The political and economic problems of language policy in modern Africa have continued to remind us of the unforgettable historical fact of European colonialism. Today there are two major regions of Africa known as Anglo-phone and Franco-phone Africa. Much as many African leaders would have wished to discard the language of the former colonial power and substitute an indigenous language, this was problematic because in many cases there was not a single widely-spoken local language In some cases any attempt to raise the status of one indigenous language into a national language might have provoked wasteful inter-ethnic conflict.

Kiswahili, one among the Bantu languages, was formerly called Kingozi, the Waswahili (as they were called by the visiting Arabs) were originally known as Wangozi. Although Western researchers have manifested great interest in Swahili language and culture, they refuse to consider the arguments of their Swahili counterparts, they do accept but their own evidence and analysis. As far as the development of vocabulary and terminologies are concerned, this should be the work of Waswahili per se, scholars and lovers of the language. The author argues that the coining of word had always been in connection with (1) the function, (2) the sound, and (3) the structure of the item to be named. He shows that the lexical and structural richness of Kiswahili in fact can lead to meaningful and reasonable coining of any words necessary. He proposes to continue the work started after the 1975-meeting in Dar-es-Salaam, i. e. to compile vocabularies of the different dialects of Kiswahili which could form a pool from which material can be drawn for coining new words. There is need for all experts to organize their forces. Tanzanian experts should stop doing the whole work alone. They should incorporate their Kenyan counterparts as well. But this is not enough. There is a call for a joint Panel or Committee which shall coordinate all efforts of developing Kiswahili.

Univ., Diss.--Saarbrücken, 1998. / Zsfassung in franz. Sprache ; Anhang katalon...

Univ., Diss.--Heidelberg, 2002. / Literaturverz. S. 273 - 301.

Zugl.: Zürich, Univ., Diss., 2006/2007.

Zugl.: Regensburg, Univ., Diss., 2005

Zugl.: Hildesheim, Univ., Diss., 2007

Zugl.: Frankfurt (Main), Univ., Diss.

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2008

Der Beitrag gellt einem Aspekt der Radikalisierung jakobinischer Sprachpolitik, einem Moment des umfassenden Konzepts zugunsten der Uniformierung und Universalisierung des Französischen nach: der Verleumdung der „patois“ als Werkzeuge der „Konterrevolution“ . Es wird vor einer undifferenzierten Betrachtung dieser Anklage gewarnt, auf die Notwendigkeit der Unterscheidung zwischen Konterrevolution und Anti-Rovolution hingewiesen und auf sprachpolitische Kontroversen unter den Jakobinern eingegangen.