Dialogue on Language Diversity, Sustainability and Peace: 10th Linguapax Congress The role of local agency in the defence of minority languages: Indigenous language committees in Northwest Cameroon Barbara Trudell University of Edinburgh and SIL International Email:
[email protected] May 2004 The centrality of language in the survival of indigenous cultures is well understood today. Language is an essential aspect of the maintenance of ethnic and cultural identity, and is central to current discussion of minority rights (May 2001). As Korang and Slemon note, "every theory of culture puts language at the centre of debates about power, ideology, subjectivity and agency" (1997:249). At the same time, it is recognised that successful initiatives for combating linguistic and cultural marginalisation must be grounded in the indigenous community itself. In a review of indigenous language education initiatives in Papua New Guinea, Skutnabb-Kangas (2003:82) notes that "community initiative and involvement seems to be decisive for [language] revitalisation to work". May and Aikman (2003) note the role of local indigenous educators around the world in the struggle for culturally relevant education. The role of local individuals and organisations in language revitalisation or maintenance initiatives has been documented among the Maori of New Zealand (Durie 1999), the Pulaar of Senegal (Fagerberg-Diallo 2001) and certain minority language communities of Benin and Burkina Faso (Akoha 2001). However, such examples of effective community-based action in defence of indigenous language are relatively few. Given the thousands of languages around the world which merit and need support, documented cases of community activism in minority language 'rescue' are not at all plentiful.