Globalization and Language Vitality Perspectives from Africa [Hardcover]

This book discusses the effects of globalization on languages in Africa. In contrast to previous studies, the contributors examine whether or not globalization is affecting African languages in the same ways and at the same rate in different countries, and how local experiences of language change vary from place to place. Rather than seeing English as the 'killer language' par excellence, the contributors probe ways in which languages are being used side by side to complement each other in some contexts while competing against European colonial languages in others. The result is a diverse canvas of language vitality in the African context, including matters of endangerment and loss, through the lense of globalization in its various interpretations.

This book is a must read for students and researchers interested in language change and death and in the fate of European languages in the rest of the world.

ContributorsAcknowledgments 1. Introduction, Salikoko S. Mufwene (University of Chicago, USA) and C?cile B. Vigouroux (Simon Fraser University, Canada) 2. Trajectories of Language Endangerment in South Africa, Rajend Mesthrie (University of Cape Town, South Africa) 3. The Circumstances of Language Shift and Death in Southern Africa, Herman M. Batibo (University of Botswana, Botswana) 4. African Modernity, Transnationalism, and Language Vitality: Portuguese in Multilingual Mozambique, Christopher Stroud (University of the Western Cape, South Africa) 5. The Lives of Local and Regional Congolese Languages in Globalized Linguistic Markets, Eyamba G. Bokamba (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA) 6. Globalization and Sociolinguistic Stratification in North Africa: The case of Morocco, Ahmed Boukous (IRCAM, Morocco) 7. The Ascent of Wolof as an Urban Vernacular and National Lingua Franca in Senegal, Fiona Mc Laughlin (University of Florida, USA) 8. On the Futurology of Linguistic Development, Robert Chaudenson (Universit? d' Aix-Marseille, Franl3<