By Nicole Palmer
Linguist Kwesi Kwaa Prah, champion of African languages, spoke about his passion during a graduation ceremony honouring his lifetime commitment to securing the position of mother tongue languages.
One could almost hear the disappointment in his voice when he said, “Look at Asia. Asia was colonised, and they still speak their own languages.” And we could feel the writer scolding us for not speaking our mother tongue languages in our African countries. The writer has lived and worked in nine countries, spreading his knowledge and love for African languages wherever he goes.
He does have one concern. “Oral language cannot be preserved easily. Oral speech can generally last over one lifetime. If you want to learn from oral speech, then each generation must learn completely orally what the previous generation has done. There are limits to what human beings can achieve,” he said before subtly giving the solution to this problem. “Writing,” he said, “increases the capacity for us to collect knowledge incrementally.”
When asked what is standing in the way of our linguistic development, Prah replied that it is us – we are the people blocking the way forward. He says that we do nothing about developing the security of African languages, and that makes us the problem. “If you speak like an English man, then you are even better regarded. You can’t compete with an English man in his own language; we can only imitate them. How can you respect that?”
The scholar’s strong wisdom raised important points for the graduates to dwell on. “You must live your life in such a way that it is of benefit to everyone,” he advised.
“I don’t need much for myself anymore.” he continued. What does Rhodes University’s recognition mean to him? “It is a tremendous honour,” said the scholar.
