Don warns against gradual extinction of indigenous languages

Wed, Oct 31, 2018 | By publisher


Education

A Professor of Applied Linguistics, Adeleke Fakoya, has described the action of some parents who prevent their children from speaking indigenous languages as a wrong way of life.

Fakoya, also Dean, Faculty of Arts, Lagos State University (LASU), made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the 68th Inaugural Lecture of the institution on Tuesday evening.

The title of the lecture was: “What Does This Babbler Want To Say’’?

He said: “This is because our languages are our basic identity and if you do not speak it, that means your secrets are exposed to the person whose language you speak’’.

“If you have another language, which can be your recourse, you can speak it when hiding away, as this is what a second language usually does for everyone of us.’’

According to him, African languages are gradually going into extinction because of the developing influence and impact of the English language.

Fakoya noted that it was an error for us to erroneously down play our own language and accentuate the use of English in schools, homes and other gatherings.

According to him, we could still find a way of accommodating our languages within the school curriculum.

He noted that both the government and citizens of the country had a role to play to promote our indigenous languages.

“We must ensure that we speak our languages to our children because that is where the survival of these languages really exist.

“Not at the national level; we have to start from the base which is the home .

“English is suitable as our lingua franca due to the nature of our multifaceted indigenous languages but we must endeavour to develop our local languages because if your language dies, you are indirectly dying , ‘’ Fakoya said.

Earlier in the lecture, Fakoya advised the Southwest governments to mandate every tertiary institution to incorporate Yoruba studies such as folklore, festivals, among others, into their General Studies programme for the survival of Yoruba language.

He said the Southwest governments could establish radio and television stations that would broadcast only in Yoruba, much like some Yoruba newspapers such as `Gbelegbo’.

The don advised that Southwest governments could make competence in spoken and written Yoruba a component skill for employment in their ministries and parastatals.

Fakoya also said police stations, courts of law, among other security agencies across every Yoruba-speaking state could be compelled by the state governments to admit evidence or statement in Yoruba.

According to him, thoughts are better expressed in one’s native tongue.

“These suggestions may be introduced by other threatened languages of Africa too and within few years, it is possible for us to see a revival of these endangered tongues,” the don said. (NAN)

– Oct. 31, 2018 @ 16:05 GMT |

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