Preservation of Yoruba language: Stakeholders move to combat threat of extinction

SUNDAY ADEPOJU, in this piece, examines the inherent challenges faced by the Yoruba language, the neglect by its owners and the way forward at preserving it.

Language, no doubt, is a principal factor in culture. Across the globe, language is regarded as the chief vehicle for the transmission of cultural knowledge and primary means of gaining access to the content of other people’s minds. No wonder, a renowned professor of Yoruba, Akinwumi Isola, once said in a convocation lecture that “language is the soul of culture.” In Nigeria, one of the three major ethnic groups is Yoruba and members of this group (Yoruba) have Yoruba as their indigenous language. However, there are growing concerns over usage, preservation of the language among the younger generation.

From the past, there have been various efforts and strategies devised to preserve the Yoruba language from going into extinction and also to aid learning. One of the efforts was the Professor Babs Fafunwa’s Six-Year Primary Project (SYPP) designed in the 70s to test and show the potency of Yoruba language as a medium of imparting academic instructions to pupils. The project, headed by Fafunwa, showed that pupils who were taught in Yoruba language all through their studies performed better than those who used Yoruba and switched to English.

Yoruba is the most developed language in Nigeria —Professor Taiwo

Director, Centre for Yoruba Language (CFYL), University of Ibadan and lecturer, Department of Linguistics and African Studies, Professor Oye Taiwo, argued that Yoruba is the most developed language in Nigeria and the second most developed language in Africa.

He asserted that “When we were young, we were exposed to the language especially for those of us who lived in the village. And one thing about the Yoruba language is that it embodies the culture, philosophy, the Omoluabi concept of the Yoruba people. So, it is all encompassing. So, any child that is exposed to the language will also be exposed to the culture, the tradition, the virtues which the Yoruba people promote.”

Dwelling on aesthetics, a Yoruba writer and poet, Mr Sayo Alagbe, stated that “Yoruba has a lot of beauties like proverbs, idioms, anecdotes, similes, and many other figurative uses of the language. Recently, about 22 Yoruba words like danfo, oga, bukateria, were added to the English dictionary.”

‘Scholars must coin more Yoruba equivalents of foreign words’

While lamenting the fate of the Yoruba language among the languages of the world, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba AbdulRasheed Akanbi, pointed out that Yoruba language is not yet competing with the so called ‘advanced’ languages of the world. “Sadly, some of the words inherited from our progenitors long time ago are still being spoken today, without addition. Tell me what Yoruba call the following words: ‘hectare’, ‘block’, ‘screw’, ‘driver’, ‘bulb’, ‘video’, ‘cocoa’, ‘cashew’, ‘coffee’, ‘watermelon’, ‘strawberry’. What I am advocating is how to find a way of resolving this problem I have identified. Yoruba scholars need to prove their academic status by conducting intensive researches with a view to coining Yoruba equivalents to some foreign words,” Oba Akanbi stated.

Why the neglect?

Among others, parental influence, globalisation, social status, government policy on education, and overexposure to foreign media has been fingered as factors responsible for the neglect, or perhaps the underutilisation of Yoruba language in homes, schools and in the society.

Alagbe frowned that some parents and guardians lack orientation about the importance of indigenous language of a people. He added that “most of the parents and even their children, nowadays, are not well disposed to the language. They are teaching their children to speak English. This is an insult on our rich Yoruba culture.”

To Mubeen Sulaimon, an artisan, while some parents scold and beat their children for speaking the language at home, others have encouraged their children to strictly speak the language at home, with the recognition that the beauty it embodies cannot be underestimated.

Professor Taiwo criticised the country’s educational policy which arrogates power to the English language as the medium of instruction. The disadvantage, according to the director, is that pupils would first of all understand the English language before any topic and even before understanding the Yoruba language as a subject. This, he said, is a dent on the Yoruba and other Nigerian indigenous cultures.

An undergraduate of the Department of History, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Mr Ayomide Adegbola, expressed dissatisfaction at the low use of the language. He said that those who have neglected the Yoruba language have done themselves harm. He said that for one to learn a foreign language, one must master one’s mother tongue because it is a frame through which individuals can view the larger world in terms of language.

In his own opinion, Mr Adeola Adedare, another student of the university, expressed the view that globalisation would always be a principal factor responsible for the underutilisation of some African indigenous languages. Additively, a postgraduate student of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Mrs Temitope Yekeen, stated that people, especially the young population, want to meet up with the international standard and by so doing, feel they should speak more of English than Yoruba.

Danger of neglect

Professor Taiwo explains: “Now, our children are no longer exposed to the language. And so they are denied all the good virtues and they may also not be able to see the evils as evils. Some of these good virtues are greetings, respect for elders, hard work and other traits that ‘Omoluabi’ concept promotes and so many things that are embedded in the ‘Omoluabi’ principle. Many children are no longer exposed to it. And even those who are aware are not even promoting it. Again, it is also noted that those who even claim they speak the language cannot even speak it intelligibly. We are actually trying to bring people back to that realisation.”

Also speaking, Dr Kayode Olaleye of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan, expressed fear that, if care is not taken, the white people (foreigners) coming to UI and some parts of Yoruba land may eventually become teachers of the Yoruba language in Nigeria and across the world. As a herbalist, Ifa worshipper and lecturer, Dr Olaleye bemoaned the neglect of the language by the elite.

Experts and scholars have posited that even in the face of the challenges that Yoruba language currently faces, its death is avoidable. “Americans are spending a lot of money to come down to Nigeria and study Yoruba and then go back to the U.S. The only shame is that Americans and foreigners may have to come around and teach our children Yoruba language,” Taiwo said dejectedly.

He however added that “Some parents are now changing and they are bringing their children for enrolment at our centre in UI to learn. Even those who were not exposed to Yoruba language while growing up are also enjoying the services of the CFYL in UI. So, I’m confident that, all hands on deck, the language will not ‘die’.”

Alagbe also corroborated Taiwo’s position that, even though Latin died, the ‘death’ fate does not await Yoruba language due to the efforts being put in place. “I have written a lot of books, especially the Yoruba ones, that are now being used in universities like University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and colleges of education. I wrote on Ijala chanting entitled ‘Ijala Ogundare Foyanmu: Ijinle Ohun Enu Yoruba’; ‘Timotoye’, a collection of Yoruba poems; and ‘Six Hundred Yoruba Proverbs” translated into English,’ he said.

The way forward

It is has been identified that the current underutilisation of Yoruba among the Yoruba people is surmountable. Professor Taiwo, Dr Olaleye and Mr Sayo Alagbe, in separate interviews, told Nigerian Tribune that efforts at salvaging the language go beyond the works of lecturers and teachers of the language, stating that traditional rulers as custodians of culture and tradition, have a role to play; the rearrangement of educational curriculum; the government in the South-West geopolitical zone should make and implement policies that will favour the language and endear people to it.

According to Mr Alagbe, “This goes beyond the work of teachers and lecturers. It is our collective efforts. We should go to kings’ palaces to sensitise our kings to make sure that their subjects speak Yoruba language to their children.”

Professor Taiwo advise the government to consider the use of indigenous language as means of instruction in schools. “My stand is that we should use Yoruba medium to teach our students. They will understand better than if English is used. Let us go back to the foundation laid by Fafunwa in the 70s.  We still need the efforts of everyone – the elite and the political class. At our centre, what we are trying to do now is to go to the houses of assembly in the South-West and approach the governors. We want the stakeholders to put policies that will encourage students to learn, study and speak the language. At our centre, we have programmes like Yoruba communication and translation, especially practitioners in the media,” Professor Taiwo hinted.

In proffering solutions, students also told Nigerian Tribune about the need for parents to allow their children to speak the language. Adegbola counsels: “Every parent should stop forcing their children to speak English while beating them. Children should be allowed to speak the language at home because they can learn more than one language at the same time.” He identified, however, that parents and their children should form favourable attitudes towards the language, saying  “Yoruba people should love their language and be proud of it.”

Adedare also posited that if the project Fafunwa carried out in Ife then had not been neglected, Yoruba language should have, by now, ranked higher than its current status. He submitted that going back to the Fafunwa project and recommendations would help ameliorate the poor standing o f Yoruba language.

He called on relevant agencies in education, culture, and communication sectors to roll out programmes and regulations that will favour the language. He charged the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to fully monitor the broadcast media’s adherence to the set quota of Yoruba programmes that each of the broadcast outfits airs.