Liberia Language Areas

(UNCLASSIFIED) English is the official language in Liberia and is used in government, business, and education to some extent. The majority of Liberians do not know English and those who do speak what is commonly referred to as Liberian English. This involves often leaving off the end of words and/or adding the letter “o” to the end. Also English words will have different meaning in the country. Prior to the civil wars the government created the National Language Program. This program was designed to introduce local languages to primary students prior to the instruction of English. Due to two civil wars and poor infrastructure langue policy has not received much attention. While English is the official language it does not properly represent the diverse population leaving few to be fluent and causing them to rely on their local languages. Attribute Table Field DescriptionsISO3 - International Organization for Standardization 3-digit country code ADM0_NAME - Administration level zero identification / name LANG_FAM - Language family LANG_SUBGR - Language subgroup ALT_NAMES - Alternate names COMMENTS - Comments or notes regarding language SOURCE_DT - Source one creation date SOURCE - Source one SOURCE2_DT - Source two creation date SOURCE2 - Source two CollectionThis HGIS was created through linguistic information provided through The World Language Mapping System (WMLS). This data was then processed through DigitalGlobe’s AnthroMapper program to generate more accurate linguistic coverage boundaries. The metadata was supplemented with anthropological and linguistic information from peer-reviewed journals and published books. It should be noted that this shape file only depicts the majority first level languages spoken in a given area; there might be significant populations of other minority language speakers not shown in this dataset. The data included herein have not been derived from a registered survey and should be considered approximate unless otherwise defined. While rigorous steps have been taken to ensure the quality of each dataset, DigitalGlobe is not responsible for the accuracy and completeness of data compiled from outside sources.Sources (HGIS)Anthromapper. DigitalGlobe, September 2014.World Language Mapping System (WLMS) Version 16. World GeoDatasets, October 2013.Sources (Metadata)Albaugh, Ericka. "Language Policies in African Education." working paper., Department of Government Legal Studies at Bowdoin College, 2005. http://www.bowdoin.edu/.Central Intelligence Agency. The World FactBook, “Liberia”. Last updated June 2014. Accessed September 2014. https://www.cia.gov/index.html.The Reeds in Liberia, “Liberian English.” October 2007. Accessed September 2014. http://reedsinliberia.blogspot.com/.