Language Health

By Josiah Egbilika Linguist, Indigenous Language Advocate  Every 21st February, the world celebrates the international mother tongue day. This day is set aside to create awareness of the necessity of indigenous languages and why the globe should have language tolerance noting that despite the differences in our languages, we are one. This year, the celebration is special as it marks the 25th year, silver jubilee of the celebration of the international mother tongue day which was adopted by united nations in 2000 after been initiated by Bangladesh the year before. This therefore calls for a reflection to the Nigerian situation. For 25 years, what has Nigeria achieved, how have we felt in terms of language development and sustainability? While there may seems to be more negatives to the questions above, there are actually some positives we as a nation has achieved. The past 25 years, Nigeria has developed some language policies to help the development of indigenous languages. There i...

By Eylem Altuntas Babies are like little detectives, constantly piecing together clues about the world around them. If you've ever noticed your baby staring at you while you talk, it's because they're picking up on more than just sounds – they're learning how those sounds are made. Our recent study, published in Developmental Science, shows this amazing process starts as early as four months old, shaking up the old belief that babies learn these patterns only after tuning in to their native language between 6 and 12 months of age. It also gives us an earlier window to help children who might be at risk of speech or language delays. Sorting through a buffet of sounds By their first birthday, babies are already fine-tuning their ears to the sounds of their native language in a process called perceptual attunement. Think of it like their brain sorting through a buffet of sounds to focus on the ones that matter most. But in their first six months, babies can tell apart soun...