The Imperium of the Colonial Tongue? Evidence on Language Policy Preferences in Zambia
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Journal Title
Journal of African Economies
ISSN
0963-8024
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
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Ramachandran, R., & Rauh, C. The Imperium of the Colonial Tongue? Evidence on Language Policy Preferences in Zambia. Journal of African Economies https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.80061
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa stands out as a part of the world that primarily uses, as its official languages, former colonial languages that are neither spoken at home nor in the community. In this paper, we elicit preferences for colonial versus local languages and analyze the role of perceived costs and returns to different languages. In order to do so, we elicit beliefs about the effects of hypothetical changes to Zambia's language policy on schooling outcomes, income, and social cohesion. Our results show overwhelming support for the use of the colonial language to act as official. Looking at the determinants, we find that fears of being disadvantaged by the installation of another group's language, high perceived costs of learning in another group's language, and lack of association between retaining the elite language and socioeconomic inequality as crucial factors in affecting preferences over language policies.
Sponsorship
UNU-WIDER
Embargo Lift Date
2025-01-10
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.80061
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/332614
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