Conflict and controversy in the development of the Oromo language

ABSTRACT

The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus has played a significant role in developing the Oromo language. This article investigates the conflict that began in 1995 over the use of Oromo in the church context and its effect on the development of the language. It begins by unearthing the roots of the controversy through a brief historical examination of the church's attempts to develop the language when the vernaculars were proscribed by earlier regimes. The main thrust of the article, however, focuses on the conflict that arose after the change to a democratic government when the situation in Ethiopia became more favourable towards the use of vernacular languages. The article identifies the causes of the conflict, the way in which it was resolved and the effects which it had on the development of the language.

Keywords:

• Ethiopian Orthodox Church
• Evangelical Christianity
• language conflict
• language development
• language planning
• language policy
• language politics
• language rights
• Oromo