Paper short abstract:

The study examines language attitudes and choices among selected African groups in Germany, as well as the implication for the development of indigenous African languages in diaspora, and reciprocal host behaviour. The role of gender and nurture in language development in diaspora is also examined.

Paper long abstract:

Many factors influence the language choices, or the scale of linguistic preferences, by persons of African origin in diaspora. Studies have shown that the most important of these factors are the survival needs of immigrants, along with other enabling or disenabling local contexts. By extension, the survival, development and form of the relevant indigenous African languages in the diaspora will also depend on these factors and the related language attitudes. This paper examines the language attitudes and language choices of selected African populations in Germany, and the implications of these choices for the maintenance and development of indigenous African languages in diaspora. Of particular interest is the prospect for the use and development of these languages among the future generations of Africans in the country. Since children’s language behaviour and choices are assumed to be most impacted by their interaction with mothers and caregivers, this survey targets groups of Ghanaian and Nigerian mothers in Germany. What are their linguistic preferences in different domains of engagement, and what are the foreseeable impacts? How do the choices impact interactions within the host community? Equally important is the influence of dominant colonial languages such as English and French on the Africans, as these languages offer an additional competitive choice against the host language, German. How do the various participants navigate this sociolinguistic complex? This study is seen as a contribution to the scholarship of language attitudes, language choices, and reciprocal perspectives between Africans and the host community in Germany.