"Multilingualism is an important aspect of African urban life, also of the lives of students in Dakar. While the students usually write monolingual texts, mainly in French, their text messages involve the use of African languages too, in particular of the majority language Wolof, as well as Arabic a
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nd English, often mixed in one and the same message. With the rapid rise in the use of mobile phones, texting is becoming increasingly central as a means of communication for the students, and the social network with whom they text is growing. This working paper investigates texting as literacy practices, putting the accent on language choices: what role do they play in constructing these new practices? What are the motivations and the functions of the students’ languages choices? The analysis is based on six months of fieldwork in Dakar, during which I collected 496 SMS and interviewed and observed the 15 students who had sent and received the messages. I will focus on the practices of three of the students: Baba Yaro, a Fula-speaker born outside Dakar who has come to the Senegalese capital to undertake his studies, Christine, a Joola-speaker born in Dakar, and the Wolof-speaker Ousmane, from the suburb. I argue that in order to manage relationships and express different aspects of their identity, the students both exploit and challenge dominant language attitudes in their texting." (Abstract)
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"This book is the result of several years of observation, analysis, consultation and synthesis of the adaptation of ict s to local languages in Africa. The goal of the Pan Africa Localization project led by Don Osborn was to closely track the progress of ict s in African languages and clearly identi
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fy the priorities that the Pan African Network for Localization (anloc) will pursue in its work plan. This book is a revised version of the project’s final report. By collecting and compiling all the data presented in this book, Don has helped establish anloc’s research network and has provided an accurate picture of ict localisation in Africa. This publication will thus be useful for decision-makers intending to develop a language policy, developers working on language processing, researchers in the area of languages and information technologies, donor agencies that fund projects to support local languages, and ict users wanting to use these technologies in their local language." (Foreword, page x)
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"These guidelines have three main purposes: 1) to describe the nature of and the need for easy-to-read publications; 2) to identify the main target groups for these publications; and 3) to offer suggestions to publishers of easy-to-read materials and those organizations and agencies that serve perso
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ns with reading disabilities. Easy-to-read publications are needed by people with various levels of reading disabilities. To a great extent, the needs of these groups are similar, and it is possible for several countries to cooperate in producing easy-to-read materials." (Introduction, page 2)
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"There is a need to encourage cultural sensitivity in the production and consumption of communication and information contents, thereby facilitating access, empowerment and participation. To this end, action should be taken to: a. Support the production and distribution of innovative and diversified
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audiovisual materials, taking account of local needs, contents and actors, and having recourse as appropriate to public-private partnerships. b. Assess the impact of ICT-driven changes on cultural diversity, with a view to highlighting good practices of multilingual access to written and audiovisual productions. c. Promote media and information literacy for all age groups in order to increase the ability of media users to critically evaluate communication and cultural contents." (Recommendations 5, page 151)
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"FUNREDES and Union Latine have designed an original research method to measure linguistic diversity in cyberspace. The aim was to use search engines and a sample of word-concepts to measure the proportionate presence of these concepts in their various linguistic equivalences (in Latin languages, En
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glish and German) in cyberspace. The research, undertaken from 1996 to 2008, has enabled interesting indicators to be built in order to measure linguistic diversity. Additionally, some basic evaluations of the cultural projections associated with these languages (mentioned above) were undertaken. This paper describes the research method and its results, advantages and limitations. It also provides an overview of existing alternative methods and results, for comparison. The paper concludes with the examination of different perspectives in a field which have in the past been considered to have been characterized by a lack of scientific rigor. This has led to some misinformation about the dominant presence of English on the Web. It is a topic that is only now slowly attracting due attention from international organizations and the academic world." (Abstract, page V)
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"In order to promote and bolster linguistic and cultural diversity in cyberspace, the most underprivileged languages need help to gain access to it. If it is possible to do this with a small, oral, unwritten, endangered language, there is all the more reason why this should be possible with all poor
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ly endowed languages which are in somewhat better circumstances. The first stage consists in undertaking the necessary studies in order to develop the linguistic resources that are indispensable: a list of phonemes, an alphabet, a spelling system, a grammar, a dictionary and a collection of texts. The second stage involves work on computerization of the language in order to identify or develop compatible IT resources: a character set in at least one font, a virtual keyboard and corpus processing programmes, which may also be used to fine-tool linguistic analysis of the language and enhance its linguistic resources. The third stage consists in developing and adapting cultural resources so that they may be shared in cyberspace. This means recording and digitizing as many text, sound and graphic records as possible and making them ready for posting on websites. It is also necessary to design the various ingredients of a website, such as menus, navigation bars, titles and other texts for human-machine communication. In some cases, it will be necessary to localize programmes in order to develop the language as a working tool and endow it with supplementary IT resources. Finally, it is useful to learn to develop websites in the poorly endowed language, possibly in tandem with a more widely used language. All tools necessary for such training and tools for creating forums and localizing freeware may be found on the Internet. Once it has a website, a forum, a mailing list, IP telephony, music, still photographs and video, the lesser-used language can now be well ensconced in cyberspace, but to survive there, a community capable of using it intensively must be developed. Assistance to local associations in developing such communities will contribute to the promotion and enhancement of the diversity of languages and cultures in cyberspace." (Conclusion, page 45-46)
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"Topics covered include the ongoing linguistic processes, controversies, and implications of language modernization; the functions of South Asian languages within the legal system, media, cinema, and religion; language conflicts and politics, and Sanskrit and its long traditions of study and teachin
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g. Language in South Asia is an accessible interdisciplinary book for students and scholars in sociolinguistics, multilingualism, language planning and South Asian studies." (Publisher description)
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"Girlfriend als Teil des afrikanischen Videobooms zeigt, dass die Produktion von Filmen im Videoformat eine Möglichkeit für tansanische Regisseure ist, Filme mit ihren eigenen Themen in ihrer eigenen Sprache für den ostafrikanischen Markt gewinnbringend zu vermarkten. Die Swahili-Videofilme sind
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Teil einer populären Kultur Ost-, wie Westafrikas, die ihre eigenen ästhetischen Maßstäbe setzt. Die in Girlfriend sprachlich artikulierten Themen umfassen sowohl populäre Themen wie die Hip-Hop Kultur, als auch für Tansania eher traditionelle Themen, wie die Probleme des Lebens in der Stadt sowie zwischenmenschliche Konflikte. Der Film gewährt Einblicke in die Heterogenität der Menschen Dar es Salaams, insbesondere in die verschiedenen sozialen Gruppen, wie die der Jugendlichen der Hip-Hop-Szene, der Bürgerlichen, der schicken Akademiker und der einfachen ärmlichen Immigranten aus den ländlichen Gegenden Tansanias. Diese Figuren sind im Film besonders durch ihre sprachlichen Merkmale charakterisiert, die entweder von dem Regisseur oder Autor geplant wurden oder die von den für diese Rollen ausgewählten Darsteller automatisch mitgebracht wurden. Girlfriend ist durch seine Verwendung mehrerer Sprachvarietäten ausgezeichnet und zeigt, welch wichtige Rolle die Sprache und der Dialog in tansanischen Filmen spielt. Die Sprachvarietäten Englisch, Swahili, Kiswahili cha Mitaani und Swahili-Englisch Codeswitching dienen der Einordnung der Figuren in soziale Gruppen und charakterisieren die Figuren des Films." (Zusammenfassung S. 84-85)
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"Esta es precisamente la característica del periódico CONOSUR Ñawpaqman: recuperar las voces cotidianas. Y es precsiamente lo que Fernando Garcés ha logrado en su investigación: rastrear, a partir de la inscripción del discurso oral, un aspecto de la etnografía de la comunicación quechua, al
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recoger la creatividad de los hablantes y propiciar la divulgación de los enunciados tal y como se generan desde la identidad quechua. Es una transferencia "de la voz al papel", en la cual los individuos y la colectividad se mantienen con voz propia, son dueños de su palabra." (Cubierta del libro)
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"Oft setzen wichtige Veränderungen in so genannten Randbereichen, also außerhalb der Mainstream-Medien, ein und werden schon deshalb nicht genügend wahrgenommen. Eine Schlussfolgerung, die ich aus meiner Arbeit ziehe, ist, dass der von ›Rändern‹ ausgehenden Dynamik, gerade auch in der Entwic
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klung multilingualer Formate, erhöhte Aufmerksamkeit gebührt. Solche Dyna miken sind nicht zuletzt außerhalb der westlichen Welt zu beobachten, die in Theoriebildung und Methoden der Kommunikationsforschung noch zu oft als verbindlicher Maßstab herangezogen wird. Aus Sicht der Zentren kann beispielsweise, was auf dem informellen Sektor passiert, ebenso unterschätzt werden wie der (sprachenpolitische) Impakt, den internationale Dienste wie BBC, Voice of America oder Radio France Internationale in verschiedenen ›lokalen‹ Kontexten rund um die Welt besitzen. Meine Arbeit versteht sich als Aufforderung, sich gerade solcher blinder Flecken vermehrt wissenschaftlich anzunehmen. Aus den in diesem Buch bearbeiteten Beispielen wird erkennbar, dass eine gewisse Tendenz zu einer größeren Sichtbarkeit gesellschaftlicher Mehrsprachigkeit in Medien besteht. Die Entwicklung multilingualer Formate ist zwar für den Moment v. a. in solchen Situationen zu beobachten, wo bewusste Sprachenpolitik im Medienbereich betrieben wird. Sie kommt aber auch in wenig reglementierten Medienbereichen zum Vorschein und kann von dort langsam in den Mainstream vordringen." (Schlussfolgerungen und Ausblick, Seite 279-280)
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"Traditional indigenous education and its structures should be respected and supported. Our knowledge has not been written down by us – on the contrary: we dance it, we draw it, we narrate it, we sing it, we practise it. There is a need for a deeper understanding of what knowledge and learning are
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and the many paths that lead to them. This is in line with what was observed by the Delors Commission: Western formal education systems tend to emphasize the acquisition of knowledge to the detriment of other types of learning (UNESCO, 1997). I believe that indigenous peoples can contribute significantly both to our own education systems and to the renewal of education systems of other peoples. We need to: establish effective arrangements for the participation of indigenous parents and community members in decisions regarding the planning, delivery and evaluation of education services for their children, young people and other community members; increase the number of indigenous people employed as education administrators, teachers, coaches, curriculum advisers, teachers assistants, home-school liaison officers and other education workers, including community people engaged in teaching indigenous culture, history and contemporary society, and indigenous languages; provide education and training services to develop the skills of indigenous people to participate in educational decision-making; develop arrangements for the provisions of independent advice from indigenous communities regarding educational decisions at all levels; and to achieve the participation of indigenous children, young people and adults in education for a period similar to that for other students." (Preface, page 7-8)
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"Until the advent of African independence, Africans were not considered fitting subjects for historical research and their words, voices, and experiences were largely absent from the continent's history. In 13 lively and provocative essays focusing on all areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, oral sources ar
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e seen as a way to restore African expression to African history. African Words, African Voices evokes the richness and relevance of oral sources for understanding a complex past for readers at all levels." (Publisher description)
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