Language is not a Friend

Language is considered the principal method of human communication, consisting of words used in a structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture. It is a tool that establishes commonness between the sender and the receiver.

For the commonness to be established, the encoder must be well-grounded in the language he chooses to use and arrange his words systematically. He must also consider meanings such as denotative, connotative, reflected, and social, among others. 

The receiver must also do his part as interference is likely to occur from him, the environment, channel, or encoder. However, language sometimes becomes a betrayer by betraying even the native speakers due to its rigid nature. The fact is that, even if you are familiar with the rules, language may decide to disgrace you abruptly.

In this piece, Hausa, Fulfulde and English languages will be used in explaining my points. In Hausa, it is a rule that most of the words that end with the letter “A” are feminine and those ending with E, I, O, and U are masculine. But there are exceptions, for instance, words like kotu (court), gwamnati (government), and kwallo (ball) end with masculine vowels but they are feminine. On one part, ruwa (water), zama (sitting), and kira (call) are masculine despite having feminine endings.

Hausa also demands that wherever possessives “Na” and “Ne” are used for masculine words, they should be substituted with “Ta” and “Ce” for feminines. For example, Jirgi na ne (It is my plane), mota ta ce (It is my car).

Many Hausa speakers, including some of the natives in northwest Nigeria, are struggling to adhere to the rules. To get primary data on this, choose any state in Nigeria and listen to their radio stations or have physical interactions. In Fulfulde, the law states that a word’s ending determines its demonstrative adjective. For instance, it is okay to say this horse, this room, this pen in English but the case is different in Fulfulde. Wamnde nde, sudu ndu, bindirgol ngol. To learn more, get a Fulani friend or wife.

This rule is giving headaches even to the “LI” in Yola as it requires alertness and quickness of thought. It is normal to hear a typical Fulani man saying ” Mi laari mo,” instead of “Mi laari ngal,” when he is referring to “I saw the hen”.

Another blunder is the introduction of letter “V” in Fulfulde. In a standard Fulfulde setting, there is nothing like the consonant sound /v/. Hausa too does not have it. That is why some Hausa say bery good instead of very good. Just like the way some Hausa misplace V for B in English, some Fulfulde speakers misplace W for V in their first language. 

One interesting thing about Fufulde is that, unlike Hausa and English languages, Fulfulde does not have pronouns that differentiate gender. Fulfulde’s pronoun “O” refers to he/she in English and Shi/ita in Hausa.  And Fulfulde’s pronoun “Ma” refers to Ka/Ki in Hausa. Maybe this was done to show our shyness and respect (Pulaaku). 

Another virus that is threatening Fulfulde is code-mixing and code-switching. Some Fulfulde speakers in Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe, and Yobe could not speak pure Fulfulde for an hour without borrowing from Hausa, English, Arabic, or their L2 words. This signifies a low level of grammar or lack of respect for Fulfulde language. It needs to be fought gallantly.

In English, rules of concord, tenses, syntax, and semantics are hectic for learners and L2 speakers. 

Concords like: “He says, I say, they say, he has, I have, they have, he does, I do, they do, he does not have, I do not have, and they do not have” are found to be confusing most especially by learners. Also, the sentences below, even though correct, may not convince learners as plural nouns could be seen nakedly. Shamsu, together with his wife, is coming to London or Maijama’a, along with Bilkisu, is coming to Cyprus. Think of ” Neither Ghali nor the students are present” Vs “Neither the students nor Ghali is present”. 

In tenses, the unjustified usage of past in the present, present in the past, or the distortion of the entire tenses is common. Moreso, choice of words, and sentence construction are being influenced by speakers L1. You will see an English sentence given direct translation from Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, or Yoruba. Example: Haruna said it is for me and you.

The topic is broad but advisably, make sure you learn all the dos and don’ts of every language you want to communicate with people. This will pave the way for you to communicate effectively and earn you respect.

Nevertheless, always remember that language is not a friend, it may decide to disappoint you unexpectedly. I received mine on my last day as an undergraduate student at Bayero University, Kano. I was stuck on fishing out whether the word “bind” is a regular or irregular verb. What is the past participle; binded, bounded, or bound? It had escaped my memory.

Whatever the reason, I got a pitch that led to the writing of this article. Alhamdulillah! My appreciations to communication scholars, the Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Kashere, Professor Umaru A. Pate, and OPEC’s PR Coordinator, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu for drawing my attention immediately. I have bound my undergraduate project!

Bilyaminu Gambo Kong-kol, Bayero University, Kano