‘Parents must encourage use of Nigerian languages at home’
By Adewale Oshodi updated: Tuesday 25-03-2009
Fishermen struggling to catch the biggest
fish at the festival. Abubakar Dabo
of
Birnin-Kebbi won with a fish that
weighed 55kg.Professor Akintunde Akinyemi is professor of Yoruba Language and African Literatures at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. In this interview with Adewale Oshodi, he speaks on the recently-concluded 2009 Gwendolyn M. Carter Lectures where the Yoruba Language featured prominently and why parents should encourage their children to speak their local languages at home rather than English. Excerpts:
You are the Coordinator of this year's
Gwendolyn M. Carter Lectures where the
Yoruba Language featured prominently. Was there any reason why Yoruba took the centre stage?Thank you very much for your interest in the just concluded Carter Conference. There was no special reason why Yoruba took centre stage, we called for papers and those who responded where invited to present their research in their areas of interest. If you look very closely, you will notice that we tried to ensure that different sub-regions on the African continent were represented.
At the moment, there is a decline in the use of indigenous languages in the country, as parents now bring up their children speaking English, thus relegating the mother tongue to the background. What is your opinion about this development?
Yes I agree with you that most parents are not encouraging the use of most Nigerian languages at home. You may be aware of the National Language Policy “requires that the mother tongue or language of the immediate community be the medium of instruction at pre-primary and early primary levels, with English emerging as medium of instruction halfway through primary education.” You will notice that the government has a policy in place for the promotion and preservation of Nigeria’s local languages. What remains to be seen is how this policy is implemented at home, schools and other areas where children receive instructions.
The United Nations even noticed the decline in the use of the mother tongue and decided to come up with the World Indigenous Languages Day. Would you say it is the responsibility of the United Nations to help in protecting indigenous languages, or the people whose languages are being threatened?
This is not an either or situation. The matter of loss of mother tongue has local and global implications. UNESCO is an inter-governmental organisation set up to assist governments all over the world in making sure certain tasks are carried out. On one website, the owner published the following and I think it is self-explanatory..” Mother language is so important that the people of a country express their thoughts, feelings, emotions etc clearly through mother tongue. But it is an irony of fate that the then ruler of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as mother tongue upon us instead of Bangle. But the people of our country raised their voices against this unlawful decision. Some of the heroic sons came forward and sacrificed their glorious life for the cause of our mother tongue on the 21st February, 1952.”
It has often been reported that those who speak Yoruba as their mother tongue spread beyond the South Western part of Nigeria, where the Yoruba people can be found. Some say Yoruba is spoken in some parts of Sierra-Leone, Liberia, Cuba, Brazil etc, how true is this?
You are correct, Yoruba speakers are found in other countries sucn as Benin Republic, Togo, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Puerto Rico, to mention just a few. I don’t know if you are aware that there is a Yoruba town in South Carolina, in the United States called Oyotunji African Village, where you can only converse in Yoruba. Inhabitants of the town have an Oba and a council of chiefs. The current traditional ruler of Oyotunji is His Royal Highness, Oba Alayeluwa Adejuyigbe Adefunmi II. The city’s website is http://www.oyotunjiafricanvillage.org/
Now that the Yoruba Language is being threatened, in what ways can we preserve and protect the language and culture from going into extinction, because in the next 50 years, it will be a miracle if the Yoruba Language is still around?
I think it will be wrong to think that Yoruba will go into extinction in the next 50 years. May be I’m saying this because of what I’ve seen about the development of Yoruba around the world. Yoruba is taught in 32 North American universities today, including the IVY leagues such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc. I was hired by the University of Florida in 2002 as a Professor of Yoruba Language and African Literatures. I have 72 American students, black and white, registered for Yoruba classes in my university. Because of the high demand for the language, my colleague, Kole Odutola was hired three years ago to co-teach Yoruba with me. Yoruba is taught in France, England, Netherlands, Brazil, Cuba, Germany, etc. Look at what our actors and actresses are doing with Yoruba films. Yoruba is well developed in the diaspora. I just wish that our people in Nigeria will speak the language to their children at home rather than English.
Does the Nigerian government have a role to play in this? It seems the government is more interested in promoting French in the country than Nigeria's indigenous languages?
First, I would suggest that governments at all levels must stand up to effect the language policy developed for the country, which stipulates that all JSS graduates must learn one of the three national languages - Yoruba, Hausa, or Igbo - in addition to their mother tongue. Secondly, deliberations at the Houses of Assembly in the Yoruba speaking states in the South West should, henceforth, be held in Yoruba. Furthermore, there should be more productions in Yoruba in the entertainment industries like radio, television, musical, drama, etc. As for the promotion of French, we need it in this age of globalisation. However, our governments should not promote French at the expense of our indigenous African languages.
