Back to mother tongue. Again, you will say
E. Ablorh-Odjidja
October 25, 2015

One particular article, "The beast that stalks the Ghana mother tongue issue!", written for Ghanaweb, brings me back to this subject.

It is hard to understand what this writer is saying or wants to say.

On one hand you hear the celebration of the rise in popularity of the Akan language in his voice. On the other, you hear a defense of the education minister for what she is attempting to do, namely reverse "this trend" of the spread of the Akan language..

In his first paragraph, he says:

" Akan; it is like a hydra-headed monster sweeping all before it in Ghana as it commits linguicide. Along comes a government committed to a policy that will surely reverse this trend and it is attacked by those whom the beast threatens."

To this writer I say, we are not threatened by the Akan language but by the naïveté which assumes that it is the panacea for what is ailing our failing education system.

You must note the self-revealing affinity, pride and sympathy the writer has for the Akan language. That notion is there, hidden between the lines, but very obvious, The writer's unspoken intent is betrayed by the enthusiasm of his language.  Call it the silent Freudian slip.

But, reversing "this trend," the hegemony of the beast, namely the Akan language? Certainly, this is not what the minister is trying to do.

Some suspect the minister is not reversing the trend of linguicide.  She is rather consolidating the gains in favor of the Akan language.

As a result the mother tongue in places like the Accra region will be Akan.  And of course, this is the unspoken glee, the silent wish of the writer of the "Beast." The false sense of outrage could have provided a cover, but for the incidence of the silent Freudian slip.

But we can again assure him that we do not feel threatened by the proposed policy because of tribal reasons. Our view is the policy is a silly way to approach advancement from the current state of our Third Word backwardness.

The case against the policy has been stated by many. They were mostly technical reasons and had nothing to do with tribal reasoning. To wit, there is pride in going to war with tribal accoutrements. But where is the benefit if you were going to face the Gatling machine gun in that ineffective cultural splendor?

The lessons of history  tell how Africa got to this point - losing to the British and other Europeans while wearing our native accoutrements..

No such technical reasons were taken into consideration by the writer of “The Beast that stalks.” But, you could hear his applause for the minister’s stated mission.

We must have the utmost respect for what the Akan language represents for the African personality. But tugging at the back of the minds of some of us is a pressing consciousness: how to advance the nation expeditiously Call this nagging sentiment "Consciencism," if you will.

So let us help clarify the writer's thinking on the subject some more.

” Akan; it is like a hydra-headed monster sweeping all before it in Ghana as it commits linguicide."

True, but it shouldn't be forgotten that English is doing a better job everywhere, "linguiciding" all the languages it meets on its way, including our much vaunted Akan.

The issue is not cultural pride. It is about the best approach. Efficacy, expediency and convenience of usage are the watch words. So better to drop the romantic clap-trap now.

Don't attempt to impose a “mother tongue," and don’t wreck the current practice of English as the medium. The result will be instant confusion and strife in the society. We are experienced in the destruction of ideas. About time we learned to fix things and to leave good ideas alone.

If Akan "linguicide" is already at work, as this writer assumes, then let it proceed unaided until English is driven out of our system.

However, at this point in history, the notion of selecting the most populous language spoken in Ghana is already anachronistic.

We are in the era of an effort for a continental government, if the AU parade is real. The "hydra headed" Akan has no reach on our own continent. We need a larger search frame than Ghana.

Fact is, even if Akan were spoken by the whole population of Ghana, we would still not be found in the top 25 most popular languages in the world. Furthermore, Akan would still rank below Hausa (34 million), Yoruba (28 million) Igbo (24 million).

The “beast” in the region is Hausa, so why not Hausa?

Hausa is spoken in many municipalities, especially in the northern parts of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. From there, it straddles eastward to the southern base of Niger, Chad, Sudan, and then to the Northern parts of Nigeria and Cameroon.

Why not embrace the bigger "beast" Hausa to jump start our effort at African Unity?

In the interest of full disclosure, I must state that I do not speak Hausa, nor am I married to one who does.

Hausa has linguistic legitimacy like many spoken in wide regional areas of Africa, be it Arabic or Kiswahili, French or English. It has a body of literature that any African language can envy. It is heard on networks worldwide; BBC, VOA, RFI, and others.

The migration of the Hausa language into Ghana is said to have happened by the 15th century.

By the way, this proposal is not to be taken as an imprimatur of a cultural superiority or an endorsement of the underlying religion that comes with the Hausa language. It is merely an acknowledgement of the language as the real "beast" in the region of West Africa.

Akan may be big in Ghana but it has problems and limitations when it comes to our linguistic aspirations.

Like all languages, there are dialects within Akan, which fact narrows its comprehension and usefulness. This may pose technical problems in certain professional areas; interpretations and enforcement of the law, for instance.

There are cases in courts where the translation of some legal concepts and terms have presented problems.

For example, a Fanti, also of the Akan family, at Menhyia traditional court will suddenly find his understanding of the proceedings and arguments in court reduced by virtue of nuances of language.

He, like a Ga-Adagme, with barely a functional street level command of the Akan language, will definitely need an interpreter.

I told Wofa Kodwo, a true Akan and an Ashanti, about my experience at a Manyia court and I invited him to start thinking of how befuddled he would look should he ever be arranged in front of that court.

Wofo Kwadwo, highly educated scholar, historian, and a retired diplomat has stayed out of his traditional area for most of his life, starting from high school, to university and marriage and in between long stretches of stays abroad.

Wofa Kwadwo can, if he wished, teach a subject of his choice at any school or university on the continent of Africa because he speaks English fluently and is a proven scholar of the language.

In Ghana, the same Wofa Kwadwo will be restricted to a handful of schools, should he teach in a mother tongue.

Hopefully, a better argument can be made in the future for a more encompassing "mother tongue." In the meantime, there is no need to burden the rest of us now with it when English has so far done a good job and is continuing to do so.

E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, October 25, 2015.
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