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’

Safeguarding Endangered Languages in Africa

Posted by sociolingo on 12th February 2007

From OCPA newletter

Identifying Good Practices in Safeguarding Endangered Languages in Africa

Held from 9 to10 February 2007, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this meeting was
organized in the framework of the “Capacity-building for safeguarding languages
and oral traditions and expressions in sub-Saharan Africa” project funded by the
Government of Norway. Organized jointly by the Addis Ababa Office and
Intangible Heritage Section of UNESCO, the meeting brought together thirty
experts from twenty-one African countries and representatives from university
departments and national research institutions specialized in African languages.
At the end of the session, a series of concrete recommendations for a future strategy
for the safeguarding of endangered languages in Africa were drawn up. These
recommendations will also contribute to UNESCO’s ongoing efforts to compile a
Register of Good Practices in Language Preservation.

Contact: s.kube@unesco.org

Endangered Languages

Posted by sociolingo on 13th February 2007

Endangered Languages

Languages are not only extremely adequate tools of communication, they also reflect a view of the world

Special issue “Endangered languages” Languages are vehicles of value systems and of cultural expressions and they constitute a determining factor in the identity of groups and individuals. Over 50% of the world’s 6000 languages are endangered. 96% of the world’s 6000 languages are spoken by 4% of the world’s population. 90% of the world’s languages are not represented on the Internet. One language disappears on average every two weeks. 80% of the African languages have no orthography. The UNESCO Endangered Languages Programme has as its mission to promote and safeguard endangered languages and linguistic diversity as an essential part of the living heritage of humanity. Three priority lines of action guide the Programme’s activities: (i)  awareness-raising of language endangerment, and of the need to safeguard our linguistic diversity Partnership between UNESCO, UN Works and Discovery Communications, INC UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing (1996, 2001) and its new online version (ii) local capacity-building and promotion of language policies Over the past few years, a number of local, national and sub-regional capacity-building projects have been carried out by UNESCO throughout the world. (iii) mobilization of international cooperation UNESCO Expert meeting on endangered languages, Paris, March 2003 Capacity-building for safeguarding languages and oral traditions and expressions in Sub-Saharan Africa In its activities for the safeguarding of endangered languages, UNESCO is guided by the following texts: UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Language vitality and endangerment Recommendations for Action Plans

Book: Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing

Posted by sociolingo on 15th February 2007

Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of DisappearingNew revised editionBy Stephen A. Wurm - Cartographer: Ian Heyward Memory of Peoples series

Ce titre est disponible.

13,70 € €

Livre, 90 pages, maps, index, 2nd edition, revised, enlarged and updated

<!– –>PDF version electronique - 6,90 € €

–> Format: 20 x 29 cm

2001, 978-92-3-103798-6

Sommaire

UNESCO Publishing

Egalement disponible en francais
Egalement disponible en espagnol


Close to half of the 6,000 languages spoken in the world are doomed or likely to disappear in the foreseeable future. The disappearance of any language is an irreparable loss for the heritage of all humankind. This new edition of the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing, first published in 1996, is intended to give a graphic picture of the magnitude of the problem in many parts of the world. The reader will find here a comprehensive list of languages in danger and a concise summary of the worldwide language endangerment situation. Credit is due to the UNESCO/Japan Trust Fund for the Preservation of the Intangible Cultural Heritage for assistance in publishing this edition.Professor Stephen A. Wurm’s well-known research and tireless combat to safeguard our world linguistic heritage have made it possible to compile this work, which should be required reading for both laymen and specialists concerned about the future of culture and society.

UNESCO: Endangered Languages

Posted by sociolingo on 18th February 2007

Endangered Languages

Languages are not only extremely adequate tools of communication, they also reflect a view of the world

Languages are vehicles of value systems and of cultural expressions and they constitute a determining factor in the identity of groups and individuals.

• Over 50% of the world’s 6000 languages are endangered.
• 96% of the world’s 6000 languages are spoken by 4% of the world’s population.
• 90% of the world’s languages are not represented on the Internet.
• One language disappears on average every two weeks.
• 80% of the African languages have no orthography.

The UNESCO Endangered Languages Programme has as its mission to promote and safeguard endangered languages and linguistic diversity as an essential part of the living heritage of humanity.

Three priority lines of action guide the Programme’s activities:

(i) awareness-raising of language endangerment, and of the need to safeguard our linguistic diversity
Partnership between UNESCO, UN Works and Discovery Communications, INC
UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger of Disappearing (1996, 2001) and its new online version

(ii) local capacity-building and promotion of language policies
Over the past few years, a number of local, national and sub-regional capacity-building projects have been carried out by UNESCO throughout the world.

(iii) mobilization of international cooperation
UNESCO Expert meeting on endangered languages, Paris, March 2003
Capacity-building for safeguarding languages and oral traditions and expressions in Sub-Saharan Africa

In its activities for the safeguarding of endangered languages, UNESCO is guided by the following texts:

• UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity
• Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Language vitality and endangerment
• Recommendations for Action Plans

African awards: Genographic project - endangered language grants and web maps

Posted by sociolingo on 18th February 2007

From Transient Languages & Cultures
Genographic project: endangered language grants and web maps

by Jane Simpson

8 February, 2007

A post by Valerie Guerin on the Research Network for Linguistics Diversity list leads to a new source of funding open to individuals, groups, and organizations for language work (the Genographic Legacy Fund) on endangered languages (grant application deadline June 15 and December 15).

Cameroon: who Cares About Mother Tongues?

From OCPA NEWS
who Cares About Mother Tongues?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200702220127.html
Can you speak your mother tongue? Well, if you can, then count yourself lucky. In a world which is fast becoming a global village, with interracial and intertribal marriages being the major trend, most mother tongues have no place in homes.

UN PACT TO PRESERVE WORLD’S DIVERSITY OF CULTURAL EXPRESSION

Posted by sociolingo on 21st March 2007

UN PACT TO PRESERVE WORLD’S DIVERSITY OF CULTURAL EXPRESSION ENTERS INTO
FORCE
New York, Mar 20 2007  6:00PM
A United Nations-backed international treaty to preserve the rich diversity
of the world’s means of cultural expression, including its many languages,
from the dangers of globalization has entered into force.

The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions, adopted by the General Conference of the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (<”
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=
201.html”>UNESCO) in late 2005, became operative on Sunday, three months
after it reached the required total of 30 ratifications.

The pact is designed to not only protect existing cultural expressions but
to “create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact
in a mutually beneficial manner,” according to one of its articles.

UNESCO has noted previously that half the world’s languages are in danger
of extinction and that many areas of cultural production, such as cinema,
are dominated by only a handful of nations.

An international fund for cultural diversity will be set up under the
Convention and the text stresses the importance of culture in spurring
development and encouraging international solidarity.

It also reaffirms that “freedom of thought, expression and information, as
well as diversity of the media, enable cultural expressions to flourish
within societies.”

When the number of ratifications reached 30 last December, UNESCO
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura observed that none of his organization’s
other cultural conventions had been adopted by so many States so swiftly.

The convention has now been ratified by 35 countries and the European
Community. The ratifying States are: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bolivia,
Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Djibouti,
Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Guatemala, India, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Peru, Moldova,
Romania, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Togo.

Uganda: support for Ugandan languages

Uganda’s state minister for Gender, Isanga Nakadama has advised parents to stop forcing their children to speak English.

By Risdel KasasiraThe minister who was presiding over the World Cultural Day in Kampala, says for African cultures to survive, native languages must be protected especially at family level. She says there are families where children are beaten because they speak native languages.Nakadama says this is an unfortunate situation that will kill African languages. Nakadama said Ugandan government is planning to introduce teaching of vernaculars from primary to secondary level in order to help maintain local languages in every locality.The minister of relief and disaster preparedness, Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere proposed that the Institute of Languages at Makerere University, Uganda’s leading public university to work with the ministry of gender, labour and social development to design a national language policy.

Kabwegyere says the policy should be written in all native languages of Uganda.

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