The Diverse Languages of Africa

Map Reading Activities: What languages belong to the same group? How many groups do you see? How many languages are within the same group? Why might so many languages be grouped together? What languages are spoken in multiple countries? Why might members of the same language group be separated into different countries? Which languages have you heard of before? Teaching Terms: Creole: A language that develops after contact between a European language and a local language; various Creole languages are spoken in parts of the world where colonialism was common Afrikaans is the only Indo-European language to have developed in Africa; it may have begun as a Creole; it is considered an African language because it developed in Africa and doesn’t borrow a significant number of words from a European language the way most African Creoles do. Niger-Congo/Congo-Kordofanian languages: Bantu language family

Mind Map Instructions Read about the spread of Bantu-Speaking Peoples on pages 10-11 in your text Draw a mind map or other visual representation of this information on a new page in your notebook

Development of Written Language ________ hieroglyphs were the 1st written language in Africa Kushites used hieroglyphs until the 3rd century BCE when they invented a ________ 23 letter alphabet Probably used world’s first ____________ _______ deciphered

Development of Written Language ________ developed own writing system called Ge’ez Took ________ years to translate Bible into Ge’ez Ge’ez still used to write indigenous languages in Ethiopia and _________ Many alphabets developed for Africa’s __________ languages Latin and ___________ scripts also commonly used Ge’ez=their language Translated Bible because Axum was first Christian state in the world Image 1: Ge’ze Bible Image 2: Nsibidi a writing system used in southeastern Nigeria for hundreds of years

Colonial Impact Non-indigenous languages (e.g. Arabic, Berber) used for ________ in many parts of Africa before colonialism European languages introduced during colonial period & _____________ developed Today _______________ languages remain the language of government, business and education Even though the official language of a country may be a European language, that doesn’t mean it will be exactly the same. Creoles for trade purposes involved blends of various African languages and/or non-African languages (e.g. Arabic) Many African versions of European languages include words, slang and phrases unique to their country Can you think of English words/phrases unique to Canada? (e.g. toque) Most Africans speak indigenous languages as their first language, but will learn a European language in school

Colonial Impact Modern African_________ were mainly drawn by withdrawing colonial powers Result: many indigenous ____________________ are separated into multiple countries Many of Africa’s modern conflicts and civil wars can be attributed, in part, to the culturally insensitive drawing of borders by European powers who cared only for territory and not the needs of the people Ethnic groups associated with these languages also separated

African Languages Today There are as many as 3000 African languages and up to ___________ dialects Many African countries are now encouraging ____________________ policies Most Africans speak ____________ languages There is more language diversity in Africa than anywhere else on Earth Nigeria may hold the record for most languages spoken by inhabitants at approximately 500 Languages in Africa may be spoken by anywhere from a few dozen to a few million people

Closing Discussion Are you multilingual? What are the benefits/challenges of being multilingual? What do we gain or lose if we learn or do not learn our traditional languages? If we cannot read or write a language that we speak, what impact does that have?