Language planning and social change: A study of linguistic exclusion and the legislative process in Malawi

This study examines the dynamic functioning of multilingualism in Malawi from a language planning perspective. It explores how the metrical and competitive coexistence of English and indigenous languages in the secondary domains of national life has adjusted to current sociopolitical and sociocultural realities. The study takes an eclectic theoretical approach and utilizes both sociolinguistic and ethnographic techniques in order to capture the multiple realities of language patterns in a multilingual setting. In that respect, a number of data collection tools were used and included questionnaires administered among members of parliament, structured and non-structured interviews, participant observation, and analysis of written work.;The functional distribution of all languages in Malawi is directly related to their value in the linguistic market. The dominance of English in all formal domains for both upward social mobility and political voice is noted as an inescapable fact in post-colonial Malawi. English is important not because it is an ex-colonial language with imperialist associations, but because of its functional load in the political and economic market. The study also notes that in light of the political history of the country, Chichewa is as much an object of social and political concern and manipulation as it is a means of communication. Chichewa has been functionally altered and symbolically transformed into a national language and its importance lies in its wide use as a national lingua franca, a language of interethnic communication, and a symbol of Malawian nationalism. Other indigenous languages have a very low status in formal domains and are used mostly in familial environments and still maintain their indexical values as markers of ethnic identity.;In the context of the Malawi National Assembly, English seems destined to continue to be the primary language of parliamentary discourse because of the formal tradition of parliament and the desire to maintain contacts with the outside world. The study has, however, shown the need to introduce Chinyanja as an alternative language to aid those MPs who are not sufficiently competent in English to take part in the debates more effectively. Democracy, as a system of government, implies both universal suffrage and the minimisation of obstacles to the exercise of this suffrage. Together with English, the language will guarantee a lot of MPs and other ordinary Malawians access to the system and more equal opportunities to participate in it.