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LINGUACOLONIALISM: SAVE THE AFRICAN SPECIES! Abajuo Reason Emma.


Abstract
Language is not just a medium of communication, but it is fundamental for any cognitive process. Thus, language not only aids interaction, but also reflects each societys culture, norms, and values. African languages the mirrors of African cultures have been continually threatened by hegemonic colonial languages, the most reprehensible of which is English. This paper presents the effects of this menace, and advocates the salvaging of these endangered language species by using them as the languages of instruction (LOI) in the various places where they are spoken. Using Nigeria as an instance, it also establishes a strong correlation between using these native languages as LOI in science and increased technological advancement in Africa an aid to achieving the much needed economic independence.

Linguacolonialism
If we are our tongue and our tongue we, then, killing our tongue means killing us. Abajuo Reason Emma.

Colonialism, neo-colonialism, and imperialism are all overused concepts depicting political and economic domination by most European countries. In fact, the history of many African countries will not be told without a detailed analysis of their colonial past. While considering factors viewed as colonial heritage and bequeathed by colonial ancestors, many scholars mention various items, especially, benefits economic, social, political, etc.; also, others expose the bad sides of colonialism exploitation, cultural sequestration, etc.; however, very few look at one issue as a problem, many do not even know of it: Linguacolonialism. While colonialism is seen as political and economic domination of one population by another, neo-colonialism defines the situation that operates in less industrialised countries whereby their former foreign rulers continue to determine the terms and language of their economic exchange. All these are forms of imperialism.

Linguacolonialism is yet another form of imperialism often called linguistic imperialism. Linguacolonialism conceptualizes the product of the age-long scrimmage in the
language milieu: languages compete for hegemony, and in the end, when one language wins it dominates the others around it. One may wonder, though: Is not language just a medium of communication; or as Edward Sapir says, a purely human and noninstinctive method of communicating ideas? Why, then, is there a battle of languages as there is a battle of the sexes? Well, the truth is that language is not merely a means of communication; it is also an expression of shared assumptions. Language, thus, transmits implicit values and behavioural models to all those people who use it.1 To this end, as people interact, their various languages interact; consequently, if one
1

Attributed to Elizabeth Burr, Susan Dunn, and Norma Farqhuar in Language Awareness, eds. Paul A. Escholz et al (New York: St. Martins Press, 1974), 105.

population wears the crown over another, the language of the former prevails over that of the latter: thus, Linguacolonialism. Over the years, many languages have become victims of Linguacolonialism. Worse still, as nationalists and economists fight for political and economic independence, no one braces to fight for linguistic independence. In history one readily notices the death of the Celtic languages in Western Europe and the death of several Native American languages. For example, Cornish, spoken in Cornwall, became extinct around the end of the nineteenth century, and is now only spoken in valiant attempts to revive it as an artificial language; also, British, a now dead language which was the origin of the Brytonic group and spoken long after Anglo-Saxon settlement in England and lowland Scotland in the Celtic kingdoms of StrathClyde, Cumbria and Elmet, as well as in Wales.2 In Africa the case is no less different. In fact, African languages have been perpetually enslaved by hegemonic languages, and these African languages have no other option than to remain servile because no one exists to fight for them. Arabic, French, and English are the three lingual superpowers that have held sway in Africa. Other foreign languages, though, are spoken in Africa, like Hindi, spoken in sizeable Indian communities in South Africa and East Africa; Portuguese, spoken in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and So Tom and Princpe; and Spanish, spoken in Equatorial Guinea, and Morocco. Spanish is Equatorial Guineas official language because in 1778, Portugal ceded the island to Spain, and Spain remained in control until 1968. Portuguese, itself, is found in the populations listed above as a result of these populations colonial history. At least, history shows that at one time Angola was called Portuguese West Africa. Today, Portuguese is the official language of these African territories. Hindi is an Indian language and came to be spoken in those African settlements as a result of migration of Indians to those places. Arabic is largely spoken in Muslim Africa. Among Muslims, Arabic is considered sacred as it is the language in which the Quran was written. Thus,
2

Awe, Celtic (Language), slb-itsu.hull.ac.uk/awe/index.php?title=Celtic_(language), (accessed February 28, 2012.)

with the rise of Islam to dominance after AD 622, Arabic has gained hegemony in all lands where Islam is practiced. French, like Portuguese, is a Romance language spoken in many former French colonies in Africa. English, also, is spoken by many former British colonies in Africa. Thus, apparently, when these colonial powers left the African soil on the premise of independence, their language remained as a reminder to their former subjects that they, the powers, were there. The result? The many indigenous languages that had existed before the advent of colonialism have continued to experience colonialism even after their native speakers have proclaimed themselves

free. African languages, truly, are not yet free.


True, subjugation and colonization of one population by another comes with imposition of the latters language on the former. Because the language of a people reflects their values, when appendage territories are compelled to learn the values of the main empire, they must, irresistibly, learn the language. However, one exception, at least, exists: English survived the 1066 conquest of England by the Norman French. More so, it is obvious that in the battle for hegemony, English has gained ascendancy over Chinese, French, Spanish, Russian, German, Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, and Italian. Thus, today, when one thinks of Linguacolonialism the dominance of one language over another in the world context, it is really anglocolonialism that is borne in mind. Why?

Anglocolonialism: An Incidence of Globalisation


It may not be very correct to assert that colonialism alone gave rise to the spread of English. Why, in West Africa, for instance, Britain colonised only four territories: Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Gambia; but France colonised many others: Senegal, Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote DIvoire, Benin, Mauritania, and Niger. However, in these French West African territories, although French is the official language, English occupies a supercilious position over the native languages. In other African territories too, colonised by European countries as highlighted above, although the language of their former masters remain official, English occupies a preeminent position. Why, even the Quran has been translated into English! These African countries, thus, face a more complex problem: they are battle grounds for fights between at least two hegemonic languages English and one other. However, even though these languages hit one another with bare knuckles, they unite to endanger language species that had existed before they came. Why, though, has English gained the upper hand? The reason is not far-fetched globalization. Globalization is the comprehensive term for the emergence of a global society in which economic, political, environmental, and cultural events in one part of the world quickly come to have significance for people in other parts of the world. 3 Since the biblical story of the incident in the tower of Babel, where Jehovah4 had confused the language of all the earth,5 man has endeavoured endlessly to construct an ideal, supranational language as a medium of intellectual exchange for all lands. 6 A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country.7 This can be effected by making the language the official language of a country, to be used in courts, parliaments, media, and schools; also, it can be effected by making the language a priority in a countrys foreign-language teaching, even
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4 5 6

Microsoft Encarta Multimedia Encyclopedia, s.v. William K. Tabb, Globalisation (Redmond, WA: Microsoft, 2009), CD-ROM. Jehovah is the English rendering of the name of God used in many English translations as this one. Genesis 11:9, (New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures). Lincoln Barnett, The Linguistic Wonder of the Modern World, from The Treasure of Our Tongue, by Lincoln Barnett (1964), reprinted in Language Awareness, eds. Paul A. Escholz et al, op cit., 267. David Crystal, English as a Global Language, 2d ed. (Cambridge: University Press, 2003), 3.

though the language has no official status: children are taught the language at schools, and in the markets it is used effectively. In both ways the English language has succeeded: in countries like Nigeria, Ghana, India, Singapore, and Vanuatu as in other sixty-five countries, English is the official language;8 while in countries like China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt, and Brazil,9 the emphasis is on English. This is because of some factors highlighted below.

Simplicity:
The English language is relatively simple when compared to other languages in the ring. For example, it takes less time to say jettison or job hunt than to say their French equivalents, jeter par-dessus bord and tre la recherche dun emploi respectively; it is, also, easier to say customer service than to say in Spanish,

atencin al cliente, worse still, in Italian, servizio assistenza al cliente.


Though not even in the contest, African languages rank amongst the most difficult. Consider Luganda, the most common of the more than 32 languages spoken in Uganda, the pearl of Africa.10 This language is full of tongue twisters; for instance, Gods Kingdom, in Luganda, is translated Obwakabaka bwa Katonda.11 The thought of learning such language, indeed, will make a person creep. Igbo, also, a language of the Igbo people of Nigeria, is an unnerving language to learn it has many dialects. For example, an irritated man who wants to exclaim: what is this?! will in the Ngwa dialect say: A kpkwan hekenana nr?! while in the Anambra dialect he will say: Kezikwanu ife dife a?! This variation notwithstanding, there exists the standard Igbo language, spoken and understood by all, and used in writing. Moreover, one will not forget Swahili, a linguistic hybrid of Arabic and Bantu: the mix makes it complex. Because of these complexities of the African tongues, wherever European influence has left its mark, Africans talk to each other, especially, in English, French, or Arabic.
8 9

Ibid, 4. Ibid, 5. 10 Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, 2010 Yearbook of Jehovahs Witnesses (2010), 72. 11 Ibid, 111-2.

Political and Military Power:


True, simplicity of a language plays a role in making it global; however, when Latin had been the global language, was it any easy; or when French had been the global language, were not the masculine-feminine dichotomy of words in existence? This shows that a much stronger reason must hold for a language to become global: the power of the languages native speakers. David Crystal explains:
A language has traditionally become an international language for one chief reason: the power of its people especially their political and military power. The explanation is the same throughout history. Why did Greek become a language of international communication in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago? Not because of the intellects of Plato and Aristotle: the answer lies in the swords and spears wielded by the armies of Alexander the Great. Why did Latin become known throughout Europe? Ask the legions of the Roman Empire. Why did Arabic come to be spoken so widely across northern Africa and the Middle East? Follow the spread of Islam, carried along by the force of the Moorish armies from the eighth century. Why did Spanish, Portuguese, and French find their way into the Americas, Africa, and the Far East? Study the colonial policies of the Renaissance kings and queens, and the ways these policies were ruthlessly implemented by armies and navies all over the known world. The history of a global language can be traced through successful expeditions of its soldier/sailor speakers. And English ... has been no exception.12

When British adventurers first carried their speech to far places of the earth, erecting their initial bastions of empire, then British traders with their business prowess came along, and subsequently, missionaries, what else should be the result other than a global language? Lincoln Barnett explains:
The occupation troops that moved into defeated countries after World War I and on incomparably greater scale after World War II did more to spread English (particularly American English) than any other agency of dissemination. From the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and their
12

David Crystal, op cit., 9

10 dependents deployed throughout both hemispheres, English words and phrases filtered down to every level of the diverse populations in every nation and zone. No longer was English speech the limited possession of the educated, the wealthy, and the peripatetic social elite. It became the economically valuable property of all, from shopkeepers and salesgirls, bellboys and bartenders, down to barefoot urchins in the streets of Tokyo, Teheran, Berlin and Baghdad, who swiftly learned to chirp, Hey Joe, gimme gum, or Hey Joe, wanna some fun?
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Economic Might:
While it takes a militarily powerful country to broadcast the seeds of its language, it takes an economically strong nation to water and fertilize the soils wherein these seeds were sown. David Crystal, in his exposition of the relationship between the native speakers economic progress and the languages global status, says of English:
Any language at the centre of such an explosion of international activity would suddenly have found itself with a global status. And English ... was apparently in the right place at the right time. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Britain had become the worlds leading industrial and trading country. By the end of the century, the population of the USA (then approaching 100 million) was larger than that of any of the countries of Western Europe, and its economy was the most productive and the fastest growing in the world. British imperialism had sent the language around the globe, during the nineteenth century, so that it was a language on which the sun never sets.14 During the twentieth century, this world presence was maintained and promoted almost single-handedly through the economic supremacy of the new American superpower. Economics replaced politics as the chief driving force. And the language behind the US dollar was English.15

By this, is it any wonder, then, that English is winning the battle of tongues?

13 14

Lincoln Barnett, op. cit., 264 An expression adapted from the nineteenth century aphorism about the British Empire. 15 David Crystal, op. cit., 10

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The Result
What has been the result of a web of these factors? People the world over chore themselves with learning the English language. When China produces goods, it proudly brands it in English, Made in China; when the UNs General Assembly meets, the language spoken is English; when scientific theories are formulated and written down, the language used is English which other is preferable?; when fiction is written, it is either, originally, in English, or translated into English from its original language; and take a stock of the movies in the world, even many Chinese films are acted in English. The internet has, also, in modern times, become a veritable instrument for the spread of the English language. Why, the world has become a global village with one language English. Social networks, especially, have not helped matters. Youths, who want to show superiority and class, use English in chat rooms and network sites. Worse still, they have developed for use in chat rooms their own amorphous variant of English, which I call twitenglish16 : a hybrid of mnemonics, colloquialisms, and slangs. An excerpt from a chat between two friends on a social network is given here below as an example:
Wia u at? m jus cumin hom. u wit ur gurl? No. Y? Hmmm. Seems u re intrestd in her. Lmao17. LOL18. The few of them who want to distinguish themselves stick to Standard English.
F1: F2: F1: F2: F1: F2: F1:

In all sets of the Anglo-variants, however, the least common multiple is English. The situation is as the former Indian Prime Minister Nehru described: [English] is the major window for us to the outside world. We dare not close that window, and if we do, it will spell peril for our future.19 Lincoln Barnett, himself, says that English [is] a window, a magic casement opening on every horizon of loquacious men.

16 17

Derived from Twitter, a popular social network where this variant is used opulently. Laugh my ass out 18 Laugh out loud. 19 Lincoln Barnett, 262.

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Frankly, this trend is relatively positive. After all, a literate Nigerian can only use his cell phone effectively after having read the user manual written, at least, in English. Scientists, moreover, do not risk the limitations of translation as almost all works are now in English. Film producers, also, make more money from Anglo films, because, in many cinemas across the globe, almost all persons who purchase tickets speak English. However, this tenor has its downside: the colonised languages especially, those minorities not in the battlefield are faced with the threat of extinction. The African languages are not an exception. At a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of African Unity (now AU) early in 1964, the Egyptian delegate began an address in Arabic. From all sides of the hall came cries of Speak English! or Parlez

Franais!20 That event illustrates what has happened to African tongues as a result of
the force of English the most reprehensible poacher and many other poacher languages: African languages have been neglected and may soon face extinction.

Save the Species!


When the white man came to Africa, he had the Bible and we had the land. And now? We have the Bible and he has the land. Jomo Kenyatta Given the capricious nature of man, a culturally integrated world envisioned by crusaders of Anglo-globalization is unreal. Thus, while Africans accept English as their window to the world there is no gainsaying that it is important that they save their native languages, else the leaders of tomorrow grow up sequestered from their language the mirror of their culture. Governments should, therefore, launch massive awareness programs to champion a renaissance of these dying languages. More so, the learning of these languages should be made compulsory in basic schools and should be taught vigorously. In polyglot populations like Nigeria, the educational institutions in each

20

Lincoln Barnett, op. cit., 259

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geopolitical zone should continually enforce the learning of native languages in their zone. It is here recommended that African languages should be used as the LOI in the settlements wherein those languages are spoken. One may also suggest that African countries develop and use a lingua franca. Well, the possibility of this should not be ruled out. If Noah Webster could start the venture into what is now known as American English, a venture borne by nationalist sentiments, why cant African linguists and lexicographers in the world come up with a lingua franca for their respective countries through the process of pidginization? In this way, threads from native languages mixed with the super language of the country are woven into a unique language understood by all. For instance, in West Africa today, a variant of English known as the West African Pidgin is spoken. However, this variant is not uniform, given the differences in cultural backgrounds. For example, while in Sierra Leone, the pidgin form of my boss is

me boss man, in Nigeria, it is my oga; and Cameroon has its own well developed pidgin
variant called Kamtok. This is how the Bibles Mark 6:1, 2 is rendered in Kamtok:
Den i bin lef dat ples, an i bin kam fo i on kontri, an i pipu bin folo i. An i bin di tich di pipu fo insai di Jew dem God haus...21

Given these variations, it is better that each African settlement develop its own native language for use as LOI. African countries, furthermore, should not only develop the language, but enforce its learning by everybody. As it has Nigerian authorship, this papers prognosis is in the Nigerian context. In Nigeria, the learning of native languages and their use as the LOI should be enforced. For a start, Igbo, mostly spoken in the South-East; Hausa in the North; Yoruba, mostly spoken in the South-West; and Pidgin English in the Niger-Delta region should be enforced as LOI in these regions. Was Pidgin English just mentioned? Yes. Why, in Rivers State Television (RSTV), Port Harcourt, there is a news section tagged News in Pidgin; also, in Wazobia FM, no other tongue is used by the presenters except Pidgin English. Thus, this variant can be
21

Microsoft Encarta Dictionary, s.v. Pidgin (Redmond, WA: Microsoft, 2009), CD-ROM. (The English rendering reads: Then he left that place, and he came into his own country and his people followed him. And he was teaching the people inside the synagogue...)

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standardized in those places where it is gaining ascendancy especially, in the NigerDelta region for use as LOI. As time passes, the development of native languages and their use as LOI will be spread to other languages in Nigeria. What benefits could be gotten from this shift in LOI from English to the native languages?

Saving the Species: A Force for Technological Advancement


Innovation requires creative thinking, and creative thinking relies on language mastering as its major tool.

Liliana Mammino
Science and technology are twin brothers used by many countries to achieve economic independence. Both of them imply a thinking process, both of them are concerned with causal relationships in the material world, and both of them employ an experimental methodology that results in empirical demonstrations that can be verified by repetition.22 It is said that technology is the application of scientific laws in construction of tools and processes. However, it will not be very correct to assert that knowledge of scientific laws and theories is indispensable for achievements in technology. After all, the steam engine, developed first as piston engine by the French inventor and physicist Denis Papin in 1690, was commonplace before the science of thermodynamics, whose first law the law of conservation of energy formulated in 1842 by German physicist Julius Robert von Mayer, elucidated the physical principles underlying the operations of the steam engine.23 Thus, there is no gainsaying the fact that technology the study of crafting can exist without standard knowledge of its underlying science. Credence to this fact is seen from the activities of craftsmen in Aba, the commercial centre of Abia state, Nigeria. In this paper, Aba is used just as an instance of the vast potentials in Nigeria and Africa at large. As rightly described by a former Nigerian Head of State, Aba is the Japan of Africa. Majority of the people living there are nothing less than innovative. They make shoes, clothes, furniture, doors (wood or metal), etc. It is common saying among Aba youths that whatever finished material is
22 23

Microsoft Encarta Multimedia Encyclopedia, op. cit., s.v. Raymond H. Merritt, Technology. Ibid.

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imported from Europe or any other place in the world into Aba, Aba craftsmen can produce its replica. Surprisingly, when the state government banned the use of motorcycles for commercial transport in Aba, even before BAJAJ cycle rickshaws were imported from India into the town, Aba local engineers constructed relatively good cycle rickshaws from erstwhile motorcycles for use in commercial transport. These innovative men did not see the four walls of the university most even did not complete their basic education. They have not heard of or studied the laws of electricity, thermodynamics, mechanics, hydraulics, etc; however, they produce works wherein applications of these laws are showcased. In agriculture, the case is the same. Farmers in Aba and neighbouring environs own pineapple orchards, and take care of these with amazing expertise; yet, they have neither read nor been taught in a book or a school how these are done. How, though, do they achieve these feats? Observation and practice. Apprenticeship is rife in Aba. Youths whose parents cannot afford university education or sometimes basic education are sent to learn a craft under a skilled craftsman. This they do for about seven years after which they are settled with a sum of money to start up on their own. During these seven years, they, by observing their masters and practicing by observation, gradually learn the craft and turn out to be skilled even more than university graduates in that field! The learning, thus, is strictly oral and informal no books, no lectures. This practice is not peculiar to Aba, but is seen virtually everywhere in Nigeria. Unfortunately, although Nigerians are innovative and produce home-made goods, foreign products gain more market in Nigeria than their local counterparts. Why? It is not because Nigerians are xeno-centric24, but because the foreign finished products are really superior and well-finished than their Nigerian counterparts. Thus, Nigeria imports goods that it can conveniently produce. The fact is that Nigeria even imports shirts something Nigerian designers can more-than-efficiently produce. This unfortunate menace affects Nigerias GDP. The major output group of the economy is the oil sector. In the non-oil sector, growth is seen only by the activities of the
24

Meaning the feeling that foreign culture is superior over ones own: gotten from xeno, meaning foreign, and centric, meaning focus of interest or activity.

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wholesale and retail trade, telecommunications, finance and insurance, and building and technology sub-sectors. Materials used or sold in these sub-sectors are imported even when they could be produced in Nigeria. Why the preference for these imported manufactured goods? The reason is that the local inventors are crude and lack the standards dictated by science. Although technology can exist without the knowledge of science, such knowledge fine-tunes technology, thus, standardizing it. The concepts of observation, experiment, analysis, logic, ethics, entrepreneurship, etc can only be enhanced using the scientific method. However, these local technicians lack such knowledge. How can they be taught? Language. Without the use of language, Nigerias local inventors will not gain the desired proficiency in science and technology. The challenge, though, is that these inventors and craftsmen are not English literate; however, English is seen and acknowledged by many people even Nigerians as the language of science and technology. Thus, it appears that if these craftsmen must be taught, they must be taught in English language; and since they cant comprehend English so much as to use it in science and technology, then things must remain the same. It is here unreservedly said that English is not the language of science and technology. Any language can be the language of science and technology; thus, if science must be brought to the people, it has to be done in a language that people understand and communicate well in.25 Which language is used to teach science in China; or which language is used as the LOI for technology in Japan; or what other language is used in Russia to train nuclear scientists; or which tongue is the LOI for science in Germany? The answers to these questions reveal that if Nigeria wants to develop with science and technology as its key, then the LOI must be indigenous, not English:
Teaching students how to write science or engineering texts, both in their mother tongue and in languages utilised for international
25

Birgit Brock-Utne, But English is the language of science and technology the language of instruction in Africa with a special look at Tanzania, www.netreed.ulo.no/../brock_utne.pdf. (accessed February 24, 2012).

17 communication, is viewed as a relevant part of their preparation for the requirements of professional activities in the modern context.26

Analysis of the difficulties encountered by both science students and local inventors in Nigeria leads to the irresistible inference that the shift to mother tongue instruction would be fundamental for development. Fafunwa has observed that a major factor impeding the dissemination of knowledge and skills, and consequently, the rapid socio-economic wellbeing of the majority of people in Africa, is the imposed medium of communication. Fafunwa sees a possible correlation between underdevelopment and the use of a foreign language as the official language of a given country in Africa. It is believed in this paper that the correlation is not only possible, but definite and strong. Fafunwa says:
We impart knowledge and skills almost exclusively in these foreign languages, while the majority of our people, farmers, and craftsmen perform their daily tasks in Yoruba, Hausa, Wolof, Ga, Igbo, Bambara, Kiswahili, etc...The question is: Why not help them to improve their social, economic, and political activities via their mother tongue? Why insist on their learning English or French first before modern technology could be introduced to them?27

Kwesi Kwaa Prah similarly affirms:


No society in the world has developed in a sustained and democratic fashion on the basis of a borrowed or colonial languageUnderdeveloped countries in Africa remain underdeveloped partly on account of the cultural alienation which is structured in the context of the use of colonial languages.28
26

Liliana Mammino, The Essential Role of Language Mastering in Science and Technology Education, www.noun.org/../19-067.pdf. (accessed February 24, 2012) 27 Babs A. Fafunwa, Using National Languages in Education: A Challenge to African Educators, Unesco-Unicef, 1990: African Thoughts on the Prospects of Education for All, 103, quoted in Birgit Brock-Utne, op. cit. 28 Kwesi Kwaa Prah, African Languages for the Mass Education of Africans, CASAS Book Series No.7. (Cape Town: CASAS, 2000), 71, quoted in Birgit Brock-Utne, op. cit.

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These assertions by the scholars above show that the call for mother-tongue LOI is not new in Africa. What, though, is hampering the progress of this movement? One may say it is procrastination, but really, it is neglect. African leaders and scholars shirk from embarking on zealous implementation of policies aimed at using native languages as the LOI in Africa. This paper, having joined in the call, also makes practical recommendations albeit in the Nigerian context. In Nigeria there is said to be three major native languages: Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba. They are really four if one adds Pidgin English, dominant in the Niger-Delta region. If Nigeria must advance in science and technology, the LOI must be indigenous. For a start, let the Igbos be taught science in Igbo, the Hausas in Hausa, the Yorubas in Yoruba, and many others especially in the Niger-Delta region in Pidgin English. Gradually, the development will reach other areas. For the already established local technicians, workshops should be conducted wherein the LOI will be the technicians or the craftsmens first language. In these workshops, business ethics, improved scientific practices, and entrepreneurial skills will be taught. This, surely, will lead to a steady growth of made-in-Nigeria goods, and not just the growth, but the preference of such goods by Nigerians. More so, in Nigerias tertiary institutions, science and technology students have as part of their curriculum, a six-month student industrial work experience. The goal of this scheme, though, has not been achieved as students bastardize the program some choose industrial works very different from their course of study, while others do not even engage in it at all. It is recommended here that the academic planners in Nigeria redesign the system such that three out of the five school days in a week are used for theoretical learning in the class, while the remaining two days will be used for full-time workshop practice. Thus, students will be attached to skilled technicians around who might not even be graduates. The tertiary institutions will have a list of the approved workshops and will receive feedback of the students performance each semester from the workshop. This feedback will be used to grade the student. This will lead to a marriage of theory and practice. While the university students may learn in the class with English as the LOI, in the workshop where the learning is informal, the

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LOI will be the native language. To this end, the students will show the craftsmen which laws they apply, and they will impart theoretical scientific knowledge to the nongraduate craftsmen, while the latter will give practical skills back to the students. This marriage of minds, surely, will be done using the native languages. Undoubtedly, this design will mean skilled graduates and polished craftsmen in the end a boost to technological development. Lest this recommendation sound more ideal than practical, it is worthwhile mentioning some possible challenges to achievement of effective mother-tongue instruction: The difficulty of translating scientific and technical terms from English into the local languages; The cost of such translation; and Absence of proficient teachers. True, while some technical terms cannot be used in a local language form, others can. Meanwhile, it is remarkable that words have meaning when they are attached as symbols to objects or terms. Thus, if no word exists for any technical term, a word can be created and attached to that term. With continuous usage by the media and in teaching, this word can gain acceptance as a word denoting that term or that symbol. Even in English, words are created that way. Before the advent of the www, there had been no word like internet or sexting or social networking; but as the world got global, these words evolved. Hence, it will be wrong to say that an English term cannot have its mother-tongue equivalent. For example, if in Igbo, it becomes difficult to translate the word science, the form sayens can be used; at least, technology in Igbo is translated nka na z. In some cases, teachers and workshop instructors will achieve success by using both the native language and English. To illustrate the importance of using native languages as the LOI in science, consider this conversation between a teacher and two pupils who failed a test in a public school in one of the remote areas in South-East Nigeria; one of the questions failed was What is used for grinding? The teacher brought the pupils to her table and was ready to flog them.

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What do you use for grinding? The teacher asked them in English. The pupils remained silent. Gn ka unu na-eji akw ihe? The teacher asked again, this time in Igbo. The pupils eyes beamed. Ingin a na-eji akw ihe, d na ikwe,
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one of the pupils answered.

the other one added almost immediately.

Obviously, they knew the possible answers to the question; yet, they failed it because the question was in English and the answers required were to be in English. The important thing for teachers and instructors should be to get the subject matter across. No matter how hard Nigerians try to learn it, English remains a second language. Thus, it is necessary to learn science primarily with the first language; the second can be learnt with the passage of time. With this, the activity- and inquiry-based approach to scientific learning will be enhanced; and undoubtedly, there will be commensurate advancement in science and technology, which will help to achieve Nigerias vision of an economic independence by 2020. The cost of translating science materials from English to the native languages is not more than that involved in children dropping out of school, repeating grade after grade, or only copying notes in school. It is not even more than that involved in importing foreign textbooks into Nigeria something that fattens the countries where these texts are published. With advancement in technology, Nigerians Africans can translate effectively at reduced cost. Permission should be gotten from the foreign authors to translate and publish their books in the native languages. That will help. Nigerias teeming population is full of unemployed youths graduates in science and technology. These youths, also, can speak their various native languages. Thus, their bilingual knowledge should be put to good use in making native languages the LOI. Workshops should be conducted to train teachers especially science teachers in using native languages as LOI. With that, there will not be absence of proficient teachers.
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Grinding machine Pestle and mortar.

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While emphasizing the need to save Africas language species by using them as LOI in science and technology, thus, developing the continent, one cannot but agree with Kwesi Kwaa Prah:
Where LOI is the same as the mother tongue/home language, it not only affirms the developmental capacity of the mother tongue to grow as a language of culture, science and technology, it also gives confidence to a people, with respect to their historical and cultural baggage. LOI in the home language or mother tongue is an instrument for the cultural and scientific empowerment of people. Its denial signifies the social and cultural inferiority of the culture and people whose mother-tongue-use is denied. Therefore, in free societies, knowledge transfer takes place in the language or languages of the masses; the languages in which the masses are most creative and innovative; languages which speak to them in their hearts and minds most primordially. Cultural freedom and African emancipation therefore cannot be cultivated, expanded or developed where the LOI is different from the languages or language the people normally speak in their everyday lives.31

31

Kwesi Kwaa Prah, Going Native: Language of Instruction for Education, Development and African Participation, in Brock-Utne,Birgit, Zubeida Desai and Martha Qorro (eds.), Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa. (LOITASA) (Dar es Salaam: E & D Limited, 2003), 14 35, quoted in Birgit Brock_Utne, op. cit.

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Conclusion Critics may readily say that this prognosis is typical of fiction. However, when Noah Webster had begun changing reasoning to reezoning , young to yung, reading to reeding, and zeal to zeel, it must have seemed as a project in futility. Now, though, with the help of economic advancement, Ame is blazoned beside English words of the American variant. In many other fields, history shows that impossibilities can become impressive possibilities: Ferdinand Magellan with his sail around the world, Thomas Edison with his light bulb, and Henry Ford with his quadricycle to mention but a few. The secret, thus, to a successful mother-tongue instruction for Nigeria and all other African countries is dedication and adventurous patience. Indubitably, while African languages surrender helplessly to Linguacolonialism, Africans can still keep their tongues alive by saving the species. Yes, each indigenous language can be standardized into a unique code as LOI, that when future generations learn arts, science, and technology using their mother tongue and inquire into the etymology of words they encounter, they will remain in touch with their culture, values, and norms the whole essence of language, the whole essence of existence.

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