Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:38:07.999Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Contribution of Sociolinguistic Theory and Practice To the Study of Multilingualism

(With Special Reference To West Africa)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Gerda Mansour
Gerda Mansour*
Affiliation:
University of Cairo
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Given the predominance of multilingualism in many countries there is great need for a new, interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Sociolinguistics—or the sociology of language—provides such an approach and can help to shed new light on a phenomenon which is often discussed in terms that tend to create more problems than they solve. In order to demonstrate how sociolinguistic theory and practice can contribute to the study of multilingualism this paper will attempt to outline briefly some of the basic premises of sociolinguistic theory which appear relevant to the understanding of the phenomenon of multilingualism and also to define multilingualism as a social behaviour in response to a contact situation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 35 , Issue 137 , March 1987 , pp. 134 - 155
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

Barry, B., Le royaume du Waalo. Paris, Maspero, 1972.Google Scholar
Brooks, G.E., Kola Trade and State-Building: Upper Guinea Coast and Senegambia 15th - 17th centuries, African Studies Center, Working Papers 38, Boston, Boston University Press, 1980.Google Scholar
Chomsky, N., Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1965.Google Scholar
Dalby, D., Language Map ofAfrica, London, International African Institute, 1978.Google Scholar
Delafosse, M., Haut-Sénégal-Niger, Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1972 (reprint of 1912 edition).Google Scholar
Doneux, J.L., “Les liens historiques entre les langues du Sénégal,” in Réalités Africaines et Langue Française, Dakar, CLAD, 1978.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C., ”Diglossia”, in Hymes, D. (ed.), Language in Culture and Society, New York, Harper & Row, 1964.Google Scholar
Hair, P.E.H., “Ethnolinguistic Continuity on the Guinea Coast,” in Journal of African History, London, Cambridge University Press, VIII, 2 1967.Google Scholar
Houis, M., Étude Descriptive de la langue Susu, Dakar, IFAN, Mén. 67, 1963.Google Scholar
Hymes, D., Foundations in Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Lieberson, S., “Procedures for Improving Sociolinguistic Surveys of Language Maintenance and Language Shift,” in International Journal of the Sociology of Language, The Hague, Mouton, No. 25, 1980.Google Scholar
Loewen, J.A., “Why Minority Languages Persist or Die,” in Practical Anthropology, Vol. 5, 2, 1968.Google Scholar
Mansour, G., “The Dynamics of Multilingualism: The Case of Senegal,” in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Bristol, Tieto, Vol. I, 4, 1980.Google Scholar
Mcintosh, R.J., AND Keech, Mcintosh S., “The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-Jeno,” in Journal of African History, XXII, 1, 1981.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peñalosa, F., Introduction to the Sociology of Language, Rowley, Mass., Newburg House, 1981.Google Scholar
Quinn, C., Mandingo Kingdoms of the Senegambia, London, Longman, 1972.Google Scholar
Roche, C., Conquête et résistance des peuples de Casamance, Dakar, Nouvelles Editions Africaines, 1976.Google Scholar
Rodney, W., “The Guinea Coast,” in Gray, R. (ed.) The Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. 4 (1600-1790) London, Cambridge University Press 1975.Google Scholar
Gray, R., “Portuguese Attempts at Monopoly on the Upper Guinea Coast, 1580-1650,” in Journal of African History, VI, 3, 1965.Google Scholar
Scotton, C.M., “Learning Lingua Francas and Socioeconomic Integration: Evidence from Africa,” in Cooper, R. L. (ed.) Language Spread, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1982.Google Scholar
Tabouret-Keller, A., “Language Use in Relation to the Growth of Towns in West Africa,” in International Migration Review, Vol. 5, 2, 1971.Google Scholar
Wolff, P., Western Languages AD 1000-1500, New York, McGraw Hill, 1971 (translated from French).Google Scholar