Language frontiers, language standardization, and mother tongue education: the Zaire-Zambia Border area with reference to the Bemba cluster

Abstract

It is often claimed that Africa has a myriad of mutually unintelligible languages, each of which is associated with presumably a distinct ethnic group or culture. Though no expert would question the claim that Africa is a multilingual continent, the question arises of the reality of the frontiers that have been drawn among some of her languages. This paper aims to address this question in the light of the language situation across the Zaire-Zambia border area, with a focus on the Bemba cluster (Lamba, Lima, Lala, Swaka, and Bemba). It is shown that though officially these are treated as separate languages they are, in reality, varieties of the same ‘mother’ language, Bemba. Phonological, lexical and syntactic evidence is presented which attests that the languages within this cluster are mutually intelligible. The implications of this intelligibility for language standardization and mother-tongue education are considered. It is concluded that ‘if the success of African education and development depends on the usage of African languages, then there is an urgent need for an update of the ethnolinguistic map of Africa, which would reflect more accurately the distribution of language clusters on the continent…’ (Prah 1995); and for a rethink of language planning in Africa, with a focus on mother-tongue education as the key to mass education and development on the continent.