Colonization with its early language policy that has been continued and sustained by the elites was meant to spiritually subjugate the Ivorians. The elevation of the colonial language (French) by granting it official status and precedence has undeniably contributed to the peripherization of Côte d’Ivoire’s local languages. This article argues that the blame for this marginalization of Ivorian local languages ought to be shared between colonization and the Ivorian people who have developed negative attitudes and an inferiority complex towards their own languages. It is time the Ivorian policy makers took bold political decisions to break with the current policy and give the local languages prominence through a new status.
Cite this paper
Ouattara, D. Z. Y. (2022). The Peripherization of Ivorian Indigenous Languages: Shared Blame, What Can Be Done?. Open Access Library Journal, 9, e8393. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1108393.
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