African Languages and Language Technology: A Theoretical Framework of Linguistic Inequality, Cultural Transmission and the Future of Low-Resource Languages Under Large Language Models
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68854/kk2epq88Keywords:
African languages, low-resource languages, natural language processing, large language models, linguistic inequality, language policy, cultural transmission, sociolinguistics, multilingualismAbstract
Language technologies such as large language models, machine translation and speech interfaces are becoming the gateway to information, public services, learning and work, yet they perform worst in the languages most Africans speak. Research on this gap is largely technical and treats it as an engineering deficit, while sociolinguistic research on language status and maintenance seldom examines technology; no framework explains what language technology does to a linguistic community. This theoretical paper addresses that gap. Its objective is to develop a sociolinguistic framework of the consequences of language technology for African languages, to derive propositions on when such technology sustains rather than erodes linguistic diversity, and to draw implications for data governance and for language, education and digital policy. The study is an integrative, theory-building review. The population was peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2023 and 2026 on African-language technology, language attitudes, maintenance and shift, language policy and the social study of language technology. A purposive sample of 42 articles was retained after each was verified against its publisher record and screened for retractions, corrections and expressions of concern. Findings were coded against provisional dimensions, compared across tiers of languages and synthesised abductively. The analysis yields an access–prestige–transmission framework. Access to technology is graded, favouring former-colonial languages and a few large African languages; absence from technology lowers a language's perceived value; and when technology adds domains in which only dominant languages function, intergenerational transmission weakens. The current trajectory therefore accelerates shift towards English, French and a few dominant African languages. Seven propositions specify the roles of graded access, targeted local data, encoded prestige, market under-supply, domains of use, education and community governance, illustrated with evidence from Nigeria and South Africa. The paper recommends treating African-language data as public infrastructure, mandating multilingual digital public services, integrating African-language AI into mother-tongue education, establishing community-governed language-data arrangements, and making technology an explicit object of national language policy.
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