Language Policy and Planning in Senegal
Interview with Mamadou Ndoye, Deputy Minister in charge of Basic Education and National Languages of Senegal
Question: Minister Ndoye, we thought it would be particularly interesting to include your remarks in this issue of ADEA’s Newsletter focused on national languages, since Senegal has a Ministry of Basic Education and National Languages which is dedicated entirely to this question. When was this Ministry created, and what are its mandate and raison d’être?
The Ministry of Basic Education and National Languages was created in 1991. At the time of its creation, a major goal was the elimination of illiteracy. The literacy sector was the poor cousin of the education system and non-formal education had remained a very secondary concern for government officials. The President came up with the idea of creating this new department in order to devote special attention to non-formal education and literacy.
There was also another purpose at work. Since the Etats Généraux (1) of 1981, one of the primary objectives of the education reform was built around introducing national languages into the education system. Between 1981 and 1991, there was almost no progress on this issue. Ten years later, the President thought it was high time to move forward on the issue of promoting national languages, and particularly their use in education.
This resolve led to the creation within the Ministry of a department devoted to increasing literacy and promoting national languages. Promoting national languages means taking the legal steps necessary to codify the transcription of national languages and giving new momentum to planning the introduction of national languages. That translates into promoting linguistic research, developing dictionaries and grammars for these languages, providing instructor training, developing curricula for teaching these languages and developing the educational materials needed to teach them. We sought to promote all of these aspects by creating the Ministry of Basic Education and National Languages.
You have raised the issue of transcribing these languages, which represents a large-scale effort. Have Senegal’s national and vernacular languages been transcribed?
Transcription of some of these languages dates back to ancient times, but codification of these languages did not begin until 1974. Today, codification of Senegal’s six national languages Wolof, Serer, Mandinka, Pulaar, Diola and Soninke is stabilized. For almost all of the other languages, research work is underway, and the trend is toward stable transcription of these languages.
According to Louis-Jean Calvet, professor at the Sorbonne University, languages cannot be decreed; they are the product of history and the practices of the people that speak them, and they are shaped by the pressure of historical and social influences. Can languages be planned? Is it desirable to intervene in the maturing process of languages?(2)
If that quotation is put back into context, it means that, where languages are concerned, there is a need for mediation that a decree cannot resolve. This problem has come up in Senegal. It has been said that In order to achieve national unity, there must be a language of unification in Senegal. But which language should we choose? Obviously, if the government decides to choose one language rather than another, that doesn’t mean that the social process taking place in the real world will obey the decree exactly as issued. Languages have their own dynamic. There are many factors involved, such as trade, migrations, historical and social factors, that cause one language to spread more than another. If a government arbitrarily decides that a particular language must be the language of national unification instead of acknowledging these ongoing processes for what they are, it’s on the wrong track.
What constitutes language policy? In Senegal, as in many African countries, the official language - French, as it happens - is an imported language. The question is whether the national languages spoken by the population have a place in official life or not. Would it or would it not be possible to use national languages in government, at the post office and at the bank today? If so, then a policy decision needs to be made. We would have to restore national languages to their legitimate place in government, in our systems of education and training, and in public life. This is where language policy and planning come in.
Furthermore, it is clear that moving from an oral to a written language is not a spontaneous process. There needs to be research and decisions taken to transcribe oral languages. The path to the written language makes it possible to stabilize transcription and to reduce the number of elements that are dialect-specific. Oral languages do not allow standardization, since each group in its village appropriates the language with its own distinctive intonation, its experience, and so on.
What is the role of education in promoting national languages?
In order to promote national languages, a country must have a language policy, a cultural policy and an education policy.
A language policy is necessary because political will is essential to promoting national languages. Language planning is necessary because entities must be created that will be responsible for standardizing and enriching national languages. A whole process of conceptual enrichment of the language must be encouraged. Colonization brought about a linguistic substitution process that conferred the status of hegemony on the language of the home country, to the detriment of the national languages. Because these languages were largely excluded from official life, from teaching, and from the structured area of national activity, they could not benefit from the dynamism of modernization and the structuring effect of the widespread use of written language. This has inhibited the African national languages’ potential for conception, elaboration and written communication. We need to recognize this in order to be able to begin the considerable work involved in moving forward. In the areas of science and technology, it is desirable for these languages to be enriched from a conceptual standpoint, so that they become languages equipped to communicate modern knowledge. There is a considerable linguistic effort to be made here.
In terms of cultural policy, it is important that the promotion of national languages goes hand in hand with a cultural renaissance. A language is not merely an instrument of communication. It is also a culture. The history of a group and the etymology of their language are a reflection of the unique history of a group; these elements must be revived to accompany the effort to promote national languages. Our traditional heritage contains a wealth of popular literature - stories, epics, historical chronicles, fables, nursery rhymes, proverbs, songs, poems, liturgical literature, and so on - encompassing art, philosophy, history, and religion, and we may be losing all of that today. But if the newly literate are able to produce manuscripts, these touchstone social practices, these stories and legends, everything that they know and master so well can be preserved, and libraries will no longer go up in smoke when our elders die. This will allow us to use culture as a foundation for promoting national languages.
Finally, educational policy will ensure that illiterate populations are given the chance to become literate in the languages they speak. Literacy campaigns which aim at rendering people literate in a foreign language are not true literacy campaigns. They involve learning a foreign language and then gaining access to its written code. A true literacy program consists of helping people who speak a language, but cannot write it, to master the written code.
Wolof is spoken by the majority of the Senegalese. What progress has been made as far as the codification of Wolof, the use of the written language, and the development of instructional materials?
We have reached a very advanced stage with Wolof. The first attempts at transcription date back to before independence, and they were initiated by a group of pioneers who fought for the transcription of national languages. Around 1974, all national languages were codified, including Wolof. After codification came the development of literacy manuals and educational materials for basic adult education.
For children, there have been experiments with televised classes that offered programs covering all six years of primary education. Educational materials exist in Wolof as well as in Pulaar for the elementary schools.
There are also manuals on the environment, agriculture, livestock breeding, population, family life, health, and so on, that are used in functional literacy programs. And more and more, we are seeing the emergence of authors who write novels, poetry, anthologies, etc. in Wolof.
You have spoken of experiences with using national languages in education, particularly in the non-formal sector. Is there any draft legislation that would implement the use of national languages as languages of instruction in the formal education system?
We are currently in the process of developing new curricula for basic education. In 1995, we held a symposium on basic education. The definition of what basic education should be in Senegal gave concrete expression to the vital necessity of introducing national languages in our formal education system immediately. The new curricula now being developed take this requirement into consideration and seek to translate it into concrete terms. If everything goes as expected, the work should be completed before the end of the year, and a decree on new basic education programs will be issued. These programs could go into effect as early as the start of the 1997-98 school year.
What is the role of French, Wolof and the other national languages in the media?
Wolof is certainly the most frequently used language in the media. Many public debates are held in Wolof. This is not surprising since to be heard you must be understood by the majority of the population. At present it’s safe to say that French continues to dominate television. On the other hand, private radio stations - that have only their audience to consider - broadcast at least 70% of their programs in Wolof.
What percentage of the population speaks French?
According to statistics released in 1981, only 15% of Senegal’s population speaks French.
According to statistics, Wolof is spoken by 80% of the Senegalese population. Why hasn’t Wolof been adopted as an official language in the same way as French?
I believe it is still very premature to be thinking about a unifying language in Senegal. We still need to let a number of processes run their course. Perhaps there will come a time when we need to take action in response to a situation as it unfolds. The issue of languages is a very sensitive one. It affects issues of feeling and identity, and reactions can be very strong in this area. This is why I believe it is too early to raise this issue.
An interview with Mamadou Ndoye
Deputy Minister for Basic Education and National Languages
Senegal
Geneva, October 1, 1996
Footnotes
(1) In francophone countries, Etats Généraux are a nation-wide assessment of a sector involving all major stakeholders.
(2) Excerpt from Les politiques linguistiques, by Louis-Jean Calvet, "Que sais-je" Series, Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1996.
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