Minority Languages Face Extinction (fwd)

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Minority Languages Face Extinction
http://allafrica.com/stories/200405170590.html

The Herald  (Harare)
NEWS
May 17, 2004
Posted to the web May 17, 2004

By Sifelani Tsiko
Harare

"OUR languages are the cornerstone of who we are as a people," one
renowned author once wrote.

And now, minority languages are fast vanishing throughout the world as
their last speakers die, or as dominant languages like English, Shona
and Ndebele in the case of Zimbabwe push them out of common usage.

In Zimbabwe, linguists say there are up to 16 African languages or
dialects spoken in the country of which ChiShona and IsiNdebele are the
dominant ones.

There are up to 14 minority dialects in the country, which include
Kalanga spoken in Bulilimamangwe district in Matabeleland South, Hwesa
in the Nyanga district, Sotho in Gwanda South, Shangani in Chiredzi,
Chitoko-Tonga (Mudzi Tonga) in Mudzi district, Venda in Beitbridge and
Tonga in the Binga, Omay and Nyaminyami districts.

Other minority languages include Chikunda and Doma spoken in Lower
Guruve and Muzarabani districts, Chewa and Nyanja in various parts of
the country, Khoisan or Tshwawo in Tsholotsho, Barwe in Nyamaropa and
Nyakomba districts in Nyanga, Tswana in Bulilimamangwe and Fingo or
Xhosa in Mbembesi.

Nambya is widely spoken in Hwange district and Sena in various parts of
the country.

Shona and Ndebele are the only recognised official languages apart from
English.

Government documents, signs and television programmes are still being
produced in English, Shona and Ndebele with some little or none in the
other minority languages.

Now, there is growing pressure to promote the use of more than a dozen
other unofficial languages as well.

"Government has shown some commitment, but lack of funds and the snail's
pace process in the implementation of minority language policies is
worrying and a cause for concern," says a language expert at the
University of Zimbabwe.

"There is no specific budget for minority language policies," he says.
"It's difficult to see how these languages will survive, especially now
that our youth are being bombarded daily with everything English and
American."

But the Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, Cde Aeneas Chigwedere,
argues differently.

"In the language, culture is embedded," he says. "I know the value of
language. The Tonga were the first people to come into Zimbabwe. I know
this and we are building up (minority language education)."

A number of minority dialects in Zimbabwe have neither books nor
documents to ensure their survival and rely on the spoken word for
their continuity.

These include Hwesa, Shangani, Venda, Chikunda, Doma, Barwe, Tshwawo and
Nambya.

Simooya Hachipola, a linguistic expert, wrote in "Survey of the Minority
Languages in Zimbabwe" (1998) that most of the material identified in
the study was either old (pre-1965) or too advanced to be used in
primary and secondary schools.

"Much work still needs to be done in the area of language description,
particularly for those languages without orthography and have not been
committed to writing," he wrote.

What is lacking, he says, are descriptive grammars, dictionaries and
literary books in minority languages, something which has curtailed the
full growth of these marginalised languages.

Some minority languages like Hwesa, Tshwawo and Barwe, the study found
out, had no known published books and prospects for teaching are none
or limited.

The Government has shown its willingness to address the concerns of
minority language speakers by taking steps to promote the use of the
country's dozen minority languages at primary school level.

"We are building up now. In the past, minority languages could only be
taught up to Grade Three, but now we have extended this to Grade
Seven," the minister says.

"Minority language communities have been clamouring for the teaching of
their languages. They have been against the idea of marginalising their
languages.

"We are only responding to their call. Books are not there, teachers are
not there and this exercise is not something that can be done
overnight, but certainly we are building up."

Moves are underway to amend the Education Act to ensure that all schools
implement the teaching of indigenous languages and that they be
accorded the same time allotted the country's three main languages.

Last year, the Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promotion Association
(Zilpa) commended Cde Chigwedere for taking steps to promote indigenous
languages in the country.

The Ministry of Education sourced funds for the publication of books in
indigenous languages and a printing machine to facilitate their
publication last year.

Zimbabwe's efforts, though small, have won the praise of linguists,
anthropologists and others interested in the preservation of cultural
diversity.

Linguists say the use of any language in daily life is the only way to
ensure that it continues to survive and thrive.

Across the world, minority languages are under threat from larger,
dominant languages and cultures and linguistic experts estimate that by
the end of this century 50 percent of the world's languages will have
disappeared.

In Australia, it is reported that 95 percent of the indigenous
Aboriginal languages are not being learnt by children and many are
already extinct or down to the last few speakers.

"Issues of linguistic diversity and the need for language planning are
peripheral in America and almost non-existent in Europe," says Matthew
Johnson in "Journal on Language Planning in Africa".

He says European colonial powers ordered that their colonies adopt a
single national language as the nations in Europe itself did, resulting
in the marginalisation or extinction of countless dialects in Africa.

Africa is one continent with the world's most linguistically diverse
people. For instance, the Central African Republic has 68 distinct
language groups in a population of just 3,4 million people.

Others include Cameroon with 279 language groups, the Democratic
Republic of Congo 221, Tanzania 131, Chad 127, while Africa's most
populous nation, Nigeria, has over 400 language groups, according to a
1998 study by Robinson and Varley.

"People see many languages as a sin and say, 'No, we must have one
language.' I think it is necessary for Africans to accept the reality
of multilingual societies," writes Ngugi WaThiong'o in "African
Visions".

Linguistic experts say language diversity and planning are the most
critical and often overlooked issue on the continent.

They say governments, minority language communities and the media should
begin linguistic and cultural revival programmes to reclaim the
traditions and heritage of these minority languages, which are fast
becoming extinct.

"Nothing stays longer in our souls than the language we inherit," one
writer put it.

And a budget, books, official recognition and media coverage for
minority languages will help entrench language not only in the soul,
but also in the heart and mind as well.