1 - Public Sphere, Linguistic Sphericules and Discourse Communities in Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Théophile Ambadiang
Africa Development,
Vol. 35 No. 1-2 (2010): Africa Development: Special Issue on Language, Literature and Power in the Public Sphere
Abstract
Discourse, as seen in Habermas’s definition of the public sphere, is an essential aspect of the participation of the citizenry in the public debate which, crucially, is supposed to take place in a linguistically homogeneous society. The aim of this paper is to discuss the centrality of discourse in Habermas’s theory in a genuinely multilingual context as is sub-Saharan Africa. We intend to show that the discursive practices and, more generally, the complex dynamics that characterize public debate in this context are determined by sociolinguistic factors such as ‘elite closure’, linguistic repertoire, as well as by social exclusion (Scotton 1993). Elite closure, considered as social exclusion based on linguistic competence, has had the effect of constructing a public sphere around a specific version of the European (official) language, as it excludes the majority of the citizenry who makes use of the popular versions of these languages. The correlation that exists between visibility (in the public sphere) and register repertoire accounts for the uniformity or homogeneity in the register that tends to characterize public debates, as even individuals who typically use the popular versions of the European languages adopt the register of the elite (often with undesired effects). Language, thus, divides the public sphere in smaller groups along the lines of register competence as well as of linguistic competence which excludes those who have no knowledge of the European official language. This study further suggests that those groups or sphericules (Gitlin 1998) constitute discourse communities in the sense of Watts (1999), that is, sets of individuals whose discourse practices reveal common interests, goals and beliefs. Lastly, we argue that the visibility of all such groups requires the openness of the public sphere to diverse discourses (Fairclough 1999, 2006), independently of the way they materialize. In this sense, the contribution of the individuals whose linguistic repertoires do no include European languages will not necessarily nor exclusively be framed in linguistic terms. One interesting consequence of the discussion is the disempowering/disempowerment of the (European) languages in the African public sphere.
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- Ambadiang, T., 2005, ‘Política y políticas lingüísticas en África’, in Mbuyi Kabunda Badi & Carlo A. Caranci, eds., Etnias, estado y poder en África, Vitoria-Gasteiz: Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco, pp. 101-145.
- Anderson, B., 1991, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso.
- Antonsich, M., 2008, ‘Linguistic Commonality between Universalism and Particularism: A Reply to Ipperciel (2007)’, Nations and Nationalism, 14, 3, pp. 600-605.
- Appiah, A.K., 1992, In My Father’s House, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Bayart, J.-F., 2008 [1981], ‘Naissance d’une bourgeoisie africaine’, Manière de voir’, Le Monde diplomatique, 99, pp. 18-20.
- Blommaert, J., 2007, ‘Linguistic Diversity in Africa’, in M. Hellinger & A. Pauwels, eds., Handbook of Language and Communication: Diversity and Change, Berlin/New York, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 123-149.
- Breidbach, S., 2003, ‘European Communicative Integration: The Function of Foreign Language Teaching for the Development of a European Public Sphere’, in M. Byram & P. Grundy, eds., Context and Culture in Language Teaching and Learning, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 81-91.
- Canut, C., 1996, ‘Dynamique plurilingue et imaginaire linguistique au Mali: entre adhésion et résistance au bambara’, Langage et société, 78, pp. 55-76.
- Carrithers, M., 2005, ‘Why Anthropologists should Study Rhetoric’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11, pp. 577-583.
- Chumbow, B.S., 2005, ‘The Language Question and National Development in Africa’, in T. Mkandawire, ed., African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development, London/Dakar: Zed Books/CODESRIA, pp. 165-192.
- Ejobowah, J.B., 2001, Competing Claims to Recognition in the Nigerian Public Sphere: A Liberal Argument about Justice in Plural Societies, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- Ewota, J.I., 1986, ‘Code-mixture: An Outgrowth of Urbanization and Multilingualism’, Cameroon Tribune (15 October 1986, p. 15).
- Fardon, R. & Furniss, G. , 1994, ‘Introduction: Frontiers and Boundaries – African Languages as Political Environment’, in R. Fardon & G. Furniss, eds., African Languages, Development and the State, London: Routledge, pp. 1-29.
- Finlayson, J.G., 2005, Habermas: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- Finlayson, R. & Slabbert, S., 1997, ‘I’ll Meet You Halfway with Language: Code-switching withinASouthAfrican Urban Context’, in M. Pütz, ed., Language Choices: Conditions, Constraints, and Consequences,Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 381-421.
- Fraser, N., 1992, ‘Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy’, in Craig Calhoun, ed., Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, pp. 109-142.
- Gitlin, T., 1998, ‘Public Sphere or Public Sphericules?’, in T. Liebes and J. Curran, eds., Media, Ritual, Identity, London: Routledge, pp. 168-175.
- Goode, L., 2005, Jürgen Habermas. Democracy and the Public Sphere, London: Pluto Press.
- Habermas, J., 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge: Polity Press.
- Herbert, R.K., 1992, ‘Language in a Divided Society’, in R.K. Herbert, ed., Language and society in Africa. The Theory and Practice of Sociolinguistics, Witwatersrand: Witwatersrand University Press, pp. 1-17.
- Ipperciel, D., 2008, ‘Transcending Particularities through Communication: A Reply to Antonsich’, Nations and Nationalism, 14, 3, pp, 606-612.
- Johnson, P., 2006, Habermas. Rescuing the Public Sphere, London: Routledge.
- Joseph, R., 1999, ‘Democratization in Africa after 1989: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives’, in L. Anderson, ed., Transitions to Democracy, Columbia: Columbia University Press, pp. 237-260.
- Makoni, S. & Meinof, U.H. , 2003, ‘Introducing Applied Linguistics in Africa’, AILA Review, 16, pp. 1-12.
- Makoni, S., Smitherman, G., Ball, A.F., & Spears, A.K., 2003, eds., Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas, London: Routledge.
- Mazrui, A.M., 1996, ‘Language Policy and the Foundations of Democracy: An African Perspective’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 118, pp. 107-124.
- Mbembe, A., 2001, On the Postcolony, Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Moreau, M.L., 1994, ‘Ombres et lumière d’une expansion linguistique’, Langage et société, 68, pp. 55-76.
- Mugane, J., 2006, ‘Necrolinguistics: The Linguistically Stranded’, in J. Mugane, J.P.Hutchinson and D.A. Worman, eds., Selected Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, pp. 10-21.
- Newman, J., 2005a, ‘Participative Governance and the Remaking of the Public Sphere’, in J. Newman, ed., Remaking Governance: People, Politics and the Public Sphere, Bristol: Polity Press, pp. 119-138.
- Newman, J., 2005b, ‘Conclusion’, in J. Newman, ed., Remaking Governance: People, Politics and the Public Sphere, Bristol: Polity Press, pp. 197-213.
- Ngom, F., 2004, ‘Focus on Africa: Sociolinguistic Changes in a Changing World’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 170, pp. 95-111.
- Rampton, B., 1995, Crossing: Language and Ethnicity Among Adolescents, London: Longman.
- Rampton, B., 1999, ‘Styling the Other: Introduction’, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3, pp. 421-427.
- Roberts, J.M. & Crossley, N., 2004, ‘Introduction’, in N. Crossley & J.M. Roberts, eds., After Habermas: New Perspectives on the Public Sphere, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing/The Sociological Review, pp. 1-27.
- Scotton, C.M., 1993, ‘Elite Closure as a Powerful Language Strategy: The African Case’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 103, pp. 149-163. Stroud, C., 2007, ‘Bilingualism: Colonialism and Postcolonialism’, in M. Heller, ed., Bilingualism: A Social Approach, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 25-49.
- Wa Thiong’o, N., 2005, ‘Europhone or African Memory: the Challenge of the Pan- Africanist Intellectual in the Era of Globalization’, in T. Mkandawire, ed., African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development, London/Dakar: Zed Books/CODESRIA, pp. 155-164.
- Watts, R.J., 1999, ‘The Social Construction of Standard English: Grammar Writers as “a Discourse Community”’, in T. Bex and R. Watts, eds., Standard English: The Widening Debate, London: Routledge, pp. 40-86.
- Wayne, C., 2000, Activism in the Public Sphere: Exploring the Discourse of Political Participation, Burlington: Ashgate.
- Wright, S., 2008, ‘Language, Communication and the Public Sphere: Definitions’, in R. Wodak & V. Koller, eds., Handbook of Communication in the Public Sphere, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 21-43.
References
Ambadiang, T., 2005, ‘Política y políticas lingüísticas en África’, in Mbuyi Kabunda Badi & Carlo A. Caranci, eds., Etnias, estado y poder en África, Vitoria-Gasteiz: Servicio Central de Publicaciones del Gobierno Vasco, pp. 101-145.
Anderson, B., 1991, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso.
Antonsich, M., 2008, ‘Linguistic Commonality between Universalism and Particularism: A Reply to Ipperciel (2007)’, Nations and Nationalism, 14, 3, pp. 600-605.
Appiah, A.K., 1992, In My Father’s House, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bayart, J.-F., 2008 [1981], ‘Naissance d’une bourgeoisie africaine’, Manière de voir’, Le Monde diplomatique, 99, pp. 18-20.
Blommaert, J., 2007, ‘Linguistic Diversity in Africa’, in M. Hellinger & A. Pauwels, eds., Handbook of Language and Communication: Diversity and Change, Berlin/New York, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 123-149.
Breidbach, S., 2003, ‘European Communicative Integration: The Function of Foreign Language Teaching for the Development of a European Public Sphere’, in M. Byram & P. Grundy, eds., Context and Culture in Language Teaching and Learning, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, pp. 81-91.
Canut, C., 1996, ‘Dynamique plurilingue et imaginaire linguistique au Mali: entre adhésion et résistance au bambara’, Langage et société, 78, pp. 55-76.
Carrithers, M., 2005, ‘Why Anthropologists should Study Rhetoric’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 11, pp. 577-583.
Chumbow, B.S., 2005, ‘The Language Question and National Development in Africa’, in T. Mkandawire, ed., African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development, London/Dakar: Zed Books/CODESRIA, pp. 165-192.
Ejobowah, J.B., 2001, Competing Claims to Recognition in the Nigerian Public Sphere: A Liberal Argument about Justice in Plural Societies, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Ewota, J.I., 1986, ‘Code-mixture: An Outgrowth of Urbanization and Multilingualism’, Cameroon Tribune (15 October 1986, p. 15).
Fardon, R. & Furniss, G. , 1994, ‘Introduction: Frontiers and Boundaries – African Languages as Political Environment’, in R. Fardon & G. Furniss, eds., African Languages, Development and the State, London: Routledge, pp. 1-29.
Finlayson, J.G., 2005, Habermas: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Finlayson, R. & Slabbert, S., 1997, ‘I’ll Meet You Halfway with Language: Code-switching withinASouthAfrican Urban Context’, in M. Pütz, ed., Language Choices: Conditions, Constraints, and Consequences,Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 381-421.
Fraser, N., 1992, ‘Rethinking the Public Sphere: A Contribution to the Critique of Actually Existing Democracy’, in Craig Calhoun, ed., Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, pp. 109-142.
Gitlin, T., 1998, ‘Public Sphere or Public Sphericules?’, in T. Liebes and J. Curran, eds., Media, Ritual, Identity, London: Routledge, pp. 168-175.
Goode, L., 2005, Jürgen Habermas. Democracy and the Public Sphere, London: Pluto Press.
Habermas, J., 1989, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Herbert, R.K., 1992, ‘Language in a Divided Society’, in R.K. Herbert, ed., Language and society in Africa. The Theory and Practice of Sociolinguistics, Witwatersrand: Witwatersrand University Press, pp. 1-17.
Ipperciel, D., 2008, ‘Transcending Particularities through Communication: A Reply to Antonsich’, Nations and Nationalism, 14, 3, pp, 606-612.
Johnson, P., 2006, Habermas. Rescuing the Public Sphere, London: Routledge.
Joseph, R., 1999, ‘Democratization in Africa after 1989: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives’, in L. Anderson, ed., Transitions to Democracy, Columbia: Columbia University Press, pp. 237-260.
Makoni, S. & Meinof, U.H. , 2003, ‘Introducing Applied Linguistics in Africa’, AILA Review, 16, pp. 1-12.
Makoni, S., Smitherman, G., Ball, A.F., & Spears, A.K., 2003, eds., Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas, London: Routledge.
Mazrui, A.M., 1996, ‘Language Policy and the Foundations of Democracy: An African Perspective’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 118, pp. 107-124.
Mbembe, A., 2001, On the Postcolony, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Moreau, M.L., 1994, ‘Ombres et lumière d’une expansion linguistique’, Langage et société, 68, pp. 55-76.
Mugane, J., 2006, ‘Necrolinguistics: The Linguistically Stranded’, in J. Mugane, J.P.Hutchinson and D.A. Worman, eds., Selected Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, pp. 10-21.
Newman, J., 2005a, ‘Participative Governance and the Remaking of the Public Sphere’, in J. Newman, ed., Remaking Governance: People, Politics and the Public Sphere, Bristol: Polity Press, pp. 119-138.
Newman, J., 2005b, ‘Conclusion’, in J. Newman, ed., Remaking Governance: People, Politics and the Public Sphere, Bristol: Polity Press, pp. 197-213.
Ngom, F., 2004, ‘Focus on Africa: Sociolinguistic Changes in a Changing World’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 170, pp. 95-111.
Rampton, B., 1995, Crossing: Language and Ethnicity Among Adolescents, London: Longman.
Rampton, B., 1999, ‘Styling the Other: Introduction’, Journal of Sociolinguistics, 3, pp. 421-427.
Roberts, J.M. & Crossley, N., 2004, ‘Introduction’, in N. Crossley & J.M. Roberts, eds., After Habermas: New Perspectives on the Public Sphere, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing/The Sociological Review, pp. 1-27.
Scotton, C.M., 1993, ‘Elite Closure as a Powerful Language Strategy: The African Case’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 103, pp. 149-163. Stroud, C., 2007, ‘Bilingualism: Colonialism and Postcolonialism’, in M. Heller, ed., Bilingualism: A Social Approach, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 25-49.
Wa Thiong’o, N., 2005, ‘Europhone or African Memory: the Challenge of the Pan- Africanist Intellectual in the Era of Globalization’, in T. Mkandawire, ed., African Intellectuals. Rethinking Politics, Language, Gender and Development, London/Dakar: Zed Books/CODESRIA, pp. 155-164.
Watts, R.J., 1999, ‘The Social Construction of Standard English: Grammar Writers as “a Discourse Community”’, in T. Bex and R. Watts, eds., Standard English: The Widening Debate, London: Routledge, pp. 40-86.
Wayne, C., 2000, Activism in the Public Sphere: Exploring the Discourse of Political Participation, Burlington: Ashgate.
Wright, S., 2008, ‘Language, Communication and the Public Sphere: Definitions’, in R. Wodak & V. Koller, eds., Handbook of Communication in the Public Sphere, Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 21-43.