FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W2202484649> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W2202484649 abstract "African states are notoriously multilingual. Few states have actively rationalized language within their borders. ‘Neutral’ European languages have not penetrated widely. This linguistic diversity is widely seen to have a negative impact on economic growth and democracy across the continent. It is assumed that citizens are thus blocked from communicating and participating – connecting with each other and with government – while governments are less able to project power and engage with their citizens. This should therefore inhibit the deepening of democracy. And yet many African languages have spread. Some have spread far beyond the borders of a single state, becoming regional lingua francas, some have spread widely within their home state, becoming a common language among citizens, while others have remained tightly associated with their ethnic core. Probing general patterns for these distinctions, I group them into ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ advantages for languages. Natural advantages would be association with an urban center, location at an ecological divide or trade crossroads, and surrounding of smooth terrain. Unnatural advantages would be spread through war, significant use as an educational medium in areas outside the home region and colonial boundaries wider than an ethnic core. I have chosen two clusters of states in West Africa within which to look at how natural and unnatural factors contribute to language spread and containment (Cluster 1 is Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Western Mali and Cluster 2 is Ghana, Togo, Benin, Western Nigeria).Within these clusters, one can see large languages that have spread across country boundaries (Hausa), those that have spread widely within a single state (Wolof), and those that have remained relatively closely tied to an ethnic ‘core’ (Akan). We generally only have anecdotal or impressionistic notions about the spread of certain languages, but few comparable sources of data. I rely on three sources to obtain a more reliable spread variable: First is Ethnologue, which provides for many smaller languages information regarding whether its speakers are proficient in other languages, whether their languages are vigorous or being replaced by another. Second are country census documents, which often ask respondents their proficiency in first and second languages. Third is the Afrobarometer Survey (2008), which asks respondents the languages they speak well. These sources can be used to physically map the spread of languages within the clusters. My own prior research gives me information on the historical use of these languages as media of instruction, and other scholars have detailed colonial boundaries in West Africa as well providing measures of ecological distinctions and roughness of terrain.This paper is an initial foray into a new project assessing the causes of language spread. Unlike most treatments of language in politics, it is not concerned with the ease of governance or the morality of language preservation. It is more curious about the assumption that governments actually wish to play a strong role in language governance. The goal of the paper therefore is three-fold: 1) to begin to map and assign causal priority to the variables affecting language spread; 2) to claim the weakness of education in relation to other variables; and 3) to offer some reasons for this weakness that go beyond simply criticizing African school systems – in fact to assert that their ‘failure’ may a itself be a deliberate choice on the part of self-serving governments." @default.
• W2202484649 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W2202484649 creator A5026972003 @default.
• W2202484649 date "2013-01-01" @default.
• W2202484649 modified "2023-09-26" @default.
• W2202484649 title "States of Languages and Languages of States: Natural and Unnatural Language Spread in West Africa" @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1484565856 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1485358304 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1491507086 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1494775825 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1518770920 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1525392023 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1586329218 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1598494321 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1603699530 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W164590200 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1971467689 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1971890798 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1985024875 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W1989246932 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2001720557 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2010923085 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2055406681 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2056518002 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2082161520 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2085484704 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2095686736 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2101848792 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2118463881 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2118818832 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2134041940 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2135716883 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2143946730 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2151014135 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2153031584 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2165060880 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2166252715 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2321368015 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2322207893 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2480863250 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2737005956 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2946051250 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W2964120906 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W3125132819 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W3137517380 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W322660391 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W592348338 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W638349717 @default.
• W2202484649 cites W645754353 @default.
• W2202484649 hasPublicationYear "2013" @default.
• W2202484649 type Work @default.
• W2202484649 sameAs 2202484649 @default.
• W2202484649 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W2202484649 crossrefType "posted-content" @default.
• W2202484649 hasAuthorship W2202484649A5026972003 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C108494575 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C11413529 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C137403100 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C138921699 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C144024400 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C153924320 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C159789966 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C162324750 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C205649164 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C2778137410 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C41008148 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C41895202 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C47768531 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C48103436 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C53553401 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C555826173 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C94625758 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C108494575 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C11413529 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C137403100 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C138885662 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C138921699 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C144024400 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C153924320 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C159789966 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C162324750 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C17744445 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C199539241 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C205649164 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C2778137410 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C41008148 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C41895202 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C47768531 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C48103436 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C53553401 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C555826173 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C94625758 @default.
• W2202484649 hasConceptScore W2202484649C95457728 @default.
• W2202484649 hasLocation W22024846491 @default.
• W2202484649 hasOpenAccess W2202484649 @default.
• W2202484649 hasPrimaryLocation W22024846491 @default.

• next