Proposing a language-based framework for the form and structure of a United States of Africa

Abstract

This article is conceived against the background of ongoing political and intellectual debates around the formation of a United States of Africa. Together with the drive for political and economic integration, the idea of a United States of Africa is about quests for a collective African identity. While the subject of African integration has attracted the most attention from a political, economic and trade perspective, it has remained least understood or researched sociolinguistically. By focusing on how patterns of language use across different national borders can potentially provide a framework for the form and structure of the proposed United States of Africa, this article contributes another dimension to the integration debate. The article argues for the need to recognize the diversity of African languages as an opportunity and not a liability to the prospects of African integration.