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Linguistic Discrimination and Colonization

History of Linguistic Imperialism

According to Salikoko Mufwene, a Congolese-American linguist, the impacts of colonization on linguistic traditions vary based on the forms of colonization used: trader, settler, or exploitation. Mufwene describes trader colonization as one of the earliest forms of European colonization. In regions such as the western coast of Africa as well as the Americas, trade relations between European colonizers and indigenous peoples led to the development of pidgin languages. Trader colonization was often followed by settler colonization, where European colonizers settled in these colonies to build new homes. Mufwene argues that this process caused certain indigenous populations, such as those in the Americas, to lose their indigenous languages as they were decimated by wars and illness. In addition, the establishment of new European orders in these settler colonies led to the adoption of colonial languages in governance and industry. At the same time, there were also significant efforts to destroy tribal languages and cultures: in Canada and the United States, for example, Native children were sent to boarding schools such as Col. Richard Pratt’s Carlisle School. Today, countries such as the United States and Australia, which were once settler colonies, indigenous languages are spoken by only a small minority of the populace.

Mufwene also makes a distinction between settler colonies and exploitation colonies, where the colonization process focused on the extraction of raw materials needed in Europe. He notes that Europeans were less invested in their exploitation colonies, and few colonists planned to build homes in these colonies. As a result, indigenous languages were able to survive to a greater extent in these colonies compared to settler colonies. In exploitation colonies, colonial languages were often only taught to a small local elite. During the British Raj, for example, Lord Macaulay highlighted the need for “… a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions who govern… a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in my opinion, in morals and in intellect” in his now-famous “Macaulay minutes”, which were written in support of the English Education Act of 1835. The linguistic differences between the local elite and other locals exacerbated class stratification, and also increased inequality in access to education, industry and civic society in postcolonial states.

Linguistic Discrimination and Culture

Several postcolonial literary theorists have drawn a link between linguistic discrimination and the oppression of indigenous cultures. Prominent Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o, for example, argues in his book "Decolonizing the Mind" that language is both a medium of communication, as well as a carrier of culture. As a result, the linguistic discrimination resulting from colonization has facilitated the erasure of pre-colonial histories and identities. To illustrate his claims, Wa Thiong'o draws on a wide variety of examples, including one about African slaves, who were taught English and forbidden to use their indigenous languages. He argues that these forms of linguistic oppression severed the slaves' linguistic and thus cultural connection to Africa.

Colonial Languages and Class

In post-colonial states, linguistic discrimination continues to reinforce notions of class. In Haiti, for example, working-class Haitians predominantly speak Haitian Creole, while members of the local bourgeoise are typically able to speak both French and Creole, and use French for “business and political purposes”. Similarly, D. L. Sheath, an advocate for the use of indigenous languages in India, writes that the Indian elite associates nationalism with a unitary identity, and in this context, "uses English as a means of exclusion and an instrument of cultural hegemony”.

Linguistic Discrimination in Education

Class disparities in postcolonial nations are often reproduced through education. In countries such as Haiti, schools attended by the bourgeoisie, which are usually of higher quality, use colonial languages as their means of instruction, while those attended by the rest of the population are often taught in pidgin or indigenous languages. The resultant disparities in colonial language fluency and educational quality can impede social mobility.

On the other hand, postcolonial states such as French Guiana have chosen to teach colonial languages in all schools, often to the exclusion of local indigenous languages. As colonial languages were viewed by many as the “civilized” tongues, being “educated” often meant being able to speak and write in these colonial tongues. Indigenous language education was often seen as an impediment to achieving fluency in these colonial languages, and thus deliberately suppressed.

Certain British colonies such as Uganda and Kenya have historically had a policy of teaching in indigenous languages and only introducing English in the upper grades. This policy was a legacy of the "dual mandate" as conceived by Lord Lugate, a prominent British administrator in colonial Africa. As reported by the Phillips-Stokes Commission, this mandate argued that "while "natives" should not be denied the opportunity to acquire the English language, they have an inherent and inalienable right to their mother tongues". However, by the post-war period, English had come to be seen as the language of "white collar employment and wider economic opportunities". As a result, there was increasing support amongst the populace for English-based education, which Kenya's Ministry of Education adopted post-independence, and Uganda following their civil war. Later on, members of the Ominde Commission in Kenya expressed the need for Kiswahili in promoting a national and pan-African identity. Kenya therefore began to offer Kiswahili as a compulsory, non-examinable subject in primary school, but it remained secondary to English as a medium of instruction.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, however, states that minority children have the right to “use his or her own language”, and the suppression of indigenous languages within the education system appears to contravene this treaty. In addition, children who speak indigenous languages can also be disadvantaged when educated in “foreign” languages, and often have high illiteracy rates. For example, when the French arrived to “civilize” Algeria, which included imposing the French language on local Algerians, the literacy rate in Algeria was over 40%, higher than that in France at the time. However, when the French left in 1962, the literacy rate in Algiers was at best 10-15%.

Linguistic Discrimination in Governance

As colonial languages are used as the languages of governance and commerce in many colonial and postcolonial states, locals who only speak indigenous languages can be disenfranchised. For example, when representative institutions were introduced to the Algoma region in what is now modern-day Canada, the local returning officer only accepted the votes of individuals who were enfranchised, which required indigenous peoples to "read and write fluently... [their] own and another language, either English or French".

Even in the modern day, disparities in access to civic institutions continue to exist in postcolonial states.