“If the élite could imagine how it would be like to be without Yorùbá as their rightful mother tongue in the next few decades, their emotional state will be stared. This is largely due to the fact that language is the most valuable single possession of the human race. The more hostile the attitude of the Yorùbá élites to the use of the language, the more it is devalued”.
The number of students enrolling for the Yoruba language as a discipline in tertiary institutions is dwindling annually.
The fact still remains that even those students studying the language presently in some higher institutions reluctantly decided to offer it since such students cannot be admitted for the “real courses” of their choice.
They will keep on struggling for their chosen courses and eventually jettison Yorùbá as a discipline.
So, does the Yoruba language have any future?
The Yorùbá language expresses identity, it is a repository of history, it talks about the nation’s ancestry, lineages or descents.
SPIRITUAL SOLUTION THAT WORKS: Are you in need of spiritual guidance about your life?
Do you need a complete spiritual check-up to balance your spiritual life, your Dreams and your spiritual suspicious?
Look no further! Consult With Trusted A highly experienced spiritual guide.
DR ADAMS ADAM: Will Guide you to achieve Success, Wealth, Healing Possessions and protection, bręakthrough. Spiritual power, healing & cleansing, Peaceful relationship. Get our natural Male Enhancement to Improved your libido, sexual performance and Enhanced fertility. Our spiritual check-up program will reveal the hidden secrets about your Life and solution. For spiritual consultation and counseling. ON MATTERS OF THE MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT.
Call or WatsApp + 2 3 4 7 0 6 2 1 5 6 8 3 4. With god All things. LOCATED AT “ABUJA, LAGOS, OSUN
Commenting on the worrisome trend, late Oba Lamido Olayiwola Adeyemi 111, explained that Yoruba Language contributes to the sum of knowledge of any Yorùbá man or woman, adding that all these would be gone and totally lost since the language is progressively dying out and steadily being supplanted by other languages, most especially the English language.
Said he: “If the élite could imagine how it would be like to be without Yorùbá as their rightful mother tongue in the next few decades, their emotional state will be stared. This is largely due to the fact that language is the most valuable single possession of the human race. The more hostile the attitude of the Yorùbá élites to the use of the language, the more it is devalued’’.
“The mind-set of the élite, against colonisation and neo-colonisation, the royal father pointed out, matters, as without this, there will be no sense of belonging””.
On the élite’s argument that their attitudes to the Yorùbá language could not lead to its loss, and that they are only maintaining a phenomenon called language shift, Alaafin pointed out that as plausible as this notion, it must be noted, however, that language shift, a process by which a community more or less gradually abandons its original language and adopts another, eventually leads to the total extinction of the abandoned language.
According to him, “there are numerous advanced economies in the world today such as Japan and China where their mother tongues are still thriving”.
Alaafin further observed that the Nigerian language policies are pointers to the decline of the indigenous languages, Yorùbá is no exception.
“Several language policies have been made, but they are left to rot at the implementation level. The Nigeria’s national education policy promulgated in 1977 provided for children to be taught in their mother
tongue or the language of their immediate community in the first three years of the primary school system. This has never been implemented in the country, but rather enormous prestige is associated with English as Nigeria’s official language’’
He asserted, that ‘’in addition, in the Nigerian Constitution Hausa, Igbo and Yorùbá languages are stipulated to be used in the National Assembly after adequate arrangements. This has never seen the light of the day. It is axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child is his mother tongue. Psychologically, it is the system of meaningful signs that in his mind works automatically for expression and understanding. Educationally, he learns more quickly through it than through an unfamiliar linguistic medium””.
Conclusively, Oba Adeyemi postulated that since English has captured the Nigerian nation, implementing any educational policies on mother tongue like that of UNESCO, will continue to be an exercise in futility.
“”This will lead to endangerment, then to moribund and finally to total extinction. Until this happens to Yorùbá and other indigenous African languages, the suppressive tasks before the English language and her few allies, would not be completed. As of today, a good percentage of the products of the Nigerian educational system are neither competent in the use of English nor in their mother tongue”.