Bid to save 'lost' language (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Bid to save 'lost' language

10/05/2005 08:45  - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1702495,00.html

Asmara - Nearly a decade after accidentally discovering a previously
unknown language on an Indian Ocean archipelago off the Eritrean coast,
a French linguist is fighting to save the unwritten, untaught tongue.

"Dahaalik is part of humanity's heritage and must be preserved," said
Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle, who with colleague Martine Vanhove, found
Dahlak island fishermen conversing in the unusual vernacular nine years
ago.

Puzzled by words and usage that did not correspond to the two main
languages of the region — Afar and Arabic — the pair at first thought
it was a dialect of Tigray, but later ascertained it was a distinct
entity, she said.

Although close to Arabic and Tigre, Dahaalik was determined to be a
language in itself due to its markedly different phonetics, morphology
and syntax, but had languished in obscurity on the isles off the port
of Massawa.

"Before 1996, no one had heard of Dahaalik," said Simeone-Senelle, a
Afro-Asiatic language specialist at the French National Centre for
Scientific Research (CNRS).

"We have to find out how it appeared," she said. "For the moment, we
don't know when it emerged."

Origins unknown, danger of extinction

Now spoken by only about 3 000 people on the three islands and not
currently taught in schools, Dahaalik, whose origins remain a mystery,
is in danger of dying out, she said.

"The understanding of this language, which has an oral but no written
tradition, will provide us with a better knowledge of Eritrean history
and its human components," said Simeone-Senelle who recently returned
from another research trip to the islands to study the language.

In her bid to preserve Dahaalik with the help of Eritrean authorities,
Simeone-Senelle has been collecting "tales, poems, riddles, stories of
traditions and vocabulary concerning daily life, animals, boats and
fishing techniques."

With these snippets, she has begun to compile a Dahaalik dictionary and
grammar book, creating a written version of the language in the Roman
alphabet by mimicking its sounds.

"It's a long job," Simeone-Senelle said. "I have already listed 1 500
words, but in all it will take several years."

The nascent dictionary is currently limited to Dahaalik into French, but
she hopes the as-yet unfinished lexicon will become more multilingual,
from Dahaalik into English, Arabic and Tigre.

Because it was not discovered until 1996, after Eritrea outlined its
policy of linguistic pluralism, Dahaalik is not now taught in Dahlak
schools, but Eritrean officials say they intend to introduce it into
the curriculum, adding it to Arabic.

"The plan is that one day Dahaalik will also be taught in schools," said
Zemehret Yohannes, head of Research and Documentation at Eritrea's sole
political party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice.