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The development of French in Africa | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| stout Senior Member Ireland Joined 5372 days ago 108 posts - 140 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 105 of 135 16 November 2011 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think that having a good knowledge of French is very useful for many African countries
especially in North Africa and West and Central Africa too. Like Spanish is useful for Central and South America.French is essential in many African states and serves as a lingua franca too.Especially in the North African countries. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 106 of 135 16 November 2011 at 5:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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As has been mentioned earlier, a number of observers have remarked, some alarmingly, that the French language is receding in Senegal where the indigenous language, Wolof, has become the de facto national language. This is quite an interesting development that may be a harbinger of things to come in other countries. For those who are not familiar with the history of Senegal, it must be mentioned that Senegal enjoyed a privileged position in the French colonial system and Dakar, the capital, was also the capital of all of French West Africa. Senegal was often called la perle de l'Afrique francophone and produced the largest contingent of the educated French-speaking African elite. A former president, Léopold Sedar Senghor, is considered a major poet in French and was the only African member of the Académie française.
A lot of effort has been put into the teaching of French in Senegal. The challenge of course, as everywhere, is how to teach a language that is so difficult in an environment where it is neither the maternal language nor the language of everyday use. As late as 1998, a researcher looking at the difficulties of teaching French in Senegal had this to say: "Pour conclure, disons que le français est et restera encore pour plusieurs générations la langue officielle du pays. Mais il est souhaitable que la politique de revalorisation des langues nationales soit plus hardie et les méthodologies d’enseignement du français renovées et adaptées à la réalité sociolinguistique du pays. Pour bien gérer sa francophonie, le Sénégal doit tendre vers l’application des décisions politiques qui recommanderaient une éducation multilingue. C’est dans cette perspective seulement qu’on éviterait de « métisser » le français et qu’on limiterait le processus de sa restructuration par les langues nationales. Un bon enseignement du français qui tiendrait compte de la norme endogène après un travail de normalisation et une « bonne » politique éducative, et qui donnerait aux langues nationales la place qu’elles méritent dans le tissu éducatif sénégalais, favoriseraient – à n’en pas douter – la réalisation d’un bilinguisme équilibré chez les jeunes Sénégalais. C’est là, nous semble-t-il, la façon d’inscrire le français dans le multilinguisme et la clé du succès de la francophonie non seulement sénégalaise mais aussi africaine." source All the government policies on the place and teaching of French are still in place, but what has become evident ten years later is that French has been replaced by Wolof as a common language and is restricted basically to official functions. This process has been accelerating and, not surprisingly, there has been considerable moaning and groaning in education circles about the decline of the knowledge of French. I don't want to go into a lengthy analysis of what is taking place, but there are a couple of things that are relevant to our debate on the future of French in all of so-called French-speaking Africa. 1. The Wolof emerging as the common national language is in fact a mixture of French and Wolof, typically with many borrowings from French into the Wolof language. 2. Wolof had historically been a dominant language in the region. 3. Despite all the history, the French language had never penetrated deeply into Senegalese society. "Quant au français, il demeure une langue étrangère parlée par 15 % à 20 % des Sénégalais et par à peine 1 % à 2 % des Sénégalaises. Il est la langue maternelle d'une minuscule élite constituant tout au plus 0,2 % de la population du pays. On peut se demander pourquoi le Sénégal compte-t-il un si haut taux d'analphabètes en langue française. Il faut se rappeler que 55% des jeunes Sénégalais vivent dans les régions rurales et que très peu d'entre eux fréquentent l'école, les enfants étant considérés comme des bras supplémentaires pour le travail dans les champs. C'est ce qui pourrait expliquer que 80 % à 90% des jeunes ne parlent pas le français. Par ailleurs, 82 % des Sénégalais vivant en milieu rural ne savent ni lire ni écrire aucune langue. Cela dit, le français au Sénégal n’est plus perçu comme la «langue du colonisateur», mais plutôt comme une «composante du patrimoine linguistique national»" source 4. The rise of linguistic nationalism and a sense of national identity 5. An increasing rejection of France and its colonial linguistic heritage. I would like to stress the last two factors because I think they hold the keys to the future dynamic of French in Africa. This is a complex and touchy issue. There are those who hold that French will become a maternal language for many Africans and that we will see a day when there will be French-speaking African countries just as there are English-speaking Canadians, Australians, British, Jamaicans, etc. Different accents and countries but the same language. This direction corresponds to the interests of France and Quebec. The big unknown here is the future of the indigenous languages, Will they be wiped out by the spread of French? Will they coexist with French? When we hear that 92% of the population of Kinshasa speaks French, what does this say about the local languages? The other direction is along the lines of Senegal. Standard French remains the usual official language but there emerges an indigenous national language with considerable borrowings from French. This is where delicate questions of national sentiment, culture and identity enter into account. French is inevitably associated with France, an expat population and a tiny eurocentric elite that all dominate the political and economic life of these countries. I would also add that the French language, unlike English and Spanish, has a long history of extreme centralization of its norms and of very negative attitudes to deviation from so-called proper usage. Given this mix, it is only inevitable that there will develop language forms associated with perceptions of resistance against foreign domination. Edited by s_allard on 16 November 2011 at 6:05pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Haldor Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5616 days ago 103 posts - 122 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish Studies: French, Spanish | Message 107 of 135 16 November 2011 at 5:41pm | IP Logged | ||
Could I, as the tpic starter, perhaps reach a conclusion that French is, or might be, becoming a first language, and therefore permanently settled in some countries, like Caméroun, Gabon and Côte d'Ivoire, but losing terrain in Sénégal, Rouanda and the Arabic coutries. So the development is indeed uneven and uncertain, just like the future of French? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 108 of 135 17 November 2011 at 7:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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As we reflect on the future development of French in Africa, I couldn't help thinking about the situation of Haiti. Is this an example of something that could happen in Africa? Haiti has two official languages, French and Haitian Creole. Is Haiti a francophone country? According to one position in our discussion, the answer is probably: YES. I would certainly add BUT. Here is the Wikipedia entry for the French language.
"French is one of Haiti's two official languages. It is the principal language of writing, school instruction, and administrative use. It is spoken by all educated Haitians and is used in the business sector. It is also used in ceremonial events such as weddings, graduations and church masses. About 10-15% of the country's population have French as their first language; the rest speak it as a secondary language in varying degrees of proficiency from basic level to fluent. The second official language is the recently standardized Haitian Creole which is spoken by virtually the entire population of Haiti. Haitian Creole is one of the French-based creole languages, drawing the large majority of its vocabulary from French, with influences from West African languages, as well as several European languages. Haitian Creole is closely related to Louisiana Creole and all other French creoles." If we were to replace "Haitan Creole" with "African languages", this description could apply to many so-called francophone countries. Yes, Haiti is francophone, but standard French is spoken (with a notable accent) by a small minority. Compare this to the situation of hispanophone neighbouring Dominican Republic where 99% of the population speaks Spanish. But leaving aside questions of definition of francophone, it is interesting to look at the political dynamics of the situation in Haiti. And here as well, the situation resembles Africa. This is what a professional linguist has to say about the language and education in Haiti. "SINCE THE devastating earthquake in Haiti in January, international agencies have committed billions of dollars to build a better educational system and create a level playing field. But one crucial aspect of Haitian history must be considered — one that revolves around language. Creole is the only language spoken and understood by all Haitians, and the majority speak Creole only. Yet, the language of instruction in schools is French. Schoolchildren are penalized for their use of Creole, even though the State’s national curriculum prescribes its use in primary schools and even though the Haitian Constitution states that “Creole and French are the official languages.’’ The use of French as the language of instruction excludes around 90 percent of Haitians for whom French is an inaccessible foreign tongue. Students are mostly taught and tested in French, and most textbooks are in French. Yet most teachers are not fluent in French. . . . To this date, Haiti is a state of “linguistic apartheid.’’ Haitians who speak only Creole are often treated as second-class citizens. Nowadays, NGO cluster meetings, where the allocation of billions of dollars of international aid is under discussion, are conducted in French and English, excluding the majority of Haitians — those who need the most aid. As a linguist and native speaker of Creole, I know that the language can express complex and sophisticated concepts. The patterns of development of Creole structures find analogues in the history of languages such as English. Contrary to popular claims, Creole does not isolate Haitians from the rest of the world. In the Americas, more people speak Creole than French, and in the Caribbean, the language has the second-most speakers, after Spanish. Thus, it is French that would isolate Haitians from their neighbors, and it is Spanish or English, not French, that should be promoted as a link between Haiti and its neighbors. Besides, there are countries with populations smaller than Haiti’s, such as Albania, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, and Norway, whose native languages are the languages of discourse within these respective nations. French should be taught as a foreign language for Haitians, with Creole as the language of instruction. That way, all academic subjects could be adequately taught.There have been timid and unsuccessful efforts since the 1980s to use Creole in the schools. More recently, a few linguists and educators have been working with schools that already use Creole, alongside innovative technology as another indispensable tool. Our goal is to promote accessible, collaborative, child-friendly, child-centered, inquiry-based and hands-on learning as an overdue substitute for the age-old and oppressive rote-memorization of French texts that most students and teachers do not understand. This is an uphill battle. Without the design and enforcement of a well-structured array of Creole-based and technology-based curricular reforms and teacher training, billions of dollars of international aid will go into the rebuilding of schools that will enlarge the cruel divide between the few haves and the millions of have-nots." source Doesn't all this also apply to much of Africa today and even tomorrow. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 109 of 135 19 November 2011 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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As I continue looking into this issue of the future of French in Africa, all sorts of information keeps cropping up. As previously discussed ad nauseam, much of our debate has centered on the definition of what it means to "speak French" or to be "French-speaking" or "francophone" in countries that are officially French-speaking but with the presence of important indigenous languages. One of the interesting observations emphasized in nordantill's posts has been the spread the French as a maternal language in those countries where the indigenous language diversity is extreme and where no local language has emerged as a competitor to French as a the lingua franca. Thus we are seeing the emergence of monolingual French-speakers.
The most often cited example of this is the Cameroons where I will quote nordantil: "OK, I could probably go on giving more examples, but the it should be obvious by now that A: French is becoming a native language for a large number of young Cameroonians. And B: This not something that just concerns the elite. In Yaounde, as pointed out above,youths aged 10-17 used French in Seventy percent of their communication at home, a third of them are monolingual French speakers! The amount of French used has also increased compared to their parents, so we can see in which direction this is heading." Part of our debate has centered on just exactly what kind of French is emerging in this environment where a number of indigenous languages are or were present. Although everybody accepts the fact that there will be some local "colour" in Cameroonian French, the assumption is that all these French-speakers will know standard French as well. The status of Cameroonian French will be just like that of Québécois French. As I mentioned earlier, that status of the indigenous languages is rarely discussed, the assumption being that they are disappearing as French becomes the maternal language. I always find it amusing that at all these summit meetings of the Francophonie the role of these indigenous languages is hardly ever mentioned other than in some soporific statement about respecting a national heritage. Personally, I've always had the feeling that the dominant thinking is that the indigenous languages will just fade away and become minority languages like Breton or Occitan in France. The sociolinguistic reality of the Cameroons and all these countries where French is supposedly becoming the maternal language of a large part of the population is that there is considerable variation of the French spoken. Nor surprisingly, the most standard French is spoken by the local educated elite that has the most interaction with the large French expatriate population. Then, as we go down the social hierarchy of class, wealth and education the language becomes more localized and more influenced by the interactions with the indigenous languages. Knowledge of standard French will spread as the population becomes more educated. The fundamental question that is often swept under the carpet, especially in the world of official Frencophonie, is how does French, the former colonial language, relate to national identity. As I have mentioned so often, everywhere else in the world but in Africa, the official national language is historically rooted in local geography and political history. We saw that after independence from France the North African countries switched to Arabic as official national language although French has remained a very important daily language. There is no doubt that despite all the advantages of French as a language of international communication and modernization, Arabic was perceived as the vehicle for nation-building. In subsaharan Africa, the official position is that French will be the language of nation building. Will it work? It probably can. The issue is in what form. All these issues, and especially the rise of Cameroonian French, are discussed in this 2003 article by two local linguists: "Le Français au Cameroun Contemporain : statuts, pratiques et problèmes sociolinguistiques SUMMARY A "heritage" of French domination in Cameroon, French was imposed as an official language thereby shifting to the status of secondary functions the national languages ; hence the question of the interactions between the belittled national languages and the over valued French language. As a result French is undergoing various phenomena of appropriation determined by interferences due to linguistic substratum despite an impressive lexico-semantic and stylistic creativity by the speakers who use it. And yet, in the light of the prevailing situation of polyglossia, one notices that French cannot really cater for the authentic national identity of Cameroon. This calls for an inovation language policy which should redefine a balanced relationship, in the domain of sociolinguistics, in terms of complementarity and/or partnership and no longer in terms of the domination of official languages over national languages." source Edited by s_allard on 19 November 2011 at 4:41pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 110 of 135 19 November 2011 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just as a follow-up on my previous post, I would like to point to an excellent article on the French of Côte d'Ivoire, a country often cited as an example of the high penetration of French due to considerable local language diversity. Here is an article on the emerging norm of Ivoirian French.
La norme endogène du français de Côte d’Ivoire BOUTIN Béatrice Akissi vendredi 20 juin 2003 La norme endogène du français de Côte d’Ivoire : mise en évidence de règles différentes du français de France concernant la complémentation verbale BOUTIN Béatrice Akissi Université Toulouse 2 Le Mirail Résumé : L’appropriation du français, largement acquise par la population ivoirienne francophone, autorise à parler d’une norme systémique endogène en train de s’instaurer, qui est plus proche du français vernaculaire ivoirien que de la norme prescriptive exogène. La gestion pédagogique de cette situation de variation du français est une question d’ordre pratique, qui demande une résolution avant tout pratique, c’est-à-dire linguistique. Cet article montre que l’on peut proposer aux enseignants, aux éditeurs, et à toute personne s’intéressant à la langue, une description syntaxique de la variation du français en Côte d’Ivoire, en rapport avec le français de France. En effet, le français de Côte d’Ivoire ne peut plus être considéré comme une forme subnormée de français, mais comme une forme nationale de français à part entière, avec ses règles, ses récurrences et ses particularités. L’exemple de l’étude de la complémentation verbale montre qu’une même grammaire peut expliquer des faits concernant le français de France et des faits concernant la norme endogène du français de Côte d’Ivoire. Abstract : In the Ivory Coast, the French-speaking population has largely appropriated the French language to the extent that one can say that a systemic endogenous norm is little by little starting to settle in. This variety is closer to vernacular Ivory Coast French than to the exogenous prescriptive norm. The way in which language pedagogy should handle this variable French language situation is a practical issue, which requires above all a practical solution, i.e. a linguistic one. The article shows that a syntactic description of Ivory Coast French could be made available to teachers, publishers and anyone interested in Ivorian French, in relation to French of France. Indeed, Ivory Coast French can no longer be considered as a subnormative variety of French, but should instead be viewed as a national form of the language in its own right, with its rules, its recurrent structures and its specificities. The example provided of the study of verbal complementation shows that a single grammar is capable of explaining the facts of French of France as well as those relating to the endogenous norms of Ivory Coast French." I draw attention to the statement, "This variety is closer to vernacular Ivory Coast French than to the exogenous prescriptive norm." Indeed, what we are seeing here, as everywhere including the Cameroons, is the emergence of a widespread variant of French based on the popular street language. I suspect that given the very strong tradition of linguistic centralization and disdain for regional variation in France, the relationship between prescriptive French of the local elites and the nonstandard French of the masses is going to be an area of conflict in the years to come. source 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Haldor Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5616 days ago 103 posts - 122 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Swedish Studies: French, Spanish | Message 111 of 135 19 November 2011 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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You state in your previous article that French cannot possibly cater the national identity of Cameroon. Here, I think you're wrong. First of, what about Spanish (or Portuguese) in Latin America. Here' there's nothing more Mexican/ Colombian or whatever than speaking Spanish, but with a local accent. It's the same with the US. Here, English served as the mean for nation building. And, today there's nothing more American than speaking English, as long as it's spoken with an American accent. Indeed, the American has become the most recognized one, worldwide.
I think you're right about Sénégal, which has one dominating local language. It's fair to promote Wolof at the expense of French, since it is the language used by the majority. In Côte d'Ivoire, I can find no such language, since there are so many, not in Cameroon either. Promoting one national language would mean discriminating all the others, even with Dioula, which only has about some millions native speakers. It leaves you with a problem regarding the communication with foreigners, African or not, who don't speak this language, and would probably have a very hard time learning it, given that there are little material available. In the African countries, people need one unifying language to overcome regional differences and promote development. One cannot possibly promote all the indigenous languages and have more official languages. Yes, in Norway, we have two, but they're in fact different orthographies for the same language. Our problem is that we have one language with a lot of different dialects. If you ask me, the policy of two languages is just ridiculous, since they're so close, and it has no practical use whatsoever. I mentioned Norwegian, since you used it as an example in an earlier post. On Norwegian at least, my knowledge superceeds yours. The question that I ask myself, after having read all the posts is why the French government doesn't put more resources into promoting the French language in Africa, given the economic importance of Africa. This would be good both for the development of Africa and the sake of the French language. At least in the cities where a lot of people have started speaking some form of French as a first language, I think French could be promoted further, making it the first language of a large part of the population and a true national language. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lecavaleur Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4778 days ago 146 posts - 295 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 112 of 135 19 November 2011 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many of these French countries were created 'de toute pièce' by colonisation, carelessly regrouping several different ethnic nations and mother tongues on a same territory. That is why there is no one national language. S-allard has been using the plural 'national languages', but how many nations do you know of that have more than one national language? Norway really doesn't count because Nynorsk and Bokmal are two forms of a same language. It's as if Québec had French and Québécois as the 'two national languages'.
Look in your own back yard. Canada has two official languages, but it is incorrect (or at least highly debatable) to call it a 'nation'. It is a country with at least two nations (if not more). A country can have several languages but a nation cannot. If a country like the DRC wants to eventually become one nation (and I'm not saying it ever will), that will take one national language. It will either have to be an indigenous one or a exogenous one. It really doesn't matter which. French has the added benefit of being a language of science and business (like English), which is a status and importance most African languages do not enjoy. All in all, it doesn't seem to me like French is going anywhere but up in Africa. In my book, it probably has a brighter future there than here in Québec unfortunately. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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