Nationhood and the Hypothetical Question of Bilingual Education in Cameroon A Sociolinguistic Appraisal

Alobwede E. Charles
Keywords
  • Sociolinguistic, Multilingual Components, Political Efficiency, Multilingual African
  • Abstract:
  • Many African states which had been under the influence of western colonisation before the 1960s, presented many challenges of a sociolinguistic kind at independence. Some of these challenges at the national level received a good deal of attention from the new authorities, while others at the community level were comparatively neglected. One of the most salient challenges these newly independent states were confronted with was the accommodation of their multiethnic and multilingual components within a single political framework. One aspect of this preoccupation was the formulation of specific language policies which attempted to reconcile the importance acquired by a metropolitan language during the colonial rule with post independent aspirations. The difficulties for these states in the choice of a language for common usage stemmed from the fact that most of them were colonised, thus the imposition of a language of administration. Brosnahan (1963) opines that the imposition of an official or administrative language on the homelands of other languages is a phenomenon which has occurred on numerous occasions in human history. A reason for the imposition is the aspect of multilingualism. By the nature of the cases, an authority imposing a language is simultaneously imposing some sort of political unity on the area concerned. If circumstances are favourable, the imposed language, as it percolates down to more and more of the population, may well be influential in the development of the awareness of belonging to a nation which is greater than the village or town of the immediate horizon. In this way, the imposed language(s) may play a considerable role in developing a national consciousness and unity among previously separated or even warring groups.
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Nationhood and the Hypothetical Question of Bilingual Education in Cameroon A Sociolinguistic Appraisal
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  • September 25, 2021
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