Acceso usuarios
Efurosibina Adegbija
This study presents an overview of language attitudes in West Africa, tapping from a variety of methodological approaches, including the ethnographic, the questionnaire, and participant observation, which have been used by earlier scholars in their investigations. The importance of language attitudes for West Africa is examined: the language-attitude molders and shapers in West Africa are identified and the patterns of language attitudes within the subregion are described. The final section of the study probes language attitudes and language policy in West Africa. The paper concludes by submitting that West Africa represents a complex sociolinguistic reality, and language-attitude research äs well äs attempts by policy-makers to apply it must, at the very least, bear this important fact in mind. Furthermore, it posits that language-policy formulation not undergirded by satisfactory and valid language-attitude research is risky, unwise, and potentially damaging for societal language use and well-being because language attitudes crisscross language-policy planning, policy Implementation, and policy consequences.
