Use Indigenous Language To Communicate With Children At Home

Use Indigenous Language To Communicate With Children At Home - Egbilika Tasks Parents

Commemorating Children's day, a Port Harcourt based Linguist and Indigenous Language Advocate, Mr. Josiah Egbilika has tasked parents all over the world to take the transfer of their indigenous languages to their children seriously.

He made the charge while speaking in Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, Nigeria.

According to him, most parents communicate to their children in foreign languages at home, they don't speak their indigenous languages to their children and wonder why their children can't speak the language.

How can the children speak the language when you don't speak it or use it to communicate with them. You prefer using other foreign languages other than your indigenous languages, he lamented.

The indigenous language Advocate stressed that the form of transferring language to the child is by speaking the language in the home. He emphasized that parents should make it a priority to use their indigenous languages in their day-to-day activities at home.

Use the language to send them (children) message. Use the language when you want to pray. Use the language when you are advising them. Use the language everytime you are talking to them. Even if you don't know how to speak your indigenous language fluently, use the little you know. It will help them (the children) in the future, he stated.

Mr Egbilika said that children has the inmate ability to acquire multiple languages while growing up, so, parents from different linguistic background do not have any excuse not to communicate with their children using their indigenous languages.

Citing a Nigerian child as an example, He pointed out that a Nigerian child by default is a multilingual speaking child because the child naturally, due to the linguistic exposure of Nigeria, the child should speak a minimum of three languages: the indigenous language, Naija known as Nigerian Pidgin and English.

If you are from different linguistics background, don't be afraid. Use your language to communicate with your child or children. Your are not over burdening the child. The child has the ability to acquire as many languages as possible. There are people who speak 5,610 languages, how did they acquire it? It starts from the home, Egbilika stressed.

The Linguist stated that the best form of preserving culture is through the transfer of indigenous languages from one generation to the other. He mentioned that if any language go into extinction, everything about the people has gone extinct.

Comments

Rivers’ Born Journalist Awajis, The Voice Behind Andoni Section of Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Unity Road

OPINION By: Josiah Egbilika The media has widely been acknowledged as a fourth tie of government. Besides it’s informative role, it has been credited as a watchdog. Beyond this role, the media has become an advocacy tool for social development. Remarkable achievements have been accoladed to journalists, On-Air-Personnel and even media houses in actualizing social developmental objectives of communities. In Rivers State, the media held the police accountable for the unjust torture of the Ikoku-5; unmasked the unjust gruesome murder of four University of Port Harcourt (Uniport( Students, now referred as the Aluu-4. These and many more including transparency and accountability of public officers as well as calls for completion of abandoned projects. One of such calls is that made by Awajibokoiton Josiah-Chijindu (fondly known as Awajis) for the completion of the Andoni section of the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro unity road. The Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo unity road was awarded by a former governor of...

CREATING PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE THROUGH LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTENANCE

by Josiah Egbilika Language Advocate, Najialogist, Human Rights and Gender Advocate Considering the decline in our indigenous languages, it has become of immense imperative to draw attention to the neglect of our indigenous languages. This is necessitated because the neglect of our languages has resulted to the abuse and false assumption that our indigenous languages are insufficient to national development, peace building and reconciliation. It is worthy of note that no good development can be achieved without communication. A good communication system is a facet to a better development in any region. No matter the tribe, race, belief or people, communicating the precepts and processes for better understanding and follow up is imperative. This is made possible through language. As a matter of truth not just fact, the place of language in human development can never be undermined. It plays a major role in virtually every human endeavour. It relays the essence of human existence, s...

Linguist Egbilika Calls For Adoption, Acceptance, Recognition of Endoglossophobia

A Port Harcourt based Linguist and Indigenous Language Advocate, Mr. Josiah Egbilika has called for the adoption, acceptance and recognition of the word, ‘Endoglossophobia’, and its inclusion in the next production of various dictionaries online or hardcopies. Speaking in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital on Wednesday, Mr. Egbilika stated that ‘Endoglossophobia’ is not just a word, but a real-life situation which if not handled can result in the extinction of indigenous languages. Noting that the situation is not only common in Nigeria or Africa but global, the Linguist enjoined that it be given the attention it deserves. By way of definition, Egbilika who holds a Master of Arts Degree in Linguistics, defined Endoglossophobia as the feeling of unease, apprehension, worry, irritation or nervousness experienced in learning or using either in speech or writing, one’s indigenous language or dialect. The indigenous language advocate, who stated that Endoglossophobia, simply put is the...

Language Health

Search This Blog