From Thousands of African Languages to a Pan-African Language for the African Continental Free Trade Area: A Framework Promoting Kiswahili as Common Language for Intra-African Trade

Chrysostome, Elie V. and Adegbile, Abiodun and Boafo, Christopher and Ogunsanya, Fuhad (2025) From Thousands of African Languages to a Pan-African Language for the African Continental Free Trade Area: A Framework Promoting Kiswahili as Common Language for Intra-African Trade. AIB Insights. ISSN 1938-9590

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Abstract

This paper proposes a framework for promoting Kiswahili as the pan-African trade language to support the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in achieving its goal of boosting intra-African trade on a continent that has over 3,000 spoken languages and no common lingua franca. We draw from Scott’s (1995) institutional theory to structure the promotion of Kiswahili around the regulative, normative, and cognitive pillars. The framework aims to stimulate scholarly discussion on a pan-African trade language and serve as a tool for policymakers at national and supranational levels to promote Kiswahili as a pan-African language for trade.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.46697/001c.136476
Dates:	Date Event 14 April 2025 Accepted 22 April 2025 Published Online
Subjects:	CAH17 - business and management > CAH17-01 - business and management > CAH17-01-02 - business studies
Divisions:	Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > College of Business, Digital Transformation & Entrepreneurship
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2025 12:37
Last Modified:	28 Apr 2025 12:37
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16324

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