The Vernacularization of African Languages after Independence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3896784 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Herbert Chimhundu (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1993 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 161 |
| Pages | 35-42 |
| Publication date | 1993-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Diogenes (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0392-1921 • E-ISSN: 1467-7695 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/039219219304116104 |
| OpenAlex | W1965572046 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 1 |
To vernacularize a language is to reduce it to a vernacular. In 1953, UNESCO defined a vernacular as the language of a group that is politically or socially dominated by a group that speaks another language. This paper argues that this domination need not be colonial or racial, and that in fact many postindependence African rulerships are more comfortable in situations that are contrived to ensure that the indigenous languages of their own countries continue to be vernacularized. The same foreign language that was used in the past by a racist colonial minority is now used by an indigenous elitist minority to keep the majority disempowered by making grassroots participation in national issues and debates difficult or impossible
Independence (probability theory · Linguistics · Political science · Sociology · Statistics · African history and culture studies · Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis · Mathematics · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |