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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 581

Part of Session 130: Language in Multilingual Cities (Other abstracts in this session)

Language Policy, Linguistic Inequality and Job Opportunities in a Multilingual City: The Case in Addis Ababa

Authors: Zemaryam, Yonattan Araya
Submitted by: Zemaryam, Yonattan Araya (Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia)

This study attempted to reveal linguistic inequalities and job opportunities among the major ethnic groups in Addis Ababa where a number of indigenous languages are spoken. Of these the major ones are Amharic, Oromo, Guraginya and Tigrinya. Amharic is used as the medium of instruction, administration and as a medium of examination in recruiting applicants in the city; whereas the other languages are not used for any administrative and instructional purposes. For the study, data was gathered through interviews from selected participants. In addition, data was collected from various documents. Thereafter, the data was analyzed following critical discourse analytic approach. The federal vacancies are posted for all Ethiopians who speak different languages with Amharic as recruitment medium. Thus, it is axiomatic that the recruitment favors the native speakers of the Amharic language and hence results in inequitable job opportunities of the citizenry. This phenomenon is laid bare in the Federal Civil Service Agency’s (2008) census report that the Amhara linguistic group has occupied more than 40 percent of the capital city’s total job opportunities which is the lion’s share, compared with Oromos, Tigrayans and Guragies, who have occupied 16 percent, 8 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Accordingly, it is concluded that Addis Ababa is a multilingual city where language policy plays insignificant role in that dominated linguistic groups’ rights are neglected and hegemonic practices of the dominant linguistic group are overtly reflected and politically legitimized.