Language policy in French colonies and after independence

ABSTRACT

French colonies were created for the benefit not of the indigenous conquered peoples but of the home country. Their borders were set for political convenience and produced a jumble of ethnicities, languages, and cultures. Exploitation came first, and there was generally no attempt to find a workable educational solution to the local diversity. During French rule, a small elite was “assimilated,” educated in French and convinced of its value. Local languages were stigmatized and banned for school use, reducing their status even in the eyes of their speakers. After independence, the French-speaking elite replaced the colonial rulers, applying much the same language policy or in a few cases attempting to establish hegemony for a local variety. Creoles too were stigmatized. However, centralized language policy failed to change widespread traditional language practices: it was not just the pressure of other interest groups, but even more the effects of economic, demographic and political pressures that hindered producing a French-speaking population. Thus, it is not just the competition of various levels of language management, but rather the political and economic weakness that prevents the solution of the language problems first recognized half a century ago.

KEYWORDS:

• Corruption
• war
• ethnic conflict
• elite closure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Bernard Spolsky was born and educated in New Zealand. He earned a doctorate from the Université de Montréal and taught in New Zealand, Australia, England, and the United States before his appointment at Bar-Ilan University in Israel from which he retired in 2000 as Professor Emeritus. He has written 11 monographs, edited 24 books, and published 245 articles and chapters in learned journal and books. He was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship, an honorary D.Litt. from Victoria University, and is a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America.

ORCID

Bernard Spolsky http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2990-5490