Language Policy in Congo-Brazzaville

  1. Jean Mathieu Tsoumou 1
  1. 1 Universidad Europea de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Europea de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04dp46240

Livre:
The Palgrave Handbook of Language Policies in Africa

Éditorial: Springer Nature ; Palgrave Macmillan

ISBN: 9783031573071,  9783031573088

Année de publication: 2024

Pages: 179-194

Type: Chapitre d'ouvrage

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_9 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAccès ouvert editor

Résumé

The richness of linguistic diversity in Congo-Brazzaville deserves an empirical examination so as to determine the extent to which language policy affects negatively or positively the development process of the country. This chapter overviews the status of language policy in the country. The aim of the chapter is to draw a picture of the different stages of language policy throughout history as well as examine the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of language policy. Accordingly, and although the status of language policy remains unchanged both during and after the colonial era, with French enjoying all high-status and transactional privileges among elites, there is a growing awareness among scholars (especially academics) that having French as the sole official language in Congo-Brazzaville is inadequate. Voices are now being heard in Congress urging and encouraging the use of local languages. This inadequacy is also the reason why on the scale of the most and the least valued languages in Congo-Brazzaville, French and ethnic languages tend to be associated with the two extremes of the same spectrum, where, on the one hand, French is overly the most valued, and, on the other hand, ethnic languages are the least valued. On the practical level, however, the linguistic diversity in the country has turned codeswitching into the norm in almost every conversation. The absence of any provision regarding language use allows the mix of languages, mainly French, Kituba, Lingala, and other ethnic languages, in almost all unofficial business.

Références bibliographiques

  • Calvet, L. J. (1994). Les voix de la ville: Introduction à la sociolinguistique urbaine. Petite Bibliothèque Payot.
  • Fishman, J. A. (2006). Do Not Leave Your Language Alone: The Hidden Status Agendas Within Corpus Planning in Language Policy. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
  • Gumperz, J. J. (1961). Types of Linguistic Communities. Anthropological Linguistics, 4(1), 28–40. (Reprinted In: Fishman J. (ed.), 1968, Readings in the Sociology of Language, (pp. 460–472). The Hague: Mouton. Also translated and reprinted in Spanish and German).
  • Labov, W. (2001). Principles of Linguistic Change. Social Factors (Vol. 2). Blackwell.
  • Liddicoa, A. J. (2004). Language Policy and Methodology. International Journal of English Studies, 4(1), 153–171.
  • Mirvahedi, S. H. (2020). Examining Family Language Policy Through Realist Social Theory. Language in Society, 1–22.
  • Mufwene, S. (2009). Le nom des langues III. Le nom des langues en Afrique sub-saharienne: pratiques dénominations, catégorisations. Naming languages in sub-Saharan Africa: Practices, Names, Categorisations, Louvain-la-Neuve, Peeters, BCILL.
  • Myers-Scotton, C. (1993). Social Motivations for Codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford University Press.
  • Ndamba, J. (2000). Des Véhiculaires aux vernaculaires à Brazzaville: la ville et les changements de fonctions linguistiques. Le Plurilinguisme urbain, 17, 135–145.
  • Ndamba, J. (2008). Evaluation dialectométrique des langues et dialectes du département du Kouilou. Revue gabonaise des sciences du langue, 4, 7–25.
  • Ricento, T. (2000). Historical and Theoretical Perspectives in Language Policy and Planning. Journal of SocioLinguistics, 4(2), 196–213.
  • Samarin, W. (1991a). Official Language: The Case of Lingala. .
  • Samarin, W. (1991b). The Origins of Kituba and Lingala. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 12, 54–56.
  • Spolsky, B. (2007). Towards a Theory of Language Policy. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 22(1), 1–14.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2018). Codeswitching in Computer-Mediated Communication Among Congolese People. Complutense University of Madrid dissertation.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2019a). English as an International Language: English/French language: Alternation in Politically Motivated CMC in Congo-Brazzaville. The Journal of English as an International Language, 14, 94–117.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2019b). Communication Accommodation Amongst Facebook Users. Huarte de San Juan. Filología y Didáctica de la Lengua, 19, 1–32.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2020). Analysing Speech Acts in Politically Related Facebook Communication. Journal of Pragmatics, 167, 80–97.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2021a). Shaping sociolinguistic practices in Congo-Brazzaville. In P. Morales, H. P. Peinado, & E. Y. P. Alcázar (Eds.), Estudios Lingüísticos de Jóvenes investigadores (pp. 15–128). Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha Cuenca.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2021b). Politics and Social Media: An Examination of Verbal Aggression in Politically Motivated Digital Discourse. International Journal of social media and Online Communities, 13(2), 22–43.
  • Tsoumou, J. M. (2023). Impoliteness Among Multilingual Facebook Users in Congo Brazzaville. Journal of Politeness Research, 19, 521–555.
  • Yocum, T. (2014). Loba Lingala! An English Guide to the Language of Kinshasa. Sampson Low Ltd, Kins.