ATrA 7. Language and Identity Theories and experiences in lexicography and linguistic policies in a global world

Emerging from centuries of Portuguese colonisation and a violent Indonesian military occupation lasted 24 years (1975-1999), Timor-Leste became the first sovereign state of the 21st century, in 2002. The Democratic Republic of Timor- Leste adopted Portuguese and Tetun Dili as the two national languages and this decision has been under debate since the birth of the nation, not just among local politicians, but also among foreign consultants and scholars. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork lasted 18 months, conducted between 2017 and 2018, this paper aims to address the ambiguities regarding the linguistic diversity in Timor- Leste. Local indigenous languages have been undergoing a process of governmental recognition (being 20 the local languages mentioned in the Constitution as ‘mother tongues’) and other international institutions have developed projects aimed to their safeguard. However, often both in national institutions as well as to a more grassroot level, the local linguistic diversity is considered more as a burden than as an asset. By focusing on these local ambiguities, the paper aims to discuss the interaction between linguistic prestige and status, as well as economic relations embedded in the Timor-Leste national linguistic policies.

Nigeria exhibits an extraordinary linguistic diversity, both in terms of genetic affiliation and sociolinguistic status. A large proportion of the 520 (and counting) Nigerian languages are spoken by minority groups. In most cases, these groups are subject to a process of linguistic and ethnic conversion that will lead to a reduction in linguistic diversity and the consolidation of two main vehicular languages: Hausa and Nigerian Pidgin. This paper will discuss the notion of minority language and the idea of language endangerment, and consequently the factors that seem quintessential in determining the sociolinguistic framework of tomorrow’s Nigeria.

Wolof language is knowing a period of rapid increment of its status and prestige, which is making it, from being one of the several local languages of Senegal, the second vehicular language of the country alongside with French. To this increasing status, also a rapid evolution of Wolof literature is accompanied: this particular development has started before the independency of Senegal, with the activity of Muridiyya brotherhood at the beginning of the 20th. This paper aims at being an introduction to the Wolof language from these two aspects: the socio-linguistic one, where the extents and limitations of the employment of Wolof in Senegal will be outlined, and the literary one, when the rapid developments in Wolof literature – and particularly poetry – from the beginning of the last century will be presented.

This paper touches upon the process of mapping spoken languages onto writing systems. Case studies relating to two endangered languages of Ethiopia, Ts’amakko and Ongota are presented. The discussion concerns two kinds of mapping, transcription for descriptive purposes and orthography for literary and literacy purposes. It is shown that transcription is more scientific and precise but less readable than orthography, that is more user-friendly for the wider public and the community of speakers.

Tigrinya (Təgrəñña) is a Semitic language spoken in Eritrea and in the Ethiopian regional state of Tigray (Təgray) by about seven million people. In Eritrea it is also working and school language and the medium of a rich literature. Here, one can find a brief discussion of the main issues concerning the history of language and literature, as well as the development prospects of an idiom used in a highly troubled African territory.