Language attitudes today

Attitudes towards languages in Africa can be heard in many debates, but systematic studies are rare and difficult. At least three types of attitudes have to be distinguished as far as English in East Africa are concerned.

The stereotyped notions on English are usually extremely positive. It is seen as “sophisticated” and “superior” (but also as “difficult” and “formal”). Such notions may however have little effect on attitudes towards practical language use and usage in East Africa. Usually East Africans do not really subscribe to language-inherent properties (like English is “cool and impersonal”, “colonial” or “European”), although it may be considered more appropriate for formal and official use than other African languages.

Language is mainly viewed in extremely practical terms, since it is too obvious that English is the international language of science and technology and world-wide communication. Thus international arguments in favor of English are also uncontroversial. Even the great supporter and translator of Kiswahili, President Nyerere of Tanzania, emphasized the importance of English calling it “the Kiswahili of the world”. The real issue is the use (and usage) of English in intranational communication, especially in African schools. Although the first-language principle (based on UNESCO recommendations since the 1950s) is normally accepted by African educationalists, nationally minded Tanzanians support the use of Kiswahili from the first day at school, whereas internationally minded parents in Uganda advocate a “fast track” to English, which had been common at independence. The stage of switching to English is usually after lower primary (four school years) in Uganda and after secondary school in Tanzania, whereas in Kenya it is at the beginning of the four years of secondary school at the latest. The debate is most heated in Tanzania, where on the one hand in recent years many new private secondary schools have advertised English as a medium of instruction, while on the other hand even some universities have proposed teaching in Kiswahili. The same arguments pro and con have been used for decades (cf. Schmied 1991: chap. 7) and they can be detected again in most recent newspaper debates (e.g. in www.ippmedia.com).

In contrast to these debates on practical language issues, attitudes towards African varieties of English are rarely discussed outside scholarly circles. Accepting African forms is hardly openly admitted except in pronunciation, where “aping the British” is seen as highly unnatural. Grammar and syntax in particular are considered the glue that holds the diverging varieties of English together; and international intelligibility is deemed absolutely essential as the major asset of the international language cannot be jeopardized. Thus Standard English with African pronunciation may be accepted as an intranational norm, but Ugandan, Kenyan or Tanzanian English will not be tolerated at least in the near future. On the other hand the theoretical British norm is only upheld and rarely experienced in use in present-day Africa.