Language Issues in a Multilingual Society: The Kenyan Experience

Abstract

In many developing countries, language issues have taken a back seat. Here in Kenya,
there are more than forty local languages in use by the various ethnic communities.
Whereas some politicians have campaigned for the recognition and promotion of
Kiswahili as a national language, no concrete steps have been taken to make this a reality.
This paper seeks to explore, first the historical background to the current state of the
language situation in Kenya and, second, what steps ought to be taken in order to handle
the language problem in a multilingual society like that of Kenya.