MULTILINGUALISM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA: SEARCHING FOR NATIONAL IDENTITY IN DIVERSITY

Abstract

When the African countries gained independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s, they were confronted with three challenges, namely: to bring unity to the many and diverse semi-autonomous ethnic groups in the new nations, to forge sovereignty and national identity, and to build developed and modern states. The most crucial challenge was how to forge national identity and nationhood in a state of multilingual and multicultural diversity in each of the new states. Using the Optimal Language Policy Model, this study examines, in particular, the challenge of forging a national identity in a state of multilingualism or linguistic diversity. The article looks at how each of the southern African countries has dealt with the challenge, and the extent to which the chosen language policy has succeeded to bring true unity, identity, democracy and equality to all citizens, so as to ensure that they all have equal access to national resources and services. The study is based mainly on secondary data obtained from several sociolinguistic surveys. The findings of the study reveal that many southern countries have, rightly, opted for the inclusive and hierarchical language policies.