Colonial language
The colonial language is the language of the occupying power that is imposed on a population speaking another language in an occupied or affiliated area (for example a colony ). In these areas, the colonial language is usually the only official language . Many colonies that have become independent retain the colonial language, so that most of the official languages in the world are now former colonial languages.
Important colonial languages
Important colonial languages are the languages of the colonial powers , for example English in Africa and the Indian subcontinent (language of Great Britain ) and in the Pacific (language of Great Britain and the USA ), Spanish and Portuguese in Central and South America , Russian in Eastern Europe and Central Asia , French in Africa and the French border regions ( Alsace , Brittany , Basque Country , French Guiana ), Dutch (language of the Netherlands ) in Suriname , South Africa , Indonesia and the Netherlands Antilles .
Securing supremacy
Colonial languages in most cases suppress the attachment and development of other languages. Colonial languages are responsible to a much greater extent than globalization for the extinction of many languages (primarily Indian and Pacific languages, but also in Europe, e.g. Manx ).
The locals have different mother tongues than the colonial language. They are numerically far superior to the occupiers, but because the colonial language is the language of the ruling, wealthy elite , the locals are forced to learn the colonial language in order to improve their social position (jobs in administration ) to overcome poverty to escape (communication with wealthy customers) or for further training (often from school language ).
In some cases, the use of native languages is even banned; The residents are also forced to use the colonial language in everyday life. For example, the use of was Catalan or Basque in Franco - Spain banned. Also in Taiwan (1895–1945) and Korea (1910–1945) Japanese was introduced as the sole national language during the Japanese colonial period, so that today in Taiwan (but not in Korea) there are "clubs of Japanese speakers" in many places where older people are People who actually maintain their second mother tongue, Japanese, which is imposed on them.
When a colonial language has been established for a long time, the locals begin to raise their children in this language and no longer teach them their own mother tongue. A colonial language is gradually becoming the mother tongue in other areas.
Colonial languages are often a lingua franca, however . In linguistically highly divided areas, residents can often only communicate with one another using the colonial language (as in India); it also has the advantage that it comes from outside and you do not have to privilege any of the native languages in order to communicate.
Often times, a colonial language is considered to be more prestigious than a native language. After its independence from Indonesia in 2003 , East Timor established Portuguese as a second official language alongside the native Tetum , although this language is only understood by five percent of the population (elite and elderly) almost 30 years after independence from Portugal . The much more common Bahasa Indonesia , also a colonial language, was not officially recognized. The 24-year struggle for liberation against Indonesia played a role here, with 183,000 dead.
German as a colonial language
German played only a minor role as a colonial language : the so-called colonial German was a form of language for which only a small vocabulary was provided and which was intended to serve the most necessary communication, but which was never realized. Since Germany was a colonial power only for a relatively short time, German as a colonial language could not play a role comparable to that of English.
literature
- Florian Coulmas: Language and State. Language planning studies. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1985. ISBN 3-11-010436-9 . Especially chapter: " Cuius regio, eius lingua - the linguistic legacy of colonialism."
- Wolfgang Viereck, Karin Viereck, Heinrich Ramisch: dtv-Atlas English language. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2002. ISBN 3-423-03239-1 . Especially chapter: "The Colonial Expansion of English."
