1
Language
III. Language
22. Josef Schmied, The Colonial Inheritance (1991)
From: Josef Schmied, English in Africa: An Introduction(Burnt Mill, Harlow: Longman, 1991), 6-22. – While the presence of English in Africa goes back to the mid-16th century, colonial language policies with regard to utilizing and teaching English in Britain’s African colonies only emerged in the 19th century. In the first chapter of his authoritative study, Josef Schmied, a renowned linguist who has published widely on English in Africa, provides a succinct overview of British language policies in Africa and their legacies for the postcolonial present.
When the British were finally drawn into the ‘scramble for Africa,’ which took place in the early 1880s and ended with the partition of Africa among the European imperial powers at the Berlin conference in 1884, formal imperial rule was established in all territories. This meant, of course, that an English-speaking superstructure was imposed with appropriate administrative, legal and educational substructures.
The administrative, legal and educational language in the British African colonies, protectorates and dependencies was English; but to a certain extent African languages were also used officially, and at times even encouraged, at the lower levels. The relationship between English language expansion and British imperialism was not, however, a straightforward one. On the one hand British colonial officers had to learn African languages before they went to Africa, and their subsequent promotion depended to some degree on passing African language tests.[1] On the other hand even non-British missions often started English classes either because they wanted to obtain special government grants that were only available for English-medium education or because they wanted to cater for Africans who wanted to ‘complete’ their education.
From an African perspective English had some advantages. People soon realized the usefulness of English for economic advancement, and saw English as being synonymous with education in general. This position, that Africans willingly took to English, is not undisputed however. There is a school of thought that argues that English was imposed on Africans, for example through a system of ‘certification.’ English, according to Omolewa (1975), was not really made compulsory, but to obtain government employment Africans had to have a certificate – and in order to obtain a certificate a candidate was expected to be reasonably proficient in English.[2]
The colonial perspective is reflected in the report of a commission sponsored by the Phelps-Stokes Fund, based on a visit by the commission to West Africa in 1921 and to Central and East Africa in 1925/25. The report neatly summarizes the aspects deciding the issue of languages in education […]:
[…]
1. The tribal language should be used in the lower elementary standards or grades.
2. A lingua franca of African origin should be introduced in the middle classes of the school if the area is occupied by large Native groups speaking diverse languages.
3. The language of the European nation in control should be taught in the upper standards.[3]
These principles remained more or less the same in most parts of British Africa during the whole of imperial rule, but the weight given to them changed, causing modifications from more paternalistic to more assimilationist approaches in different territories and by different colonial governments. The better integration of the African perspective, or what the colonizers saw as that, is reflected in general development theory as well as in language policy […]. After the First World War, Lord Lugard, Britain’s most influential African administrator, developed his Dual Mandate, which implied that the colonial powers had an obligation, not merely to govern justly, but also to promote the colonial peoples economically and politically.[4] The combination of African languages for the lower ranks and English for the higher ones also reflects the Dual Mandate. On the whole the British were by no means completely pro-English in their language policies, which were admittedly rather ad hoc and sometimes inconsistent.
For a long time British administrations in Africa did not want to invest much money in the education of Africans. It was thus left to ‘voluntary agents,’ and therefore the influence of the missions on language in education was very significant. In consequence missionary language policies, which were often more consistent than those of the colonial administrations, came into being. Generally speaking, Protestants tended, in accordance with their tradition since the Reformation, to favour African mother tongues in church and school, while Catholics favoured the European language, if there was no major African language or lingua franca available.[5] [...]
After the Second World War, which had shown the logistic value and economic possibilities of African colonies, and after the independence of India (in 1947), it became clear to the British that self-government (within the framework of the Commonwealth) would one day also come to Africa. And although they thought, despite growing African resistance, that it might still take half a century, they started putting their African colonies on the path towards modernization. Although this strategy was obviously aimed at securing British political and economic influence, it gave African countries a boost towards development. Besides extensive agricultural and industrial schemes an expansion of educational systems began. Whereas before the war generally apathetic colonial governments managed to provide two to four years of schooling for perhaps a quarter of their young citizens,[6] now secondary schools were expanded and a few universities founded: University College of the Gold Coast for what became Ghana, Ibadan for Nigeria and Makerere in Uganda for East Africa. The English language was considered a key factor in this strategy, as can be seen from the following document:
116. English is important to Africans for three main reasons; as a lingua franca; as a road to the technical knowledge of modern inventions; and a means of contact with world thought.
117. The movement of population and rapid improvement of communications is bringing together people from scattered regions of Africa, so that Swahili (or another major African language, for that matter) no longer has a wide enough spread to be a useful lingua franca, even in East Africa. As the territories develop closer associations the need for English will steadily increase.
118. Africans are avid to secure the technical knowledge and skill which will, they hope, raise them out of poverty and the ever-present fear of drought and famine, and they know that this knowledge in any amount is only available to the man who can read English. Every week new links are forged through trade with the outside world and so the utilitarian reasons for learning English grow stronger.
119. The knowledge of English introduces the reader to the vast storehouse of English literature and indeed of world literature, for more foreign books have been translated into English than any other language. Now broadcasting and films penetrate into the remotest parts and can only be fully enjoyed by those who understand English.[7]
The British post-war policy of modernization was more than ever before conceived and implemented through the medium of English. Since English was straightforwardly equated with modernization it gained enormous prestige. More and more Africans themselves demanded as much English as possible, or petitioned for ‘English as early as possible’ in schools. Now the same disputes between ‘orientalists’ and ‘modernizers’ or ‘anglicists’ in educational administration took place as in India (where they had been fought for almost a century since Macaulay’s famous minute).[8] When African politicians (who had already started to form political organizations like the African National Congress in South Africa in 1912 and the West African National Congress in 1918) joined in this demand for English, as part of their campaign for equal education for Africans, and the abolition of separate education for Europeans, Indians and Africans, they had a second motive, too: for them English was also the language of emancipation and liberation.
The great African leaders like Nkrumah, Nyerere and Kaunda found support for their liberationist ideas from European socialists and philosophers, and began to use the colonizers’ legacy against the colonizers themselves. They adopted the English language because they also needed it to criticize and attack their rulers in international contexts. […]
It is not surprising therefore that the newly independent African Governments continued on their modernizing English-dominated path at least for the first few years after their independence in the early 1960s.[9] Under these conditions it may be less surprising that some commissions even considered whether “literacy in English should be the immediate goal, rather than a subsequent goal after literacy has been achieved in a vernacular”.[10] Although African politicians owed part of their success to the African languages which had been used in ‘grass-root politics’ to mobilize the masses, they did not replace the colonial language at the same time as the colonial system. In fact, the English language proved far more durable than other parts of the inheritance (e.g. the Westminster model of government was soon given up in favour of a one-party system or even military rule in most AfricanCommonwealth states).
Since the time most African colonies gained independence the status of the English language has not drastically changed […]. Despite the withdrawal of the British colonial administration the English language was retained as a kind of oil which kept the administrative, military, political, legal and educational systems running smoothly when the switchboards of power were handed over. It goes without saying that this state of affairs caused controversy in some of the new nations. Sometimes conscious and determined language policies have been used to weaken or strengthen the position of English […] and such attempts are likely to continue. A few general reasons why this part of the colonial inheritance has been so largely retained must suffice here.
For purely pragmatic reasons it was much easier for the government machinery to maintain the linguistic status quo and concentrate on more immediate and acute issues. Whereas after independence many African nations embarked on ambitious modernization programmes, today they are so absorbed in day-to-day problems that they have neither the energy nor the means to attempt fundamental changes in the sociolinguistic situation.
For pure reasons of national cohesion many governments have so far not chosen to use indigenous languages with sub-national ethnic affiliations in a national context, in case this endangers the ethnic equilibrium within the nation. Whereas this is a question of political feasibility in multiethnic nations (e.g. Nigeria or even Gambia), it is one of economic feasibility in smaller nations with their international dependency (e.g. Malawi or Lesotho). Few countries, apart from Tanzania, where Swahili is seen as a supra-ethnic lingua franca, or Somalia, which is exceptional in being a state with only a single ethnic and linguistic groupwith strong national feelings, were in a position to use an African language as a national means of communication; most preferred to rely on other symbols to demonstrate their Africanness and intensify national unity.
For international purposes English has become more, not less, important since colonial times, and this is not only because the influence of the British as the leading world power has in many ways been replaced by that of the Americans. Although for many Africans the feelings about English may subjectively be very mixed, it is an objective necessity for discussing national problems and expressing national points of view in pan-African and international forums (such as OAU or UNO) and for claiming a fair share of international communication processes, be it in the political, economic, or technological fields.[14-21]
23. Lord Charles Somerset, Proclamation(1822)
From: The Cape Town Gazette and African Advertiser, Vol. XVII, Saturday, July 6th, 1822, No. 860: 1.– Somerset was governor of the Cape from 1814 to 1826. An important feature of British imperial administration and control in South Africa was to impose the sole use of the English language.[f1] The Cape was no exception. In the present document Somerset outlines the three-stage process which would lead over a five-year period to the exclusive use of English. This measure should be considered in the light of estimates according to which at the time only one in eight residents of the colony could actually speak English. The Proclamation may also be regarded as the first official step towards establishing the hegemony of English over Dutch and as the first spur to the later creation of the Afrikaans language movement.
PROCLAMATION
By His Excellency, the Right Hon. General Lord CHARLES HENRY SOMERSET, one of His Majesty’s[11] Most Honourable Privy Council, Colonel of His Majesty’s 1st West India Regiment, Governor and Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Castle, Town, and Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa, and of the Territories and Dependencies thereof, and Ordinary[12] and Vice Admiral of the same, Commander of the Forces, &c.&c.&c.
WHEREAS it has been deemed expedient, with a view to the prosperity of this Settlement, that the Language of the Parent Country should be more universally diffused, and that a period should be now fixed, at which the English Language shall be exclusively used in all judicial and official Acts, Proceedings and Business within the same. The long and familiar intercourse which has happily taken place between the good Inhabitants of this Colony,[13] and the very numerous British-born Subjects, who have established themselves, or have been settled here, has already greatly facilitated a measure, which is likely still more closely to unite the loyal Subjects of their common Sovereign. The system, which I had previously adopted, with a view to this exigence of employing British-born Subjects, conversant in both languages, in the parochial duties of the Reformed Religion,[14] as established in this Colony, has likewise paved the way to the amelioration now contemplated.
It has pleased His Majesty most graciously to approve that measure, and to enable me to act more extensively upon it, not only by having commanded Clergymen of the Established Church of Scotland (whose religious tenets are precisely similar to those of the Reformed Church of this Country), who have received instruction in the Dutch Language, in Holland, to be sent hither, to be placed in the vacant Churches,[15] but by having authorised competent and respectable Instructors being employed at public expence, at every principal place throughout the Colony, for the purpose of facilitating the acquirement of the English Language to all classes of society.
These Teachers having now arrived, the moment appears favorable for giving full effect to His Majesty’s Commands: and I, therefore, hereby order and direct, by Virtue of the Power and Authority in me vested, that the English Language be exclusively used in all Judicial Acts and Proceedings, either in the supreme or inferior Courts of this Colony, from the 1st Day of January, of the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-seven and that all official Acts and Documents, of the several public Offices of this Government, (the Documents and Records of the Courts of Justice, excepted) be drawn up and promulgated in the English Language, from and after the 1st Day of January, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-five; and that all Documents, prepared and issued from the Office of the Chief Secretary to this Government, be prepared in the English Language, from and after the 1st Day of January next, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-three; from and after which periods, respectively, the English Language shall, in such judicial and official Acts and Proceedings, be exclusively adopted.
And that no Person may plead Ignorance hereof, this shall be published and affixed in the usual manner.
GOD SAVE THE KING!
Given under my Hand and Seal, at the Cape of Good Hope, this 5th Day of July, 1822.
(Signed)C. H. SOMERSET
By Command of His Excellency the Governor,
(Signed)C. BIRD Secretary
24. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Return to the Roots: Language, Culture & Politics in Kenya (1981)
From:Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Writers in Politics: Essays (London: Heinemann, 1981), 53-65. –Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, novelist, playwright and critical essayist, is one of the best-known African writers today. He was born in Kenya in 1938, studied English Literature in Uganda and Britain and taught at the Literature Department at the University of Nairobi. In 1977, he produced a play critical of the Kenyan Government in his mother tongue Gikuyu and was detained without trial for a year. Following international protests, he was released in 1978, but was banned from academic life in Kenya, and later went into exile, first to Britain, later to the USA, where he is currently Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine. After having gained international fame through novels such as A Grain of Wheat (1967) and Petals of Blood (1977), Ngũgĩ decided to give up writing in English in the late 1970s and to publish his future writings in his mother tongue; in many of his subsequent essays and speeches, he attacked “Europhone” literature in Africa as a legacy of imperialism and advocated a return to Africa’s indigenous languages. While Ngũgĩ is honoured worldwide as one of Africa’s most important writers, his uncompromising Marxist stance and his often outspoken critiques of fellow African writers remain highly controversial in African letters. The following essay is an edited version of a speech originally given at the Kenya Press Club, Nairobi, on 17 July 1979, and Ngũgĩ’s first major statement on the issue of language in African literature.