FYI, this item from the Kenyan daily the Standard comes from
http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=1143951771
(reference seen on H-Swahili)... DZO
Speak your mother tongue with pride
By John Mwazemba
Quoting William Butler Yeats, Chinua Achebe makes a resounding
literary echo with the lines "Things fall apart and the centre cannot
hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." He painstakingly
narrates the gradual destruction of a traditional Igbo village by the
invasion of foreign culture.
Employing message laden African proverbs, the Greek dramatic structure
and heavy allegory, Achebe paints a poignant picture of a weak Igbo
village contending for its soul amid a complex intermingling of
westernisation and colonisation. In a titanic clash that leaves things
falling apart, the traditional Igbo culture is infiltrated and
adulterated. Even its language is destroyed. In a stinging satire,
Achebe portrays this when he uses a character, in the book, who spoke
a different dialect. The poor fellow had the misfortune of being a
translator and any time he wanted to say "myself", he would say, "my
buttocks" and people would be thoroughly entertained. However, Achebe
was passing a solemn message that the Igbo language was being adulterated.
Things Fall Apart, one of the world's greatest novels has been
translated into more than 30 languages but not in Igbo, the author's
mother tongue. In an article entitled `Christian Century', Susan
VanZanten Gallagher says that "When someone asked if Things Fall Apart
had ever been translated into Igbo, Achebe's mother tongue, he shook
his head and explained that Igbo exists in numerous dialects,
differing from village to village." Achebe stressed that the
missionaries came up with the idea of one Igbo language (Union Igbo).
Union Igbo is "a strange hodge-podge with no linguistic elegance,
natural rhythm or oral authenticity" thus translating the book into
such a language would be to no avail. In a consummate touch of irony,
therefore, the book is unable to appear in the language of the very
culture it celebrates and mourns. This is an apt irony of the complex
ways in which the English language has both blessed and marred the
cultures of African languages.
What really is in a language? The Romans of old were proud of their
Latin language. All a Roman had to say was Romanus sum, I am a Roman,
and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast
empire. The Romans never saw a time when their language would remain
with only a few fluent speakers as it is today. Of course the Latin
language is still in use today especially the ecclesiastical Latin
used in the Catholic Church and the official language of the Vatican
but it is no doubt it may be on its path to oblivion.
It is with this thought of language extinction in mind that the PEN
American Centre organised a festival of international literature to
celebrate endangered languages. The event, dubbed Pen World Voices and
is being staged in New York City and started on April 25. It ends
today. The event was expected to bring together big literary names the
world over. Achebe was expected to join many other authors to
celebrate writing in diverse languages. Some of the authors were
expected to read what they wrote in their mother tongues. Achebe was
certainly not expected to read in Igbo. And Achebe is not alone (at
least he understands Igbo, he just can't or maybe does not want to
write in Igbo). I wonder how many Kenyans would be reading what they
wrote in their mother tongues.
It has become increasingly common in this city to meet young people
who cannot speak a word in their mother tongue. And they are very
proud of it! According to them, not knowing their mother tongue shows
that they were born in the city and have no links with "rural Africa".
Well, be very worried! The Internet Writing Journal, which was quoted
in the April 21 issue of the New York Times, says linguists predict
that by the end of the century, half of the world's languages will be
dead due to globalisation.
The English language, striding the world like a colossus has been
blamed for swallowing other languages on its path. Neither the
powerful Roman emperors nor the Greek conquerors of old had the chance
to see their languages influence the world the way the English
language has. The controversial writer Salman Rushdie agrees that
English is eating up other languages and translation of writers' works
into English is vital for their survival. "People are not going to
learn Serbian," he says. "If Serbian writers are going to survive in
the world, they will have to be translated into English."
Dubravka Ugresic, the famous Croatian exiled author and writer of The
Museum of Unconditional Surrender says, "Every honest linguist will
tell you the preservation of language is a lost battle," Ms Ugresic
says, "because you can't deal with language dogmatically. Language is
a living thing. So let it go."
But the Centre for Endangered Languages (CEL) Kenyan chapter, based in
Nakuru doesn't want to let go. Kiplagat Cheruiyot, the National
Coordinator of CEL, says the Centre has the "daunting task of
addressing, and arresting, the threat of extinction to which most of
the languages of Kenya are exposed". It has been established that the
extinction of a language is a gradual process that happens over time.
Such extinction tends to mostly affect minority tribes, which may give
up their cultures as they embrace those of major tribes for economic,
social and political survival. CEL says, "these minority tribes
include the Ogiek, Elmolo, Sengwer, Yaaku, and Waata, most of them
traditionally hunters and gatherers. In addition, Pokots, Marakwet,
Keiyo, Tugen, Nandi, Kipsigis, Luhya and Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania
have gradually assimilated the Sengwer. Kipsigis, Tugen and Maasai
assimilate Ogiek in their regions".
Even in the development of the urbane Sheng, only words from major
language groups appear. The minority groups have to be satisfied with
using a language that doesn't even include a word from their mother
tongues. This coupled with the fact that most children from elite
families cannot speak their mother tongues fluently, is worrying
indeed. Such children, even when they speak their mother tongues,
often go wrong in pronunciation, intonation, robbing their native
languages of their richness. And with that we lose the oral tradition
of the typical African speaking loaded messages in short sentences
using heavy metaphor, proverbs and everything allegorical.
If the trend continues some ethnic groups will lose their cultural
identities and become like dinosaurs relegated to history books. Of
course, even the larger ethnic groups have suffered their fair share
of adulteration of their languages. English and Kiswahili words have
now become acceptable in some native languages even when there are
equivalent words in those native tongues. The argument is that English
is "easier" and of course just stylish (how will we know that one went
to school if he doesn't drop English words here and there during a
conversation?)
Globalisation may lead to a homogenous world, where people use the
same currency, the same language, wear the same standard clothes and
maybe think the same thoughts. With the current "blogging culture"
this is no longer a dream but a harsh reality. Let us be proud of our
diverse languages and speak them.
* The writer is an editorial manager with a local publishing firm.
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