The concepts of discerned and designed languages and their relevance for East Africa

Abstract

This article starts with a dream: the dream that one day, the countries of East Africa will be middle- to high-income countries, with an education system to match that status. What would that mean for the medium of instruction in tertiary education? Using Estonia as a benchmark, and comparing that with data from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, I show that in future, it will be impossible to keep English as medium of instruction. Local languages will have to be used. However, how can that be done in a practical way? In order to discuss that, the article introduces the concepts of discerned and designed languages, inspired by the earlier concepts of ‘Abstand’ and ‘Ausbau’ languages as introduced by Heinz Kloss (1967). The concept of discerned languages is a more linguistic concept. The concept of designed languages is more sociological and is similar to that of intellectualized languages. Using these two concepts points to the social and political nature of how languages are classified and to the possibility that one designed language can serve as a formalized language for speakers of a number of related discerned languages. This is of great relevance to East Africa. The article proposes five principles for rational designed language choices. It expands on one of these – the importance of looking at ease of language learning and teaching when making rational choices. The article then ends with a number of policy recommendations, slightly different for each country.