French and British Colonial Language Policies: A Comparative View of Their Impact on African Literature Author(s): Fredric Michelman

Source: Research in African Literatures, Vol. 26, No. 4 (Winter, 1995), pp. 216-225 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820239 . Accessed: 18/11/2013 20:45
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Frenchand British Colonial LanguagePolicies: View of A Comparative TheirImpacton AfricanLiterature

Fredric Michelman

Ma patrie, c'est la langue quej'ecris. Antoine Rivarol(qtd. in Lefranfais hors de France 19) My homelandis the language I write. "In 1915, EdmondLaforest,a prominentmemberof the Haitianliterarymovementcalled La Ronde [...] stood upon a bridge,calmly tied a Larousse dictionaryaroundhis neck, then proceeded to leap to his death by drowning." This astonishingevent, as reported by HenryLouis Gates(66), bringsinto relief writertrappedin the languageof the colonizer the dilemmaof the non-European it can be seen as symbolic of the problematiclin(past or present).In particular, guistic legacy bequeathed by France to her colonial peoples in sub-Saharan Africa.1For Africans colonized by the British, similarburdensexist, to be sure, but, as I will argue here, French colonial policies had far more serious consequences for African literaturesthan did those of GreatBritain.As one considers the literaryoutputof Africa southof the Sahara,one is struckby two phenomena: first, the vast bulk of writing in African languages is to be found in the former Britishcolonies and, second, those writingin Englishhave, on the whole, demonstrateda greaterdegree of adaptability of Africanspeech patternsto the language of the colonizer.How can one accountfor this paucityof Africanlanguageliteraturesand a greaterfidelity to the "mothertongue"-i.e., French-in francophone Africa?I believe thatat the outsetit is essentialto examinethe uniqueimportance thatthe Frenchattachto theirlanguageand culture.How this vision was translated into certain specific policies in the colonies will then be comparedwith the attitudesand policies of the British. Finally, the ways in which these differing policies resultedin divergentlinguisticlegacies will be outlinedand briefly illustratedby comparativeliterarytexts. It is important to understand that, insofaras writingin English and Frenchis concerned,whatis being discussedhere involves relative, not absolute, divergences, and any such demonstration would be writerswho do not misleadingif it did not take into accountthe few francophone fit the theoreticalmold. "ToutFranqais,ou presque, se sent ou se croit grammairien de droit divin" 'Almost every Frenchman believes himself to be a grammarian by divine right.'2

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This tongue-in-cheek remark by the linguist Pierre Alexandre (35) contains more thana grainof truth.Indeed,he goes on to note that,"LaFranceest, autant que je sache, le seul pays au monde ou la plupartdes jouraux populairespossedent une chroniquegrammaticale reguliere"(35) 'Franceis, as far as I know, the in the where world most only country popularnewspapershave a regularcolumn on grammaticalusage.' More alarming(and even less comprehensibleto native English speakers)is the declarationby SorbonneprofessorRene Etiemble:"The Frenchlanguageis a treasure.To violate it is a crime. Persons were shot during the war for treason.They shouldbe punishedfor degradingthe language"(qtd. in Lockwood). Surely,few native Frenchspeakerswould subscribeto this extreme position, but the foregoing does reflect the unique preoccupation-some would say, obsession-the Frenchhave exhibitedwith their languagefor centuries.The British,by contrast,have rarelydisplayedthis protectivenessof and almost mystical attachment to theirnativetongue.In 1539, FrancoisI signed an ordinanceat Villers-Cotterets imposing the use of Frenchin all official documents.This historic event not only signaled one of the first French acts of liberationfrom the Latin,but also markedthe beginningof a policy suppressingotherlanguagesspoken throughout Francein the affirmation of centralizedpower.The 16th century also saw the publicationof DuBellay's celebratedDefense et illustrationde la languefrancaise (1549), a manifestoof the Pleiadegroupaffirmingthe excellence of Frenchas a literarylanguage.But it is in the 17thcentury,with the writingsof the poet Malherbe and the grammarianVaugelas and the founding of the Academie Francaiseby Richelieu (an institutionthat has survivedinto the 20th century)that the purificationand reform of the language began in earnest.The claim of the superiorityof French, owing to its crystal clarity and rigor which datesfrom this period,as well as a vigorousdefense of it from outsideimpurities, continueseven to our day, as the above quotationfrom Etiembleattests.A recent New York Timesarticlereportedon the Frenchgovernment'sproposalof a law to prohibitthe use of foreign words from virtuallyall public governmentand commercialcommunications "whenevera 'suitablelocal equivalent'exists in French" (SimmonsAl). This attemptby the Frenchat legislatinglanguageusage is nothing new and is of course a circlingof the wagons againstthe pervasiveincursions of English into moder-day French.But it also reflects a long-standingand deepseated conviction that their language is intimately tied to their identity and grandeuras a nation and as a civilization. In the above-cited New YorkTimes Balladurassertsthatdefendingthe Frenchtongue article,PrimeMinisterEdouard is "anact of faith in the futureof our country"(Simmons A14), and his Minister of Culture,JacquesToubon,would laterdeclarein supportof the law that,for the French,their language "is their primarycapital, the symbol of their dignity, the the diapasonof a universalculture,a commonheritage, passagewayto integration, part of the French dream" (qtd. in Riding). Indeed, language is seen as the of theirs,over the supremecivilizing force and, given the belief in the superiority centuriesthe Frenchhave deemed it their sacred mission to bring its benefits to those unfortunate enoughnot to speakit. If "inferior" languagesdo exist, however, in keepingwith the egalitarian ideals of the FrenchRevolution,thereareno intrinsically inferior peoples, only those who are at a lower level of development. Western humanistic values, best embodied in French culture and language, the argumentruns, are therefore"universal" and are accessible to all. Thus the

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18th-centurywriter Rivarol could assert: "Sure, sociable, reasonable, it is no longer only the Frenchlanguage,it is the humanlanguage"(qtd. in Gordon203; philosopherEtienneGilson could emphasisin the original);and the 20th-century write: "Notre particularite,c'est notre universalite"("Our particularityis our this so-called universality")(qtd. in Betts 27). Many critics have characterized "universalism" as blatantethnocentrism(Gordon 8-9), and it is clear that this principlejustified for France the "civilizing mission" carriedout in Africa and elsewherein the FrenchEmpire. If the Frenchcolonial policy was based on the concept of "identity"thatis, the belief that the political and culturaldestinies of their subjects would eventually coincide with theirown, the attitudeof the Britishwas ratherone of "differentiation" which envisioned the separate development of African peoples "and maintainedtherefore,a social and culturalgap between Europeanand African" (Spencer542).3 Although both philosophiesare based on convictions of cultural superiority,as we shall see, they resulted in ratherdifferent colonial language policies. As a general rule, the British encouragedthe use of indigenouslanguagesin their colonial schools, in literature,and even occasionally in administration. AlbertGerardhas shown the important missionariesplayed in role thatProtestant BritishAfrica duringthe early years to foster direct knowledge of the Scriptures and teaching of African languages (177-82). He points throughthe transcription out that, unlike the spiritualand institutionalcentrism of the Catholic Church, with its emphasis on the individual'sdirect relationshipto God, Protestantism, was intensified in Britain by that nation's tradition of individual rights and parliamentarydemocracy. Such missionary activities had important consequences, not the least of which was the virtualcreationof African linguistics by Protestantmissionariesin the 19th century.In BritishAfrica, German-speaking with time, the transcriptionof strictly religious African-languagetexts was expanded to the publication of secular ones. Some African pupils were even encouragedto try their hand at original composition,and the origins of modem writtenAfricanlanguageliteratures can be tracedto these modest beginnings.4 Insofaras educationalpolicies areconcerned,the issuanceof the Phelps-Stokes Fund reportsafter WorldWar I, emphasizingthe vital importanceof the use of native languages in schools, doubtless had an importantimpact. They stated emphaticallythat "no greaterinjusticecan be committedagainsta people thanto deprivethem of their own language"(Gerard183). Shortly after the publication of these reports,the Britishgovernmentissued official guidelinesthatassertedthe of the use of Africanlanguagesin its schools"(Gerard183). "primary importance the Britishterritories to introduce Indeed,it became standard practicethroughout local languagesas the mediumof instructionduringat least the first two years of primaryschool. But beyond this, from the 1920s on, seriouseffortswere made by various governmental,missionary, and private organizationsto foster creative writing in African languages, including the regularawardingof literaryprizes. Over the years, these efforts have borne fruit and importantbodies of literature have appearedin Twi, Yoruba,Hausa, Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, and other languagesspoken in areasonce colonized by the British. The situationin FrenchAfrica provedto be quite different.Two majorfactors were at work here: first, in the earlierdays of colonization,educationwas in the

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hands of Catholic missionaries who had inherited from the Roman Empire a strongtendencytowardlinguistic and culturalcentrism.This inclination,coupled with France'sstrongpropensityfor culturalimperialism,led to schooling thatwas virtuallyentirelyin Frenchand to the resultingdevaluationof Africanlanguages. Aroundthe turnof the 20th century,missionaryinfluence waned rapidlyand the Frenchgovernment assumedresponsibilityfor colonial education.Echoingearlier directives,the decree of 10 May 1924 clearly stated:"Article64: Le fran9aisest seul en usage dans les ecoles. Il est interditaux maitresde se servir avec leurs eleves des idiomes du pays"(Moumouni55) 'Frenchonly is to be used in schools. It is forbiddenfor teachersto speak to pupils in the local languages.'But beyond ban imposed on the studentsthemselves by this prohibitionwas the intimidating means of the infamoussystem known as "le symbole":an object (such as a box of matches) was circulatedfrom student to student as each was caught by his classmatespeakinghis nativetongue.At the end of the day, the unluckyholderof the "symbole"was subjectedto corporalpunishmentby the teacher.Moreover, French were severely suppressed.(Yves Person neologisms and ungrammatical has pointed out that "Frenchis the only language in the world where the same error" word [une faute] signifies a moraloffense and a spelling [or grammatical] [102].) Alexandresums up the situationwith his usual sardonicverve: La politiquecoloniale francaiseen matiered'educationet d'administration est facile a definir: c'est celle de Francois Ier, de Richelieu, de Robespierreet de Jules Ferry.Une seule langue est enseignee dans les ecoles, admise dans les tribunaux,utilisee dans l'administration:le franqais,tel que defini par les avis de l'Academie et les decretsdu ministrede l'Instruction publique.Toutesles autreslanguesne sont que folklore, tutu panpan, obscurantisme,biniou et bourree, et ferments de de la Republique.(111-12) desintegration is easy to Frenchcolonial policy regarding educationand administration define: it is that of FrancoisI, Richelieu, Robespierreand Jules Ferry. Only one languageis taughtin the schools, allowed in the courts,used in the administration: French,as definedby the judgmentsof the Academy and the decreesof the Ministerof PublicEducation.All otherlanguages are nothing but folklore, gibberish, obscurantism,mumbo-jumboand seeds of the disintegration of the Republic. Frantz Fanon, in Black Skin, White Masks, analyzes the almost pathological response of educatedWest Indians vis-a-vis the French language:anythingless thanpureParisian(such as the use of Creoleor a WestIndianaccent)relegatesthe speakerto a less humancategory.In the same vein, Paulin Hountondjiwrote in Presence Africaine: "The linguistic behavior of the African, when expressing himself in French, has all the characteristicsof a neurosis."He describes this neurotic obsession with the search for linguistic perfection in French as to the intellectual'sincreasinglyimpoverished with his native contributing rapport and As a to the draconian of (13 20). language corollary imposition Frenchin the schools, there was thus a simultaneous devaluation of African "dialects" (a "dialect" being somethingless thana "language"), presumably justifiedin partby the spurioustheory of superiorand inferiorlanguages(see Calvet Chapter5 and

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passim). In these circumstances,it is not at all surprisingthat no encouragement was given by the French government to the transcriptionand use of African languagesin its colonies. Before proceedingto the consequences of these policies, an observationon French colonial policy is in order. Although the assimilationist principle of the makingof all AfricansFrenchculturalclones persistedas an ideal throughout colonial period,in practiceit was only seriously appliedin educationafterWorld was modifiedby the WarII. Duringthe firsthalf of the 20th century,this approach a of African childrenwere limited number of whereby very principle "adaptation" designedto traina small cadreof loyal, mainly exposed to a simplifiedcurriculum A very few were able to assist the colonial administration. low-level subordinates to obtain more standarduniversity-leveldegrees and it is from their ranks and WarII universitygraduating classes that from those of the immediatepost-World most of the contemporary writers emerged. francophone One of the most obvious legacies of the two respectivecolonial systems--the Britishandthe French--is thatuntilrecently,as we have noted,writingin African languages was to be found almost exclusively in the former British territories. but to non-fiction,religious mateThis applies not only to imaginativeliterature, rials and variousforms of printjournalismas well. By contrast,in the areasonce controlledby France,virtuallyall books, newspapers,and magazines were (and still are) in French. The Frenchcolonial languagepolicy has had otherinhibitingconsequencesas well. Figures dating from the late 1950s indicate that school enrollmentratios, literacy rates, and other culturalindices were considerablyhigher in the former Britishcolonies (see Moumouni169-76).5ForAbdouMoumouni,the explanation of this state of affairslies "notin any philanthropic tendencyof English colonization comparedwith the French,but ratherin the objectively greaterpossibilities of culturaldevelopmentwhich flow from even partialuse of Africanlanguagesin schools" (172). And psycholinguistic studies strongly support the view that a child's cognitive developmentis enhanced when learning occurs in the mother tongue (Schmied 103). Moreover,the imposition of Frenchat the earliest stages of schooling, accompaniedby a curriculumvaluing exclusively Frenchcivilization, createdan unnatural dichotomyin the mind of the child:Frenchbecomes the and culture,the mothertonguebeing relegatedto languageof literacy,modernity, the oral vehicle of a supposedlyoutdatedtradition.(It should be noted parenthetically that, especially since independence, the governments of some former French colonies have encouraged the development of literacy and written in indigenouslanguages.Theiractivitiesin this respectare very likely to literature increase.) When one turnsto the vast and flourishingliteratures from Africa writtenin and the of the colonial French, impact English legacies may be somerespective what less obvious but it is nonethelessreal. In a convincing example of what he calls "extendingthe frontiersof English so as to accommodateAfrican thought ChinuaAchebe writes: patterns," Allow me to quote a small example, from Arrowof God which may give some idea of how I approachthe use of English. The Chief Priestis telling one of his sons why it is necessaryto send him to church:

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"I want one of my sons to join these people and be my eyes there.If thereis nothingin it you will come back. But if thereis somethingthere you will bringhome my share.The world is like a Mask, dancing.If you want to see it well you do not standin one place. My spirittells me that those who do not befriendthe white man today will be saying had we knowntomorrow" Now supposingI had put it anotherway. Like this for instance: "I am sendingyou as my representative among those people-just to be on the safe side in case the new religion develops. One has to move with the times or else one is left behind. I have a hunch that those who fail to come to terms with the white man may well regrettheir lack of foresight." The materialis the same. But the form of the one is in characterand the otheris not."(29) But had not CamaraLaye in L'enfantnoir, writingin Frenchsixteen years earlier, alreadyprovidedin a sense, the kind of "out-of-character" example imaginedby Achebe? The situationis similar:young Laye's fatheris encouraginghis son to attendschool in France: "Chacunsuit son destin, mon petit; les hommes n'y peuvent rien changer.Tes oncles aussi ont etudie. Moi-mais je te l'ai deja dit:je te l'ai dit, si tu te souviensquandtu es partipourConakry -moi,je n'ai pas eu leur chance et moins encore la tienne .... Mais maintenant que cette chance est devanttoi, je veux que tu la saisisses; tu as su saisir la precedante,saisis celle-ci aussi, saisis-la bien! II reste dans notrepays tantde choses a faire .... Oui,je veux que tu ailles en France; je le veux aujourd'hui autantque toi-meme:on aurabesoin ici sou peu d'hommescomme toi .... Puisses-tune pas nous quitterpour troplongtemps! ..." (247)6 "Eachone follows his own destiny,my son. Men can not changewhat is decreed.Youruncles too have had an education.As for me-but I've already told you; remember what I said when you went away to Conakry-I hadn't the opportunitiesthey had, let alone yours. This is withinyourreach.Youmust seize it. You'vealreadyseized opportunity one, seize this one too, make sure of it. Thereare still so many things to be done in our land .... Yes, I wantyou to go to France.I wantthatnow, just as much as you do. Soon we'll be needing men like you here .... May you not be gone too long!" (182) The fathersin both these novels are meantto be speakingtheirmothertongue,but whereas, by all accounts, Achebe has masterfully capturedthe flavor of Ibo imagery,the readeris hardlyawarethatLaye's dialogues are being spoken in his nativeMalinke.Certainlythis scene is touching,given its context,but Laye's lancreatedby Achebe's prose. It has guage does not impartthe sense of authenticity often been noted thatespecially the firstgenerationfrancophone novel "remained very close to Frenchmodels,"frequentlyechoing the mannerof a Balzac or a Zola (Dabla 13-15; 50-54). There is little in these works to comparewith the experiof the European mentation,the "stretching" languageas Soyinkahas called it, that has occurredin such anglophoneauthorsas GabrielOkaraor Ken Saro-Wiwa,or

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with the more or less "unconscious" libertiesthatAmos Tutuolaor the "Onitsha MarketLiterature" authorshave taken with the Queen's English. Limitationsof example will space precludefurtherextensive quotation,but a final comparative suffice to make the stylistic point. Both of the following texts describe a sunset, Adventure the firstbeing drawnfrom CheikhHamidouKane'sAmbiguous (origiin the writer and the second The Voice written from French) anglophone nally by GabrielOkara: A l'horizon, il semblait que la terre aboutissaita un gouffre. Le soleil etait suspendu, dangereusement,au-dessus de ce gouffre. L'argent liquide de sa chaleurs'etait resorbe,sans que sa lumiereeuitrien perdu de son eclat. L'airetait seulementteinte de rouge et, sous cet eclairage, a une planeteetrange.(93) la petite ville soudainparaissaitappartenir On the horizon, it seemed as if the earthwere poised on the edge of an The liquid abyss. Above the abyss the sun was suspended,dangerously. silver of its heat had been reabsorbed,without any loss of its light's splendor.Only, the air was tinted with red, and underthis illumination the little town seemed suddenlyto belong to a strangeplanet.(68) It was the day's endingand Okolo by a window stood. Okolo stood looking at the sun behindthe tree tops falling. The riverwas flowing, reflecting the finishing sun, like a dying away memory.It was like an idol's face, no one knowing what is behind. Okolo at the palm trees looked. They were like women with hair hangingdown, dancingpossessed.... And, on the river,canoes were crawlinghome with bent backs and tired hands, paddling.A girl with only a cloth tied aroundher waist and the half-ripemango breasts,paddled,drivingher paddleinto the riverwith a sweet inside. (26) The passage from AmbiguousAdventureis very beautifulbut lies strictly within the purestFrenchclassical literarytradition.The English of The Voicehas been molded to reflect the imagery and syntax of the author'snative Ijaw. Okarahas writtenthe following on his intentions: As a writer who believes in the utilization of African ideas, African philosophy and African folk-lore and imagery to the fullest extent possible, I am of the opinion the only way to use them efficiently is to translatethem almost literally from the African language native to the writer into whateverEuropeanlanguage he is using as his medium of expression.I have endeavoredin my words to keep as close as possible to vernacular expressions.For,froma word,a groupof words,a sentence and even a name in any African language, one can glean the social life of a people. ... [A] writercan use the idioms of his own languagein a way that is understandable in English. If he uses their English equivalents,he would not be expressingAfricanideas and thoughts,but English ones.

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Some may regardthis way of writing in English as a desecration of the language.This is of course not true. Living languagesgrow like Speech" living things,andEnglishis farfroma dead language.("African 137) It seems clear that the language policy, indeed the entire educationalenterprise inhibitedthis kind of linguisimposed by the Frenchin their colonial territories, tic adaptation and sent the very distinctmessage to their studentsthat such deviaof the languageand spiritof Racine and tion would very surelybe a "desecration" Descartes,a desecrationthatcould not be tolerated. It would be grossly misleading,however,to leave the impressionthatno efforts have been made by francophonewritersto breakthroughthe constraintsof linguistic orthodoxyin orderto forge a new languageresonatingwithAfricanspeech patterns.The example that first springs to mind is the very successful novel by AhmadouKourouma, Les soleils des independances,and otherscan certainlybe in her important cited. But as ChantalZabushas demonstrated study,TheAfrican Palimpsest,francophoneauthorswho have attemptedto "indigenize"their texts are not only far fewer in number,but generally neglect a technique she terms which uses Europeanvocabulary, "butindigenousstructures and "relexification," rhythms"(the formulationis LoretoTodd's,qtd. in Zabus 101).7 Zabus also raises, but does not pursue, an interestinghypothesis:the more successful indigenizationon the partof anglophonewritersmay be due in partto the inherent flexibility of English as opposed to the "intrinsicrigidity of the French language"(see Zabus 23, 122; see also Saro-Wiwa'sobservationon the same subject, qtd. in Zabus 174). This is an idea that certainly merits further research but is also one requiring expertise in comparative linguistics and familiaritywith the Africanlanguage(s)in question. Finally,no discussionof the use of Europeanlanguagesby Africanwriterscan ignorethe largerlanguagecontroversycurrently ragingin Africanliterarycircles. Many Africans have called into question the authenticityof any work by an Africannot composed in an Africanlanguage.One of the most vocal spokesmen for this point of view is of course the Kenyan writer Ngigi wa Thiong'o, who holds thatbooks by such authorsas Soyinka,Armah,Sembene,or Senghorbelong to English or Frenchliterature and cannotbe called "African." At the very most, one can term them "Afro-European literature." By their very choice of language, moreover,these writers cut themselves off from the great mass of the African public who, by and large, do not know enough English or Frenchto read them. "Some are coming round to the inescapableconclusion,"Ngiigi asserts, "[that] Africanliterature can only be writtenin Africanlanguages"(27). ManyAfricans in writing English or Frenchdo not share this view, as can be inferredfrom the passages quoted earlier from Achebe and Okara. Only time will sort out this immensely complex issue. Whatever directions written African literatures may take away from the Europeanmodel in the next few decades-whether involving increased use of African languages, greaterindigenizationof Europeanlanguage texts, or, as is likely, a combination of the two-it seems clear that writers from countries once colonized by the Britishhave a distincthead starton their French-speaking counterparts.

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In the long term, however, the situation in francophone Africa is not beyond hope. As neocolonial influences gradually wane, it is highly probable that most African writers will create in the idioms actually spoken by their people. In some cases this will be in the more tenacious of the existing African languages; in others, creolized versions of French will establish themselves as legitimate literary languages. This should close the unnatural gap that now exists between many African authors and their rightful audience.

NOTES
1. It should be pointed out that, more than any other colonial power, France has also maintainedtight political and economic control over its formerAfricancolonies. With permanentmilitary forces located in strategic areas on the African continent, it has been unable to foil several coups and make or break leaders of "independent" franover the three decades. It is nations with the devaluation of cophone past only recently, the CFA Franc,which is closely tied to the FrenchFranc,that France'seconomic grip on these countrieshas begun to weaken somewhat. 2. All translationsmy own unless otherwise indicated. 3. The conventionalterm describingthe British colonial approachis "indirectrule." 4. Although priorto Westerncolonization, most Sub-Saharan African languages existed only in oral form, several written indigenous literatureshave thrivedfor hundredsof years in both East and West Africa. See Gerardx-xii. 5. Figures for 1984 continued to show significant disparities, especially in primary enrollmentratios and literacy rates: PrimaryEnrollmentRatios LiteracyRate Africa: 46 18 Francophone 77 40 AnglophoneAfrica: (Bray et al., cited in Moroney 1090) 6. While it is true thatI have arguedelsewhere (see my "FromL'enfantnoir to TheDark Child: the Drumbeatof Words Silenced") that certain repetitivepassages in L'enfant noir might have been influenced by the Malinke oral tradition,the fact remainsthat, overall, Laye's prose, although compelling, falls well within the bounds of standard Frenchliteraryusage. 7. See also Zabus's discussion of pidgin usage and other anglophone/francophone comparisons:23, 91-93, 122, 157-58, and 170-71.

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