The extinction of African languages due to colonialism

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/the-extinction-of-african-languages-due-to-colonialism

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What happened to African languages during colonial times?Colonizers used European languages like English, French, Portuguese, Spanish to run schools and government, and punished people who spoke their own languages, so many languages were forgotten.
2. Why were African languages considered less valuable by colonizers?Colonizers thought their own languages were better for trade, administration, and spreading their ideas, so they made them the main language and treated African languages as inferior.

Linguistic Imperialism: The dominance of one language over others, often through political or economic power.
Orthography: The conventional spelling system of a language.
Multilingualism: The use of more than one language by an individual or in a community.
Cultural Homogenization: The process by which local cultures are transformed into a uniform global culture.