How could the prestige of a colonial language create social inequality in language policy?

Correct answer: Those knowing the colonial language received advantages in jobs, education, and administration

Correct answer: A. A language becomes socially powerful when access to government offices, schools, examinations, and desirable jobs depends on knowing it. In a colonial system, the language of the rulers could therefore become a gatekeeper. People who had schools, money, or urban access to learn that language gained more opportunities, while others who knew local languages could be excluded even when they understood local conditions well. This created a hierarchy based not on ability alone but also on unequal access to language education. B is wrong because equal recognition of local languages would reduce, not create, this particular inequality. C is wrong because language requirements can strongly affect employment and education. D is wrong because prestigious colonial languages often continued after political independence. Memory cue: language policy can become opportunity policy when one language controls examinations and offices.