31.2204, Review: Applied Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Wolff (2019)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2204. Tue Jul 07 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.2204, Review: Applied Linguistics; Sociolinguistics: Wolff (2019)

Moderator: Malgorzata E. Cavar (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Student Moderator: Jeremy Coburn
Managing Editor: Becca Morris
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Everett Green, Sarah Robinson, Lauren Perkins, Nils Hjortnaes, Yiwen Zhang, Joshua Sims
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Please support the LL editors and operation with a donation at:
           https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/

Editor for this issue: Jeremy Coburn <jecoburn at linguistlist.org>
================================================================


Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2020 17:44:49
From: Troy Spier [tspier2 at gmail.com]
Subject: Language and Development in Africa

 
Discuss this message:
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=36605977


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-1552.html

AUTHOR: H. Ekkehard  Wolff
TITLE: Language and Development in Africa
SUBTITLE: Perceptions, Ideologies and Challenges
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Troy E Spier, Tulane University

SUMMARY

Language and Development in Africa defines and introduces a formal treatment
of the complex relationship among language, education, and development on the
African continent, which is defined by the author as the burgeoning field of
Applied African Sociolinguistics. This book is presented as a handbook
primarily for non-Africans and positions itself as a sociologically grounded,
historically informed approach to language usage in Africa, especially as it
relates to the medium of instruction in educational settings. In pursuit of
this goal, the text is divided into nine chapters of varying lengths, and the
author assumes almost no knowledge of history, sociology, or linguistics.

Chapter 1 begins by arguing that there exists a fundamental distinction
between Western and non-Western thought, especially as it concerns language
usage in Africa. In particular, the employment of a single language allows for
national cohesion in the West; on the contrary, a truly monolingual society
simply has not ever been possible in Africa, even during colonialism. The
conversation then shifts toward the topic of development and suggests that
emulation of the strategies used in other parts of the world, which the author
describes as “copy-and-paste strategies,” cannot possibly be as effective in
Africa without understanding the broader context. The true highlight of this
chapter, however, comes through both the critical examination of nine
assumptions concerning language usage in Africa and also a list of twenty
guiding themes for the reader’s continued consideration.

Chapter 2 provides the bulk of the historical context not only for the
development and perspectives of Afrikanistik and Afrikawissenschaft in Germany
during the last century, but also calls attention to the still widely held
prejudicial beliefs toward the people, cultures, and languages of Africa. This
arrives in the first half of the chapter through anecdotal evidence from the
author’s childhood experiences with encyclopedic entries; in the second half
of the chapter, through discussions of Islamophobia, African heteronomy, and
perceptions before and after the 2010 World Cup held in South Africa.

Chapter 3 starts with an in-depth overview of the discursive construction of
binary oppositions specific to conversations about Africa, e.g. common/exotic,
civilized/uncivilized, and superior/inferior. The further exploration of
terminological issues, especially in the German language, and some of the
common stereotypes fueled by both Eurocentrism and Orientalism are
subsequently engaged. Finally, a brief foray into colonial literature and the
portrayal of Africans leads to a more promising problematization of the
balancing of cinematic portrayals and images of nature, war, violence, and
regional epidemics.

Chapter 4 opens with an argument for the historical and contemporaneous
importance of the African continent, not strictly for being the genesis of the
human species, but also for its clearly documented role in globalization, viz.
with reference to the Romans and Carthage, the expansion of Islam, the West
and East African Slave Trades, and the Congo Conference in Berlin (1884-1885).
Next, the major language families are described, and the instability of their
use in classifying languages is pursued. The author also presents three
noteworthy arguments for the widespread, limited understanding of the
linguistic realities of Africa, viz. overreliance upon orality (as opposed to
reducing the language to writing), the total number of languages on the
continent (c. 2000), and relatively limited scholarship.

Chapter 5 advances the discussion of the complex sociolinguistic contexts
surrounding African language usage, particularly as it concerns nomenclature
(language vs. dialect), the necessary and unavoidable multilingualism across
the continent, and the overuse of non-autochthonous languages, notably in
educational environments. A peripheral conversation emerges, building upon
Chapter 2, that contrasts the development of African Studies and African
Linguistics as distinct fields in Germany and other countries (the USA, United
Kingdom, and France).

Chapter 6 is the longest of the book and engages in an in-depth examination of
the domains of language usage, the political and economic dimensions of
language, the difference between those that are endoglossic or exoglossic, and
the role of language in more applied areas. More specifically, this chapter
presents a cursory discussion of the relationship between language and
education, freedom, identity, societal transformation, economic development,
and power. To this end, the likely candidates for linguae francae on the
continent are introduced, considering possibilities from both the time of
colonialism (e.g. English, French, and Portuguese) and also those that are
distinctly, natively African (e.g. Bambara, Hausa, and Swahili). Finally, the
discussion shifts to more commonly realized difficulties associated with
language usage and education. For instance, there is frequently a disconnect
between the medium of instruction and the language utilized on formal national
assessments; however, even if this not the case, it cannot be assumed that
students and teachers all share the same level of academic competence in the
language, as many speakers of languages can readily converse but cannot
demonstrate sustained proficiency while learning in the classroom.

Chapter 7 begins with a remark that most of the Millennium Development Goals
remain unfulfilled, and the primary cause attributed to this is the role of
language in society. Although former colonial languages can aid in
communication and the standardization of education, the author argues that
monolingual models do not and cannot result in true sustainability, the
effective expansion of the development sector, or genuine national cohesion in
Africa. Next, the chapter turns to the topic of language planning, and the
author states that a regional or national change in language policies will not
lead to greater development without also concurrently realizing a fundamental
shift in perspective, viz. that all languages involved are of equal status and
equally are legitimised to take on any function that any other language within
the system may also take on (254). In this sense, two approaches are
contrasted from different sides of the continent. On one hand, Julius
Kambarage Nyerere, the first President of Tanzania, translated Western
concepts and worldviews into Swahili, e.g. through the literature of William
Shakespeare (cf. Julius Kaisari and Mabepari wa Venisi). On the other hand,
Leopold Sedar Senghor, the first President of Senegal, translated African
concepts and worldviews into French.

Chapter 8 is the shortest, but arguably the most practical and helpful
chapter. It provides, according to the author, '[an] annotated checklist for
instigating and assisting the design and implementation of adequate
language-in-education policies' (270). As such, it ultimately presents the
reader with eight arguments in favor of changing official language policies,
viz. through shifting pervasive, prejudicial views toward Africa and her
languages; and ten steps toward integrating indigenous languages into
education at the national level, e.g. through teacher-training, curriculum
development, and publishing initiatives.

Chapter 9 concludes the book with a final big picture overview of the
languages spoken in Africa. The political and historical definitional criteria
employed to distinguish languages and dialects from one another are described
first, and then the distinction between ‘African languages’ and ‘languages in
Africa’ is advanced from earlier. Finally, numerous tables are presented to
show the distribution of languages by stock, total number of speakers (L1 and
L2), and country or region.

EVALUATION

Language and Development in Africa is generally a very straightforward,
practical guide to broaching the complex linguistic situation across the
continent. Because all but one of the chapters are grounded in the twenty
themes established in the introductory chapter, the reader remains constantly
aware of the overarching goals of this book, viz. to improve and widen
understanding of the complexity of language usage and policies in Africa, and
also to effect change on the continent as it concerns the interaction of
language and development. Furthermore, since this book assumes only very
limited prior knowledge of linguistics, the extensive maps, figures, and
tables serve as effective illustrations of the longer, textual explanations.
Most surprisingly, two other sections are provided to share with the reader
additional scholarly sources for consultation and an exhaustive glossary of
all linguistic terms referenced in the text.

Nonetheless, there are a few areas where the organization and clarity of this
book could be enhanced. Given that language perceptions, policies, and
planning are foregrounded throughout, it seems that the topic of development
itself borders on being peripheral, as it only receives attention in instances
where further exemplification is necessary. As such, development might be
better engaged if many of areas of intersection from Chapter 6 arose as
individual chapters. For example, separate chapters to address ‘language and
education,’ ‘language and the economy,’ or ‘language and identity’ might be
more compelling than interspersed remarks on these topics throughout all nine
chapters. It should be noted that this would not eliminate the value of the
twenty guiding themes, though this would permit a more individualized,
interdisciplinary unification of language and issues related to development
(see e.g. the approaches taken in McLaughlin 2009; Simpson 2008; and Zsiga,
Boyer, and Kramer 2014).

Additionally, although the second half of the book focuses exclusively on
language-related topics, the first half of the book emphasizes almost
exclusively the ways in which Westerners have fatalistically misunderstood
and/or demonstrated genuine prejudice toward Africa. Many of the issues raised
in this first half might be better relegated strictly to the introduction, as
it currently results in a somewhat overly moralistic, potentially uninviting
tone for the same readers who are most in need of this book. Moreover, the
informal narrative writing is not equally effective in all sections, e.g. the
endearing portrayal of Neanderthals benefits from that style of writing, but
the scathing generalizations about many Westerners (and non-Africans in
general) does not.

Finally, the distinction established between 'African languages’ and
'languages in Africa’ is quite unconvincing. While one could certainly argue
that a language like Afrikaans, despite its formation on the continent, is
less perceptually 'African' than Bambara or Swahili, the argument that Arabic
and Malagasy, among others, are by nature categorically distinctive from
endoglossic languages simply is not tenable. If the objective is to empower
speakers to remove colonial languages from their remnant roles in government
and education and to replace them with those autochthonous to the continent,
what language would we realistically have the citizens of Egypt and Madagascar
speak? There do exist numerous points at which the author argues that a
respective mapping of ethnicity, language, and country is not realistic;
however, a more substantive examination of particular institutionalized
language policies could simultaneously alleviate the need for such unnecessary
distinctions and expose the complex underlying ideologies.

REFERENCES

McLaughlin, Fiona. 2009. The Languages of Urban Africa. New York, NY:
Continuum International Publishing Group.

Simpson, Andrew. 2008. Language and National Identity in Africa. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.

Zsiga, Elizabeth C., One Tlale Boyer, and Ruth Kramer. 2014. Languages in
Africa: Multilingualism, Language Policy, and Education. Washington, D.C.:
Georgetown University Press.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Troy E. Spier is a Visiting Ph.D. Researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. He
earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Linguistics at Tulane University, and he
previously earned a B.S. in Secondary English Education at Kutztown
University. His research interests include language documentation and
description, discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and linguistic
landscapes.





------------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************************    LINGUIST List Support    ***************************
 The 2019 Fund Drive is under way! Please visit https://funddrive.linguistlist.org
  to find out how to donate and check how your university, country or discipline
     ranks in the fund drive challenges. Or go directly to the donation site:
               https://iufoundation.fundly.com/the-linguist-list-2019

                        Let's make this a short fund drive!
                Please feel free to share the link to our campaign:
                    https://funddrive.linguistlist.org/donate/
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2204	
----------------------------------------------------------