IGBOZURUOKE FORUM

A graceful Igbo lady

BY Chuma Uwechia

The picture is grim and worrisome. But, unfortunately, a lot of people and governments seem not bothered that most indigenous languages are either endangered or have gone extinct. The United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) predicts that “half of the 7000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of the century”. It is estimated that one language dies out every 14 days. According to Wikipedia, an endangered language is “a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language.
Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a ‘dead language’. An extinct language is a “language that no longer has any speakers, or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary languages for everyday communication”.  When a language goes extinct, humanity loses not only “cultural wealth but also important ancestral knowledge embedded, in particular, in indigenous languages”.
Igbo language is obviously one of those endangered languages. Spoken by about 25 million people, Igbo is the principal native language of southeastern people and it has more than 20 different dialects. It is also recognized as a minority language in Equatorial Guinea. Igbo language is one of the many tribal languages that UNESCO predicted in 2012 will become extinct by 2025 if nothing is done to check their fast declining use.
Is this prediction a genuine warning to be taken seriously or another one of those doomsday prophesies that will never come to pass?  This article explores the possibility that this prediction may happen and the factual basis behind it.
Ndi Igbo have been described as a stoic, remarkable, ubiquitous and progressive tribe. They are egalitarian, resourceful, resilient, and adventurous and can be found in every nook and cranny  of the world, from the pinnacles of most major global industries to the leadership of the command structure of the United States of America military.
Academically and intellectually, they are well-endowed and celebrated at all levels of the world’s ivory towers, Ivy League schools and centers of excellence.  And, they are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. But this important sub group will soon have no distinct indigenous language if the UNESCO prediction comes true. As is always the case, the death of a people’s language invariably heralds and precedes the extinction of the group.  So how did this supposedly successful tribe fall into this dilemma and how can the trend be reversed?
Before delving further into this language predicament, it is instructive to recall that some other previously successful civilizations like the Maya, noted for their enviable level of architectural and city development, had indeed gone extinct, although from different causation – just to affirm that the frightening UNESCO prediction for Igbo language can become a reality. Certainly, the declining use of Igbo language can be traced to the beginning of British colonization and the subjugation of Igbo culture and language to English culture. Then, the tools of colonization and compliance by the invaders were gun and gunboat diplomacy, religion, and western education.
But the most effective of these tools were the deadly and damaging combination of religion and education.  Through these two tools, the colonizers successfully indoctrinated Ndi Igbo to despise their way of life as primitive and satanic, and to covet the colonizer’s way of life as the ultimate form of civilization and godliness.
Admittedly, whilst there are certain aspects of Igbo culture that need reform, the same goes for the received English culture.  For instance, it is a well-known fact that religious leaders compelled Igbo parents to choose only English baptismal names for their infants and enforced such names as their first name; consequently relegating the baby’s original and primary Igbo name to middle name as if there is something wrong with Igbo names.
A majority of the English names are taken because they are either the name of a Christian saint or a noble English gentleman and have no real connection to the baby.  But quite unlike English names, there is real meaning behind every Igbo name, because they capture the circumstances of one’s birth and consequently reflects a person’s true personality.  There is always a story behind every Igbo name.
As a direct consequence of colonization, the invading British citizens enthroned English language as the official language of Nigeria, which covered all the Igbo speaking people in eastern Nigeria.  English is used today at all educational levels and for transacting all government businesses relegating Igbo and all local languages to the background.  Most primary and secondary schools do not offer Igbo language as a subject on their curriculum thereby setting the stage for the early and slow death of the language.  Speaking “vernacular” in class at most secondary schools is a punishable offence.  At the university level, Igbo faculty undergraduates were looked down upon, derided as unprogressive and on graduation earn lower salary than English graduates, thus scaring off future prospective candidates.
English way of life subsequently became the trend and imitating the colonizers’ accent became an obsession and a mark of upwards mobility, which separated Igbo elites from the poor and uneducated tribesmen. Those considered elites stopped raising their children in their native Igbo language or mother tongue but resorted to English language only.  And, they ensured that their children got educated in exclusive private Nigerian schools or in England.   Even the poor and uneducated villagers refused to be outdone and took English nicknames like the “Duke of Wellington” or “Mayor of Canterbury”.
But don’t Igbo parents know that being bilingual is an educational asset and that it will bode well for their children to be fluent in both Igbo and English?  Studies have shown that speaking more than just your native tongue is a great way to exercise your brain and keep it in tiptop condition, especially if you consistently switch between the languages throughout your entire life.  People who are bilingual have higher level of cognitive brain function.
As a matter of fact, it cannot be questioned whether Igbo understand the importance of being bilingual or multilingual, after all, a good number of Igbo took French and Latin languages as electives in secondary school.  And some majored in French or classics and modern languages (i.e. Latin/Greek) at university level.  But somehow, a red line seems to be drawn when it comes to Igbo language or some other local Nigerian languages, and this is due to the debilitating effects of colonization. While the French colonizers were known for their controversial policy of assimilation of Africans, little did the Igbo realize that the British system of colonization would in the long run eventually end up in assimilation of Ndi Igbo?
Affluent Igbo must have a second home in London to announce their arrival to the wealthy club.  Their children must school in England or US.  They shop at Oxford Street in London; wear English designers; import their furniture from London; spend their vacations in London or US; go for preventive healthcare in London where they have their family doctor; and eat British food. Because a good number of the current generation of Igbo children were raised outside of, and without any knowledge of their culture; they are raised to be English and foreigners to their culture.  Successively, over the years, these kids brought up in the new norm cannot pronounce their surnames correctly and do not know the meaning of their Igbo name.  The bitter truth is that these kids are neither English nor Igbo.  They have lost their true identity and are stranded somewhere between the black and white world, a no man’s land.  And to most parents, that is supposed to be a sign of progress and advancement.  Obviously, the new generation of Igbo has been culturally impoverished, lost their language and their identity as a people and have no cultural legacy or identity to eventually hand down to their own children – a dreadful and dead end.
Igbo who still live in Nigeria but outside of the eastern states are the worst case.  Their children do not speak Igbo, have no knowledge of Igbo culture and rarely ever visit their hometowns. As deduced from a recent New York Times article by Farhad Manjoo, the modern day tools of cultural domination employed by the west to perpetuate this stereotype/black condition include but are not limited to the Internet, cable television and Smartphone, which have turned the world into a global village.  American companies like Facebook and Amazon are dominating Internet book sales; YouTube and Netflix are taking over television and movies; and the Smartphone, the most important platform for entertainment, is controlled entirely by Apple and Google.
Between these big American firms and Microsoft, they dominate the world and promote only American values.  They have given the west an unrivaled advantage or monopoly in the global culture war to vanquish other cultures.  They enable the west to stream their western-type culture like Hollywood movies, European football league, and Hip hop music, all in English right into African homes unrestricted, to capture the heart and minds of the youth.
Where as, Africans have done nothing, European and Asian countries, are fighting back to protect their culture.  The European Commission is coming up with privacy regulations and antitrust investigations to limit the American companies’ reach.  They are also considering rules that will require the companies to carry and even pay for local content in the markets they serve.
Recently, China shut down Apple iBooks and iTunes movies stores.  Even India stopped Apple’s plan to sell refurbished iPhones in the country. India also shutdown Facebook’s free- Internet plans, which was criticized as a kind of Trojan horse to take over India’s digital infrastructure.  But Nigeria’s government (both federal and states) do not have the political or moral will to require the nation’s radio stations, TV and cable companies to carry more local content than foreign components to protect local culture.
The mere fact that there are still millions of Igbo living in their ancestral towns and villages who still communicate primarily in Igbo language and are still in tune with their culture is not a saving grace.  This is because those poor villagers look up to the city dwellers and those in Diaspora as their role models.  They envy their kith and kin who speak English with British accent, but cannot speak Igbo.  They dream of the day that they too will be like that.  They deride their own heritage and culture as not good enough and believe that nothing good will come out of their own country when compared to other cultures.  Their destiny, they now believe lies abroad in US, Europe and the rest of the world outside Africa, while Abuja and Lagos is their gateway. Such is the extent of their disillusionment.
But, if we blame the west, what are we to say about the misrule of our own governments?  Between the federal, state to local government, they create the enabling environment for this cultural dominion by the west to succeed and persist through their entrenched corruption, mediocrity and mismanagement of national resources.  They make the country volatile. The law abiding public having lost confidence and faith in the ability of their government to provide them with good government, security and good quality of life in their own country, are now turning their attention to the west for salvation through migration – exodus.
The pull to migrate out of the country is becoming overwhelming for the kids and so many are checking out to US, Europe and Asia for better life.  Unlike in the past, those who have finished their studies abroad now stay back rather than return to Nigeria and to uncertainty.  The poor and unemployed who cannot wangle their way to get visas in an attempt to escape insecurity, poverty and hopelessness at home have turned to the suicidal path of crossing to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea – now known as the world’s largest cemetery.
A good majority of the Igbo child victims, who have been deprived of the knowledge and ability to speak their God-given language through their parental fault, have conveyed strong victim impact statements regarding their hopeless situation.
*Uwechia is a New York-based attorney.
Courtesy: Daily Sun, ngr.