6 . 351 language policy frank ashen focussed on the divisive effects of promoting one of several indigenous languages to the position of official language and used the much quoted justification that speakers of not-chosen languages may feel disadvantaged . he did not mention the effect of the introduction of a foreign world language on the vernaculars . the introduction of foreign official language has , in africa , led to explicit negative attitudes amongst the speakers themselves towards their languages . the alternative to the selection of an indigenous language as official language seems to be to disadvantage the whole population . in most african countries the foreign official language generally has a very low penetration so that only the elite know it . knowledge of the official language then becomes a new factor that determines access to power and the well-paid jobs . at the same time the vernaculars are ignored or stigmatised . this means that no or very little funds are available for their development and teaching . this means , to come back to tove skutnabb - kangas ' comments , that the population cannot exercise their " right to learn their mother tongue , both orally and in writing , up to a high level . " the assumption that frank ashen quotes is based on a false departure point , namely that only a colonial language can save an african country from being torn up by its own internal divisions . i do n't recall any wars based on language differences prior to colonisation . africa solved its linguistic diversity by developing lingua francas . djit ? recently ( 1993 ) showed that the use of so-called international languages such as english and french have not solved the communication problems of the african masses but in many cases contributed towards the " pathology of linguistic bakwardness " . the fact that these languages ( such as wolof , swahili , hausa , lingala ) are actually spreading - without much official help - seems to indicate " a general willingness for cooperation and a cultural and linguistic tolerance that ignores the political boundaries inherited from colonization " djit ? ( 1993 : 162 ) . spencer ( 1985 : 395 ) claims that the introduction of european languages to africa retarded the spread of what he calls " african vehicular languages " . however , adegbija ( 1994 : 26-27 ) is sceptical of the ability of african lingua francas of being accepted outside their present geographical domains . he also warns against the imposition of these languages . it would seem that we need a three-language policy such as that of india : one language for communication with the outside world known by a relatively small section of the population ; one lingua franca for national and regional communication and the various vernaculars for local business and primary education . in many african countries this is the de facto situation and trilingualism is more common in africa than outside linguists seem to realise . this suggestion might avoid the subtractive language learning ( that characterises many african communities ) and that tove skutnabb - kangas finds " a violation of minorities ' linguistic rights " . the sources that i referred to : adegbija , e . 1994 language attitudes in africa : a sociolinguistic overview . clevedon : multilingual matters . djit ? , p . g . 1993 " language development in africa . " in : international journal of the sociology of language 100 / 101 : 149-166 . spencer , j . 1985 " language and development in africa : the unequal equation . " in : wolfson , n . and j . manes ( eds . ) 1985 language of inequality . berlin : mouton : 387-397 . august cluver department of linguistics university of south africa