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| Título | A Reflection on the Umbundu Corpus Planning for the Angola Education System: Towards the harmonization of the Catholic and the Protestant orthographies |
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| Autoría | Botelho Isalino Jimbi (Universidade do Minho/Universidade Katyavala Bwila) |
| Resumo | My experience as language user indicates that native Angolan languages have not been implemented as subjects in the education system. This neglect has long threatened the maintenance of Umbundu – a local Angolan language - and the cultural values embodied in it. The problem of this study is that Umbundu is orthographically represented by two main different systems: the catholic orthography, on the one hand, and the Protestant one, on the other (see Diarra, 2003: 342), which would make it a challenge for the government to “impose” it on the education system without a careful, consensual a priori orthographic agreement. The first question is ‘What social, historical and linguistic factors have contributed to the appearance and use of the two most used orthographic systems for Umbundu?’ The second is ‘How to harmonize and normalize these apparently contradicting orthographic systems of Umbundu, towards its implementation into the education system in Angola?’ As such, this study will pursue the following objectives: •Revise and understand the various motivations and factors that made decision-makers embark on African languages (other than Umbundu) planning and policies for the educational systems in other countries and how they carried out this process. •Provide a historical background of the procedures underpinning the emergency, development and implementation of the Umbundu orthography. •Study and describe the attempts made, so far, by the Angolan government towards the integration of African languages into the educational system. •Propose an improved orthography of Umbundu language for the educational system. The research will consider the analysis of documents (Catholic and Protestant writings in Umbundu, research reports, law enforcement); interviews with ecclesiastic members, teachers, questionnaires for students and an experimental stage. The study will be a unique contribution to language policy and planning in Angola. Keywords: harmonisation, corpus planning, Umbundu, education systems |
| Tipo | Comunicación |
| Horario | Venres 15 de xuño | 10:30 - 11:00 | Aula: B4A |