Globalization of an African Language: Truth or Fiction?

Abstract

In the quest to do away with every influence of colonialism including language imperialism, following the independence of several African countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, debates arose about the possibility of the adoption of Swahili as a common language for Africa since it was the most widely-spoken African language at the time. However, even though this discourse continued for some time, it did not go beyond this stage. In contemporary times, discourse on the Swahili language has emerged again, but this time it centres on the question of globalization of the Swahili language. This recent development therefore is the motivation for this paper. We seek to bring to light paradoxes that emanate from the debate and quest for the globalization of the Swahili language against the background of challenges that face the language at the national, regional and continental levels and to make submissions as to whether the quest for the globalization of the Swahili language is not just an illusion.