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The African Linguistic Mosaic
The lighter area of the diagram represents mainly the urban areas dominated
by the former colonial languages, i.e. English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
These languages, though spoken by small minority elite, were retained as
official languages, when African countries achieved their independencies in
the early sixties. As a result, they are associated with power, access to socioeconomic
privileges, including education, justice and well-remunerated jobs.
In other words, they dominate the socio-economic mainstream. As a result,
these former colonial languages are regarded as passports for upward social
mobility and, as such, given preference at the expenses of African languages,
which occupy the darker area of the diagram, representing the rural areas where
the vast majority of Africans live and communicate solely in these languages.
As Negash 23 points out, while discussing globalization and the role African
languages can play in the development of Africa,
African governments and the elite still continue to channel away
their resources and energies into learning ‘imperial’ languages that
are used by a tiny minority of the population.
The preference for former colonial languages has not only resulted in
maintaining the status quo, but has also led to the exclusion and marginalisation
of the vast majority of Africans keeping them on the periphery of the socio-
23
Negash, Ghirmai (2005). Globalization and the Role of African Languages for Development. Paper
presented at the conference “Language Communities or Cultural Empires”, February 9-11, 2005, University
of California at Berkeley.
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