ISSN: 3078-4301
Editor-In-Chief: Prof. Oswald Kyamulesire Ndoleriire, Kabale University, Uganda.
Frequency: Quarterly
Submission to First Decision: 45 days
Submission to Acceptance: 65 days
Accept to Publish: 21 days
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Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024)
This is the maiden issue of the Africa Journal of Language Studies (AJLS) based at Kabale University, in South-Western Uganda. The bi-annual journal aims at facilitating the findings and deliberations of scholars involved in language and related studies worldwide but particularly in Africa. Our focus is research, on and development of African languages. The working language is English but contributions written in Kiswahili, French, Runyakitara, Luganda and Lwo shall be accommodated.
In this maiden issue, a variety of topics are handled, ranging from linguistics and sociolinguistics, translation, and literary studies as well as language pedagogy and didactics. In this issue, English, Kiswahili, and French were the media of communication but we hope the other languages referred to earlier will come on board in subsequent issues.
In this volume, Ndoleriire reviews matters pertaining to the development and intellectualization of African languages. He starts by defining the idea of intellectualization which involves using a language in all areas of human endeavour. He then looks at some success stories regarding language intellectualization focusing on Hebrew and Afrikaans. Thereafter, the case of intellectualizing languages in Asia reveals a situation where the exercise was quite successful in the case of Malay in Indonesia and Malaysia but less successful with Tagalog converting into Filipino in the Philippines. The case of India is of interest to Africa due to a common colonial heritage and the multiplicity of languages and we note that the Indian experience has been relatively successful. Regarding the African situation itself, the commendable efforts in formulating and to some extent implementing an enabling language policy in South Africa is pointed out.
A quick review is then carried out on the language situation in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, where the situation leaves a lot to be desired, apart from the glimmer of hope presented by Kiswahili in Eastern Africa. Among the challenges faced by those who want to promote and intellectualize African languages, the issue of the Africans’ mindset and the phenomenon of globalization, with English as one of the globalizing agents, are highlighted. Finally, strategies to counter the challenges are proposed, including political will, appropriate policies and creation of universities using only African languages as media of instruction.