The first article on national languages that appeared in the April edition of Africa Supreme magazine posed the question of whether Africa could reduce the number of its major languages following the English model. It is realized now, that African countries can reduce the number of their major ethnic languages spoken and written by using a hybrid model that combines lessons learnt from the development of the Chinese, Malay and English languages. 
It is believed that Africa, despite its estimated 1500-2000 ethnic languages, will be able, with determination, to reduce the number of its major national languages and ultimately arrive at fewer major national languages for education and business, aside from the official administrative languages of English, French and Portuguese.  This article forms Part 2 of the April article on languages. We look at the reasons and processes for undertaking the task of reducing the number of Africa’s ethnic languages in this edition of Africa Supreme. 

Development of the Chinese national language 

As far back as the 14th century, China came to the realization that a national language cutting across the thousands of ethnic languages in the country was vitally necessary for the country’s development. It was, however, in the 17th century that serious efforts were made to arrive at one common Chinese language. An academy was set up to promote a common Chinese language with common pronunciation but this was not successful. 
In 1850, it had become clear that the Mandarin Chinese spoken in Beijing, the principal Chinese city, was the dominant Chinese language used in business and in all official matters. A National Language Unification Committee that was set up in 1932 adopted Beijing Mandarin Chinese as the official Chinese language to be used for teaching and learning in schools and for business, leaving the indigenous ethnic languages to be spoken in family homes. The process China went through over the 400 years of its language history, from the 17th century to 1932, when a common national language was selected included the following: 
  1. An Academy was set up in the 17th century to develop a common Chinese language with common pronunciation. The attempt was not successful. 
  2. Ethnic languages were reduced to 80 accepted languages by legislation. 
  3. In 1932, the Chinese language is spoken in Beijing, that is, Beijing Mandarin Chinese was adopted by the National Language Unification Committee as the official and standard Chinese language. 
  4. 56 of the accepted 80 ethnic languages were selected as the approved languages for primary school teaching and learning and for business, also in 1932. 
All other ethnic languages were allowed to be used in family homes. 

Development of the Malay national language 

The development of the Malay language is processed in a similar fashion as the English language. Through the process of cultural diffusion, the Malay language proceeded by adopting words and terms from the former colonizing countries of Malaysia: The Portuguese, the Dutch and the English. Other words from Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Arabic sources have been adopted into the Malay language as a result of trade relations with these nations and with other trading nations that passed through the sea lanes of Malaysia. It was this process of cultural diffusion that expanded the range of words and terms in the original Malay language making it easier for the indigenous Malay language to expand and keep abreast with the languages for modern development. 

Development of the English language 

  1. The English language was developed by the following processes: By cultural diffusion of adopting words and terms from the languages of over 50 countries including the languages of the various nations that had conquered and ruled Britain beginning with the Romans. 
            i)          The Romans from 43-410 CE 
            ii)         The Germanic people including the Jutes, Frisians, and Franks in the 5th Century. 
            iii)        Anglo-Saxons from 450CE 
            iv)        The Vikings from 789-1066CE 
            v)         The French from 1066CE 
2.  Borrowing words and terms from nations with which the British had trade relations and still have trade and political relations. 
3. By the creation of new scientific words and terms from Greek and Latin for naming the processes, gadgets and machines that were being invented during the first industrial revolution of the period 1750-1850. 
Although the Romans and the Vikings left the British island at the times indicated, each of them made a significant contribution to the growth and development of the English language as already indicated in the article that appeared in the April 2022 edition of Africa Supreme magazine. The Germanic people mentioned settled in various parts of the British island before the arrival of a wave of Anglo-Saxons in 450CE, The Anglo-Saxons formed the major and most significant part of the British population eventually becoming the bedrock on which the English language, the culture and the kingship institution were founded. The French stayed in England, became part of the kingship institution and continued adding to the growth of the English language. 

Development of languages 

It will be realized from the above, that the development and growth of languages in general proceeds in the following ways: 
  1. By legislation 
  2. By cultural diffusion 
  3. By direct borrowing of words, terms and grammatical structures from other languages 
  4. By the creation of new words and terms from both local and foreign sources 

Reasons for reducing and expanding major African languages 

It is the four processes indicated that should form the basis for developing a hybrid model for both reducing and at the same time expanding the major languages spoken in many African countries. Some of the reasons for both reducing and expanding the range of vocabulary of languages in African countries in the process of obtaining common or fewer national languages are as follows: 
  1. Sub-Saharan Africa has a huge illiterate population standing at about 250-350 million.    With this large percentage of illiterates, non-formal education (NFE) in Sub-Saharan African countries becomes extremely expensive. Groups of teachers have to be trained for instruction and facilitation in many of the different languages in which NFE classes are conducted. Besides training expenses for facilitators, learning materials have to be provided in each of the instructional languages used in NFE classes. 
  2. The end of school-leaving examinations in the formal education sector is similarly more expensive than examinations setting and grading in the English language for instance. The existence of many local languages requires different examining panels at far greater costs, especially when local language examinations have fewer entries. 
  3. In the educated formal business and administrative sectors, there is probably very little difficulty in communication. It is the informal business sector, dominated mostly by illiterate traders, that poses communication problems. In West Africa, many illiterate traders communicate in the dominant language of their region and in many cases also communicate in the dominant national vernacular and in the pidgin language spoken across West Africa. The Kiswahili language is the dominant language that helps in communication in both the eastern and southern sectors of the continent.                                      
  4. Many of the thousands of Africa’s ethnic languages are useful for dealing with issues and events in the arts; but completely inadequate for dealing with modern scientific and technological issues and events. It, therefore, becomes necessary that for the present and the near future, serious attempts be made to bring up indigenous African languages to a level that will ensure that the majority of Africa’s population will be able to talk and also discuss current scientific issues with tolerable understanding. 
  5. Of utmost importance is the issue of building national unity through the existence of fewer major languages within Sub-Saharan African nations. 
It should also be noted that there are some ethnic groups in the interior parts of the African continent who were previously French or English colonies, but who can neither speak French nor English, but speak only their ethnic languages within their limited environments. it is such communities across Sub-Saharan Africa who seem to have been forgotten in the march to development, that needs to be seriously considered in any arrangements for promoting fewer major national languages. 

Creating the African hybrid language development model 

The concern of this article is the ways and means by which African countries could develop fewer major languages for communication in their nations; and ultimately a common language in each nation. No nation presently has a viable population until that population is educated enough to be able to speak and write in their national language and also in a language used for communication in the modern world. 
The major languages currently used in the world with an approximate number of speakers are the following: 
  • English:                      1.35 billion 
  • Mandarin Chinese:  1.12 billion 
  • French:                          276 million 
These are the languages by which world development is currently carried out and communicated, and Africa cannot escape adopting and borrowing from one or more of these major world languages in the process of developing and modernizing its own indigenous major languages. 
The writer, being a Ghanaian, has a fairer knowledge of the language situation in Ghana and will therefore use the Ghana case as the prime example in this article, hoping that African countries will use the recommended processes to reduce the number of their languages to a smaller approved number. 

Bureau of National Languages 

First of all, it will be important for African nations to realise the tediousness as well as the barriers the existence of many languages in a nation poses to national development. Unless our governments come to this realization, the processes outlined below will have been a waste of time. 
To be able to coordinate the processes for developing a reduced number of national languages in African countries, it will be important for each country to set up a national languages bureau, where such a bureau does not already exist. The Bureau of National Languages should be backed by a National Language Unification Committee with the power to make decisions on such matters for government approval. (See page 1 for the Chinese example) 
The processes for reducing the number of major languages in each country is outlined and numbered below for easier reference. 

Legislation 

There will be a need for legislation stopping the promotion of new languages in each nation. In the early part of 2009, the Ghana Ministry of Education held a conference in Accra to find solutions to the problems the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) was facing as a result of the escalating costs for administering examinations in 12 local languages. By the end of the second day of the conference, proposals from three new ethnic language groups had been tendered for consideration.  
To avoid requests based on ethnicity and sometimes on religion for expansion in the list of approved languages for national examinations, and for all serious national matters, it will be necessary to pass legislation limiting the list of approved national languages to the presently existing number. Without legislation to prevent such situations, Pandora's box would have been opened for the recognition of the languages of many other ethnic groups. 

Assessment of the number of languages and dialects 

The Bureau of national languages will be expected to find out and record the number of languages and associated dialects in their respective countries. The data involving a number of languages and dialects have been confusing and clearly verified records are therefore needed for the undertaking ahead. 
Although contentious, Ghana for example is said to have 12 languages and 200 dialects: For ease and brevity of presentation, the processes will be limited to the Akan language group. 

Akan Group of Languages 

The Akan language is composed of a number of dialects including the following: 
  • Asante Twi 
  • Akwapim Twi 
  • Fante 
  • Ahanta 
  • Nzema 
  • Sehwi 
  • Wassa 
Apart from the listed dialects, there are still some other lesser-known dialects of the Akan language. Asante Twi is spoken predominantly in the Ashanti region of the country; Akwapim Twi is predominantly spoken in the Eastern region of the country; Fante is spoken predominantly in the southern section of the Central region and in the southern section of the Western region. Ahanta, Nzema, Sehwi and Wassa are predominantly spoken in the Western region of the country, although not exclusively in the Western Region. 
In assessing the number of languages and dialects, it will be beneficial if the number of speakers of each dialect is also recorded to provide data for discussion and decision making. 

Dialects grouping process 

The dialect grouping process is intended to reduce the number of dialects in each language group, eventually leading to the process of reducing the number of languages in each country. The process could be carried out in two stages. 
In the first stage, the lesser-known Akan dialects could be grouped with any of the appropriate listed dialects. Lesser-known dialects could be considered in terms of proximity to any of the seven listed dialects for purpose of grouping. 
In the second stage of grouping, the seven listed dialects could be thoroughly discussed for consideration as to whether the seven dialects could be further reduced to three dialects or at least less than seven dialects. 

Process for grouping 

The listed dialects virtually use the same words and terms except for differences in pronunciation that make a differentiation between the dialects. For this reason, the grouping at the second stage could go by this order: 
  • Select words and terms that are different and appropriate in each of the dialects; that is, words and terms in dialects that are more appropriate as names for items and objects, as names for events and occasions, or as appropriate and simple in terms of grammatical structure. 
  • Add the selected more appropriate words and terms to the seven listed dialects or to the reduced number of dialects. This means deleting the original words and terms that have to be replaced in each of the seven listed dialects. 

The reducing and expanding process from local languages 

  • Reducing the number of dialects: By borrowing more appropriate words and terms from each dialect and from lesser-known dialects, and by removing lesser-known Akan language dialects from the list of Akan dialects, the result will be a smaller number of Akan dialects. Unify the spelling and writing of the reduced number of dialects. Consider whether Asante Twi and Akwapim Twi could be merged to further reduce the number of Akan dialects. Consider also the possibility and desirability of merging Fante, Ahanta, Nzema, Sehwi and Wassa into one Akan dialect. 
  • Reducing the number of languages: Now, check if the number of languages could also be reduced. The goal of the exercise over the country will be to reduce the number of languages by 70percent. If the exercise is conducted simultaneously over the country, it will be possible to find out the languages that share many common aspects and could therefore be merged into one language group. 
  • Borrowing from other national languages: Each language committee should consider the work of the other language committees and borrow words and terms from as many of the other committees as possible. Certainly, there are words and terms in other languages that are more appropriate as names for items or as names for events and occasions than the words and terms in the language group under consideration. Borrow such words and terms as may seem appropriate from as many language groups as possible to enrich each particular language. By borrowing, adopting and adapting words and terms from other local languages in the country, the final list of languages in the country will be enriched and expanded by borrowed words and terms from each other. The process will have the effect of eventually making each language tolerably understandable to virtually all the people of the country. This process will help to minimize influences that polarize the languages and people in a number of African countries. 
  • Reducing the number of national languages: At this stage, consider how the number of national languages could be reduced. The discussions and considerations should result in a list of no more than 30 percent of the original number of languages in the country. 

The reducing and expanding process involving foreign languages 

After completion of items (1)-(4) above, the language committees should come together, borrow and adopt words and terms from English, French, and Portuguese sources, and from the Pidgin English and Hausa languages both spoken across West and Central Africa by the language committees working in West and Central Africa; and from the Kiswahili language of Eastern and Southern Africa by committees working in Eastern and Southern Africa. It should be possible to bring the Arabic speaking nations of North Africa into this exercise. 

Generic and descriptive words 

Words can be used in either a descriptive or generic manner. English words are mostly generic. A generic word represents a group of objects, animals, events or processes with similar characteristics.  The word “engine” stands for any machine that provides energy for movement; the word “boat” is used for all containers that carry people, goods or animals over a body of water, and the word “mammal” represents a class of animals with defined characteristics. 
A descriptive word, on the other hand, is specific to an object, animal, event or process. Since African languages developed as pre-scientific languages, the languages tend to use long descriptive sentences for simple modern gadgets. For this reason, it is suggested that foreign words and terms that are currently used in the educated formal sector on the continent should be incorporated into the reading materials for NFE and participants trained to use these words as a permanent part of their vocabulary and their thinking. Examples of foreign language words are the following: democracy, evangelist, lunatic, divide, architect and microscope. These words were adopted into the English language from Greek sources. Other words from Viking sources include the following: gang, gun, awkward, both, mistake, call, bait, bark and crook. 
From the French language, the following are already in the English language and should be incorporated into the reading materials for NFE: garage, cinema, entrepreneur, restaurant etc. From the Spanish language, the following words that have become part of the English language should continue to be used in NFE materials: guitar, chocolate, cargo, plaza etc. 
Arabic words that are already in the English language such as coffee, khebab, alcohol and many others should be part of the materials for NFE classes. And Indian words such as pyjamas, shampoo, verandah, mantra and others should all be incorporated into the reading materials for non-formal education. 
It is doubtful if any African language has more than twenty names of colours, and yet the internet provides 200 names of colours. The Akan language in Ghana, for example, uses the term “chicken fat” for yellow. If chicken fat stands for yellow, it then becomes difficult to describe “light yellow”, “deep yellow”, or any other shade of “yellow.” The Akan language similarly has its own name “frango” for oil. If all the remaining eleven languages of the country develop their own names for oil we then have a backward sliding situation. 
We tend to go to the unnecessary extent to coin local language words for items we did not invent. The English language uses the original words or adaptations of words that were borrowed from other sources. Oil is a universally known and used product and the name “oil” should be used in all languages to avoid unnecessary confusion. 

Borrowing scientific and other modern words 

The following words for modern items should be incorporated in NFE reading materials: 
  1. Housing estate 
  2. Carburetor 
  3. Calculator 
  4. Sweater 
  5. Curtain 
  6. Senior officer; Junior officer 
  7. Guidance and Counseling 
  8. Coordinator 
Scientific words such as the following should be part of NFE learning materials: 
             Oxygen                      Methane        Battery                       Proteins 
            Carbon dioxide         Ozone            Generator                  Vitamins 
 
In Eastern Africa, and in parts of Southern Africa, it is expected that the process of forming regional and national languages will give adequate consideration to the Kiswahili language as stated already. It is hoped that eventually each Sub-Saharan African country will develop one common language or at most very few major languages to be used for NFE classes and for teaching and learning in lower primary school classes in the next 50-70 years' time. From Upper Primary and onwards to tertiary education, teaching and learning will continue with English, French and Portuguese. A firm grounding in one important ethnic language is necessary as the foundation for acquiring learning and knowledge in most aspects of life. The people of Ireland, Wales and Scotland speak their own Celtic language and also use the English language for most administrative and most other modern and international matters. Africa should not be saddled and kept illiterate with over 1500 ethnic languages. 
Example 
Let us suppose a country has 20 languages, and each language has a number of dialects. First, we go through the process of grouping and follow this up with borrowing appropriate words and terms from each of the dialects. After this exercise, we consider a reduction in the number of dialects for each of the 20 languages. 
Dialects which are similar in words and structure should be considered for mergers. By merging a number of dialects, the 20 languages will now be ready for a reduction in number. 
Our goal is to reduce the number of languages to 30 percent of their number; this means reducing the 20 languages to 6 languages. Carefully select six of the dominant languages in the 20 languages as the approved languages to be used for teaching and learning in lower primary schools. Books and other learning materials for lower primary schools and NFE will be written in only these six languages. The six languages could be further reduced to two or three in the next forty to fifty years. 
The next and most important goal is to set the national language. Select the most dominant language in the country; that is, the language spoken by most people in the country. To this language, add proportional representation, words, terms and grammatical structures from each of the six approved languages.    
To the newly formed national language, and also to the six approved languages, add all the basic French and English words and terms, the names of modern gadgets and appliances by their original names, and scientific words such as oxygen, proteins and vitamins etc. In Upper Primary, the national language will become a subject on the school timetable, while the language for teaching and learning will change to English, French and Portuguese as becomes appropriate. 
The process discussed above may pose some difficulties in the area of Eastern Nigeria and Cameroon and in other areas with large ethnic diversity. It was from the general area of Eastern Nigeria and Cameroon that Bantu groups migrated to Eastern and Southern parts of the African continent in the period 250BCE to 1500CE, in waves of migration over a period of nearly 2000 years. Purely Bantu speaking areas may not experience serious challenges in applying the process described above. Other areas may have difficulties that will need to be resolved after careful discussions and negotiations. 

Growth of languages 

A language, as noted already, grows sometimes by legislation, but generally by fusion, adoption, adaptation and creation of new words and terms internally and from external language sources. If African countries should grow and play significant roles in science, law, finance and other disciplines, they should borrow, adopt and adapt words from French, English, Portuguese, Arabic, and indigenous local languages to build up their language stock of words and terms for formal, non-formal and informal educational purposes. 
Let us look to the English for the spirit of determination: systematically blending together the various languages the country inherited and borrowed over nearly 2,000 years to become the world’s Number One language. Let us also look to the Chinese for inspiration: Removing the barriers to their development by drastically reducing over 2000 ethnic languages to one common Beijing Mandarin Chinese as the national language in a period of 400 years beginning from the 17th century to 1932; 56 approved languages for teaching and learning in lower primary school classes; allowing other ethnic languages to be spoken in family homes; and now China, poised, as already said in the April edition of Africa Supreme magazine, to become the world’s greatest economic power by the end of the year 2030; the time when Africa, with no ambitious language plans of their own, is poised to become the world’s poorest continent. 
The goal of developing one common national language as the vehicle for welding the ethnic groups in each African country in a unified patriotic drive for accelerated development of the continent is more important than the petty pride in our multiple ethnic languages. Holding fast to our inherited ethnic languages and even coining new vernacular words for modern imported items is just a waste of valuable time. 
If the Good Lord granted a Yoruba man, a Kikuyu or a Malawian woman one month vacation from Heaven to visit their Earthly home, would they care whether the people they left behind still spoke Yoruba, Kikuyu or Chichewa? Our attachment to our ethnic languages is only ephemeral.  
All the English and French words listed earlier and all Portuguese and Arabic words, and currently any appropriate Chinese words can be used by anyone, anywhere. These are global words and global words are free. Anyone can use them without apologies and without acknowledgement. 
The clock of development runs on the engine of a language based on which scholars, writers, researchers, inventors and farmers can express their thoughts and their work plans; a language in which the education of each African country can be rooted. 
With inspiration and determination, African countries can achieve the goal of reducing the number of their ethnic languages and ultimately select or develop dynamic and modernized African national languages which will include current English and French names for scientific and technical processes; consequently changing the fortunes of the continent in less than one hundred years. With further effort, the process outlined in this article may probably become the basis for developing one common African language in the next two hundred years. Who knows? 

References 

 
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