Participatory Detection of Language Barriers towards Multilingual Sustainability(ies) in Africa

Gabriela Litre, Fabrice Hirsch, Patrick Caron, Alexander Andrason, Nathalie Bonnardel, Valerie Fointiat, Wilhelmina Onyothi Nekoto, Jade Abbott, Cristiana Dobre, Juliana Dalboni, Agnès Steuckardt, Giancarlo Luxardo and Hervé Bohbot
Additional contact information
Gabriela Litre: Praxiling (CNRS MUPVM), 34090 Montpellier, France
Fabrice Hirsch: Praxiling (CNRS MUPVM), 34090 Montpellier, France
Patrick Caron: ART-DEV—CIRAD, 34398 Montpellier, France
Alexander Andrason: Ancient Studies Department, Stellenbosch University, Matieland 7602, South Africa
Nathalie Bonnardel: LPS, Aix Marseille University, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France
Valerie Fointiat: PSYCLE & InCIAM, Aix Marseille University, 13621 Aix-en-Provence, France
Wilhelmina Onyothi Nekoto: Masakhane, Kalifi 80108, Kenya
Jade Abbott: Masakhane, Kalifi 80108, Kenya
Cristiana Dobre: Center for Sustainable Development (CDS), University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70904-970, Brazil
Juliana Dalboni: Center for Sustainable Development (CDS), University of Brasilia, Brasilia 70904-970, Brazil
Agnès Steuckardt: Praxiling (CNRS MUPVM), 34090 Montpellier, France
Giancarlo Luxardo: Praxiling (CNRS MUPVM), 34090 Montpellier, France
Hervé Bohbot: Praxiling (CNRS MUPVM), 34090 Montpellier, France

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: After decades of political, economic, and scientific efforts, humanity has not gotten any closer to global sustainability. With less than a decade to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deadline of the 2030 Agenda, we show that global development agendas may be getting lost in translation, from their initial formulation to their final implementation. Sustainability science does not “speak” most of the 2000 languages from Africa, where the lack of indigenous terminology hinders global efforts such as the COVID-19 pandemic fight. Sociolinguistics, social psychology, cognitive ergonomics, geography, environmental sciences, and artificial intelligence (AI) are all relevant disciplinary fields to uncover the “foreign language effect” that hinders the implementation of the SDGs in Africa. We make the case for detecting and addressing language barriers towards multilingual sustainability in Africa by (1) exploring the ”foreign language effect” among African decision-makers and recognising their alternative social representations about sustainability; and (2) detecting Western language stereotypes about sustainability. We propose rethinking SDG-related scientific notions through participatory natural language processing (NLP) and the study of African social representations of sustainability, thus enabling a more inclusive and efficient approach to “sustainability(ies)”.

Keywords: sustainable development goals; multilingualism; Africa; foreign language effect; social psychology; sociolinguistics; natural language processing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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