By: ALVAN EWUZIE
*How the cookey is crumbling
*Many 10yr olds can't speak their mother tongue,
especially Igbo
He can hardly speak ten correct words of his
mother tongue. For obvious reasons his identity will be kept out of print.
His is the extreme case of a burgeoning league of young Nigerians whose
mother tongue has become a nightmare.
In a term paper by a student of Nigerian
Languages, the student found that of one hundred and twenty under ten kids she
sampled outside their geographical area, only eight could speak their mother
tongue with varied degrees of fluency.
'I found that these kids who are growing up outside
their home states have little or no grasp of their mother tongue. Some do but
they can hardly speak well' said Nkeiru Iwgilo who confessed that her
research was an eye opener.
' I was amazed at what I saw. Some ten year olds
do not even understand their mother tongue let alone speak it. Some of them
felt bad about it, some saw nothing wrong with it" she said
They are increasing the chances of a natural
demise for their language, a latent danger looming over some Nigerian
languages.
There are two sides of the divide. Some people
hold that languages pass away naturally, others say speakers make or mar their
language; the younger members of the language community no longer actively
speak many languages. They may still be able to understand the language, but
they prefer to speak English, Hausa or some other language of wider
communication among themselves and to their children.
The consequence is that these languages
will become extinct in the next generation. In fact there are some Nigerian
languages that are nearly extinct (e.g. Holma, a Chadic language spoken in
Adamawa State) or have already ceased to exist (e.g. Auyokawa and Tecn, two
Chadic languages formerly spoken in Jigawa State). Those languages may be the
immediate casualties of the unstoppable invasion, as it were, of the Hausa
Language as the dominant Lingua franca in the North. The dominant Language is
gradually consuming some languages in the Northern parts.
In 2006 the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation aided a study by Arts and Humanities
Research Council [AHRS] that sought to unearth dying Languages in Nigeria and
the Cameroons. Dr David Zeitlyn from the Anthropology Department,
University of Kent, directed the project and it brought the Canadian linguist
Bruce Connell to Kent. Dr Connell is an acknowledged expert in endangered
languages, especially in Africa, and an authority on the languages of the
Nigeria-Cameroon borderland project.
The project showed that fire was high on the
mountain. It became evident that some languages are being chipped away
gradually. But the one that faced danger of death on account of declining
speech level among the major languages in Nigeria is the Igbo language. Its
decline stems from continued inability of children from the zone especially
those living outside to speak their mother tongue. One clear sign of the
language as an endangered specie manifests in the entertainment industry
where a popular cable television company has dedicated channels for providing
content in local languages. While they have channels for Hausa and Yoruba there
is non for Igbo.
'it is not a deliberate action' said s spokes
person for the firm' the problem is that we do not have enough content of
materials produced in Igbo language to fill such a dedicated channel on air for
24 hours. If we find content we shall readily get a dedicated channel' Daily
Sun learnt that the firm has already put an additional channel meant to service
the Igbo speaking viewers yet the movies aired there are done in English. It is
a clear sigh that the language cannot provide content.
Some reasons for the decline
The dirt of this growing menace has been swept
to the doorstep of parents who have shied away from speaking to their children
in their mother tongue. The rot is literally home grown. Expectations are that
children begin to hear their language from their homes. But the glaring absence
of such developments has compounded a scary problem.
'I blame mothers for this problem. They are
closer to the children especially when they are younger. They ought to speak
the language to them' said Ike Ezeugwu a businessman who also confesses that
his children cannot speak their mother tongue. Several respondents lent
credence to his submission. They blame mothers for the impending rot. But a
mother who would rather her name be removed from print said her children may be
embarrassed in school if they resume there and are ignorant of the prevalent
language of communication which is English.
'This thing is not a blame game. It is something
both parents must consciously do. We do not need to push the blame to anybody.
We must work at it as parents and try to teach our children their mother
tongue' said Reverend Chudi Obi who teaches Igbo Language at the Seminary.
Children living outside their zones are hampered
by the cosmopolitan nature of their abode given that the language of
communication in their environment cannot be restricted to their mother tongue.
Mrs Omolara Ige a school teacher says it would be wrong for her to communicate
with her pupils in vernacular since they do not all came from her language area
insisting that those pointing accusing fingers at Teachers should direct their
anger elsewhere.
Children from cross bread marriages have
generally lagged behind in what ought to be a natural advantage of
communicating in two languages. One parent told this reporter that his family
is guilty stating that they prefer communicating with their children in
English.
'It has served us well so far. We use English in
our family and to be honest with you I have not considered that we should
consciously teach our various languages. I assume that they will learn it
naturally as they grow older' he said admitting that it is an error of
judgment he would begin to amend. He agrees that multiple language
ability ought to be the natural advantage of children whose parents have
different languages.
Southwest zone least affected
Mrs ige agrees that the Yoruba language may be
the least affected but says such assertion can only be fully made when Yoruba
kids living outside their homestead are examined. She however admits that the
feelers she gets from relatives in London and America show that their kids
still have very strong cultural affinity strongly reflected in the propensity
to speak fluently in their language. She confesses that the language of
communication in her family is her local language, which is why her children
are not deficient in their mother tongue.
She says in spite of the general admission that
the Yoruba language is not under any threat, there are silent but worrisome
trends gradually evolving.
'There are different dialects of the Yoruba
language, but our children are speaking what I call general Yoruba and thus
losing their dialect. We as parents will do well to teach them their dialect so
that the language will be retained in its entirety ' she said. Her submission
is that Yoruba people should not rest on their oars on the assumption that the
language is under no threat. But as things stand Yoruba may well be the least
affected by the threat of imminent extinction.
Igbo renaissance
While that Igbo language appear to be the most
threatened of the major ethnic languages some optimists hold that the threat is
more imagined that real. Reverend Chudi Obi holds this view. He says his
children who born in Lagos were deficient in speaking the Igbo language,
'But when I took them to the village and we
stayed for about three weeks and they interacted with people who spoke the
language to them regularly they picked the language so fast and I was happy
knowing that all I needed to do was to take them home periodically for
them to be very fluent in the language. So I am not scared that the language
will die or is dying' he told students in his class in the seminary.
His optimism is buoyed by the practical steps
now taken by some governments in the south east zone to save the language. In
Imo state for instance, traditional rulers must not address their subjects or
any public gathering in any other language other than Igbo. Some of the state
Houses of Assembly have dedicated some days for total deliberation in Igbo. In
Anambra state governor Peter Obi has taken deliberate steps to halt
decline of the Igbo language. He was recently reported to have rolled out a
comprehensive measure to save the language when he launched what was called
'Suwakwa Igbo' [keep speaking Igbo language] in the state.
Speaking at the launch of Suwakwa Igbo at the
Women Development Centre, Awka, he called on the Igbos to love themselves,
their culture and language for their sustenance as a people.
During the ceremony, Obi announced, among
others, annual award of N200,000, N250,000, and N100,000 to the three
best Igbo students in Secondary Schools in Nigeria. He also gave
cash donations and scholarships (University) to the two best Igbo students in
WAEC - Mr. Kevin Anozie of Holy Child Secondary School, Isuofia and Mr. Chika
Echeta of Bishop Onyemelukwe Secondary School Onitsha.
The Governor also, during the ceremony,
signed into law, a Bill to Enforce the Speaking and Writing of Igbo and
Wide spread Usage of Igbo Language among Ndigbo in Anambra and Diaspora. He
explained that the law would be enforced and announced the stoppage of giving
corporal punishment to students who speak Igbo in schools in the State.
He also announced that Igbo Language would
henceforth be compulsory in all the categories of educational institution in
the State just as English and Mathematics are. He revealed he will send a
bill that will make it mandatory for Igbo people to be employed in the State,
as a matter of law, pass Igbo Language.
Governor Obi also announced the building of
Chief Ogbalu Igbo Language School at the cost of the N50.5 Million Naira,
for specialized and holiday programmes in Igbo. He named professor Pita Ejiofo
to chair a five-man committee to work out modalities that will guide the measures
to revive the Igbo language.
The leader of Suwakwa Igbo, Prof. Pita Ejiofor
thanked the Governor for his interest in Igbo cause. Using statistics, he
proved that Igbo Language is retrogressing and insisted that only Igbos will
stop the retrogression.
The President of Ohaneze Worldwide, Amb.
Ralph. Uwachue, represented by Dr. Atamuo thanked the Governor for his
commitment to Igbo cause and asked him to appeal to his brother Governors
as the Chairman of South East Governors' Forum to follow his footstep.
The occasion was chaired by Obi of Onitsha, Igwe
Alfred Achebe. Over 70 traditional rulers attended among others from
different walks of life.
The former Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe
University, Awka, Professor Pita Ejiofor, has almost devoted his entire life to
the promotion and survival of Igbo language. Ejiofor said he began the crusade
when it became a shame that most children of Igbo extraction could neither
speak, nor write their language. This is coupled with warnings from the United
Nations and a study by the Oxford University which revealed that if no extra
effort is made, Igbo language will go into extinction.
Thereafter, Ejiofor championed the cause for the
revival and sustenance of Igbo language among Igbo people in Nigeria. This led
to the formation of 'Otu Subakwa Igbo' (a group that champions speaking of Igbo
language) on February 14, 2006. As his campaign spread throughout
Igbo land, Subakwa Igbo soon changed to Suwakwa Igbo, which Ejiofor explained
is the central Igbo spoken across the entire Igbo land and he has devoted his
time and resources to the course ever since. Ejiofor has a fore-runner though,
in late Chief Chidozie Ogbalu who was one of the foremost promoters of Igbo
language and culture through writing of several text books in Igbo language.
Also before now, the State House of Assembly passed a resolution entrenching
the conduct of the House business in Igbo language on Wednesdays.
Among other measures Obi when two or more
Igbo people are discussing their language of communication should be Igbo and
not even an admixture of Igbo and English. Parents should use Igbo to
communicate to their children at home and should at all times avoid such
sayings as "say hello to uncle", or "Junior does not understand
Igbo", as that is an insult to Igbo language.
The various towns and villages should write and
present their address to government officials in Igbo. They should also write
programme of events, orations, citations all in Igbo in ceremonies. He asked
state owned radio and television stations to emulate their counterparts in the
North and in the West in promoting the use of local languages
Obi has announced immediate offer of employment
for all holders of Bachelor's degrees, Higher National Diploma and National
Diplomas of Igbo language
Expectedly Prof. Ejiofor could not hold his joy
that his dream of attracting enough attention and assistance in his struggle to
keep Igbo language alive has come true. He thanked Obi for his interest in Igbo
cause. Using statistics, he sought to prove that Igbo Language is
retrogressing and that only Igbo people will stop the retrogression.
Time awaits the implementation of
the foregoing to halt extinction of the language.
Other languages have been affected
In determining whether Esan as a language is
endangered or not, professor Matthew Ogbeide Omo-Ojugo applied some of Unesco's (2003) "Major Evaluative Factors of Language
Vitality" . The nine major factors identified are:
1) Intergenerational Language
Transmission;
2) Absolute Number of Speakers;
3) Proportion of Speakers within the Total
Population;
4) Trends in Existing Language Domains;
5) Response to New Domains and Media; and
6) Materials for Language Education and
Literacy.
7) Governmental and Institutional Language
Attitudes and Policies Including Official Status and Use.
8) Community Members' Attitudes Towards Their
Own Language.
9) Amount and Quality of Documentation.
According to Omo-Ojugo Nigeria
alone has 23 languages listed which are already extinct. Many of these
extinct languages are in Northern States of Nigeria primarily due to language
shift, which usually reflects the rise of a dominant culture.
Thus, Hausa, Arabic, Mandika, Bambara, Fulfulde
and Kanuri, have all been associated with aggressive expansionism and the
forcible conversion of enslaved peoples.
The above phenomenon is true of Akoko-Edo region
of Edo Sate where a lingua-franca status is accorded to the Yoruba language,
although the various mother-tongues have not been totally rendered out of use.
The younger generation of Akoko-Edo indigenes,
notes Omo-Ojugo (1989) have become conscious of a cultural lag as a result of
what the tremendous influence of the Yoruba language and culture have had on
the lives of their people. As a result of this the "Akoko-Edo
Club" made up of enlightened youths, has embarked on a mass
cultural-identity campaign for Akoko-Edo indigenes to use their mother-tongues
for personal and place names.
Continuing, Omo-Ojugo (1989) noted that:
The Language Committee of the Okpamheri
Descendants' Union,
has been commissioned to carry out research into
the language
and produce books and literature texts in
Okpamheri language.
The professor stated that esan language in Edo
state is also endangered going by the United Nation's yard stick of measuring
threatened languages. His conclusion is apt;
If you don't breathe,
There is no air.
If you don't walk,
There is no earth.
If you don't speak,
There is no world.
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