Linguistic or Language Prestige is the degree of esteem and social value attached to certain languages by members of a speech community. It is especially visible in cases of language contact. Languages are accorded prestige on the basis of factors such as a rich literary heritage <Arabic?>, high degree of language modernization <English?>, considerable international standing <Mandarin?>, or the prestige of its speakers <French?> (Kloss 1966:143–144).
Indeed, there is a strong correlation between the prestige of a social group and the prestige accorded to the language (or variety) they speak; it is unlikely to find a situation where low-prestige groups have high-prestige language systems (unless when making the distinction between overt/covert prestige). Social prestige is often granted to speakers of prestige languages and varieties.
Some instances of contact between languages with different prestige levels have resulted in diglossia, a phenomenon in which a community uses a high prestige language or dialect in certain situations—usually for newspapers, in literature, on university campuses, for religious ceremonies, and on television and the radio—but uses a low prestige language or dialect for other situations—often in conversation in the home or in letters, comic strips, and in popular culture.
Linguist Charles A. Ferguson‘s 1959 article “Diglossia” listed some examples of diglossic societies: in the Middle East and North Africa, Standard Arabic and vernacular Arabics; in Haiti, Standard French and Haitian Creole; to which I would add in Yorùbáland, English and Yoruba.
Prior to the ethnic revival in sub-Saharan Africa and in particular during the colonial period, competence in written and spoken English was a passport to prestigious and relatively well paid employments (Obeng 1997, 2005). English helped to promote personal careers and acted as a social status marker. In view of the tremendous prestige the European languages enjoyed before the ethnic revival , they became very popular among those with Western education, as well as among those without. The European languages were viewed favourably whereas the African languages were looked down on as inferior. Even people without any formal education often mixed their local language with a few European words to show they were not as ‘illiterate’ as those with the western education might think. (Obeng & Purvis 2010: 378-9).
In most anglophone sub-Saharan African countries much prestige was attached to English and this facilitated the consolidation of the position of English in the academic curriculum with the indigenous languages being viewed as ‘inadequate’ (Bamgbose 2000). Additionally in most parts of West Africa students who spoke their language, often labelled ‘vernacular’, on school grounds were punished.
Linguistic prestige is directly associated with power. As Bonfiglio (2002:23) puts it, There is nothing in the particular language itself that determines its worth: it is the connection of the language in question to the phenomena of power that determines the value of that language.