The Tower of Babel as a Coordination Game: Political Linguistics in Ghana

David D. Laitin

American Political Science Review, 1994, vol. 88, issue 3, 622-634

Abstract: The problem of choosing an indigenous official language for multilingual states in general and for Ghana in particular is treated as one of coordination in an n-person tipping game. Even with an assumption that the equilibrium outcome of all-English is deficient, the mechanisms for reaching an indigenous language solution are difficult to find. A lottery (a theoretically attractive approach to the solution of coordination games) is less attractive when applied to the issue of language coordination. Empirical data based on interviews from six different regions of Ghana show the limits and possibilities of the theoretic solution. Going back to theory, a mechanism for the successful promotion of an indigenous language outcome is proposed.

Date: 1994
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