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On the Decolonisation of African Languages

Mohamed Dellal
Mohamed Dellal § Retired Senior Lecturer
§ Mohamed I University, Oujda

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On the Decolonisation of African Languages

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Abstract

The present paper argues – against all odds – that advocating the rehabilitation of national languages (NL) in ―ex- colonized countries‖, as the case may be with Ngugy‘s call in his now famous book Decolonising of the Mind: the Politics of Languages in African Literature (1981) is a slight of hand as it overlooks a number of factors namely the political, economic, social and ethnic hazards that could follow from such an endeavor. Several arguments are brought forth in support of the claims made by the present paper notably the shortcomings of the arguments brought by such advocates as well as examples of failures of linguistic nationalization policies in ex-colonial countries. Among the basic arguments advanced to that effect are: (i) the language market dominated by the Western languages especially English; (ii) the legacy of the past as an economic factor that should be looked at as an asset rather than a liability; (iii) the politicization of the linguistic issue considered as a stunt done more in pride than in realistic and pragmatic considerations.

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Funding

No external funding was declared for this work.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

No ethics committee approval was required for this article type.

Data Availability

Not applicable for this article.

How to Cite This Article

Dr. Mohamed Dellal. 1970. "On the Decolonisation of African Languages". Global Journal of Human-Social Science - G: Linguistics & Education GJHSS-G Volume 13 (GJHSS Volume 13 Issue 40 (G12)).

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Journal Specifications

Crossref Journal DOI 10.17406/GJHSS

Print ISSN 0975-587X

e-ISSN 2249-460X

Keywords
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GJHSS-G Classification FOR Code: 200399
Version of record
v1.2

Issue date
September 13, 2013

Language
English
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On the Decolonisation of African Languages

Mohamed Dellal
Mohamed Dellal