Linguistic Situation in Twenty sub-Saharan African Countries: A Survey-based Approach

Data on second languages in sub-Saharan Africa are hard to come by. Consequently, any source that contributes to our knowledge beyond the level of primary languages should be appreciated and exploited. This article utilises Round 4 of the Afrobarometer Survey that collects information on ethnicity, home, and additional languages in 20 sub-Saharan African countries. The study has three main contributions. First, it overviews and compares some widely used sources that contain linguistic data and investigates why they show such a diverse picture on language use patterns. Second, it applies the ICP which, according to the author’s knowledge, is the first linguistic measure that takes multilingualism into account. Third, it shows how a simple graphic representation of the ICP can be used to visualise the most important dimensions of a country’s linguistic situation including the order of languages according to their size, the presence of monolingual speakers, and the relation between vernaculars and the former colonisers’ languages. The study findings are expected to be of interest to scholars engaged in language policy and planning and language-related development issues.