Language Use in Rural Development: An African Perspective

Description

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language. Preface Prologue Chapter 1. Languages and rural development 1.1 Development and language in Africa 1.2 Bringing language and rural development together 1.3 The multilingual environment 1.4 Planning language use 1.4.1 Language policies 1.4.2 The languages-development debate 1.4.3 Languages and political development 1.4.4 Language rights 1.4.5 Languages and economic development 1.5 Languages and rural development intervention 1.5.1 Conceptual perspectives 1.5.2 Interaction in local communities 1.5.3 Adult education and literacy 1.5.4 Concluding comment 1.6 Parameters of rural development 1.6.1 Defining rural development 1.6.2 Communication in rural development 1.6.3 The place of the local language Chapter 2. Linking languages and development: Approaches and methods 2.1 Methodology selection 2.1.1 An initial hypothesis 2.1.2 An experimental approach? 2.2 An ethnographic approach 2.2.1 Analytical concepts 2.2.2 Comparability and generalisability 2.3 The role of statistical analysis 2.4 Instrument design and data collection 2.4.1 Observation 2.4.2 Interviews 2.4.3 Questionnaires 2.4.4 Language attitude statements 2.4.5 Development attitude survey 2.4.6 Ethnosemantics 2.4.7 Local secondary data 2.4.8 Summary tables 2.5 Relationships between data in the analysis Chapter 3. The context 3.1 Rural development 3.1.1 Cameroon – national level 3.1.2 Ombessa — local level 3.2 Languages 3.2.1 Language policy and practice in Cameroon 3.2.2 Relationships between languages in Cameroon 3.2.3 Languages in the Ombessa area Chapter 4. Languages and development in the community 4.1 Concepts of development 4.1.1 Official development strategies 4.1.2 Local concepts and attitudes 4.1.3 Ethnosemantics — the term “development” in Nugunu 4.2 Use of languages in the community 4.2.1 Observed language use 4.2.2 Self-reported use 4.2.3 Language attitudes 4.3 Concluding summary Chapter 5. The use of languages in development intervention 5.1 Official development intervention 5.1.1 Language use mismatch 5.2 Individual development interaction 5.2.1 Development interaction indices 5.2.2 Language use index 5.3 Development meetings 5.3.1 Development meetings: proceedings 5.3.2 Development meetings: critical analysis 5.4 Two cameos of language use 5.4.1 A health education session 5.4.2 An example of individual language use 5.5 Concluding comment Chapter 6. Languages in rural development: Issues and implications 6.1. Two key issues 6.1.1 Identity 6.1.2 Power 6.1.3 And the local language...? 6.2 Laying a basis for language choice 6.3 Matters arising 6.3.1 Sociolinguistic issues 6.3.2 Development issues 6.4 Languages, communication and development Notes Appendix 1: Villager Questionnaire Appendix 2: Questionnaire to Development Agencies Appendix 3: Questionnaire to Development Agents Appendix 4: Language Attitude Statements Appendix 5: Chaudenson’s status and usage categories Appendix 6: Development of Nugunu Appendix 7: Matched Guise Technique (MGT) Texts Appendix 8: Nugunu ethnosemantic data References Index