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Prestige Planning for Vernacular Language Education around the World: Successes and Failures

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Book cover Language Policy and Economics: The Language Question in Africa

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities ((PSMLC))

Abstract

This chapter offers a survey of case studies of language policies promoting vernacular language education in various communities around the world. The aim of these studies is to show that vernacular language education has succeeded wherever it has been associated with an economic value. The absence of that value, the chapter argues, is the catalyst for vernacular language education failure in the African continent. Furthermore, the chapter considers case studies of Prestige Planning failure, or “resistance of vernacular education,” and then discusses the consequences of language policy failure in Africa for African languages and for their speakers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu

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  1. Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu
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Kamwangamalu, N.M. (2016). Prestige Planning for Vernacular Language Education around the World: Successes and Failures. In: Language Policy and Economics: The Language Question in Africa. Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31623-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31623-3_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-230-25172-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-31623-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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