The Shifting Interpretations, Limited Reach and Great Symbolic Power of Ethnonationalist Visions
from Part I - Revisiting Models and Theories of Language Standardization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2021
Standard languages have high symbolic significance but little actual use in highly multilingual national contexts. This chapter explores the tension between the reification of fluid language use into codified languages and fluid and variable communicative practices in speech and writing in a number of African sociolinguistic settings. Starting with the observation that the notion of standard languages and of the ethnolinguistic groups using them goes back to the colonial period, I proceed to investigate different visions of language as they emerge from the writing conventions and language visions of colonial/anticolonial actors from this time, focusing on a case study on the West Afrian Manding cluster. I continue to explore attitudes to purity and standardization in contemporary scripts and language policies and in written and spoken language use, also including so-called mixed registers such as Urban Wolof and Sheng. I end the chapter by presenting innovative approaches to bypassing the standard (yet maintaining compatibility with it), focusing on the LILIEMA programme for inclusive education in a highly multilingual region of Senegal.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.