February, 2022 marked a great milestone as the African Union heads of state and governments unanimously approved Kiswahili as one of the official languages of interaction and transaction in formal places of work. With more than 200 million speakers across the globe, it was about time Africans had a language that could unite them and enable push the agenda on Africa’s development. Countries like South Africa and Rwanda are already introducing the language as a language of instruction in schools and this will certainly go a long way. While this is supposed to be good news there is a concern that the use of Kiswahili may eventually ‘kill’ other indigenous African languages.
African Indigenous Languages and Kiswahili
Apart from Kiswahili, some of Africa’s most spoken indigenous languages include Yoruba(45 million), Igbo (30 million) and Fula (35 million), just to mention a few. There is a concern about the use of Kiswahili being a threat to the development of other indigenous African languages. This topic was brought up in the just ended African Languages Week 2023 conference, organized by Bolingo Consult and partners (The Lingua-Cultura Experience and MasterWord). A panelist, Prof. Obadele Kambon, raised this concern while narrating the story of his Maasai colleague who had been laughed at in class, while growing up, for being unable to speak Swahili but speaking in his mother tongue . Through further discussions in the conference chat space, this still goes on to date. It is clear that there is certainly a missing link between government policies on indigenous languages and how the teachers procure these policies in their daily work.
Ideally, the battle of prominence between African indigenous languages and other international languages, Kiswahili included, should not exist. Most African governments have a policy that emphasizes that the child’s first language should be their mother tongue or indigenous language. Other languages are introduced to the child at a later stage. Narratives such as those shared at the African Languages Week 2023 is a clear indication that the misunderstanding about the place of both indigenous languages and Kiswahili will continue if action is not taken to educate people to know better.
As defined by Professor Aldin Mutembei, the Julius Nyerere Chair of Kiswahili studies at the University of Dar es Salaam, Kiswahili is not an ethnic language, but a collection of dialects from the east coast and inland as far as the Congo. The very definition of Kiswahili defeats the assumption that the use of Kiswahili will ‘kill’ other indigenous languages. Also included in this debate is Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kenya and Africa’s most revered indigenous African language and cultural crusader, translator, literary scholar and writer. Prof. Wa Thiong’o is known for his adamant use of the Kikuyu language in his writings and his vocality in the use of Kiswahili as a language of unity for Africans but not to override the African indigenous languages.
Kiswahili as a bargaining power
The proposal of Kiswahili as a language to be used across Africa is more for the economic benefits it might accord the continent. This, coupled with visa- free movement across the continent will enhance free trade and encourage intercultural interactions which will go a long way in enhancing African indigenous languages. Thus, instead of being labeled as a killer language, Kiswahili becomes the language that economically strengthens the continent while giving a platform for the growth of other African languages through enhancing open borders that allow for people of different cultural backgrounds to experience each other’s cultures.
Multilingualism for unity
Contrary to the belief that multilingualism breeds confusion, it actually creates understanding and a united people. The ability to speak more than one indigenous language opens up the door to exploration and adventure. It gives freedom. Multilingualism enables one to settle in spaces away from their comfort zones because they have one tool, language, that can enable them to co-exist with those in this new space. In a nutshell, Kiswahili , in addition to other indigenous languages, is the perfect medley for further development of the language as it borrows most of its words from other languages, African indigenous languages being one. As globalization continues to grow, the international interest in Africa continues to grow, thus the need to have a unifying language alongside other indigenous African languages.
