ABSTRACT
Africa has a peculiar history of language development. Before colonial times the area south of the Sahara was speaking exclusively African languages. The colonial period changed the situation so that mainly three European languages, Portuguese, French and English, became the languages of the elite, while the local population continued to use their local languages. Now, after the end of the colonial times, the situation continues to be much the same. One would have expected that the role of imported foreign languages would have diminished and local language policies would have developed communication systems based on local languages. However, this has not taken place. Those three foreign languages continue to dominate in official matters across Africa, although most people are hardly able to communicate using these languages. The elites in each country employ for governmental business a language that the ordinary people do not understand. Therefore, the majority of the population are marginalized and excluded from power politics. Although there is much talk about the importance of local languages, very little concrete action is made to improve the situation (Myers-Scotton 1990; Bamgbose 1991, 2000).
