Saving mother tongues from extinction

MANY indigenous languages have become endangered and would probably go into extinction if nothing is done to save the situation.

The young people who are supposed to champion the preservation of the languages are mostly not in tune with their native dialects. The younger generation can hardly communicate in their local dialects. They are even ashamed to speak their local dialects in public.

Indigenous languages have been labeled as “vernacular” and most African children in primary and secondary schools are punished for speaking their mother tongue. Students who speak foreign languages   in school are respected while those who speak their indigenous languages are looked down upon.

The maginalisation of Africa’s indigenous languages has led to children feeling ashamed to speak their mother tongue. Indigenous languages are slowly dying because we Africans believe that foreign languages are superior to our local languages.

Africans, especially Nigerians, have inherited enough from the foreign colonialists. We need reorientation of our minds in order to take pride in our languages and preserve them.

Government should develop workable primary and secondary school curriculums that will promote local languages.

It is also the responsibility of parents to ensure the survival of indigenous languages by communicating and relating with their children in their mother tongues.

Boluwatife Akintomide

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