Language Policy and Economics: The Language Question in Africa

Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu is Professor of Linguistics at Howard University, Washington, DC. He is co-Editor of Current Issues in Language Planning, author of The Language Situation in South Africa (2004), of articles in Chicago Linguistic Society, Georgetown Roundtable on Language and Linguistics, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, Multilingua, Applied Linguistics, World Englishes, Language Problems and Language Planning, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Studies in the Linguistics Sciences, to name a few, and of chapters in edited collections.

“The book provides an in-depth review of historical and current analysis of the language question in Africa and presents a valuable case study combining the tenets of language economics and LPP.” (Weiguo Zhang, Language Problems and Language Planning, Vol. 43 (4), 2019)“This book provides a fruitful resource for understanding most of the core issues of LPP in sub-Saharan Africa … It makes for an informative read and is written in a style that is also accessible to undergraduate students. … Language Policy and Economics is a monograph written not only by one of the most influential scholars on language policy in sub-Saharan Africa, but also by someone who, at least to some degree, is an African language activist.” (Stephanie Rudwick, Slovo a slovesnost, Vol 79 (2), 2018)“The book is well-written, comprehensive, and laudable in its unique focus on language policy and economics. It recognises the contributions, challenges, and solutions involved with language questions in Africa. It provides a new approach for language-policy-and-planning studies around the world by balancing former colonial languages and African varieties through the lens of the author’s model. ... The book is key for continuing treatments of the interactions between policy and practice, with specific emphasis on socioeconomic value in the linguistic market.” (Tianwei Zhang, Journal of Mutilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol. 38, 2017)

• Acknowledgements. -Notes about the author. -Preface. -Foreword. -Introduction. -1 Theoretical Overview. -2 Language Planning and ideologies in colonial Africa. -3 Language planning and ideologies in post-colonial Africa. -4 Globalization, the spread of English, and language planning in Africa. -5 Language planning and the medium-of-instruction conundrum in Africa. -6 Why inherited colonial language ideologies persist in post-colonial Africa. -7 Towards Prestige Planning for African Languages: The answer to the language question in Africa?. -8 Case studies of prestige planning for vernacular languages around the world – Successes and Failures. -9 Conclusion. -References.