn of a new era in the development
of human languages. More and more human languages are gaining space
and research is deepening. More cooperation amongst scholars across the
globe is strengthening than ever before and more networks amongst them
are also established. In short, Cyberspace has lent a fresh impetus to the
development of human languages. However, many factors, including the lack
of proper language policies; regulations, and business inspired interests have
effectively excluded African Languages from Cyberspace. The Mozambican
daily newspaper, Noticias, in its issue of 2 October 2012, while citing a report
on the world stage of the use of broad band and digital inclusion launched
in New York recently, points out that the vast majority of Africans have
no access to the internet. Similarly, Prado (2012:34), in his paper entitled
Language Presence in the Real World and Cyberspace observes that 22 :
Barely 5% of the world’s languages have a presence in cyberspace,
and among these few, there are still considerable differences. Only
a tiny handful of privileged languages offer a genuine production
of content.
This paper takes a holistic approach to the language issue in cyberspace.
Specifically, on the one hand, it calls for fair language and regulatory policies
that take into account the African Linguistic Mosaic and, on the other, it
argues that ACALAN, as the sole language agency of the African Union
entrusted with the task of fostering the development of African languages
in collaboration with the member states, should play a pivotal role in the
process of allocating proper space to African languages in cyberspace.
22
Prado, Daniel (2012). Language Presence in the Real World and Cyberspace. In NET.LANG: Towards the
Multilingual Cyberspace. MAAYA NETWORK: C&F Éditions: 35-51
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