Language policy and economics: The language question in Africa

Is Neo-Liberal Economic Rationalism the Panacea for Africa's Language Policy Dilemmas?

Kamwangamalu's innovative model of 'prestige planning' and the promises it holds for pushing the envelope of the African language policy debate into the domain of economics and development deserve being fully appraised and engaged with. Languages are among the key determinants of success and survival particularly in situations of intergroup competition for access and control of resources and (conquest of) state power. In typical multilingual contexts such as those we find in African countries, access to socio-economic and political opportunities largely depends on access to particular language varieties. This implicates the role and place of language in shaping intergroup relations as well as in determining people's educational, economic and political fortunes. Languages can determine who has access to schools, who has opportunities for economic advancement, who participates in political decisions, who has access to governmental services, and who gets treated fairly by governmental agencies, and who doesn't. Essentially, languages can determine who gets ahead and who gets left behind; they can affect the prospects for ethnic success – for ethnic groups and for individuals in these groups (Brown & Ganguly 2003, Ndhlovu 2013a).