Language, Society, and Empowerment in Africa and Its Diaspora

Book excerpt: Africa’s diversity is best illustrated linguistically. Thousands of endogenous and exogenous languages are linked to and central to the identity and reality of Africans. Language is a vital lens for analyzing these multifaceted challenges in Africa, where a deeper understanding of the entire linguistic landscape is germane to understanding sociopolitical and cultural systems. Concentrating on instrumental and emblematic functions of language in Africa, Language, Society, and Empowerment in Africa and Its Diaspora argues for the critical value of African languages beyond functionality into philosophical consideration of their importance for African unity and advancement. Akinloyè Òjó calls for the development and empowerment of African languages to serve in various domains, including the support of basic literacy and daily survival of their users. Òjó propagates ways to empower African languages for African sociocultural and economic development in the twenty-first century. The author productively engages works by linguists and language pedagogues to provide an ardent case for the empowerment of African languages in the renewed era of globalization, the internet, and an emergent Global Africa. Òjó posits and accentuates some of the notable modalities for empowering African languages in specialized domains for national and continental development.