Dissertation: A benchmarking study of West African language policy - Focus on Ghana and Burkina Faso

The following dissertation is available through Perdue University

 http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI3191431/

A benchmarking study of West African language policy: Focus on Ghana and Burkina Faso
James Kwaku Bukari

Date: 2005
Advisor: Alan Garfinkel

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Abstract
This study examined the social attitudes of Ghanaians towards the French language in order to determine whether or not they believe Ghana needs to implement a new language policy in which the French language is given a more prominent legal status and made a compulsory subject in Ghanaian schools. The study deployed a mixed methods approach in which surveys were administered to 130 Policy Makers, 25 Policy Implementers, 24 Parents, 41 Students, 19 Business Executives, and 15 Officials of Non-Governmental Organizations. A Likert scale was used to analyze participants’ responses to the surveys. In addition, seventeen interviews were conducted with the foregoing participants. The interviews were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Furthermore the study deployed the strategy of benchmarking to compare the language policies of Ghana and Burkina Faso and suggested ways in which the two countries can learn from one another’s language policies for the improvement of their future language policy decisions.

Results of the study indicate that a majority of participants believe that based on the geopolitical situation of Ghana knowledge of the French language will yield economic, politico-diplomatic, socio-cultural, and technological benefits to Ghana.

Subject Area
EDUCATION, BILINGUAL AND MULTICULTURAL (0282); EDUCATION, CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION (0727)

Academic Paper: LANGUAGE POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

The following academic paper is available from

 http://www.up.ac.za/academic/libarts/crpl/language-dev-in-SA.pdf

LANGUAGE POLICY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

V. N. Webb
Centre for Research in the Politics of Language
University of Pretoria
The aim of this paper is to present a critical overview of language policy development in
South Africa. Three issues will be discussed: the current state of language policy
development in South Africa; the challenges and tasks of language planning in the
country; and an evaluation of the process of language policy development.

Read the full paper 

Niger-Kordofanian Languages in Africa

The following was found in an article on African Languages from

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.  2001-05.

http://www.bartleby.com/65/af/Africanlng.html 

Niger-Kordofanian
The Niger-Kordofanian family has two branches, Niger-Congo and Kordofanian. The Kordofanian tongues are spoken in Sudan and form five small groups (Koalib, Tegali, Talodi, Tumtum, and Katla). Niger-Congo is an enormous branch whose languages are found throughout S and central Africa and in most of W Africa below the Sahara. It is generally subdivided into six groups: West Atlantic; Mande; Gur, or Voltaic; Kwa; Benue-Congo; and Adamawa-Eastern.	3
The West Atlantic branch includes many languages, among them Wolof (in Senegal), Temne (in Sierra Leone), and Fulani, the tongue of several million people inhabiting an area from Senegal to a region E of Lake Chad. The Mande group consists of languages prevalent in the Niger valley, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, such as Mende in Liberia and Malinke in Mali. Gur, or Voltaic, is made up of several language groups and includes Mossi, the dominant tongue of Burkina Faso, as well as the Dagomba and Mamprusi of N Ghana. The Kwa languages, spoken chiefly in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Nigeria, and Liberia, include Ewe, Yoruba, Igbo, Nupe, Bini, Ashanti, and possibly Ijo (which is sometimes considered a separate branch). Benue-Congo includes the huge Bantu group of hundreds of tongues found throughout central and S Africa (see Bantu languages), as well as such non-Bantu languages as Tiv, Jukun, and Efik, which are spoken in Nigeria and Cameroon. The Adamawa-Eastern branch, to which Banda, Zande, and Sango belong, is composed of a number of languages spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, and an area north of the Bantu territory to Sudan.	4
A characteristic feature of most of the Niger-Congo languages is the use of tones. Case inflection is entirely lacking, and gender marking is almost unknown in the Niger-Congo family. The verb root tends to remain unchanged; moods and tenses are denoted either by particles or by auxiliary verbs. For example, in a number of languages the infinitival is the auxiliary designating the future. Typical of the Niger-Kordofanian stock as a whole is the division of nouns, which has been compared to the gender system of the Indo-European tongues. However, Indo-European features only three classifications (masculine, feminine, and neuter), whereas some of the Niger-Kordofanian languages have as many as 20 noun classes. One class, for example, designates human beings, another is used for liquids, and a third class is used for animals. Each class has its own pair of affixes to indicate the singular and the plural.

 

Madagascar: Language policy report

The following article was seen on the language policy maillist

 REDEFINITION DE LA POLITIQUE LINGUISTIQUE DANS LE SYSTEME EDUCATIF A MADAGASCAR Rapport du Task Force

yvind Dahl; Marie Ange Andriamanantenasoa; Irne Rabenoro; Malalatiana RafamAndrianjafy; Roselyne Rahanivoson; Suzy Rajaonarivo
24/01 - 2006

In collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Madagascar, the National Ministry of Education and Scientific Research in Madagascar
(MENRS) appointed and convened a Task Force in October 2005. The Task Force here presents a report from the survey lasting from 17 to 28 October, mostly in Antananarivo, to prepare a larger study on a Redefinition of the policy of linguistics of the educational system of Madagascar with special focus on the primary school. The Task Force worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and visited some primary schools in Antananarivo and in the Toamasina province. A substantial amount of work was put into the elaboration of a new Draft for Terms of Reference (ToR) for the future work to redefine the policy of linguistics of the educational system. The ToR constitutes Annexe 3 in this report. The Task Force also made a preliminary collection on important concepts, documents, and institutions related to policy of linguistics included in this report. In addition the report presents some impressions from the visits in the schools. Finally, the report presents propositions for further collaboration between professional institutions in Madagascar and Norway.

http://www.sik.no/article_246.shtml

Foundation for Endangered Languages: CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Please note the application date is now past for submitting proposals. However, the fund does advertise every year and the information and application forms may be helpful to those preparing proposals for 2008.

Foundation for Endangered Languages: CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Posted by sociolingo on 10th January 2007

Foundation for Endangered Languages: CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Foundation for Endangered Languages is now accepting proposals for projects of work that
will support, enable or assist the protection or promotion of one or more endangered languages.
These endangered anguages may be anywhere in the world.

Deadline: February 28, 2007

The Foundation for Endangered Languages is committed to raising awareness of endangered
languages and supporting revitalisation and preservation of endangered languages through
all channels and media. The Foundation awards grants to projects that further its aims as
and when the funds permit.
The Foundation’s funds remain extremely limited this year and only an exceptional award
will be greater than US $1,000.
Smaller proposals stand a better chance of funding

Research projects that focus on the revitalisation of the endangered languages and support
of the use of endangered languages in community life (home, school, education, cultural and
economic life) will be given priority.
Projects restricted to language documentation will not be eligible for funding this year.

Please pass on this announcement to your friends and colleagues in endangered-language
communities who may not have access to Ogmios, the Internet or e-mail.

**Format for Submissions:

Applicants must submit a short ‘Case for Support’ and a Application Form.
Guidance on how to write a Case, and fill out the form, is accessible at the Foundation’s
website: - http://www.ogmios.org/grant.htm

The Case for Support (CS) and Application Form (AF) are best submitted as Word files
attached to an e-mail message sent to FEL@chibcha.demon.co.uk <mailto:FEL@chibcha.demon.co.uk>

and hakimelnazar@yahoo.com <mailto:hakimelnazar@yahoo.com>
Non-ascii text should be in some form of Unicode. The two files should be named “languageCS.doc” 

and “languageAF.doc”, substituting the name of the language to be studied for ‘language’.
Copies printed on paper will also be accepted as an alternative. 

In general, it is not necessary to send a hard copy of an electronic proposal for confirmation, 

but FEL may request this if there are major difficulties in reading the file.
All proposals must be submitted in this format, to ensure comparability. 

Unless agreed with me in advance in writing, all proposals must be in English.
** Deadline:


The time-limit for proposals will be February 28, 2007. By that date, full proposals 

(consisting of Case for Support and Application Form) must reach FEL at the address below. 

All proposals received will be acknowledged on receipt.
The FEL Committee will announce its decision by 31st March 2007.


** Comments on Draft Proposals:




FEL tries to keep its procedures as simple as possible. But it recognizes that they may be 

especially taxing for those without training in a western university. In the case of proposals 

from communities or community linguists, FEL is prepared to comment on drafts, and suggest 

weaknesses and potential remedies (without prejudice) before the selection. 

Such draft proposals - clearly marked “DRAFT” - should reach FEL as soon as possible, 

and no later than February 1, 2007.
This commenting service is simply offered in order to help: it is never required 

to submit such a draft.  

If draft applications are received from applicants who are judged not to be members 

of endangered language communities or such communities’ designated linguists, 

they may be re-classified as final applications, at FEL’s discretion.
Nicholas Ostler


Chairman, Foundation for Endangered Languages




Registered Charity: England and Wales 1070616



172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath, BA1 7AA, England



nostler@chibcha.demon.co.uk



http://www.ogmios.org <http://www.ogmios.org/>




Note:

The Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL) is not the same as
ELF, the Endangered Language Fund (http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/

<http://www.haskins.yale.edu/>). 
However, it is perfectly possible (and has indeed occurred in the past) that the same 
project be partially funded by both FEL and ELF.

Uganda: English language standards

Posted by sociolingo on April 18th, 2007

Yet another article in the press today about falling standards of English, this time from Uganda. The main complaint seems to be the use of ’slang’. What is quoted in the article is mainly internet and phone text short words. You hear exactly the same complaint in England from teachers there too. This is not about the lack of teaching English really, it is about the changing use of language and genres, and about power elites using this as a tool to discredit mother tongue teaching.

Several telling quotes from the article:

Inappropriate language, consisting of text abbreviations and slang, is slowly creeping into students’ course work and exams, teachers reveal. “Words such as ‘b4′, ‘gd’ or ‘thru’ are so common when I am marking,” says David Eryatu, a General Paper teacher at Wanyange Girls’ School.

Each age group and school has a language of their own,” states Daudi Mulongo, the headteacher of Kiira College Butiki The irony is that although there is no major threat to the English language, he admits that carelessness could have an impact on the students’ grades.

“Fortunately, we are not being marked by Cambridge; otherwise it can affect grades drastically.” Sameer Ogole, a Kyambogo-based software developer, uses online slang frequently. He agrees with Mulongo: “Slang has been around for so long, it has not hurt the use of the traditional form of English.

This usage is limited to instant messages and cell phone text conversations.” Students also reveal that part of the reason why they have developed their own vocabulary is because the correct spelling of traditional English is very “long and boring.”

They argue, however, that they are able to draw a line between the informal and the formal English, during their exams. “It is easy, fast and cool,” says 17-year-old Fiona, a student at Makerere College School. “I use it when I am with my friends, but not with my teacher or exams,” says another.

The final quote gives us the answer. Draconian measures to ban informal expression, or code-switching will not work, but educating young people about the different genres and encouraging them to only use the formal code at school so that they get better grades may work.

As usual the move towards using local languages for the first few years of schooling is also attacked as a cause for this demise.

The education ministry’s new policy to teach lower primary classes (P1 to P3) in their mother tongues is also under stiff criticism.

Many people have expressed the fear that this will further compound the problem of bad English use due to a shaky foundation in the children’s learning of the language.

However, Francis Kaleeba, a language specialist at the National Curriculum Development Centre, says: “If you have a good background in your mother tongue, it also enhances your English language. Children can then decode easily the meaning of words into English.”

The same tired old arguments appear every time any African government introduces (or re-introduces) mother tongue teaching for the first few years of education. Usually the critics are the ‘elite’ power holders. The results from many programmes show that teaching kids in a language they understand helps them learn, and then they are able to transfer those skills to a new language and get better results than those who were only taught in the ex-colonial language. No-one disputes the role and importance of international languages such as French and English, but these same tired old arguments against mother tongue teaching do nothing but raise dust and cloud more important issues. Class sizes are generally very large in primary schools, teachers often inadequately trained, and textbooks either non-existent or inappropriate (especially ones imported from Europe!). Yes, there does need to be adequate English grammar teaching - and mother tongue language grammar teaching too, but you hear this in England as well as Africa.

 

Language Policy and Planning in Senegal

Posted by sociolingo on April 18th, 2007

Interview with Mamadou Ndoye, Deputy Minister in charge of Basic Education and National Languages of Senegal

Question: Minister Ndoye, we thought it would be particularly interesting to include your remarks in this issue of ADEA’s Newsletter focused on national languages, since Senegal has a Ministry of Basic Education and National Languages which is dedicated entirely to this question. When was this Ministry created, and what are its mandate and raison d’être?

The Ministry of Basic Education and National Languages was created in 1991. At the time of its creation, a major goal was the elimination of illiteracy. The literacy sector was the poor cousin of the education system and non-formal education had remained a very secondary concern for government officials. The President came up with the idea of creating this new department in order to devote special attention to non-formal education and literacy.

There was also another purpose at work. Since the Etats Généraux (1) of 1981, one of the primary objectives of the education reform was built around introducing national languages into the education system. Between 1981 and 1991, there was almost no progress on this issue. Ten years later, the President thought it was high time to move forward on the issue of promoting national languages, and particularly their use in education.

This resolve led to the creation within the Ministry of a department devoted to increasing literacy and promoting national languages. Promoting national languages means taking the legal steps necessary to codify the transcription of national languages and giving new momentum to planning the introduction of national languages. That translates into promoting linguistic research, developing dictionaries and grammars for these languages, providing instructor training, developing curricula for teaching these languages and developing the educational materials needed to teach them. We sought to promote all of these aspects by creating the Ministry of Basic Education and National Languages.

You have raised the issue of transcribing these languages, which represents a large-scale effort. Have Senegal’s national and vernacular languages been transcribed?

Transcription of some of these languages dates back to ancient times, but codification of these languages did not begin until 1974. Today, codification of Senegal’s six national languages Wolof, Serer, Mandinka, Pulaar, Diola and Soninke is stabilized. For almost all of the other languages, research work is underway, and the trend is toward stable transcription of these languages.

According to Louis-Jean Calvet, professor at the Sorbonne University, languages cannot be decreed; they are the product of history and the practices of the people that speak them, and they are shaped by the pressure of historical and social influences. Can languages be planned? Is it desirable to intervene in the maturing process of languages?(2)

If that quotation is put back into context, it means that, where languages are concerned, there is a need for mediation that a decree cannot resolve. This problem has come up in Senegal. It has been said that In order to achieve national unity, there must be a language of unification in Senegal. But which language should we choose? Obviously, if the government decides to choose one language rather than another, that doesn’t mean that the social process taking place in the real world will obey the decree exactly as issued. Languages have their own dynamic. There are many factors involved, such as trade, migrations, historical and social factors, that cause one language to spread more than another. If a government arbitrarily decides that a particular language must be the language of national unification instead of acknowledging these ongoing processes for what they are, it’s on the wrong track.

What constitutes language policy? In Senegal, as in many African countries, the official language - French, as it happens - is an imported language. The question is whether the national languages spoken by the population have a place in official life or not. Would it or would it not be possible to use national languages in government, at the post office and at the bank today? If so, then a policy decision needs to be made. We would have to restore national languages to their legitimate place in government, in our systems of education and training, and in public life. This is where language policy and planning come in.

Furthermore, it is clear that moving from an oral to a written language is not a spontaneous process. There needs to be research and decisions taken to transcribe oral languages. The path to the written language makes it possible to stabilize transcription and to reduce the number of elements that are dialect-specific. Oral languages do not allow standardization, since each group in its village appropriates the language with its own distinctive intonation, its experience, and so on.

What is the role of education in promoting national languages?

In order to promote national languages, a country must have a language policy, a cultural policy and an education policy.
A language policy is necessary because political will is essential to promoting national languages. Language planning is necessary because entities must be created that will be responsible for standardizing and enriching national languages. A whole process of conceptual enrichment of the language must be encouraged. Colonization brought about a linguistic substitution process that conferred the status of hegemony on the language of the home country, to the detriment of the national languages. Because these languages were largely excluded from official life, from teaching, and from the structured area of national activity, they could not benefit from the dynamism of modernization and the structuring effect of the widespread use of written language. This has inhibited the African national languages’ potential for conception, elaboration and written communication. We need to recognize this in order to be able to begin the considerable work involved in moving forward. In the areas of science and technology, it is desirable for these languages to be enriched from a conceptual standpoint, so that they become languages equipped to communicate modern knowledge. There is a considerable linguistic effort to be made here.

In terms of cultural policy, it is important that the promotion of national languages goes hand in hand with a cultural renaissance. A language is not merely an instrument of communication. It is also a culture. The history of a group and the etymology of their language are a reflection of the unique history of a group; these elements must be revived to accompany the effort to promote national languages. Our traditional heritage contains a wealth of popular literature - stories, epics, historical chronicles, fables, nursery rhymes, proverbs, songs, poems, liturgical literature, and so on - encompassing art, philosophy, history, and religion, and we may be losing all of that today. But if the newly literate are able to produce manuscripts, these touchstone social practices, these stories and legends, everything that they know and master so well can be preserved, and libraries will no longer go up in smoke when our elders die. This will allow us to use culture as a foundation for promoting national languages.

Finally, educational policy will ensure that illiterate populations are given the chance to become literate in the languages they speak. Literacy campaigns which aim at rendering people literate in a foreign language are not true literacy campaigns. They involve learning a foreign language and then gaining access to its written code. A true literacy program consists of helping people who speak a language, but cannot write it, to master the written code.
Wolof is spoken by the majority of the Senegalese. What progress has been made as far as the codification of Wolof, the use of the written language, and the development of instructional materials?

We have reached a very advanced stage with Wolof. The first attempts at transcription date back to before independence, and they were initiated by a group of pioneers who fought for the transcription of national languages. Around 1974, all national languages were codified, including Wolof. After codification came the development of literacy manuals and educational materials for basic adult education.

For children, there have been experiments with televised classes that offered programs covering all six years of primary education. Educational materials exist in Wolof as well as in Pulaar for the elementary schools.

There are also manuals on the environment, agriculture, livestock breeding, population, family life, health, and so on, that are used in functional literacy programs. And more and more, we are seeing the emergence of authors who write novels, poetry, anthologies, etc. in Wolof.

You have spoken of experiences with using national languages in education, particularly in the non-formal sector. Is there any draft legislation that would implement the use of national languages as languages of instruction in the formal education system?

We are currently in the process of developing new curricula for basic education. In 1995, we held a symposium on basic education. The definition of what basic education should be in Senegal gave concrete expression to the vital necessity of introducing national languages in our formal education system immediately. The new curricula now being developed take this requirement into consideration and seek to translate it into concrete terms. If everything goes as expected, the work should be completed before the end of the year, and a decree on new basic education programs will be issued. These programs could go into effect as early as the start of the 1997-98 school year.

What is the role of French, Wolof and the other national languages in the media?

Wolof is certainly the most frequently used language in the media. Many public debates are held in Wolof. This is not surprising since to be heard you must be understood by the majority of the population. At present it’s safe to say that French continues to dominate television. On the other hand, private radio stations - that have only their audience to consider - broadcast at least 70% of their programs in Wolof.

What percentage of the population speaks French?
According to statistics released in 1981, only 15% of Senegal’s population speaks French.

According to statistics, Wolof is spoken by 80% of the Senegalese population. Why hasn’t Wolof been adopted as an official language in the same way as French?

I believe it is still very premature to be thinking about a unifying language in Senegal. We still need to let a number of processes run their course. Perhaps there will come a time when we need to take action in response to a situation as it unfolds. The issue of languages is a very sensitive one. It affects issues of feeling and identity, and reactions can be very strong in this area. This is why I believe it is too early to raise this issue.

An interview with Mamadou Ndoye
Deputy Minister for Basic Education and National Languages
Senegal

Geneva, October 1, 1996

Footnotes
(1) In francophone countries, Etats Généraux are a nation-wide assessment of a sector involving all major stakeholders.

(2) Excerpt from Les politiques linguistiques, by Louis-Jean Calvet, “Que sais-je” Series, Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1996.

Kenya: Experts Worried As 16 Local Languages Are About to Vanish

Posted by sociolingo on 23rd September 2006

Experts Worried As 16 Local Languages Are About to Vanish

The Nation (Nairobi)
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/
February 2, 2006
Posted to the web February 1, 2006

Ken Opala
Nairobi

On September 10, 1953, a Mr Ojambo arap Kishero wrote to the Bungoma
district officer asking for a licence to hold a meeting that would
help trace Bong’om people’s history. For, he claimed, they were
“losing their language”. He copied the letter to the local district
education officer and the “Nyanza district commissioner”

Eliud Mahihu, then a PC, congratulates Kurume Lenapir following his
appointment as chief of the El Molo ethnic group.

At the time, the Bong’om tribe had only 39 educated people - 15 men,
six women and 18 girls. “Sir,” he wrote, “fearing that their language
is disappearing, the Kony-Bok-Bongoma-Sabiny students have suggested
they should lose no time to meet and research their language. ”

The Kony or El Kony are the people whose name has been corrupted into
“Elgon”, sometimes called Terik, Bok and Sabiny and, in Uganda, Walagu
of Sebeei.

In his reply, the DEO, while stating the official policy of promoting
vernacular languages, said “textbooks would be produced only if it was
commercially viable. The case cited was not,” he said.

In a letter to Bungoma DO, the Nyanza DC, a Mr E.J.A. Leslie,
declared: “There is great need to preserve the folklore and history of
all tribes, whether traditional or based on research.”

“But there is the obvious danger of their misuse and of false claims.”
This was during a period of heightened natonalist politics. The DC’s
fear was that, once given state recognition, the small tribes would
move fast to stake claims to political leadership.

Rather than focus on small dialects, the colonial administration
decided to promote Kibukusu as the medium of communication among
surrounding tribes. The Bukusu elite - among them a Mr J. J. Musundi -
were called upon to craft the “Bukusu Orthography”. Examinations, such
as the Competitive Entrance, were translated into Bukusu.

Rally and truly, the move sounded the death-knell to the Bong’om
tongue, though it is the people’s name that has given us the term Bungoma.

There was little focus on vernacular languages, says Dr P. Kurgatt, an
assistant professor of English at the United States International
University.

If a language helped to serve colonial interests, the colonialists
would promote it. But they preferred that people speak in the
preferred language of the colonialists.

Now, more than half a century later, Unesco classifies Bong’om (also
known as Ngoma, Ng’oma, Ong’om and Bong’omek) among 16 Kenyan
languages that are either extinct or moribund or endangered.

They are listed among Africa’s 300 languages consigned to extinction.
A language is endangered if it is no longer learned by children or, at
least, by a large part of the children of that community, according to
the Unesco Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing,
published in 2001.

The key factor is the number of speakers of a language. Those
languages spoken by large groups are unlikely to be endangered. Small
languages are threatened by the more aggressive surrounding languages.

Unesco has thus declared 2006 the Year of African Languages, to
promote the use of vernacular languages - what are claimed to be
“mother tongues”.

An El Molo teaches her children how to slaughter a goat. The El Molo
is one of the languages facing extinction, says Unesco.

“It seems remarkable and rather strange that, in contrast to the great
concern shown by many people for animal and plant species threatened
by extinction, there are, with relative few exceptions, few organised
groups concerned about the fact that about half of humanity’s most
precious commodities - language diversity - are also threatened by
extinction,” says Unesco.

According to Dr Kurgatt, Africa has an estimated 2,000 languages,
almost a third of the world’s linguistic heritage.

Even with the emergence of new languages, such as Sheng (initially, a
distortion of Swahili and English but now a murky concoction), the
future of Africa’s linguistic heritage is ominous.

Six Kenyan languages are extinct, five are “seriously endangered”, at
least three are “endangered”, and a host of others are “potentially”
endangered, according to the Atlas.

The Suba language is either “extinct” or “moribund”, according to it.

Endangered languages include Boni, Kore, Segeju and Dahalo at the
coast; Kinare, Sogoo, Lorkoti and Yaaku in the central parts; El Molo,
Burji, Oropom in the north; Ongamo, Sogoo and Omotik in the south;,
and Bong’om, Terik and Suba in the west. El Molo, with only 300
speakers, is classified also “extinct”.

In Tanzania, seven languages are threatened and in Uganda six are
either extinct or endangered. Nigeria, the Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya,
in that order, are countries with the highest incidence of
disappearing languages.

Yet the question is: Does it matter if Africa’s indigenous languages
are dying out? Yes. As Dr Kurgatt says, language “is the carrier of a
people’s culture”.

In other words, a people is recognisable as such only if it has a
distinct language. “If you lose a language, you have lost the
worldview,” says Dr Kurgatt.

He is one of two Kenyan scholars expected to give keynote speeches at
an international conference in London next month to focus on Africa’s
linguistic diversity.

Unesco says languages highlight the roots, philosophy, culture,
heritage and communication of a tribe or ethnic community - or a
speech community. Vernacular, or mother tongue, helps people to trace
their ancestral roots, cultures, heritage and traditions. And this
helps promote unity among a community.

Indeed, evidence shows that people understand things better if taught
in their first language.

Dialects die once exposed to more ascendant and prevailing languages
in their surroundings. The aggressive languages could be either
foreign or local. But even they could die if exposed to harsh
conditions, for instance, if the neighbouring communities are
intolerant,as happened to the El Molo of northern Kenya.

In Africa, English and French are perceived languages of prestige and
well-being. People incapable of understanding them are labelled
“primitive” and given low esteem. Thus, foreign languages appear to
have leverage over local ones, in terms of academic instruction and
general communication.

At a more localised level, the Suba and the Terik languages have
definitely been suppressed by the dominant and assertive Luo and the
Nandi, respectively. The Terik were initially a Bantu, belonging to
the Luhya cluster. But they were assimilated into the larger Kalenjin
and are now regarded Nilotic.

According to Unesco, a majority of the group lives in the southern
Nandi District and northern Kisumu. A smaller number is found in
neighbouring Vihiga District. The rest are distributed in Turbo, Uasin
Gishu and Aldai.

Documents in the Kenya National Archives indicate that the Terik
migrated to Nandi in search of employment. By the 1950s, they were so
many. Because of their expanding population, they started encroaching
on forests.

The local Nandi were getting concerned. In April, 1961, Kemeloi
sub-chief S.K Cheror exhorted his people against selling land to the
Luhya. He even took to court those who defied his order.

Earlier, in June, 1959, a meeting at Koiparak, Nandi, resolved that
the Teriki found to be “outright” should be “absorbed into the Nandi
tribe”, according to the minutes of a meeting of June 23, 1959,
attended by Nandi colonial DC R. H. Symes-Thompson.

Owing to scarcity of land in Luhyaland, the Terik could hardly return
to Nyang’ori in what is now Kaimosi.

Yet, why the Nandi demanded assimilation of the Teriki is perplexing.
According to Dr Kurgatt, African cultures are hardly hegemonic. “Apart
from the Zulu of South Africa, African cultures don’t force conversion
of weaker cultures”.

In the case of the Suba, Bong’om and many others, assimilation was
spontaneous.

The Suba are a Bantu group said to have originated in Buganda and
Busoga - and perhaps, ultimately - in the in Congo, but which has been
swallowed by the the more assertive and numerically superior Luo. In
Tanzania, the Suba speak Kiswahili.

According to Unesco, the Suba language has six dialects in Kenya
alone: Olwivwang’ano in Mfang’ano, Rusinga, Takawiri, Kibwogi, Ragwe
and Kisegi; Ekikune in Kaksingri; Ekingoe in Ngere; Ekigase in Gwassi;
Ekisuuna in Migori; and Olumuulu in Muhuru Bay.

Some Suba people are bilingual - speaking Dholuo equally well. But
most have lost the ability to speak Lusuba. It is said that Suba
parents make a deliberate choice not to pass Lusuba to children,
preferring the languages that offer socio-economic and political gains.

Although the Bong’om people are Nilotic and related to the Kalenjin
and some Sudanese tribes, they now speak Kibukusu (a Bantu tongue). In
fact, seven out of 10 people of the Bong’om tribe speak Kibukusu,
thanks to intermarriage and influence by the widely-spoken Bukusu, a
Luhya sub-tribe.

They are found in the southwest and the northwest of Bungoma town,
mainly around the hills of Kapchai, Webuye, South Malakisi, Sang’alo
and North Kabras. They are also scattered in settlements in
Luhya-speaking areas.

In the 1970s, the population was 2,500, which went up 30,000 in 1994.

The Ongamo (also known as Ngasa, Shaka, Ongg’amo, Ongg’amoni) is
affiliated to the Nilotic Teso and some eastern Sudanese languages.

The Boni are found in the silvan hinterland behind Lamu and Tana River
districts. It is said that at least 11 villages are habited by Boni
speakers.

In Sociolinguistic Surveys in Selected Kenyan Languages, a report
published in 1986, Art Rilling says that the Boni are eastern Cushites
closely related to the Somali.

Some linguistics have indicated that among the Boni, while the
literacy rate in their first language is between 10 and 30 per cent,
literacy in the second language is between 50 and 75 per cent.

El Molo is a Maasai phrase meaning “those who make a living from
sources other than cattle”. They are said to be the smallest ethnic
group in Kenya, numbering less than 300.

However, the “pure” El Molo could number no more than a few dozen.
Others are products of intermarriage with the Samburu and Turkana.

Although the predicament facing African languages appears to transfix
the world at this moment, nonetheless the threat is historic. Many
known languages have died, including Latin, ancient Greek and
Sanskrit. Yet, these three have been kept alive through writing and
for liturgical purposes.

But Dr Kurgatt says “all is not gloom” in respect to Africa’s
linguistic heritage. “We can salvage our languages through concerted
efforts.”

In Kenya, the problem is that the Government has never given even a
single thought to conserving the mother tongues.

Nigeria: endangered Nigerian languages

Posted by sociolingo on 23rd September 2006

An article in Business Day Online describes the one-day workshop held in Nigeria by UNESCO and NCAC (National Council for Arts and Culture) on August 3rd 2006.

In a review by Comfort Obi, publisher the Source Magazine, with additional report by Emma Eze of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC); Lizzy Ihezue, national programmes officer (culture) at the UNESCO Abuja office; the pilot workshop, heralded more of its kind as the topic was crucial to the Nigerian public. She said that the former capital of eastern Nigeria was chosen as the venue of the event because of its serene ambience. Equally significant was that the historic city was a few kilometres away from Igbo-Ukwu, home to the Nri theocratic civilization, which dates back to 850A.D.

“Be that as it may, there appears to be a general consensus that a number of the indigenous Nigerian languages are at the verge of extinction. Nigeria has a plethora of indigenous languages. A number of reasons have been given as being responsible for this looming danger. Some of them include the manner in which the English language was being used as the country’s lingua franca, stemming from the effect of colonialism and the onslaught of globalisation. Naturally, there was resistance by the people against colonial policies which attempted to impose the languages, patterns of education and other modes of European civilisation as the basis for the official culture of Nigeria, but due to growing westernisation in contemporary time inspired by globalisation, local cultures in Nigeria are dying out gradually.

The workshop ended with some proposals:

At the end of the workshop, the resolutions reached include: that our oral and intangible cultural heritage should be promoted and safeguarded by relevant government; that agencies such as UNESCO, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Education, and relevant Non-Governmental Organisations should help set up publishing houses that cater for minority languages as the long term benefits are unquantifiable.

Existing major publishers should be made to publish texts in one or two minor languages; that language specialists and the local communities should cooperate in language preservation, especially in the face of the electronic age challenge and the threat of globalisation, and that universities should be challenged to take practical steps to encourage students of the Department of Languages and Linguistics to work in and on their indigenous languages.

A reward system aimed at encouraging the continuous use and development of endangered languages should be instituted at community and state levels.

Policy makers should put into action the national policy on education: that a child be taught in his mother tongue while the wider lingua franca should be taught at the kindergarten and primary schools as language courses.

Entertainment packages in multi media forms and books in various indigenous languages should be deliberately encouraged.

Participants at the workshop congratulated the new minister of culture and tourism, Femi Fani-Kayode, and expressed their appreciation to the organisers of the workshop, especially against the background of the United Nation Declaration of 2006 as the Year for African Languages. It was also their profound wish that the workshop would be replicated at the different zones in the country as each has its pockets of endangered languages.

Participants at the workshop will comprise stakeholders in the culture sector, civil society, students, the media, academia, traditional leaders, women leaders, community leaders, language scholars and youth organisations. Revered traditionalist and ethno-linguistic scholar, Akinwunmi Ishola, a professor, will be the lead speaker while discussants will include respected advocates of the preservation and promotion of the best of our cultural heritage, including National Mirror’s consulting literary editor, Nduka Otiono.

Conference: Documenting Endangered Languages in Africa

Posted by sociolingo on 3rd February 2007

Documenting Endangered Languages in Africa

Date: 24-Mar-2007 - 24-Mar-2007
Location: Gainesville, FL, USA
Contact: Brent Henderson
Contact Email: bhendrsnufl.edu
Meeting URL: http://www.doce-conferences.ufl.edu/acal-alta/

Linguistic Field(s): Language Description

Meeting Description:

Symposium at Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 3 and African
Language Teacher’s Association (ALTA 11): ‘Documenting Endangered
Languages in Africa.’

A symposium ”Documenting Endangered Languages in Africa” will be held on
March 24th, 2007 as part of the Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL
3 and African Language Teacher’s Association (ALTA 11) at the University of
Florida.

Schedule of talks:
Ronald Schaefer
‘Edo North, residual zones, and language endangerment’

Tucker Childs
‘What happens to class when a language dies? Language changes vs. language
death’

James Essegbey
‘Locative predication in Nyangbo: losing typological characteristics
due to contact’

Salikoko Mufwene
‘Language endangerment: the story from sub-saharan Africa’

Azeb Amha
‘Language and ethnicity: exploring the Zargula and Gamo linkages’

Bruce Connell
‘Language ecology and language endangerment: an instance from the
Nigeria-Cameroon borderland.’

Maarten Mous
‘Language documentation as a challenge to description’