1. The Power of Babel Introduction: Africa’s Linguistic Legacy: Between
Expansionism & Nationalism

2. Africa’s vulnerabilities
They did not have a culture of territorial expansionism
They were not linguistically nationalist
They had cultures of oral tradition, not cultures of numeracy, precise measures, and technology

3. The borders that came with colonialism
Were artificial
Could not follow any cultural borders, since there were no such borders there in the first place
Did not result in border clashes; most conflict is internal, civil wars

4. Linguistic frontiers and national boundaries
Weak nationalism made Africa vulnerable to Euro-linguistic penetration
“The national boundaries of most African states lack the underpinning of any national linguistic identity”
Most sub-Saharan countries are multilingual
Africans are often nationalistic about race, land, or tribe, but not about language

5. Linguistic frontiers and national boundaries, cont’d.
Sub-Saharan cultures are traditionally oral, with no sacred scripture
Nationalism is motivated more as a quest for racial dignity than to protect languages
African countries are often thought of as “Francophone” or “English-speaking”, but very few people speak the imperial languages
Educational systems promote European languages and often ignore the indigenous languages

6. Language in the public arena
Business & legislation are entirely in the imperial languages and in most countries speeches to the nation are given in a European language
African politicians make know many languages, but MUST know the relevant European language in order to serve in government
Sub-Saharan constitutions are written in European languages and unintelligible to most of their populations