Colonial Language Policy of the British Empire

Colonial education and language policies were important factors contributing to maintain control in colonies and protectorates of the ex-empires. Their pervasive effects have persisted remarkably even after the end of the colonial rule and as a result, the language of the ruled became the official and/or national language of many ex-colonial countries, particularly in Africa. This study intends to examine the language policy of British Empire in one of its most “precious” colonies of Africa; Ghana, both before and after colonial periods along with the current trends towards the use of local languages in the country and also to analyze the correlation between language, culture and national development. It then continues with the analysis of the colonial language policy of the British Empire in a comparative context. The aim of this comparative analysis is to put forward the uniqueness of the language policy of this great empire, one of the greatest of all times, by evaluating the language policies of other major colonial powers of the time, particularly the ones that operated in the African continent.