Suchergebnisse

In multilingual Cameroon, 247 indigenous languages live side by side with English and French (the two official languages) and Cameroon Pidgin English (the main lingua franca). While the two official languages of colonial heritage dominate public life in the areas of education, administration, politics, mass media, publicity and literature, both the indigenous languages and Cameroon Pidgin English are relegated to the background. This paper is a critique of language policy in Cameroon revealing that mother tongue education in the early years of primary education remains a distant cry, as the possible introduction of an indigenous language in the school system is not only considered unwanted by educational authorities but equally combated against by parents who believe that the future of their children lies in the mastery of the official languages. This persistent disregard of indigenous languages does not only alienate the Cameroonian child culturally, but further alienates the vast majority of Cameroonians who are illiterate (in English and French) since important State business is carried out in the official languages. As regards the implementation of the policy of official language bilingualism, there is clear imbalance in the use of the two official languages as French continues to be the dominant official language while English is relegated to a second place within the State. The frustration that ensues within the Anglophone community has led in recent years to the birth of Anglophone nationalism, a situation that seems to be widening the rift between the two main components of the society (Anglophones and Francophones), thereby compromising national unity. The paper is divided into five major parts. After a brief presentation of the country, the author dwells on multilingualism and language policy since the colonial period. The third, fourth and last parts of the paper focus on the critique of language policy in Cameroon with emphasis first on the policy of official language bilingualism and bilingual ...

We do have nations being described as multilingual, if more than two languages are the official languages, as in Switzerland. In the Ex-colonies, the problem of multilingualism is a little different because of the diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds of the people. The imposed languages serving as unifying forces are not the languages of any one group in the nation. Sequentially, two problems are created in the National Language question. The first is the importation of English into the country, as in Nigeria, as far back as the 15th century; and Lord Lugard's amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates in 1914. Along with this foreign language came its foreign culture. The English Language does not at all qualify as the Nigerian National Language. Secondly, the government incapacitated itself by giving official recognition to only three out of 521 languages (Oyetayo, 2006) and using the derogatory term "MAJORâ€, meaning that all the other, over 518 languages are "MINOR†languages. A titanic criticism on the government is that totalitarian posture, posing instability to the corporate unity of the nation. There is no categorical statement for an indigenous language, taking over from English. Any proposal that does not take into cognizance the multilingual nature of the country is not likely to succeed. To solve this, we propose that the language spoken by the smallest (micro) population in the country be selected. This should be allowed to develop from within, then expand to some other languages in the form of borrowing, as borrowing is a normal consequence of the natural contact of language in multilingual societies.

This article examines the politics of language use of minority groups such as Philippines-born migrants in Australia. In the context of multicultural Australia which celebrates 'difference' but also insists on the dominance of Anglo culture, bi-lingulism of migrant groups raises questions of usability and identity. The Philippines-born community appears to be safeguarded from the birthing difficulties that many ethnic groupings experience. This, however, comes at a price that questions the community's understanding of their identity.