The Politics of National Languages in Postcolonial Senegal By Ib ...

well as two major constitutional reforms, one in 1971 and another in 2001—but much remains to be done to empower the Senegalese languages. The main hurdles that must still be overcome are inefficiency in implementing policies and a lack of genuine political desire to bring about the changes necessary to boost the status of the national languages to greater heights.

This book deals with the political vicissitudes of the national languages of Senegal in the postcolonial context; it considers the national languages under French rule, explores their place in the education system and in literacy programmes since 1960, and analyses their evolution after the independence of the country. Under colonial domination, the ruling power endeavoured not only to stigmatise local cultures and languages but also to undermine the pillars upon which social, economic, and political life in Senegal were founded. Rassool (2007) observed that under colonial domination, ‘local cultures, social and political ways of life, and historically grounded infrastructures were subjugated and, in some cases, completely eradicated’ (p. 98). However, this book shows that nation-building efforts (which were largely based on creating a new definition of the Senegalese people, recognizing their diverse cultures and religions) as well as the claim for a national identity with language as a defining priority reemerged after the country achieved independence. In this context, the Wolof language has spread rapidly and has strengthened its position as the lingua franca (common language) in Senegal. This phenomenal growth of Wolof and its contact with other languages (mainly French) has yielded a register of Wolof that has now gained prestige and recognition in urban areas among the educated and the country's young people. This variety—referred to as ‘urban Wolof’ (McLaughlin, 2001; Swigart, 1994), ‘code mixte Wolof-Français’ (mixed-code Wolof-French) (Dreyfus, 1995), or ‘variété urbaine’ (urban variety) (Manessy, 1990)—has attracted considerable academic interest, including that of Ngom (2002), Dreyfus and Julliard (2001), McLaughlin (2001), Dreyfus (1995), Swigart (1994), O’Brien (1998), Manessy (1990), and Thiam (1990) among others.