“Language Policy” in Ethiopia: Challenges and Opportunities in Current Trends of Afaan Oromoo

Abstract

In many countries, policymakers suspect that the use of local languages in education can result in excessive ethnicization, which may lead to conflicts and divide nations. The objectives of the study are to assess the basic cause that stays Ethiopia to not have its own language policy and to investigate opportunities that leads Ethiopian to have language policy. The subjects of this study are language experts, policy makers and politicians, and target speech community. The major data collection instrument was questionnaire. Interviews with key informants and document analysis were supplementary tools to achieve the objective of the research. To mention some of the findings, a development plan of a country in all aspects should primarily deal with the concrete study of the language issues. There is statistical relationship between measurement and evaluation made by policy makers and opportunities in current trends of Afaan Oromoo (p-0.001). The case of Oromo language is not far from this general perception. Unless this Linguistic right is gained by the Oromo language speakers, these people hardly feel the full citizenship in the entire country, Ethiopia, because they can feel discrimination due to their lack of real participation in the country’s overall activities. Such discrimination can even cause conflict at different occasions. As from the general principles of language use is argued, the question of the Oromo language use as a national language is realized, Ethiopia’s overall development remain only a wish for the prime reason of lack of Oromo people’s motivation in the involvement of political, economic, social activities. Value linguistic and cultural pluralism practically, as demonstrated in the constitution. Currently Ethiopia is in the refolution (reform and revolution) which means education policy, Health policy, foreign relation policy, public service policy, and other major pillars of policies and declarations are changed and/or modified. Therefore, possible to design an independent language policy. Amend the issue of Afaan Oromoo as federal alternative working language in the constitution.