Kiswahili, a Continental Language: How Possible is it? (Part One)
1995; Volume: 4; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1459-9465
Autores Tópico(s)Multilingual Education and Policy
ResumoAfrican leaders, officials of the Organisation of African Unity, African citizens of the continent and sympathizers of African problems have for many years now been calling for one or more African languages to be used as the continent's official lingua franca(s), for official as well as intra-national business, and other social interactions in place of colonial languages. Among the languages most favoured for this task is Kiswahili. What, it seems, the advocates of the use of Kiswahili as Africa's lingua franca have not taken into account is how far these hopes, aspirations and objectives can be attained satisfactorily. For example, how easy will it be to use Kiswahili for official national business or for intra-national transactions and communication? Another question which is equally relevant is for what purpose will Kiswahili as a continental lingua franca serve? We need to bear in mind that in terms of prestige and social status, education and social advancement, science, technology and international relations, European 'colonial' languages still predominate in Africa and in African affairs. It is undeniable that Kiswahili is a negro-african language of black peoples enriched by contacts with Oriental and European cultures for the expression of 'international knowledge' (c.f. Amidu 1995). Even so, we observe that on the African continent Arabic is predominant in the north of Africa as a lingua franca, Hausa is widely used in West Africa as another lingua franca, Lingala is used in Zaire, Congo-Brazzaville, and the Central African Republic as a lingua-franca, and Zulu is also widely used in South Africa. Apart from these, there are a few lingua francas peculiar to some African nation-states: for example, Akan 1
Referência(s)