Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach

Setting I 73

or family language in unrealistic percentages for working class families
(.IJfDE 1983b). That relationship constitutes also a powerful restraining
factor in communication: the lack of confidence due to the perceived
difficulty in producing acceptable Portuguese in conversation with fluent
speakers results in over-correction and silence : the culture of shame
and guilt, where the speaker is made to feel ashamed of his poor L2_l and
the 'error' becomes a factor of social discrimination (Skutnabb-
Kangas,1983).

Whatever the long-range prospects for this approach, the
intermediate result has been the creation of a small class that
looks down upon its own traditional language and culture, but is
not sufficiently educated to use Portuguese efficiently.
(Mondlane,1969:60).

3.1.3 Language during the war and after Independence

The history of the adoption of the Portuguese language as a unifying
factor, levelling off the differences between the various ethnic groups,
started with the founding of FEE.LI JfO. in 1962. The great majority of the
founding members of the three organizations that constituted the
Liberation Front were not fluent in Portuguese, nor did they use it as a
means of communication : they used English or Swahili, the languages of
the exiled. But at the 1st (founding) Congress, it was agreed to consider
Portuguese the operational language of the Front, since it allowed a
better knowledge of the enemy and also it avoided making decisions on
linguistic matters which might have threatened the unity thus far
reached. (GanhSo, 1979).

The launching of the armed struggle and the consolidation of liberated
areas in the Morth of the country made the process that eventually
resulted in Independence quite different from that of other African
Countries : in Mozambique there was a 10 year long popular war against

<<   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   >>

More intriguing information