[lg policy] Gambia to drop English as 'colonial relic'

[Dave Sayers]

"Gambia will drop English as an official language soon because it is a colonial 
relic, President Yahya Jammeh has said, without indicating which language the tiny 
West African country would use in its place.

"We no longer believe that for you to be a government you should speak a foreign 
language. We are going to speak our own language," Jammeh said in an address in 
English last week that was broadcast on Tuesday."

More here: http://goo.gl/d6j7Ha.

It feels like this might just be posturing. Perhaps they'll just legislate to remove 
'official language' status but continue on with English as de facto language of the 
state. Or take South Africa's lead and make a whole suite of languages co-official? 
Interesting times.

Dave

--
Dr. Dave Sayers
Senior Lecturer, Dept Humanities, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Honorary Research Fellow, Arts & Humanities, Swansea University, UK
dave.sayers at cantab.net | http://swansea.academia.edu/DaveSayers


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