Africa is the most linguistically diverse continent in the world, according to UNESCO. People speak more than 2,000 different languages which is a third of the world's linguistic heritage. Implicit in this great number of languages is the acceptance of multilingualism, the norm rather than the exception in Africa. But it appears something that has not always been the case in post-colonial Africa, since just a little group of States recognizes one or more African languages as official languages in their Constitutions. This originates a gap between a de iure acknowledgement and a de facto multilingualism, since local languages continue to be the main instrument of communication.The aim of this paper is to analyze the paragraphs focusing on languages in some Anglophone Countries Constitutions in Africa, in particular in South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, and to highlight how language rights are guaranteed in such Constitutions.[...]
Language Rights in Africa: a Corpus-Based Analysis of the South African and Nigerian Constitutions
VACCARELLI, FRANCESCA
2010-01-01
Abstract
Africa is the most linguistically diverse continent in the world, according to UNESCO. People speak more than 2,000 different languages which is a third of the world's linguistic heritage. Implicit in this great number of languages is the acceptance of multilingualism, the norm rather than the exception in Africa. But it appears something that has not always been the case in post-colonial Africa, since just a little group of States recognizes one or more African languages as official languages in their Constitutions. This originates a gap between a de iure acknowledgement and a de facto multilingualism, since local languages continue to be the main instrument of communication.The aim of this paper is to analyze the paragraphs focusing on languages in some Anglophone Countries Constitutions in Africa, in particular in South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, and to highlight how language rights are guaranteed in such Constitutions.[...]I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
