The interface between language attitudes and language use in a post-conflict context: the case of Rwanda
The study investigates the interface between the variables - language attitude and language use in a development context, and attempts to determine the contribution of language to Rwanda's post-conflict development, reconstruction and reconciliation. It examines the language attitudes and la...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | en |
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2009
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| Online Access: | Mbori, Bob John Obwang'i (2009) The interface between language attitudes and language use in a post-conflict context: the case of Rwanda, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1733> http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1733 |
| Summary: | The study investigates the interface between the variables - language attitude and
language use in a development context, and attempts to determine the contribution of
language to Rwanda's post-conflict development, reconstruction and reconciliation. It
examines the language attitudes and language use patterns of 53 students from
Rwanda's public universities focusing on how students, who are all Rwandan
citizens, view the role of Kinyarwanda, French, English and Kiswahili languages in
twelve core areas of post-conflict development. Although post-conflict development
is socio-economic, previous historical and political factors affecting Rwanda's violent
past play a role as new forms of linguistic categorization - Anglophone and
Francophone - emerge which may be used to camouflage previous ethnic
categorizations that have had disastrous effects in Rwanda. Further, social
categorizations laden with salient features of linguistic identity may influence the
implementation of the post-conflict development programmes, and also affect the
pace and pattern of reconciliation in Rwanda. Conclusions are based on eclectic
sources: quantitative, qualitative, historical and participatory, with patterns of analysis
established from secondary and historical data. The study is also grounded in the
Communication Accommodation Theory that rests on issues of divergence and
convergence during interaction where emerging language identities dovetail with
language attitudes and language use, resulting in an interface that influences the
implementation of Rwanda's post-conflict development programmes.
Additionally, it is argued that the African languages such as Kinyarwanda and
Kiswahili, should be considered as vehicles for Rwanda's post-conflict development,
although Kinyarwanda, the home language, has in the past really not served an
intranational unifying function. On the other hand, Kiswahili, unlike Kinyarwanda,
has no divisive myths and identities that would inhibit post-conflict development; it is
an important language in the East and Central African region where post-conflict
Rwanda will play a positive and active role, and would be a language to be positively developed. === African Languages === D.Litt et Phil. (African Languages) |
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