LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT AND DEATH IN EAST AFRICA By Kithaka wa Mberia, PhD As we have seen in other articles, languages emerge and develop. However, languages can also become weak and, sometimes, die. When a language is very weak, linguists refer to it as being endangered. If for some reason or the other, a language ceases to exist it is said to dead (or extinct). Whereas it is possible for language death to take place suddenly, in most of the instances, it is preceded by language weakness or endangerment. A possible scenario that can lead to a sudden language death is a major natural catastrophe such as a giant volcanic explosion, a mammoth tsunami or a massive disease epidemic. Such an occurrence can wipe out a small speech-community together with its language. However, ordinarily, language is gradual. Speakers of a language progressively give up their language and embrace another. Eventually, the original language ceases to be used. When that happens, the language is said to be dead (or extinct) Let me illustrate the twin issues of language endangerment and language death using Kenyan languages. The original speakers of Bongom were Nilotes who lived next to and intermingled with the Bukusu who speak the Lubukusu variety of the Luhya language. The two communities lived together for many generations. Of the two, the Bukusu were the majority, were stronger economically and were better educated. Over the years, more and more Bongom speakers became bilingual adopting Lubukusu (as well as English for the educated ones) besides Bongom. Instead of facilitating development of an orthography of Bongom, the British colonial government required Bongom-speaking children to learn and take examinations in Lubukusu. After Kenya attained independence in 1963, the new Government was unsupportive of the small indigenous languages in the country. As a result of various unfavourable factors, Bongom is practically dead. Post-independence governments in other African countries have treated small indigenous languages in very much the same way as post-independence Kenya Government treated Bongom. Consequently, many of the African languages are either already dead or severely endangered. In the absence of a positive intervention, these severely endangered languages are destined for extinction this century. There are several African languages that are listed as being endangered. In 1993, the late Okoth Okombo, a prominent Kenyan linguist mentioned El-Molo, Okiek and Suba as being among endangered languages. Currently, a publication of an organization called the Summer Institute of Linguistics mentions several languages as in East Africa as being endangered. In Kenya endangered are include El-Molo, Waata, Yaaku, Dahalo, Okiek, Ilchamus, Omotik, Burji and Rendile. In Uganda, Nyang’i, Singa and Soo are among the endangered languages. Some of the endangered languages in Tanzania are Aasax, Dhaiso, Hadza, Kami, Kw’adza, Ngasa, Nindi, segeju and Zaramo. The only members of the East African community without serious issues of language endangerment are Rwanda and Burundi where Kinyarwanda and Kirundi, respectively, are the only languages spoken. As the foregoing names of endangered languages in East Africa show, El-Molo is one of the victims of language endangerment. Research is yet to establish the precise state of the language. Whereas some scholars have claimed that it is so severely endangered with fewer than ten speakers, others specialists have suggested that the last speakers of the language passed on in the 70s and that the language is extinct. Those who would be speaking the language today speak Samburu. In other words, although there people with El-Molo blood flowing in their veins, they have linguistically been assimilated into Samburu. Incidentally, El-Molo is not the only language that is threatened (or has been killed) by Samburu. Samburu is also in the process of gobbling up Rendille, a neighbbouring Cushitic language. In a recent Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) study at the University of Nairobi titled “From Rendille to Samburu: A Language Shift Involving Two Unintelligible Languages of Northern Kenya”, Kenneth Kamuri Ngure has revealed that in all six settlements of the Rendille in Marsabit, the Rendille language is in decline. He has pointed out that the decline is not uniform and that, in some of the settlements, the Rendille speakers assimilation into Samburu is in the final stages. Language endangerment has also been observed at the Kenya Coast. It has been reported that the Degere and the Vuna are severely endangered languages. The Duruma and the Digo look down upon the speakers of the two languages. They view them as outcasts who bring poverty and misfortune to those who marry into their communities. This stigma arises from the two communities’ former lifestyle as hunter-gatherers. In turn, the stigma acts as a catalyst for a faster demise of the two languages. East Africa will continue to witness expansion in education, growth in urbanization, improvement in transportation, increase in the number of people in professions and those in other white color jobs. We will also see increased inter-ethnic marriages and the weakening of ties between urban residents and the rural dwellers. All these factors will accelerate language endangerment and, ultimately, lead to language death among some of the languages of the region. The first to go will be the small languages especially those stuck in very tradition methods of sustaining livelihood. .