B. Akíntúndé Oyètádé
Sierra Leone: Krio and the Quest for National Integration
Oyètádé, B. Akíntúndé; Fashole-Luke, Victor
Authors
Victor Fashole-Luke
Contributors
Andrew Simpson
Editor
Abstract
The Republic of Sierra Leone is a smaller country in size, population and the number of its languages than many other countries on the West African coast such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria. A particularly interesting phenomenon is however present in the configuration of the languages present and used in the country, and how language links up the general population. Though there are two proportionately large indigenous languages spoken in the country, Temne and Mende, it is found that the language which has spread and serves as a universal lingua franca known by as much as 95% of the population of Sierra Leone is in fact an English-based creole known as Krio, which is the mother tongue of a much smaller group of speakers primarily localized in and near the capital city Freetown. This chapter examines the growing significance of Krio in Sierra Leone and how it originally developed as a contact language among different groups of resettled emancipated slaves and other indigenous inhabitants of the Freetown area. The implications of the growth of Krio for national language policy and the position of English as the official language are examined, as well as the existence of ambivalent and changing attitudes towards the Krio language.
Citation
Oyètádé, B. A., & Fashole-Luke, V. (2008). Sierra Leone: Krio and the Quest for National Integration. In A. Simpson (Ed.), Language and National Identity in Africa (122-140). Oxford University Press
Publication Date | Feb 15, 2008 |
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Deposit Date | Oct 23, 2007 |
Publicly Available Date | Jan 22, 2025 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Pages | 122-140 |
Book Title | Language and National Identity in Africa |
ISBN | 9780199286751 |
Keywords | Sierra Leone, Krio, National Integration |
Additional Information | Additional Information : The publisher, OUP, have kindly agreed for the chapter to be posted as E-prints in the SOAS library. References : References Bamgbose, A. (1991), Language and the Nation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Bangura, A. K. (2006), ‘The Krio Language: Diaglossic and Political Realities’, in M. Dixon-Fyle and G. Cole (eds.) 151-166. Cole, G. R. (2006), ‘Re-thinking the Demographic Make-up of Krio Society’, in M. Dixon-Fyle and G. Cole (eds.) 33-51. Dixon-Fyle, M. and Cole, G. (2006), ‘Introduction’ in M. Dixon-Fyle and G. Cole (eds.) 1-23. Dixon-Fyle, M. and Cole, G. (2006) (eds.), New Perspectives on the Sierra Leone Krio (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.) Sengova, J. (1987), ‘The National Language of Sierra Leone: A Decade of Policy Experimentation’, Africa 57 (4):519-530. Sengova, J. (2006), ‘Aborigines and Returnees: In Search of Linguistic and Historical Meaning in Delineations of Sierra Leone’s Ethnicity and Heritage’ in M. Dixon-Fyle and G. Cole (eds.) 167-199. Spencer-Walters, T. (2006), ‘Creolization and Kriodom (Re) Visioning the “Sierra Leone Experiment”’, in M. Dixon-Fyle and G. Cole (eds.) 223-255. Spitzer, L. (1974), The Creoles of Sierra Leone: Resposes to Colonialism, 1870-1945. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press. Wyse, A. (1989), The Krio of Sierra Leone: An Interpretive History. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers Ltd. |
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