The Language Situation in Zambia

Abstract

This chapter merely provides a brief sketch of the language situation in Zambia, particularly as the authors observed it at the time of the survey. To understand the present language situation in Zambia, the chapter attempts to provide a brief historical background. In employing the questionnaire technique, the authors were aware of the limitations of this method for verifying information relating to the number of languages actually found in the country. In the 1969 Census, unlike in the previous census of 1963, a question was included which sought to elicit information relating to the mother tongue of the respondent. In Zambia the most important official language is undoubtedly English. The complications inherent in the circumstances described by Mwanakatwe constituted the main reasons for the introduction of English as the only medium of instruction in the country. In general, it may be said that all the seven official Zambian languages are to a lesser or greater extent linguae francae.

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