Language Decline and Death in Africa: Causes, Consequences, and Challenges

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Multilingual Matters, Jan 1, 2005 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 174 pages
The aim of this book is to inform both scholars and the public about the nature and extent of the problem of language decline and death in Africa. It resourcefully traces the main causes and circumstances of language endangerment, the processes and extent of language shift and death, and the consequences of language loss to the continent's rich linguistic and cultural heritage. The book outlines some of the challenges that have emerged out of the situation.
 

Contents

The Languages of Africa
1
Patterns of Language Use in Africa
16
African Languages as a Resource
32
The Minority Languages of Africa
51
The Endangered Languages of Africa
62
Language Shift and Death in Africa
87
When is a Language Extinct?
95
Language Maintenance in Africa
102
Language Empowerment Measures
115
Institutional Support for Language Empowerment
121
The Future of the African Languages
127
Nationally and Areally Dominant Languages
138
Highly Endangered and Extinct or Nearly Extinct
145
Number of Dominant and Minority Languages
153
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About the author (2005)

Dr. Herman M. Batibo is Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Botswana, Southern Africa. He was born in Mwanza, Tanzania, in 1947. He obtained his PhD at the University of La Sorbonne, Paris, in 1977. His other major publications include Le kesukuma: phonologie et morphologie ([1977] 1985), La Tanzanie: Lâe(tm)ujamaa face aux réalités (edited with Denis Martin, 1989), The Role of Language in the Discovery of Cultural History (1996), The State of Khoesan Languages in Botswana (edited with J. Tsonope, 2000), Botswana: The Future of the Minority Languages (edited with Birgit Smieja, 2000). Professor Batibo is currently the President of the Standing Committee of the World Congress of African Linguistics.

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