Steffen Lorenz - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Steffen Lorenz
The promotion of Kiswahili is one of the main goals of the policies of the East African Community... more The promotion of Kiswahili is one of the main goals of the policies of the East African Community. However, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on the perception and application of the language outside of the traditionally Kiswahili-speaking countries of Tanzania and Kenya. Especially in Uganda, the third largest country of the region, there is a lack of understanding for the role of the language in public communication. This article presents data on the use of Kiswahili in everyday communication and discusses the language attitudes and language ideologies of the people in Northern Uganda’s largest city. It shows that, despite generally positive attitudes towards the language, there is little to no use for it in public communication. The results of the study, combined with perceived negative attitudes from other parts of the country towards the implemented policies, question the effectiveness of the proposed measures for promoting Kiswahili within the present parame...
Sociolinguistic Studies, 2020
With regard to eastern Africa, English is usually discussed as a language of urban metropolises, ... more With regard to eastern Africa, English is usually discussed as a language of urban metropolises, connected to global capital and high education. However, globalisation has created pockets away from these urban centres, where English is an important part of local linguistic practices, coexisting with rather local linguae francae. This study presents two examples of such places from Uganda and Tanzania, discusses the role English and local languages have there, and the attitudes people hold towards them. The Ugandan data stem from Gulu, a medium-sized city, and show English as an essential element of everyday interaction not only in interethnic communication or business encounters, but also in interactions among ethnic Acholi. This importance is reflected in the attitudes held towards English. The Tanzanian data were collected in Arusha, another medium-sized city. They show an equally favourable attitude towards English instrumentally, despite Kiswahili being more frequently used in everyday communication. It is especially this use of Kiswahili that divides these two language ecologies and questions the notion of the ‘heartland’ of East Africa based on sociolinguistic similarities. The examples show the importance of recognising the dynamics of language locally (Pennycook, 2010) in its concrete ecologies when assessing the role of languages in Africa.
This thesis discusses the positions of languages within various language ecologies of Gulu, North... more This thesis discusses the positions of languages within various language ecologies of Gulu, Northern Uganda. The research employs a multi-methodical approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse ideologies and attitudes held towards locally relevant languages and their use in social practices. It includes ethnographic explorations of linguistic landscapes and social groups, the analysis of social networks, as well as the discussion of individual attitudes using direct methods. This dissertation shows the outcomes of economic and cultural globalisation, migration and urbanisation through the lens of language, using a highly empirical approach. Beyond showing individual attitudes towards many of the countries' most spoken languages, it demonstrates how local, national and global discourses and developments aided the spread of English as the main lingua franca in a region that previously was considered a hotbed of Kiswahili in Uganda. The thesis also provides ...
The promotion of Kiswahili is one of the main goals of the policies of the East African Community... more The promotion of Kiswahili is one of the main goals of the policies of the East African Community. However, only a limited amount of research has been conducted on the perception and application of the language outside of the traditionally Kiswahili-speaking countries of Tanzania and Kenya. Especially in Uganda, the third largest country of the region, there is a lack of understanding for the role of the language in public communication. This article presents data on the use of Kiswahili in everyday communication and discusses the language attitudes and language ideologies of the people in Northern Uganda’s largest city. It shows that, despite generally positive attitudes towards the language, there is little to no use for it in public communication. The results of the study, combined with perceived negative attitudes from other parts of the country towards the implemented policies, question the effectiveness of the proposed measures for promoting Kiswahili within the present parame...
Sociolinguistic Studies, 2020
With regard to eastern Africa, English is usually discussed as a language of urban metropolises, ... more With regard to eastern Africa, English is usually discussed as a language of urban metropolises, connected to global capital and high education. However, globalisation has created pockets away from these urban centres, where English is an important part of local linguistic practices, coexisting with rather local linguae francae. This study presents two examples of such places from Uganda and Tanzania, discusses the role English and local languages have there, and the attitudes people hold towards them. The Ugandan data stem from Gulu, a medium-sized city, and show English as an essential element of everyday interaction not only in interethnic communication or business encounters, but also in interactions among ethnic Acholi. This importance is reflected in the attitudes held towards English. The Tanzanian data were collected in Arusha, another medium-sized city. They show an equally favourable attitude towards English instrumentally, despite Kiswahili being more frequently used in everyday communication. It is especially this use of Kiswahili that divides these two language ecologies and questions the notion of the ‘heartland’ of East Africa based on sociolinguistic similarities. The examples show the importance of recognising the dynamics of language locally (Pennycook, 2010) in its concrete ecologies when assessing the role of languages in Africa.
This thesis discusses the positions of languages within various language ecologies of Gulu, North... more This thesis discusses the positions of languages within various language ecologies of Gulu, Northern Uganda. The research employs a multi-methodical approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to analyse ideologies and attitudes held towards locally relevant languages and their use in social practices. It includes ethnographic explorations of linguistic landscapes and social groups, the analysis of social networks, as well as the discussion of individual attitudes using direct methods. This dissertation shows the outcomes of economic and cultural globalisation, migration and urbanisation through the lens of language, using a highly empirical approach. Beyond showing individual attitudes towards many of the countries' most spoken languages, it demonstrates how local, national and global discourses and developments aided the spread of English as the main lingua franca in a region that previously was considered a hotbed of Kiswahili in Uganda. The thesis also provides ...