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Vice Chancellor, Delta State University Calls For Preservation Of The Uvwie Language


Prof. Roseline Oro Aziza, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka calls on native speakers of the Uvwie language spoken majorly in Delta State, Nigeria to make efforts at preserving the language.


Prof. Aziza made the call during the 15th Coronation anniversary of the Ovie of Uvwie, HRM Dr. Emmanuel E. Sideso, Abe I, JP, OON, while stressing on some consequences if the Uvwie language should go extinct.


According to Aziza, language is a characteristic factor that distinguishes one society from another, the custodian of a people’s culture and tradition and a means they identify themselves.


According to Prof. Aziza, a child’s native language is called his ‘mother tongue’ not for want of adequate vocabulary but to emphasize the unique role the mother plays in helping the child become integrated into his society physically, mentally and psychologically.

In Uvwie as well as most communities in Urhoboland today, Pidgin is the lingua franca and, while the elders have Uvwie as their mother tongue, the youth have Pidgin and English as theirs. Useful as Pidgin is for everyday communication purposes, it does not carry a culture with it.


Since language controls the thought process, the value systems of parents and the youth differ. Therefore, when parents contrast present youth behaviour with their own youth, they consider the change a crumbling of cherished values.


But they forget that they have contributed to the unacceptable youth behaviour by not sufficiently exposing their children to their language and culture during their formative years, she added.


Source: TheNewsGuru.com

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 21, 2023 at 9:13 AM

    When we preserve our languages,we preserve our culture.So let's do our best to preserve our languages

    ReplyDelete

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