Multilingualism can develop as a result of various factors. These include migration, colonialism, the need to trade, education, etc. In much current literature, multilingualism is primarily treated as caused by migration, and historically this has also been the case (Grosjean, 1982: 33). According to Sridhar (1996: 48), when people move, they move with their language; and they may choose to maintain their home language in addition to learning the language of the area in which they have settled, the result being multilingualism.
The discussion of multilingualism as a result of migration often brings to mind the urban centre as a point of language contact. Backhaus (2007: 1) states that ―the city is a place of language contact‖ and notes that cities have always attracted groups of people from different linguistic backgrounds. He mentions ancient cities like Rome, Athens and Constantinople which were also characterised by the existence of speakers of different languages. This scenario is not any different from the modern cities both within and outside Africa. More insight into the concept of multilingualism, especially in urban centres which Backhaus (2007) talks about, is given by Prah (2010) in his study of multilingualism in urban Africa. From his study of five female students in Nima (Accra, Ghana) and two female students in Katutura (Windhoek, Namibia), Prah notes that there is a high degree of linguistic variation in the major towns of Africa to which people flock mostly in search of employment. He gives examples of other urban centres like Johannesburg (Soweto or Alexandria), Lagos (Surulele) and Nairobi (Kibera) where people from different cultural backgrounds meet and a need to interact arises, which leads to learning of the language(s) in the area, which in turn results in multilingualism in that community. The resultant multilingualism in the community later spreads within the nation (Prah, 2010: 170). Despite early linguistic anthropological work such as that of Hymes (1962) and Gumperz (1964), which investigated multilingualism in rural settings, a focus on urban settings have started to dominate research. This development can be seen in studies on variation such as that of Labov (1972), Trudgill (1974a, 1974b) and Milroy (1980). This focus on language use in urban centres are still active amongst scholars researching multilingualism, especially in the postmodern era as discussed in section 3.2. The
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assumption that multilingualism is primarily an urban phenomenon thus persists, if one looks at the dominant research paradigms.
In addition to migrating in search of a better life, trade is another factor that leads to multilingualism. Those who move to other places to trade often learn a lingua franca that aids them in communication during trade activities. They speak this lingua franca alongside their native language, resulting in multilingualism. For instance, Russian was used as lingua franca in the former U.S.S.R., especially by immigrants in search of a better life through carrying out trade); and Hausa is used as a lingua franca in most of West Africa and Swahili in East Africa, especially in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda (Grosjean, 1982: 33).
Political federalism is another factor that has brought about multilingualism in different societies. The result of colonialism was the introduction of colonial languages as official languages in most colonised nations. These languages were the languages of the colonial masters, for instance English in the case of Uganda and Kenya (Kwesiga, 1994). Other countries adopted a national language in addition to the official languages. This meant that the country became multilingual because the citizens had to acquire the national language and learn the official language in addition to their native languages. This can be observed in Kenya, where Swahili and English are the official languages and Swahili is the national language (Attortney General, 2010; Kibui, 2014). In Uganda, despite the absence of a national language, Luganda is still the language of wider communication and is acquired by especially those who have moved to the capital, Kampala. This means that Ugandans may learn English, especially at school, and acquire Luganda, in addition to their native language(s) (Kwesiga, 1994; Nakayiza, 2013).
Another way in which federalism resulted in multilingualism was through the drawing of borders of some African countries (Ndhlovu, 2013; Okello and Musoke, 2003; Prah, 2009). These countries include Uganda and Kenya that are at issue here. Some linguistic groups have been divided by these politically imposed borders and have thus found themselves in more than one country. This means that these people will speak their native language plus the national language of the country that has control over them and may in fact also speak the official language of that particular country (Grosjean, 1982: 33). In addition to the official languages of their respective countries, these linguistic groups will learn the other languages that they are in contact with, both within their communities and outside, including across the border. The result will be speakers using more than one language depending on the prevailing
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language domain, as we saw in the previous section; details of this is discussed in chapter 6. Drastic changes have taken place, as noted in section 3.2, leading to increased migrations across the globe, and more specifically on the African continent. Increased migration together with the aftermath of colonialism has seen more people coming in contact with speakers of other languages, resulting in more than one language being used by both individuals and communities.