Combating the Coronavirus pandemic: the dilemma of vertical communication in multilingual societies - the case of Mozambique
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/1984-8412.2021.e81158Abstract
This article reflects on the dilemma of vertical communication in multilingual societies. The main objective pursued in it is to approach the management of multilingualism, taking the Mozambican context as an example, characterized by the coexistence of Portuguese with the local African languages, spoken by the majority of the population. The study is carried out considering the relationship between the conceptualization of vertical communication and linguistic ideologies. Methodologically, the analyzed data were collected randomly from the linguistic landscape of Maputo city, drawing on the study by Landry and Bourhis (1997), and from the local media to capture how multilingualism is used in the dissemination of information about the prevention of Coronavirus. This information was cross-referenced with approaches to managing multilingualism. The article intends to contribute to debates on Multilingualism, aiming to point to the kind of rise that local African languages tend to have, from a statutory point of view, in a context in which they coexist with Portuguese, a language with a long history of supremacy. In it, we conclude that local African languages remain marginalized, despite appearing to provide evidence to the contrary due to the discourse of the day that promotes an ever-growing and harmonious coexistence between Portuguese and the local African languages spoken by Mozambicans.
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