Language experts have called on individuals and institutions to intensify efforts to preserve mother tongues and local languages from extinction in Nigeria.
In separate interviews with LEADERSHIP Friday on the International Mother Tongue Day, they asserted that indigenous languages give a sense of belonging and originality.
To Dr. Abdulmalik Usman of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bauchi State University Gadau, “mother tongue indicates our originality; it’s the first language we come in contact with as humans.”
Usman, who described mother tongue as a language of cultural identity, stated that “by celebrating mother tongue, we hope that one day, there will be an opportunity for us to adopt our mother tongues as the national and official language.”
In his reaction, a language expert and the provost of African Thinkers Community of Inquiry College of Education, Enugu, Zulu Ofoelue said that the issue of mother tongue or father tongue in Africa is the language of the father’s home town.
He stated that that there is need for Africans to retain their indigenous languages because everything about human beings must be in line with their culture which include language.
Ofoelue noted that most of the countries that have done well are nations that promote their culture and language like Japan, China and Korea.
He stated that the fundamental language of science and technology is the language of the local people.
A lecturer at the Department of French in the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Sarah Ebenezer Black-Duke, described mother tongue as very important in the early stages of the growth of every child.
Black-Duke, therefore, called on parents to speak their dialects to their children as a way of retaining mother tongue.
She said: “Mother tongue is very important; that is the first language or dialect that any child born in a family speaks. As they grow up in the family, there has to be a mode of communication,” she said.
Prof. Abell Mac Diakparomre of the Delta State University, Abraka, stressed the need for mother tongue to be made compulsory as a means of learning at all levels of education in Nigeria, maintaining that children learn faster with the mother tongue.
Diakparomre argued that mother tongue is in the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) of every individual and every idea is first conceptualised with mother tongue before it is expressed.
An expert in French/Spanish languages and the head of Centre for General Studies, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTE’CH), Prof. Mercy Ugot, stated that unless something is urgently done to get our “mother tongue documented so that our children can learn and read it from books in schools, many of these languages are going to go extinct.”
Ugot identified mixed marriages between parents as being responsible for the extinction of mother tongue and advised such couples to ensure that their wards speak languages of their husbands if not that of their wives.
She said: “Children should be made to speak languages of their parents by whatever means, unfortunately children of now days are no longer interested in learn or speaking languages of their parents.
“Linguistic should do more even if the languages of the mother tongue have to be written and fed in the social media for the youths to learn since giving the fact that the social media has a lot of influence on youths.
“Migration which has been known to be a factor against speaking of mother tongue should be handled in a manner that it won’t kill mother tongue. People migrating from their ancestral land to another should not forget to speak their language otherwise their mother tongue would go extinct. Sometimes a family decides to move from one city to another, this becomes a problem,” she said.
In Ebonyi State, one may wonder on a first visit if the use of English Language has ever been taught or would ever be imbibed or accepted by the people of Abakaliki people, the Ngbo people, those from Edda otherwise known as Afikpo South, Ahugbo people and the Effuim except for a few elite that would always combine their mother tongue with English language.
A sociologist and lecturer with the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Mrs. Franca Ogba, said that while other states tend to move away from their mother tongue, in Ebonyi State, the reverse has been the case as the people cherish and proud of their mother tongue.
According to her, the first language that every Ebonyi child learns from his or her birth must be the mother tongue unlike in many families that force their children to speak English language right from their infancy.
Ogba said that mother language has a lot of impact on the intellectual development of any child. She noted that a recent research showed that behavioural skills development and intellectual development were faster in those who relate in their mother tongue than others.
She expressed regret that many families prefer to abandon their mother tongue for English language from infancy, adding that children and even students who are educated in their mother tongue develop faster educationally than those taught in a different medium other than their mother tongue.
The head of Mass Communications Department at the Kwara State University, (KWASU), Malete, Dr Isiaka Zubair Aliagan, decried the lukewarm attitudes of many Nigerians towards their mother tongue.
He said that when the mother tongue is endangered, the culture of a people is under threat.
In Niger State, language experts posited that mother tongue is important for the identity of individuals in a community and helps in socialisation process.
Uriah Hana, a sociologist maintained that for interaction within a community, a child can easily adjust to the dynamics of that area if he or she can speak the mother tongue.
Mother tongue, he said is important because it gives individuals identity and ease community socialisation.
To save the mother tongue from going into extinction, he said that it should be taught in schools while parents should make efforts to teach their children their mother tongue.
Dr. Emmanuel Musa, a senior lecturer with Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai and a sociologist said that mother tongue is an emblem of cultural identification, recognition and solidarity, and assists to ease communication by people who speak the same language.
According to him mother tongue allows for secrecy and allegiance as well as thoughtful thinking in the same direction, including creative understanding and planning known to all.
“We can save mother tongue from going into extinction by encouraging parents to de-emphasise speaking other languages with their children and to make compulsory speaking of mother tongue between parents and children.”
In Plateau State, the Pan-speaking natives of Quanpan local government area have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Bible Translation Trust Fund (NBTT) for the complete translation of the Holy Bible into Pan language.
The Pyem people have also moved to revive their language by publishing books in their mother tongue.
In Lagos State, the use of mother tongue is no longer a matter of debate, as the state government through the House of Assembly had passed a bill making the teaching of Yoruba language compulsory in schools.
Not willing to back down on the need to save mother tongue from extinction, the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, ordered the clerk to send a clean draft copy of the bill to the former governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, for assent.
The bill makes the teaching of Yoruba compulsory both in private and public schools in the state. It also makes it a core subject at all levels.
The need to protect Yoruba from going into extinction also spurred the lawmakers to make their mother tongue the official language of communication on floor of the House every Thursday.
As a matter of legislation, the state-owned tertiary institutions were instructed to incorporate the use of the language as a course unit into their General Nigeria Studies (GNS).
The bill imposes a fine of N500,000 for a corporate offender while any school which fails to obey the law faces closure and a fine of N250,000.
A former lawmaker Lanre Ogunyemi, who moved the motion, said that the House insisted then that schools embark on the teaching of Yoruba because “apart from fostering unity, we use the language which is our mother tongue to preserve our tradition and culture such that generations yet unborn will continue to transfer, like we would be doing to them, to generations after them.”
In Osun State, experts who appraised the situation, expressed concern over the neglect of mother tongue by the government and the society in general and counsel on the need to save it from extinction.
A sociologist, Dr. Raymond Adaramodu of the department of Language and Literature, Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, said that the importance of mother tongue cannot be overemphasised.
He pointed out that ordinarily, the thought of a human being is conveyed and transmitted into action through the mother tongue.
He, however, regretted that Yoruba was reduced to nothing by education policy and curriculum formulators who classified mother tongue as vernacular and therefore an aberration for “our children,” adding that to safe the scenario, pride of place must be accorded mother tongue.
Corroborating him, the executive secretary, Art and Culture in Osun State, Mr Tunde Oyesiji, said that there is the urgent need to redeem the image of mother tongue in the society, especially among the young ones if it will not go into extinction.
He noted that avoidance of mother tongue is an indirect way of losing one’s culture and identity because language forms the basis for the development of human existence.
The president, Educational Legacy College (ELC), Ibadan, Dr. Ibraheem Saka Ominiwe, said that it was unfortunate that most people, especially from the South West had been aculturised, which implies that they have allowed foreign languages to have greater influence over the mother languages.
Some people, according to him, out of ignorance forced their wards and children to speak English language at the expense of their mother tongues.
While noting that this had been for long, the educationist said that hardly would one see an elderly speaking the mother language, “this shows that they have been aculturised, they have enslaved themselves.
“They have allowed the foreign languages to have more influence than the mother language,” he said.
Ominiwe, who blamed policy makers, recalled that in the North, no matter the presence of people from other tribes, they will continue to speak in Hausa, their mother language.
A Yoruba teacher in a private school, Mrs. Adekunmi Opeyemi, noted that mother tongue is very important to ensure peaceful coexistence among the people and promote business transactions.
According to the executive director (ED), National Institute of Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Aba, Abia state, Prof. Obiajulu Emejulu, the importance of mother tongue both locally and globally cannot be over-emphasised.
Arguing that communicating in mother tongue promotes easy assimilation of tradition and customs among the speakers, Emejulu said that at present, the NINLAN has capacity to teach seven local languages in the country.
He said: “While efforts are afoot to bring the degree programmes to fruition, the institute has gotten the approval of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to commence National Certificate of Education (NCE) programmes.
Emejulu said that to avert the extinction of mother tongues in the country, governments at all levels and school authorities should ensure their use as both compulsory and foundation language up to a certain level.
Similarly, the head, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abia State, Mr Ugochukwu Oditah, said that mother tongues ensures free flow of communication, unity, understanding, and create bonds among the speakers.
Oditah exemplified this with the rites of welcome among Ndi Igbo, who while presenting Igbo kola nuts to their guests whether in Igbo land or beyond, insist that it must be conducted in Igbo language no matter the diversity in language.
He stressed that mother tongue should be made compulsory from primary to Junior Secondary School (JSS) level by the federal government to achieve the mentioned advantages and to prevent their extinction.
An associate professor at the Department of Communication Art, University of Uyo, Dr. Ita Ekanem, called on every Nigerian, both home and abroad, to join in the ongoing crusade of promoting the significance of mother tongue by acknowledging that mother languages are the most “powerful instruments for preserving and developing our respective tangible heritages.”
He said the mother language is noted as ‘first’, because it is regarded as the most important language spoken by anyone due to its hereditary value as well as its cultural impact on the concerned individual.
According to him, mother language or first language contributes immensely in a child’s personal, social, cultural, intellectual, educational and economic lives.
He said that it is not only enough to celebrate the international day of indigenous languages but efforts should be made to ensure that it does not go into extinction as a child’s first language which is critical to his or her identity and when the native language is not maintained, important links to family and other community members may be lost.
Dr. George Udo, a former senior lecturer of Communication Art at the Akwa Ibom State University Ikot Akpanden, said that students who learn second language and continue to develop their native language would have chances of higher academic achievement in later years than those who learn their second language at the expense of their first language.
‘‘Hundreds, even thousands of kids cannot speak their mother tongue simply because their parents do not teach them,’’ he lamented
Dr Ahmed Mohammed Bedu, a senior lecturer at the Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Maiduguri, said that socio-linguistically, local languages that can be called mother tongue are not fortunate to be powerful languages among other global languages.
Bedu said that apart from Hausa Language, for instance, in northern Nigeria, which is strengthening its role as the main channel of inter and intra-ethnic communication in Nigeria and beyond, most of languages are not harnessing their importance and potential in achieving their linguistic goals due to lack of development in literature to play their roles in trade, education, and communication.
He said that “these are factors that help Hausa or English to become powerful languages of administration and education to the point that people abandoned their mother tongues to speak them.
“For instance, the Northeast and North Central of Nigeria are being taught in Hausa at the basic level of their education instead in their mother tongues. There is need to develop our local languages to assume national and international values like Hausa as the leading contender in all aspects of human development in Africa and beyond,” Bedu said.
Languages Going into Extinction Not Limited to Nigeria – Prof Bada
A professor of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, Bello Bada, has said that some languages going into extinction is inevitable.
Bada who stressed that certain languages disappearing because of not being spoken by natives is not restricted to Africa, noting that some cultures are getting eroded because people have drifted away from their mother tongues.
When people cannot speak or express themselves in their respective mother tongues, according to him, goes to show that they are really not educated.
“If people cannot speak their mother tongue then something is really wrong; they are really not educated. The wrong perception we have is that people believe that when you can speak fluently the language of those who colonise Africa, then you are educated and that is not education,” he said.
On his part, Dahiru Mohammmed Argungu, a professor of Linguistics with the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said that some are bi- linguists, hence having the knowledge and ability to speak more than one language, including their mother tongue.
Argungu noted that why some mother tongues are actually but gradually going into extinction because of numerous factors, he pointed some of the factors as environment, occupation, commerce, mobility, association, and social interaction.
Despite expressing worry over the negligence on the part of most parents to teach their wards their mother tongues, the don added that the use of English as the language of teaching in “our formal schools contributes in no small measure to the threat languages in Nigerian are facing.”
The head of Department of Political Science (UDUS), Dr. Yahya Tanko Baba, said that mother tongue is the most important aspect of human life and human development, as stressing that, humanity itself relies on languages for communication, knowledge generation and development.
In his view, Professor Aliyu Mohammed Bunza of the Department of Languages, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, said that mother tongue from the late 19th Century to date had gone out of hand to children.
Prof Bunza said that if “we are to get it correctly, then we must begin to force our children to speak our languages.”
Professor Abdulkadir Dangambo of the Department of Nigerian Languages, Bayero University, Kano, blamed mothers for not speaking native languages to their children even at home, adding that most homes have been dominated with foreign languages like English, French etc.
Dr Hashiru Tunder, a lecturer with the Department of English language in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina State, said that people forget easily that language is an important part of their existence and the moment they allow it to go into extinction, it is as good as losing their identities.
“That is why even here we always encourage our students and family members to allow their children speak their first language. It is very important because conception of things around you gets better with your mother tongue. You think ideas through your mother tongue before any other languages,” he said.
Language Is An Integral Part of Human Culture – Inuwa
Dr. Isah Inuwa, a lecturer in the Department of Languages at Bayero University, Kano, described language as an integral part of cultural and traditional values of a set of people.
According to him, languages have been playing vital roles in giving smooth communication opportunities to various tribes in the country.
“You can see that even children are well guided on how to communicate in their mother’s tongue by their parents at their tender age and failure to do that leads to the extinction of the dialects within the shortest possible time.”
To the deputy vice chancellor of Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, associate professorUmar Saje, mother tongues is the bedrock of learning and human development.
The associate professor of English Literature said that mother tongue which is the first language a child is supposed to learn is scholarly referred to as L1, and often gotten from within the home as the first language a child learns from the mother or immediate environment.
Dr Saje stated that through this, the child grows and learns how to communicate and interact freely with his family members, friends, associates and society even before going to school.
Dr Audee Giwa, an associate professor of English language and a teacher of creative writing in Kaduna State University, said that for all speakers of English as a second language, the importance of mother tongue cannot be underrated because no matter what any language one learns, it is fashioned by the mother tongue.
“That is why whenever one is not able to speak his second language fluently you will hear people say it is the influence of their mother tongue.”
While insisting that the mastery of mother tongues makes it easier for people to learn the second language and have competence in it, Dr Giwa said that mother tongues is God-given and should be hold in high esteem.
Language experts have called on individuals and institutions to intensify efforts to preserve mother tongues and local languages from extinction in Nigeria.
In separate interviews with LEADERSHIP Friday on the International Mother Tongue Day, they asserted that indigenous languages give a sense of belonging and originality.
To Dr. Abdulmalik Usman of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Bauchi State University Gadau, “mother tongue indicates our originality; it’s the first language we come in contact with as humans.”
Usman, who described mother tongue as a language of cultural identity, stated that “by celebrating mother tongue, we hope that one day, there will be an opportunity for us to adopt our mother tongues as the national and official language.”
In his reaction, a language expert and the provost of African Thinkers Community of Inquiry College of Education, Enugu, Zulu Ofoelue said that the issue of mother tongue or father tongue in Africa is the language of the father’s home town.
He stated that that there is need for Africans to retain their indigenous languages because everything about human beings must be in line with their culture which include language.
Ofoelue noted that most of the countries that have done well are nations that promote their culture and language like Japan, China and Korea.
He stated that the fundamental language of science and technology is the language of the local people.
A lecturer at the Department of French in the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Sarah Ebenezer Black-Duke, described mother tongue as very important in the early stages of the growth of every child.
Black-Duke, therefore, called on parents to speak their dialects to their children as a way of retaining mother tongue.
She said: “Mother tongue is very important; that is the first language or dialect that any child born in a family speaks. As they grow up in the family, there has to be a mode of communication,” she said.
Prof. Abell Mac Diakparomre of the Delta State University, Abraka, stressed the need for mother tongue to be made compulsory as a means of learning at all levels of education in Nigeria, maintaining that children learn faster with the mother tongue.
Diakparomre argued that mother tongue is in the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) of every individual and every idea is first conceptualised with mother tongue before it is expressed.
An expert in French/Spanish languages and the head of Centre for General Studies, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTE’CH), Prof. Mercy Ugot, stated that unless something is urgently done to get our “mother tongue documented so that our children can learn and read it from books in schools, many of these languages are going to go extinct.”
Ugot identified mixed marriages between parents as being responsible for the extinction of mother tongue and advised such couples to ensure that their wards speak languages of their husbands if not that of their wives.
She said: “Children should be made to speak languages of their parents by whatever means, unfortunately children of now days are no longer interested in learn or speaking languages of their parents.
“Linguistic should do more even if the languages of the mother tongue have to be written and fed in the social media for the youths to learn since giving the fact that the social media has a lot of influence on youths.
“Migration which has been known to be a factor against speaking of mother tongue should be handled in a manner that it won’t kill mother tongue. People migrating from their ancestral land to another should not forget to speak their language otherwise their mother tongue would go extinct. Sometimes a family decides to move from one city to another, this becomes a problem,” she said.
In Ebonyi State, one may wonder on a first visit if the use of English Language has ever been taught or would ever be imbibed or accepted by the people of Abakaliki people, the Ngbo people, those from Edda otherwise known as Afikpo South, Ahugbo people and the Effuim except for a few elite that would always combine their mother tongue with English language.
A sociologist and lecturer with the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Mrs. Franca Ogba, said that while other states tend to move away from their mother tongue, in Ebonyi State, the reverse has been the case as the people cherish and proud of their mother tongue.
According to her, the first language that every Ebonyi child learns from his or her birth must be the mother tongue unlike in many families that force their children to speak English language right from their infancy.
Ogba said that mother language has a lot of impact on the intellectual development of any child. She noted that a recent research showed that behavioural skills development and intellectual development were faster in those who relate in their mother tongue than others.
She expressed regret that many families prefer to abandon their mother tongue for English language from infancy, adding that children and even students who are educated in their mother tongue develop faster educationally than those taught in a different medium other than their mother tongue.
The head of Mass Communications Department at the Kwara State University, (KWASU), Malete, Dr Isiaka Zubair Aliagan, decried the lukewarm attitudes of many Nigerians towards their mother tongue.
He said that when the mother tongue is endangered, the culture of a people is under threat.
In Niger State, language experts posited that mother tongue is important for the identity of individuals in a community and helps in socialisation process.
Uriah Hana, a sociologist maintained that for interaction within a community, a child can easily adjust to the dynamics of that area if he or she can speak the mother tongue.
Mother tongue, he said is important because it gives individuals identity and ease community socialisation.
To save the mother tongue from going into extinction, he said that it should be taught in schools while parents should make efforts to teach their children their mother tongue.
Dr. Emmanuel Musa, a senior lecturer with Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai and a sociologist said that mother tongue is an emblem of cultural identification, recognition and solidarity, and assists to ease communication by people who speak the same language.
According to him mother tongue allows for secrecy and allegiance as well as thoughtful thinking in the same direction, including creative understanding and planning known to all.
“We can save mother tongue from going into extinction by encouraging parents to de-emphasise speaking other languages with their children and to make compulsory speaking of mother tongue between parents and children.”
In Plateau State, the Pan-speaking natives of Quanpan local government area have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Bible Translation Trust Fund (NBTT) for the complete translation of the Holy Bible into Pan language.
The Pyem people have also moved to revive their language by publishing books in their mother tongue.
In Lagos State, the use of mother tongue is no longer a matter of debate, as the state government through the House of Assembly had passed a bill making the teaching of Yoruba language compulsory in schools.
Not willing to back down on the need to save mother tongue from extinction, the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, ordered the clerk to send a clean draft copy of the bill to the former governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, for assent.
The bill makes the teaching of Yoruba compulsory both in private and public schools in the state. It also makes it a core subject at all levels.
The need to protect Yoruba from going into extinction also spurred the lawmakers to make their mother tongue the official language of communication on floor of the House every Thursday.
As a matter of legislation, the state-owned tertiary institutions were instructed to incorporate the use of the language as a course unit into their General Nigeria Studies (GNS).
The bill imposes a fine of N500,000 for a corporate offender while any school which fails to obey the law faces closure and a fine of N250,000.
A former lawmaker Lanre Ogunyemi, who moved the motion, said that the House insisted then that schools embark on the teaching of Yoruba because “apart from fostering unity, we use the language which is our mother tongue to preserve our tradition and culture such that generations yet unborn will continue to transfer, like we would be doing to them, to generations after them.”
In Osun State, experts who appraised the situation, expressed concern over the neglect of mother tongue by the government and the society in general and counsel on the need to save it from extinction.
A sociologist, Dr. Raymond Adaramodu of the department of Language and Literature, Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, said that the importance of mother tongue cannot be overemphasised.
He pointed out that ordinarily, the thought of a human being is conveyed and transmitted into action through the mother tongue.
He, however, regretted that Yoruba was reduced to nothing by education policy and curriculum formulators who classified mother tongue as vernacular and therefore an aberration for “our children,” adding that to safe the scenario, pride of place must be accorded mother tongue.
Corroborating him, the executive secretary, Art and Culture in Osun State, Mr Tunde Oyesiji, said that there is the urgent need to redeem the image of mother tongue in the society, especially among the young ones if it will not go into extinction.
He noted that avoidance of mother tongue is an indirect way of losing one’s culture and identity because language forms the basis for the development of human existence.
The president, Educational Legacy College (ELC), Ibadan, Dr. Ibraheem Saka Ominiwe, said that it was unfortunate that most people, especially from the South West had been aculturised, which implies that they have allowed foreign languages to have greater influence over the mother languages.
Some people, according to him, out of ignorance forced their wards and children to speak English language at the expense of their mother tongues.
While noting that this had been for long, the educationist said that hardly would one see an elderly speaking the mother language, “this shows that they have been aculturised, they have enslaved themselves.
“They have allowed the foreign languages to have more influence than the mother language,” he said.
Ominiwe, who blamed policy makers, recalled that in the North, no matter the presence of people from other tribes, they will continue to speak in Hausa, their mother language.
A Yoruba teacher in a private school, Mrs. Adekunmi Opeyemi, noted that mother tongue is very important to ensure peaceful coexistence among the people and promote business transactions.
According to the executive director (ED), National Institute of Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Aba, Abia state, Prof. Obiajulu Emejulu, the importance of mother tongue both locally and globally cannot be over-emphasised.
Arguing that communicating in mother tongue promotes easy assimilation of tradition and customs among the speakers, Emejulu said that at present, the NINLAN has capacity to teach seven local languages in the country.
He said: “While efforts are afoot to bring the degree programmes to fruition, the institute has gotten the approval of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to commence National Certificate of Education (NCE) programmes.
Emejulu said that to avert the extinction of mother tongues in the country, governments at all levels and school authorities should ensure their use as both compulsory and foundation language up to a certain level.
Similarly, the head, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abia State, Mr Ugochukwu Oditah, said that mother tongues ensures free flow of communication, unity, understanding, and create bonds among the speakers.
Oditah exemplified this with the rites of welcome among Ndi Igbo, who while presenting Igbo kola nuts to their guests whether in Igbo land or beyond, insist that it must be conducted in Igbo language no matter the diversity in language.
He stressed that mother tongue should be made compulsory from primary to Junior Secondary School (JSS) level by the federal government to achieve the mentioned advantages and to prevent their extinction.
An associate professor at the Department of Communication Art, University of Uyo, Dr. Ita Ekanem, called on every Nigerian, both home and abroad, to join in the ongoing crusade of promoting the significance of mother tongue by acknowledging that mother languages are the most “powerful instruments for preserving and developing our respective tangible heritages.”
He said the mother language is noted as ‘first’, because it is regarded as the most important language spoken by anyone due to its hereditary value as well as its cultural impact on the concerned individual.
According to him, mother language or first language contributes immensely in a child’s personal, social, cultural, intellectual, educational and economic lives.
He said that it is not only enough to celebrate the international day of indigenous languages but efforts should be made to ensure that it does not go into extinction as a child’s first language which is critical to his or her identity and when the native language is not maintained, important links to family and other community members may be lost.
Dr. George Udo, a former senior lecturer of Communication Art at the Akwa Ibom State University Ikot Akpanden, said that students who learn second language and continue to develop their native language would have chances of higher academic achievement in later years than those who learn their second language at the expense of their first language.
‘‘Hundreds, even thousands of kids cannot speak their mother tongue simply because their parents do not teach them,’’ he lamented
Dr Ahmed Mohammed Bedu, a senior lecturer at the Department of Languages and Linguistics, University of Maiduguri, said that socio-linguistically, local languages that can be called mother tongue are not fortunate to be powerful languages among other global languages.
Bedu said that apart from Hausa Language, for instance, in northern Nigeria, which is strengthening its role as the main channel of inter and intra-ethnic communication in Nigeria and beyond, most of languages are not harnessing their importance and potential in achieving their linguistic goals due to lack of development in literature to play their roles in trade, education, and communication.
He said that “these are factors that help Hausa or English to become powerful languages of administration and education to the point that people abandoned their mother tongues to speak them.
“For instance, the Northeast and North Central of Nigeria are being taught in Hausa at the basic level of their education instead in their mother tongues. There is need to develop our local languages to assume national and international values like Hausa as the leading contender in all aspects of human development in Africa and beyond,” Bedu said.
Languages Going into Extinction Not Limited to Nigeria – Prof Bada
A professor of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, Bello Bada, has said that some languages going into extinction is inevitable.
Bada who stressed that certain languages disappearing because of not being spoken by natives is not restricted to Africa, noting that some cultures are getting eroded because people have drifted away from their mother tongues.
When people cannot speak or express themselves in their respective mother tongues, according to him, goes to show that they are really not educated.
“If people cannot speak their mother tongue then something is really wrong; they are really not educated. The wrong perception we have is that people believe that when you can speak fluently the language of those who colonise Africa, then you are educated and that is not education,” he said.
On his part, Dahiru Mohammmed Argungu, a professor of Linguistics with the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said that some are bi- linguists, hence having the knowledge and ability to speak more than one language, including their mother tongue.
Argungu noted that why some mother tongues are actually but gradually going into extinction because of numerous factors, he pointed some of the factors as environment, occupation, commerce, mobility, association, and social interaction.
Despite expressing worry over the negligence on the part of most parents to teach their wards their mother tongues, the don added that the use of English as the language of teaching in “our formal schools contributes in no small measure to the threat languages in Nigerian are facing.”
The head of Department of Political Science (UDUS), Dr. Yahya Tanko Baba, said that mother tongue is the most important aspect of human life and human development, as stressing that, humanity itself relies on languages for communication, knowledge generation and development.
In his view, Professor Aliyu Mohammed Bunza of the Department of Languages, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, said that mother tongue from the late 19th Century to date had gone out of hand to children.
Prof Bunza said that if “we are to get it correctly, then we must begin to force our children to speak our languages.”
Professor Abdulkadir Dangambo of the Department of Nigerian Languages, Bayero University, Kano, blamed mothers for not speaking native languages to their children even at home, adding that most homes have been dominated with foreign languages like English, French etc.
Dr Hashiru Tunder, a lecturer with the Department of English language in Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina State, said that people forget easily that language is an important part of their existence and the moment they allow it to go into extinction, it is as good as losing their identities.
“That is why even here we always encourage our students and family members to allow their children speak their first language. It is very important because conception of things around you gets better with your mother tongue. You think ideas through your mother tongue before any other languages,” he said.
Language Is An Integral Part of Human Culture – Inuwa
Dr. Isah Inuwa, a lecturer in the Department of Languages at Bayero University, Kano, described language as an integral part of cultural and traditional values of a set of people.
According to him, languages have been playing vital roles in giving smooth communication opportunities to various tribes in the country.
“You can see that even children are well guided on how to communicate in their mother’s tongue by their parents at their tender age and failure to do that leads to the extinction of the dialects within the shortest possible time.”
To the deputy vice chancellor of Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, associate professorUmar Saje, mother tongues is the bedrock of learning and human development.
The associate professor of English Literature said that mother tongue which is the first language a child is supposed to learn is scholarly referred to as L1, and often gotten from within the home as the first language a child learns from the mother or immediate environment.
Dr Saje stated that through this, the child grows and learns how to communicate and interact freely with his family members, friends, associates and society even before going to school.
Dr Audee Giwa, an associate professor of English language and a teacher of creative writing in Kaduna State University, said that for all speakers of English as a second language, the importance of mother tongue cannot be underrated because no matter what any language one learns, it is fashioned by the mother tongue.
“That is why whenever one is not able to speak his second language fluently you will hear people say it is the influence of their mother tongue.”
While insisting that the mastery of mother tongues makes it easier for people to learn the second language and have competence in it, Dr Giwa said that mother tongues is God-given and should be hold in high esteem.
While insisting that the mastery of mother tongues makes it easier for people to learn the second language and have competence in it, Dr Giwa said that mother tongues is God-given and should be hold in high esteem.
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