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PUBLIC LECTURE
Institute for Nigerian Languages, University
of Nigeria, Aba Campus.
30th March, 2009.
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES AND
DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
Guest speaker,
A. H. Amfani, Ph.D.,
President, Linguistic
Association of Nigeria
c/o Department of Nigerian
Languages,
Usmanu
Danfodiyo University,
P.M.B.2346, Sokoto , Sokoto
State, Nigeria.
Tel.: 08035881796
e-mail:
ahmedamfani@yahoo.com
1. INTRODUCTION
The present Institute of
Nigerian Languages of the University of Nigeria is not a new institution.
It is the former National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN).
Indeed the function and the objectives are very much the same.
Essentially, the Institute is all out to cater for the development and
sustenance of all Nigerian languages. However, under the new
administration of the Institute and especially under the stewardship of
Professor Clara Ikekeonwu, and in line with the vogue around, and more so
one initiated by women of caliber, we shall all expect a re-branding of
the entire activities of the institute. This public lecture is part of
the re-branding.
I have been called upon, in my
capacity as the President of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria, to
talk on the topic Indigenous Languages and Development in Nigeria. The
topic sounds simple and straight forward, but on a close examination, it
is elusive and controversial. On one hand, it is not easy to say with
some degree of precision, the number of indigenous languages available in
Nigeria. On the other hand, it is equally not easy to convince people
that indigenous Nigerian languages have any significant role to play in
the overall development of the Nigerian nation. My task in this talk is
to try and give a picture of the indigenous Nigerian languages with a view
to sensitizing Nigerians on the need to appreciate their mother tongues.
Another task is to explain how indigenous Nigerian languages can play
significant roles in various sheds of development. It must be pointed out
here and now that development is a very wide concept and subsumes quite a
number of issues.
I divide the lecture into
three major sections. There is a section on Nigeria and its indigenous
languages. Here, we remind ourselves what the political entity Nigeria
is: How it came about and its present structure. Another section
discusses the concept of development and various forms of development.
The third section attempts to show how indigenous languages can be
meaningfully engaged in various forms of development, and especially
scientific and technological development.
2. NIGERIA AND ITS
INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES
The present Nigerian nation
came into being in 1914 after the amalgamation of Northern and Southern
Nigeria, and Lagos protectorate. Nigeria is an independent country
located in the sub Saharan West Africa.
According to the National
Census figures of 2001, Nigeria has an estimated population of 120
million.
In 1967, Nigeria was divided
into twelve states. Today, Nigeria has a total of 36 states and a capital
territory. The 36 states are further divided into 6 geo-political zones
for ease of administration and even development. The geo-political zones
are (i) North West, (ii) North East, (iii) North Central, (iv) South West,
(v) South East, and (vi) South-South. Each zone has its own share of
concentration of languages.
Grimes (2000) reports that
there are about 500 languages in Nigeria. These languages comprise both
minority and majority languages as well as some few non-Nigeria languages
such as English, Arabic and French.
The classification of Nigeria
languages into major and minor is essentially based on
numerical strength of speakers of each language. The so called majority
languages usually have millions of speakers, while minority languages tend
to have few thousands or hundreds of speakers.
The development of Nigerian
languages to the level of attaining proper codification in the sense of
Urua (2005) (i.e. having standard orthography, dictionaries, grammars,
full documentation), was initially carried out by the missionaries and
British colonial administration (compare R. C. Abraham who wrote Igbo,
Hausa, Yoruba, Tiv and Somali dictionaries), and currently by indigenous
linguists. It must be pointed out that only few Nigerian languages
attained the desired level of codification. This position has a direct
consequence on whether or not a language can be engaged in the attainment
of some forms of development.
3. DEVELOPMENT
The verb ‘develop’ means
‘(cause to ) grow larger, fuller or more mature, organised’.
‘Development’ means ‘developing or being developed (in all senses)’.
(Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English). This is the
ordinary meaning and popular understanding of the term ‘development’.
Thus, development can be in
respect of an individual or society; it can also be religious, political,
linguistic, technological, scientific, military, etc. etc.
A more conceptualized meaning
of ‘development’ is usually added to any form of development under
discussion. We need to draw attention here on an important distinction
between the development of Nigerian indigenous languages in a purely
linguistic sense, and the role of Nigeria Languages in the development of
other spheres of this life. This being the case, we ask the following
questions:
i. How
linguistically developed are indigenous Nigerian languages?
ii.
Which indigenous Nigerian
languages can meaningfully be employed in the development of other spheres
of life?
(This second question
forms the topic of section four)
How linguistically
developed are indigenous Nigeria languages?
This issue has been discussed
in various quarters (see the cited references) and the general feeling is
that only few Nigerian languages are developed in the sense of full
codification. Since there are differences in levels of development amongst
the indigenous languages, we may wish to advocate that each language
should be treated on its own merit. Thus, languages with fully developed
orthographies, and which are used in schools and in other sphere of life
(politics, evangelism, newspaper, etc.) are likely to be used for serious
development purposes such as scientific and technological development.
Less developed indigenous
Nigerian languages on the other hand, are to be uplifted for use in
initial development stages especially personal development. Less developed
Nigeria languages must be used for the acquisition of native intelligence
and native wisdom which are enshrined in languages (proverbs, idiomatic
expressions, tongue twisters, stories etc.). This can be achieved through
full mastery of the language at the spoken level. Notice that native
intelligence and wisdom which are enshrined in the language, are the
essential ingredients for any future development and the breakthroughs to
be initiated by individual speakers in whatever form.
4.
NIGERIAN LANGUAGES FOR PARTICIPATION IN ALL FORMS OF DEVELOPMENT
4.1 Individual
or personal development
Let us state the plain fact
that every individual needs a language to communicate in his immediate
environment. The ability to speak one’s own mother tongue (linguistic
development) is the surest identity of being a member of a particular
linguistic group. A good mastery of one’s own mother tongue provides the
initial base for thinking in one’s own mother tongue. The ability to think
in one’s own mother tongue provides the much needed solid foundation for
an individual’s literary and scientific development. For the sake of true
cultural identity and proper grounding in the ability to use one’s own
mother tongue for literary and scientific thinking, people must develop
their indigenous languages.
4.2 Linguistic
development
Linguistic development is seen
here partly as the attainment of proper codification by a given language.
In addition, the language must also be in constant use by its speakers.
Most indigenous Nigerian languages are yet to be fully codified. They lack
systematic descriptions and are not documented. Speakers of indigenous
Nigeria languages must strive to have their languages codified. It is
pertinent for speakers of non-codified languages to note that gone are the
days when government codifies languages. It is now the responsibility of
ethnic communities to sponsor the codification of their languages. The
codification will facilitate development on various fronts. The writing
facility can allow native speakers of a language to put down their
thoughts on paper and such documents will facilitate development on
various fronts. Fully codified languages are taught in schools due to
availability of orthographies. The writing facility can allow native
speakers of a language to put down their thoughts on paper and such
documents will facilitate faster growth and development. It must be
mentioned here and again that one of the major functions of the language
institute is to facilitate for the codification of indigenous Nigerian
languages. Indigenous language groups must contact the Language Institute
for this valuable service. Linguistic development is the first step
towards any other meaningful and desirable development. Scientific or
technological development for example, cannot be attained by a people who
had not developed linguistically. Suffice it to say that all
technologically developed nations and societies must have attained
wonderful linguistic development prior to the scientific or technological
development.
4.3 Social
Development
Every society needs to develop
socially. Social development includes religious or spiritual development,
political development and cultural development. Every society is unique
with respect to possessing a language. The language is the only true
identity of the society.
Religion
Members of a given society may
decide to adopt a particular faith as a religion. Religious expressions,
prayers, incantations and other religious matters are expressed via
language. It should be noted that only a fully developed language is
conveniently used in religion and religious development. Thus, languages
that are least developed can hardly be used in any serious religious
enterprise. For example, in the Nigerian context, only the major
languages could be said to be meaningfully engaged in the translation of
the major scriptures. The major languages have developed reasonably and
are therefore used effectively in religious matters such as preaching,
praying, translation and general evangelical work.
Politics
The role of language in
Politics can not be overemphasized. For a successful political delivery,
a language must be rich enough to provide the required vocabulary and
related terms for an adequate political expression. Political activities
such as campaigns and their slogans, speeches, and other forms of
political persuasions and bargains, are expressed in languages, and only
languages that are developed politically can effectively be utilized for
political purposes. A further development is the ability to teach
political science and political philosophy in a given language. Native
administrative wisdom and political philosophy can be expressed in most
indigenous languages. However, the science of politics, and especially
modern politics and its concomitant terms and concepts, can only be
expressed in languages that have attained higher level of political
development and are fully codified.
4.4 Scientific
and Technological Development
Of all the spheres of
development, Nigerians and indeed most other people, see scientific and
technological development as the only true development that societies
should seriously focus attention on. This being the case, most people can
not imagine the role of language in scientific and technological
development. Other people, as contained in the classification by
Matemidola (1999), are of the opinion that only English language can be
used in scientific and technological development.
Stages in Scientific and
Technological Development
Most people are not aware that
the role of language in scientific and technological development is
seriously graded and a language can gradually attain the highest
level of participation in the description and documentation of the
scientific knowledge.
It has been mentioned earlier
on that for a language to participate in any meaningful scientific and
technological development, such language must be fully codified. The
codification will allow for the writing of scientific terms and the
translation of same. At the highest level, a language is used for the
documentation of scientific literature and discussion of same. Scientists
at this level, do their scientific thinking in this particular language.
Indigenous Nigerian Languages in Scientific and Technological Development
It is true that some Nigerian
languages have made head way in their effort to attain scientific and
technological development. These languages are codified and for quite
some time, have been taught in schools and are used in various scientific
endeavours.
Three Nigerian languages,
namely, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are taught at all levels of education, i.e.
from nursery to the university. There were early efforts to develop these
languages scientifically by translating scientific and technological terms
and concepts for pedagogical purposes. Amfani (1999) reported the effort
by John M. Dalziel (1916) to write a book entitled A Hausa Botanical
Vocabulary, which is a collection of over one thousand Hausa botanical
names with their Latin equivalents. Other efforts in the colonial period
include E. A. Clark’s (1913) Hundred Birds of the Niger Province,
Hanns Vischer’s (1936) Vocabulary of Nigerian Names of Trees, Shrubs
and Herbs and Hausa Language Board’s Glossaries of Technical Terms
(1959). According to Amfani (1999), ‘these works constitute the early
attempts to provide necessary base for scientific and technological
advancement’. Similar works abound in Igbo and Yoruba.
Very recently, Microsoft
(Nigeria) in conjunction with Alt-I, Ibadan provided a Language
Interface Pack (Hausa/Igbo/Yoruba Glossary) which was a careful
translation of all computer terms in the three languages. Microsoft has
carried out similar effort for some notable African languages.
5. RESIDUAL ISSUES
The threat of globalization
will surely affect quite a number of indigenous Nigerian languages to the
point of extinction. The negative attitude of speakers towards the
development and well being of their languages is most unfortunate and must
be changed if only to allow some degree of continuity for the languages.
With regard to overall
development in various spheres, perhaps Nigeria may adopt the Russian
solution in which languages were officially chosen to develop in certain
fields. Thus, government may decide to make Igbo the language of
technology, and throughout the country, technology must be taught only in
Igbo at all levels of education. Other languages will be selected in the
same fashion for the study of other facets of development.
For languages that could not
be used in certain spheres of development for lack of codification and
other issues, effort must be made to document them properly and keep on
using them.
6. CONCLUSION
The focus of this presentation
had been an exploration into the capability of indigenous Nigerian
languages to participate meaningfully in development in all its facets.
It has been pointed out that languages differ in their ability to partake
in certain facets of development. However, it was shown that every
language can meaningfully be used for development since development has a
large sphere, and that a language may develop in a particular sphere even
though it requires certain qualities to allow it participate in other
spheres of development.
Scientific and technological
development is more popular and also very difficult to attain, and
especially when a language does not attain full codification. This being
the case, individual speakers of less developed languages and their
communities should concentrate in using their language for development in
other less demanding spheres. Further effort towards full codification,
teaching and general usage will one day qualify such languages for full
participation in scientific and technological development.
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