Minority Languages at Risk of Extinction, UNIJOS VC Warns

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Vice Chancellor(VC) of the University of Jos(UNIJOS), Prof. Tanko Ishaya yesterday warned that minority languages in Nigeria risk extinction because they do not have autography, adding that such was also the reason the implementation of National Language Policy of the federal government has been difficult.

Represented by his deputy, Prof. Rahila Gowon at the first international conference on language and literature with the theme, “Language Communication and Literature in an Uncertain and Turbulent World”, organised by the Department of English, UNIJOS, the VC charged that special attention be given to languages to save them from extinction.

At the event, the Head of the Department of English in UNIJOS, Prof. Jeff Doki said the conference was important because language and communication could be used to end conflicts.

He said the international conference, the first of its kind in UNIJOS, brought together over 300 scholars from different disciplines, especially from the academia, language and literature, to chart a new future for the study of English, Literature and Communication Studies, “which are the key to development and progress.”

Gowon said: “I remember when I was an undergraduate, we were taught to write lesson notes in our languages and teach even in Biology and other subject areas. Yes, for the minority languages, they’re likely to go extinct but not for the majority languages. Already the major languages have autography. They are being enforced in the school system as major subjects. They may not go extinct but minor languages are likely to go. But it is left for parents to teach their children at home because they are the first teachers.”

To check the threat of languages going into extinction, Gowon said the National Language Policy should address it but however agreed that people do not adhere to it.

The DVC said: “The National Language Policy stipulates that the medium of instruction in the junior primary school is the mother tongue or language of immediate community. However, we find out that there are so many languages that are in use. But people prefer to go straight to English, because they do not want to or don’t know which one they should take as their language of instruction.

“Of course, there are some major languages like Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Efik and maybe Tiv who use the mother tongue. But in Plateau State, it’s been very difficult. Secondly, implementation of this has been very difficult because many languages do not have autography. But these are being developed and they are being encouraged.”

The Chairman, Local Organising Committee of the conference, Prof. Jerome Dooga, in his presentation titled, “Navigating the communication minefield in a turbulent and uncertain world”, said language had never been neutral.

He said: “The task of making sense of the increasingly complex communication minefield requires an amalgam of interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches.

Language has never been neutral. But in today’s world linguistic communication has become especially contentious as humans promote novel and sometimes strange ideologies. Our world is a linguistic and communication minefield. Peaceful human co-existence has become increasingly challenging by the day.”