UNIVERSITY of Malawi (Unima)\u2019s professor of linguistics, Edrinnie Elizabeth Lora-Kayambazinthu, has said the family unit holds the key to the sustenance of language in ethnic groups, observing that the failure of one generation to transfer its language to the next generation has contributed to the death of languages such as Ngoni.<\/p>\n
Kayambazinthu said this on Friday as part of Unima\u2019s 21st and 22nd Inaugural Lectures by professors Wapulumuka Oliver Mulwafu and Kayambazinthu, respectively, at Chancellor College in Zomba. In her lecture, titled \u2018Language Maintenance and Language Shift in Malawi:<\/p>\n
The Family\u2019s Role\u2019, Kayambazinthu observed that some world languages were at risk of disappearing. She said half of the world\u2019s languages may disappear in the next 100 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cLanguage embodies cultural values and philosophical insights into people\u2019s lives. It is, therefore, our right and constitution and the family has a unique role and obligation to pass on language to their children. Let us be proud of our languages,\u201d said Kayambazinthu, observing that language plays a crucial role in promoting people\u2019s cultural identity and, in some cases, spiritual wellbeing.<\/p>\n
According to Kayambazinthu, a number of stages mark steps in language development or decline, culminating in terms such as language endangerment\u2014 which happens when a language is not being passed on in the family\u2014language maintenance (which refers to a situation where a group of people continues to use their language), and language shift (referring to a scenario where a group of people has stopped using their language).\u00a0 Kayambazinthu observed that while 32 percent and 30.1 percent of the world\u2019s languages were spoken in Asia and Africa, respectively, it was surprising that it was Europe, where 4 percent of the world\u2019s languages are spoken, that is dominating the language sphere.<\/p>\n
\u201cLanguage maintenance and language shift are at work in Malawi,\u201d she said.\u00a0 She observed that the issue of language shift is apparent in the way the Ngoni language has been swallowed up by other languages, notably Tumbuka and Chichewa, despite the Ngoni being one of the dominant ethnic groups when they moved into Malawi. \u201cThis (the relative death) is because the Ngonis married a number of women from different tribes but the Ngoni men did not have time to promote the use of their language in the family. So, the women taught the children their first languages. Consequently, there was no transfer of language from one Ngoni generation to another,\u201d said Kayambazinthu.<\/p>\n
Kayambazinthu said the Lomwes also faced a similar predicament, this time through attitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the Lomwes, who were the last ethnic group to enter Malawi, were speaking their language, others were laughing at them and they started feeling that their language was inferior. Because of their attitude towards their language, they started speaking other languages and this endangered their language,\u201d said Kayambazinthu.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, Deputy Education Minister, Vincent Ghambi, said the government attaches great significance to higher education, hence its appreciation of the role universities play in creating new knowledge through research.<\/p>\n
On her part, Professor Moira Chimombo, who was the guest of honour, commendedthe role of the university in research and said it was up to family units in Malawi to take heed of Kayambazinthu\u2019s warning and start transferring their languages to their children.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is up to Malawians to take heed of what the professors have said. Prof Kayambazinthu\u2019s lecture, for example, is more less personal because it requires individuals to act on her research findings. Policy makers can, of course, play a role but the individuals are the ones who transfer knowledge on language,\u201d said Chimombo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNIVERSITY of Malawi (Unima)\u2019s professor of linguistics, Edrinnie Elizabeth Lora-Kayambazinthu, has said the family unit holds the key to the sustenance of language in ethnic groups, observing that the failure of one generation to transfer its language to the next generation has contributed to the death of languages such as Ngoni. Kayambazinthu said this on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8090,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8088\/revisions\/8090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}