Extinction of languages in East Africa worries Unesco (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Extinction of languages in East Africa worries Unesco

By Jeff Otieno  (email the author)
Posted Thursday, November 18 2010 at 19:03
Kenya

Nominated MP Millie Odhiambo prides herself as being among the few
descendants of the threatened ethnic tribe Abasuba.

Her Suba father married her Nilotic Luo mother many years ago when
inter-marriages between the two communities were at their peak. Yet
none of them can communicate in Suba the way they do in Dholuo,
English or Kiswahili.

“It was only my grandfather’s first brother who could speak the
language fluently, but my siblings and I only speak Luo; we were never
taught Suba,” says Ms Odhiambo.

The legislator is not alone, as many Kenyans of Suba descent can
neither speak the language nor practice the culture.

According to the latest United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (Unesco) atlas on the world’s languages in
danger, Suba is one of those on the brink of extinction. Though
widespread during the colonial and pre-colonial times, the language is
now confined to a few pockets in Nyanza, namely the two Islands of
Lake Victoria Mfangano and Rusinga and parts of Gwasi.

Access full article below:
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/-/434746/1056140/-/1227htmz/-/