Community Desire and Potential for Language Development among the Runga Community of Chad

Abstract

This paper examines the sociolinguistic situation of the Runga people group in Chad and the

potential for language development in the vernacular language. Sociolinguistic situation

refers to how elements such as region, class, or other languages affect the use of Runga.

Language development refers to activities such as creating an orthography, reading materials,

and incorporating the language into education or other activities to promote its use. This

paper affirms the importance of vernacular language development as well as showing that

Runga is still a vital language used by many of the members of the community. Based on a

survey conducted by the author during her master’s research, the expressed desires and

opinions of the Runga community are considered and used to come to conclusions about the

viability of language development, specifically that orthography development is desired by

the community, as well as incorporating Runga into the educational system. The state of

literacy and education in the Runga community is considered, as well as examples of other

language development projects among other vernacular languages in Chad that have met with

success, such as among the Daza people.