Researcher Cheikh Modou Badar Diop was questioning about “Killing language” as Language genocide?

Описание: When a dominant power systematically suppresses or eliminates the language of a people, it is not merely a cultural shift—it is an act of linguistic genocide. Language is the soul of a culture, the vessel of history, identity, and collective memory. To kill a language is to attack the very core of a population's existence, making it a profound crime against humanity.

A stark historical example is the legacy of French colonial policy in Senegal. For decades, French was imposed as the sole language of administration, education, and "civilized" discourse, while indigenous languages like Wolof, Serer, and Pulaar were marginalized, relegated to the home, and stigmatized. This deliberate policy severed generations from their ancestral knowledge and created a damaging hierarchy that persists today, where European languages are seen as keys to opportunity, and native tongues are undervalued.

This linguistic violence fractures communities and erases worldviews. Decolonization, therefore, is not complete without linguistic justice—the active revitalization, protection, and celebration of native languages as pillars of true sovereignty and human dignity.
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