Language Policies and Practices in Eritrea

This chapter first briefly introduces Eritrea’s linguistic diversity. The country has nine officially recognized languages, written in three different scripts and belonging to three different language families. Then it describes Eritrea’s consecutive language policies from Italian colonial rule, British Protectorate, and Ethiopian rule to the country’s hard-fought independence from Ethiopia in 1991, especially in the field of education. This overview is complemented with an account of how Eritrea’s current language policy is reflected in several societal domains. Then the chapter discusses some main language policy issues that emerge from Eritrea’s current language policies, including official vs multiple languages, dominant vs minority languages, and the status of Arabic. Finally, the chapter puts Eritrea’s language policies in a broader chronotopic context, arguing that approaches that have been effective at one point in time, might become less relevant later because people’s language practices and attitudes in real life do not necessarily coincide with official policy documents.