Abstract
The present paper discusses the issue of increasing levels of multilingualism and multiculturalism, worldwide, as consequence of ongoing globalisation and look at the major challenges involved in managing linguistic and cultural diversity at societal, institutional and academic level, in particular. The paper has as its major focus the Mozambican context and drawing on current research in the country and internationally on the language question, it discusses the various existing challenges and opportunities for devising an inclusive and democratic language and language education policy.
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Notes
- 1.
We have to look at the equation—multilingualism means problems—with caution, as a number of examples exist throughout the world of linguistically homogeneous areas (like Northern Ireland, Rwanda or Somalia), which also lack social cohesiveness; and if we compare them with Switzerland, which is extremely heterogeneous but still cohesive, then it becomes difficult to argue in favour of the equation.
- 2.
A very interesting critical review of the suggested correlation between high linguistic diversity and level of socioeconomic development or the relationship between multilingualism and social wealth of a country is presented by Coulmas [3], who draws on Pool [4, p. 222] who argues that “linguistically highly fragmented countries are always poor”.
- 3.
See David Laitin [6] for an interesting discussion of the correlation between language policy and civil war and the evidence he presents “against claims that the elimination of minority grievances would be a sure fire way of lowering the incidences of civil war” (p. 178). See also François Grin [7] for the costs of maintaining cultural diversity.
- 4.
It should be highlighted that the Plano Curricular do Ensino Básico or the Curricular Plan for Basic Education [9, p. 17] stipulates that the medium of instruction in the whole education system is Portuguese, regardless of the fact that the large majority of children do not speak it when they start schooling.
- 5.
Firmino’s [10] study on attitudes to Portuguese in Maputo city appears to confirm that the Portuguese language is highly valued due to its pragmatic function, or in his own words, “os sentimentos em relação ao Português é de que esta língua se tornou um importante instrumento linguístico em Maputo, em parte como resposta às exigências do Mercado linguístico e socioeconómico, mas também como resultado de uma consciência metapragmática da mudança do seu estatuto social”. Essentially what Firmino states is that feelings in relation to Portuguese indicate that this is an important linguistic tool in Maputo, partly as a response to the demands of the linguistic and socioeconomic market, but also as a result of a metapragmatic awareness to change in its social statute. In her study of Trilingualism in Guinea-Bissau, Carol Benson came up with a similar conclusion as per the attitudes of ordinary people towards the Portuguese language. She argues that “although only a small percentage of Guineans claim to speak Portuguese (9 % total according to the 1991 census), there is a widespread, unquestioning belief in its value for future employment and other opportunities” [11, p. 170].
- 6.
Although in the official discourse and, most particularly, in the Constitution of the Republic, there is a reference to the national languages, meaning territorially and ethno-culturally Mozambican, and the Portuguese language (still seen as an exogenous language).
- 7.
Most specifically, early 1990s, with the introduction of the national languages in literacy development and under the umbrella of the Mother Tongue Bilingual Education experimental project.
- 8.
In the popular use, the term dialect is commonly seen as a linguistic variety which is “inferior”, less prestigious, and something “less” than a proper or a fully-fledged language.
- 9.
It is probably this strong identification with their mother tongues, as markers of ethno-cultural, linguistic and group identity that has contributed to the vitality and maintenance of these languages.
- 10.
See Baetens Beardsmore [18] for details on the European School Experience, comprising provision of education in eight or nine different languages (majority European languages). Of course, I am not suggesting that this model would be easily replicated in a context such as Mozambique, because of the very favourable conditions of the European School Model, characterised by a whole wealth of resources (human, material, etc.); conditions which are not easily available in Mozambique.
- 11.
See Mishra [19] for an account of Tribal Multilingual Education in India.
- 12.
On the 2nd February 2008, Jutta Limbach [20], President of the Goethe-Institut, stated the following, in her paper entitled Plurilingualism and Multilingualism—Obstacles on the Route towards a European Public: “For some, the postulate of multilingualism appears to be an annoying national relic within the mosaic of the future European culture. However, this criticism misjudges the very special nature of European integration. The EU member states and their people do not want to follow the model of the nation state when shaping the European Union. When singing the praise of multilingualism, we must not forget a particularly weighty argument—the fact that language pluralism proves to be arduous and expensive.”
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Henriksen, S.M. (2017). Globalisation, Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Mozambique. In: Bourgine, P., Collet, P., Parrend, P. (eds) First Complex Systems Digital Campus World E-Conference 2015. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45901-1_42
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