西非法语国家民族语言发展的困境与前景

The Predicament and Prospect of the Development of African Languages in Francophone West Africa

西非法语国家以法语为官方语言,并将之作为教育体系各阶段的教学语言。该地区民族语言众多,发展状况各异,因而形成了复杂的语言生态。在现行西非法语国家的语言政策当中,民族语言遭遇的主要问题是:地位规划较为模糊,本体规划薄弱,教育体系中的融入也面临着各种困难。然而,民族语言在西非法语国家语言生态中仍然发挥着重要的交际功能,是国家文化遗产的重要组成,影响着国家身份认同和民族团结的构建。未来,西非法语国家的民族语言可依托国家、区域和国际层面的合力,寻求生存和发展的更大空间。

French-speaking countries in West Africa adopt French as their official language and use it as the language of instruction at all stages of national education. At the same time, the region is rich in native languages with varying development status, thus forming a complex language ecology. In the current language policies of West African French-speaking countries, the status planning of African languages is relatively vague, and their corpus planning and integration into the education system also face various difficulties. However, the African languages still play an important communicative function in the language ecology of West African French-speaking countries. They are an important component of national cultural heritage and affect the construction of national identity and unity. In the future, the African languages may need to rely on the joint efforts at the national, regional and international level to seek greater space for their survival and development.