The Executive Director of the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA), Ziblim Alhassan Betintiche, has published that a minimum of 40 Ghanaian languages are at the verge of extinction, caution that pressing and planned measures are required to maintain the rustic’s linguistic heritage.

He wired that language was once no longer simply a device for conversation however the basis of identification, tradition and collective reminiscence.

“Language is the vessel of our memory and the architecture of our worldview. When a language disappears, an entire system of knowledge, oral history, proverbs and indigenous wisdom vanishes with it,” he identified.

Mr Betintiche made the revelation on the authority’s maiden commemoration of the International Mother Language Day in Accra, held at the nationwide theme: “Languages Preserved on Page”.

He mentioned 70 African languages, together with the Boro language in Ghana, had grow to be extinct.

Additionally, Dompo, as soon as spoken by way of a hunter-gatherer team in Bono East, is now showed extinct, with audio system having shifted in large part to Akan.

Several different Ghanaian languages are seriously endangered, together with Nawuri in Northern Ghana, Tuwuli (or Bowiri) within the Oti Region, Chala (Tshala) in jap Ghana, and likely dialects of Anufo (Chakosi) within the north.

Those languages, he mentioned, have been underneath power from dominant tongues, with more youthful generations more and more forsaking them.

Mother Language Day

International Mother Language Day is a multinational annual observance underneath UNESCO hung on February 21 to advertise consciousness of linguistic and cultural range and multilingualism.

The tournament, held in Accra ultimate Friday, introduced in combination key stakeholders from the schooling, tradition and heritage sectors, together with representatives of UNESCO, the ingenious arts house, scholars and academia, language establishments, {and professional} library our bodies.

The tournament featured a panel dialogue on archiving and transmitting Ghanaian languages to long run generations.

It additionally spotlighted Professor Lade Wosornu’s selection of translated poems.

The literary dialog underscored translation as a preservation software, reinforcing the position of libraries and students in safeguarding indigenous expression thru print and documentation.

Living archives

Mr Betintiche described libraries as “living archives of culture” that should transfer past being silent ebook repositories to energetic custodians of indigenous narratives.

He mentioned the authority would amplify the provision of Ghanaian language fabrics throughout regional and municipal libraries, accentuate translation projects, and collaborate with conventional councils and artistic arts stakeholders to advertise community-based studying and storytelling fairs.

The Executive Director of GhLA mentioned the authority would additionally spouse the Bureau of Ghana Languages and the Ghana Institute of Languages to file susceptible languages and stimulate public discussion in indigenous tongues.

“When we preserve languages on pages, we secure identity against erosion and ensure that modernisation does not become homogenisation,” he mentioned, calling for coverage advocacy, publishing projects and educational analysis to stop additional linguistic decline.

Government position

The Deputy Minister of Education and Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr Clement Abas Apaak, reaffirmed the federal government’s dedication to mom tongue-based educating on the foundational stage.

He addressed a contemporary controversy on using native languages in schooling, explaining that from Kindergarten to Primary Three, Ghanaian languages could be used predominantly because the language of training and studying, with English and French offered as topics.

Dr Apaak mentioned the ministry, in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and the Bureau of Ghana Languages, was once translating core fabrics in arithmetic and science into decided on Ghanaian languages to enhance studying results and scale back early-grade studying poverty.

Dr Apaak steered legislators, teachers and network leaders to put money into growing and standardising their local languages, describing such efforts as an enduring nationwide legacy. 

He also referred to as on younger folks in quest of political careers to be told a couple of Ghanaian languages to expand their enchantment, construct consider and fasten successfully.

Global disaster, previous errors

The UNESCO Representative to Ghana, Edmond Moukala N’Gouemo, mentioned globally, a language disappeared each and every two weeks, making preservation efforts crucial.

He emphasized that books — whether or not in print or virtual shape — remained humanity’s maximum resilient citadel in opposition to cultural amnesia.

Mr N’Gouemo advocated translating cross-border classics into Ghanaian languages and vice versa to advertise highbrow change whilst urging the digitisation of native languages to verify relevance within the twenty first century.

The performing Executive Secretary of the Creative Arts Agency, Gideon Aryeequaye, mirrored on colonial-era restrictions that discouraged using vernacular in faculties, describing the follow as an erosion of identification.

He mentioned punitive measures as soon as imposed on pupils for talking indigenous languages had created generational stigma, and known as for a cultural reset that restored pleasure in mom tongues thru literature, efficiency and artistic expression.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by way of Readers and Contributors in this platform don’t essentially constitute the perspectives or coverage of Multimedia Group Limited.