Africa, the second largest continent, has over 2,000 distinct languages. Nigeria, its most populous country, is host to about 522 languages. Due to colonial rule, many countries in Africa designate either French or English as their official language. However, with its growing influence, there has been growing support to make Swahili the lingua franca, or common language, for all of Africa. Swahili is one of the official languages of the African Union. Additionally, it was the first African language to be honored by the United Nations in its designation of July 7 as World Kiswahili Language Day.
Tanzania’s first President, Julius Nyerere, used Swahili to unite the people of Tanzania, despite the multitude of languages spoken in the country.
“There are over a hundred languages spoken in Tanzania, but Swahili is spoken by 90 percent of the nation and is what unites the country’s 130 ethnic groups,” an article from BBC reported.
The sense of unity created by Swahili has contributed to the push for it to become the lingua franca to help unify Africa and African people.
According to the South African opposition leader Julius Sello Malema, for Africa to unite and develop, “leaders should encourage Swahili and not colonial languages” widely spoken across the continent, Zenger reported. Africa’s history with colonial rule established the presence of languages such as English and French across the continent.
“Swahili is an African-based language,” Abigel Asteraye ’25, a student from Ethiopia, said. Swahili’s potential replacement of colonial languages would be a source of unification for Africa like Malema has proposed.
Jacqueline Anokyewaah ’24, a student from Ghana, echoed some of Asteraye’s sentiments regarding the benefits of having an African language as the lingua franca.
“To be united with one vision will allow [Africa] to be able to grow accordingly and be on one page and not [have] people thinking another way, which can [bring about] disruption and delay for our growth as a nation,” Anokyewaah said.
“Most African countries were colonized by the British, and that’s [why] we are speaking English in the first place, so it makes sense that some people would want to change the official language as a way of moving [away] from that trauma. It’s a way of saying we are not accepting the language of [the] people who colonized us, like a rebuttal,” Anokyewaah continued.
In a continent with so many languages, establishing a lingua franca poses the threat of possible elimination of other native languages.
Asteraye stated, “There are other diverse languages in Africa … and it’s kind of hard to make [Swahili] official because it might make those languages extinct.”
Swahili originated in East Africa. Its speakers are predominant in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros, Oman, and Yemen. Very recently, Southern African countries, including South Africa and Botswana, introduced the language as an option to learn in schools, the UN reported.
However, in the North and the West, Swahili is less prominent. West Africa has three dominant languages of its own: Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa. In the North, Arabic has already claimed the position of lingua franca.
Regarding the dominance of Swahili in the East, it is possible that “those native languages will die out … if Swahili takes over. With English, we still retain our native languages, but Swahili would threaten these native languages. People can learn the language if they choose, but it does not have to be the official language,” Anokyewaah said.
Additionally, there is a large disparity in the knowledge of the language. “I don’t know the language,” Anokyewaah said. “For it to work for all of Africa it should have been taught to everyone from when we were little. It would now change everything. Everyone will have to learn a new language. Also, we’ve gotten so used to English being [the] official language, and it’s also the official language of other countries [which allows us to] easily communicate with many people.”
When a language is declared official, it becomes the language of the national government. Anokyewaah noted that appointing Swahili as the official language could hinder communication with other countries.
Disregarding separate regions, there remains a gap in how well the language is known even within its region of popularity. Asteraye, who is from Ethiopia, discussed this experience.
“Swahili isn’t widely known in Ethiopia [outside of parts of the south]. Amharic is the official and predominant language,” she explained.
Asteraye responded to this difference in the regions.
“I don’t think language should be the only unifying factor. I feel like we can establish the unification by other means, like through the means of trade, commerce and other economical aspects,” Asteraye said.
“I don’t think it’s possible for the whole of Africa. Maybe a region can have it as the official language,” Anokyewaah said.
Africa is divided into five regions: Northern Africa, Central or Middle Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa and Western Africa. Because of the wide variety of languages used in the continent, Anokyewaah suggested that the languages prevalent in these regions assume the position of the official language in those regions instead of one language for the whole continent.
In regards to being open to learning the language, Anokyewaah seemed optimistic, “but only if it is readily accessible.” This idea of accessibility echoes the words of Dr. Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie, a Swahili professor at the University of Ghana.
Dzahene-Quarshie explained, “If East Africa does more to promote the learning of Swahili in other regions we could get somewhere, but I don’t foresee it as a lingua franca for the whole continent.”
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