Language Revitalization in Africa

Africa is home to almost a third of the world’s languages. Only about 400 of these languages are widely considered to be endangered but many more are vulnerable given the small populations who use them. Even minority languages spoken by fairly large populations face challenges. Language endangerment on the continent is widespread, affecting a majority of African languages, including ones spoken in small geographical areas as well as cross-border languages. While linguists have generally focused on documentation and revitalization of the most endangered languages, grassroots efforts have targeted both large and small languages. The success of language revitalization efforts remains to be seen as many of these programs are still in their infancy.