The Nexus between Language Rights, Democracy and Education in Multilingual Zambia

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue V, May 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

The Nexus between Language Rights, Democracy and Education in Multilingual Zambia

Kasonde Mpundu Mulenga
 Zambia Correctional Service

Abstract:- This paper is a critical reflection of how language rights in Zambia are distributed by policy and exercised by individuals beyond the ethnic divide. To do so, the paper looks at the language policy in Zambia and how it explicitly and implicitly empowers some and disempowers others. It also provides arguments for how some individuals are symbolically violated based on their language incapabilities and ethic affiliation by extension. The paper ends by offering suggestions on how language rights can be distributed and exercised by all in Zambia. At the centre of the paper is the problematisation of regionalisation of languages by policy and the colonial influence on the policy which has engendered English hegemony at the expense of people’s enjoyment of universal language rights.

I. INTRODUCTION

Zambia is a landlocked country with approximately 17 million people. Zambia is a multilingual country and is claimed to have 73 languages mostly because the country has 73 ethnic groups (Kashoki, 1978). Regardless, there is no proper consensus on the number of languages because the relationship between language and tribe is equally contentious. Africa (1980: 127-128) argued that “if the term tribe is seen as being coterminous with the notion of language or dialect, then the frequently articulated claim that Zambia has 73 languages and dialects is understandable”. In trying to estimate the number of languages in Zambia, UNESCO (1964) gave the range of 50 to 100 vernacular languages whereas Grotpeter (1979) stated that there are 30 distinct languages in Zambia (see also Mwanza and Bwalya, 2019). Mwanza (2016: 39) clarified the number of languages and dialects present in the country when he asserted that “Zambia has 73 dialects which can be collapsed into between 25 and 40 mutually intelligible languages”. The 2000 census narrowed the number to 22 different languages (Gordon R, 2014). Here, it is important to note that while linguists like Mwanza (2016) and Mambwe (2014) argue that the number of languages is between 25 and 40 languages, they have in mind that languages are different from dialects. What cannot be denied therefore is that while Zambia may have less that 40 distinguishable languages, there are more than 40 dialects. Put together. It can be argued that Zambia has more than 60 languages and dialects.

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