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The development of official discourse and popular consciousness: A case study of language planning in Mozambique
Abstract
The objective of this study is to identify factors influencing language planning decisions in Mozambique by analyzing the relationship between official language policy and popular language practice. The study presents a macro perspective by examining historic and current accounts of the formulation of national policies, the official discourse, and focuses on a micro perspective by revealing ethnic and linguistic realities facing adults in Maputo, the popular consciousness. An ethnographic approach is used to gather artifacts, documents, in-depth interviews, and participant observations which together formulate the official and popular discourses. In the analysis, the promotion of a national ideology in a newly formed multilingual state is related to the realities of a multiethnic, multicultural community. During the struggle for independence, the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) promoted Portuguese as the language of liberation, due to Mozambique's diverse linguistic composition of more than thirteen major languages and their many dialects. Since independence in 1975, Portuguese has been used as the official language, promoting national unity with the explicit intention of eliminating tribalism, regionalism and racism. However, fourteen years after independence, an estimated 70% of the population remains illiterate in Portuguese as Mozambique faces war and political and economic change. Participants in the study identify three major areas of conflict regarding current popular uses of Mozambican languages versus Portuguese: the maintenance of traditional knowledge, language strategies for survival in the Mozambican state, and perceptions of Mozambican identity. The official discourse indicates that the national ideology, which mandates unity and modernity, has not promoted language policy accommodating ethnic and linguistic diversity. Language planning theory, especially related to the promotion of nationalism, is examined and discrepancies between language policy and language practice are identified. The study reveals that language planning necessitates historic and ethnographic accounts of official and popular discourses to arrive at new appropriate language planning strategies meeting official and popular needs.
Subject Area
Language arts|Linguistics|Cultural anthropology|Public administration
Recommended Citation
Passanisi, Douglas John, "The development of official discourse and popular consciousness: A case study of language planning in Mozambique" (1990). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9100529.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9100529