The Legacy of Language

South Africa is home to some of the most fascinating languages on Earth, but they are under threat and little understood or appreciated by Western culture. 

The majority of the most widely-spoken world languages stem from one proto-language: Indo-European. In fact, six out of the ten most spoken languages stem from Indo-European (Lane, James). A few of these languages include English, Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese. Each of these languages is unique in its vocabulary and phonology, but they are not incredibly foreign to each other. But what about non-Indo-European languages? 

There are many common non-Indo-European, such as Mandarin Chinese and Arabic, which are very different from the Indo-European languages we know. Mandarin takes the phonology in a completely different direction, with a spoken language that relies heavily on tones and syllabic stress, and Arabic, which uses sounds created by completely cutting off airflow from the throat. All these sounds are unique and sometimes seen as strange, especially to speakers of Indo-European languages. However, these languages have nothing on the phonology of the Xhosa language, a Nguni Bantu language spoken predominantly in South Africa. Not only does spoken Xhosa use a tonal system (similar to that of Mandarin), it also utilizes a series of eighteen clicks, each with a distinct sound. There is no equivalent for the majority of the world’s population, but some sounds resemble the way we would call a horse or the common exclamation of disapproval “tsk tsk”. However, the Xhosa language’s measly 18 clicks pales in comparison to one of its neighboring languages; the Taa (ǃXóõ) language, which has upwards of 100 consonants, and as many as 80 ‘clicks’ (Claassens, Carina), which is astronomically higher than the average consonant inventory of a language, which falls between 22 and 25 consonants(Maddieson, Ian). For anyone apart from Taa’s 3,000 estimated native speakers in Botswana (Comrie, Bernard), a language like Taa may sound like a nightmare to learn, which may be part of the reason why Taa, among seemingly countless other indigenous African languages, is now in serious danger of extinction. 

Ease of learning is a vital factor in the survival of a language, which is one of the reasons why native African languages are going extinct so rapidly. In contrast, The Afrikaans language is generally considered one of the easiest languages to speak in the world(O’Rourke, Ryan), with a simple grammar structure and a very tame phonology. This is especially true for English speakers, as Afrikaans is one of the most similar languages to English in the world, as both languages share West-Germanic origins (Herzog,Marvin Irving). Afrikaans and English have become the Lingua Francas of South Africa, meaning they are used to communicate universally, often for business reasons. However, with Germanic languages like English and Afrikaans becoming the norm, this creates an issue with learning a language like Xhosa or other native African languages. One would be hard-pressed to find a language more different from English or Afrikaans than the Xhosa language, which has a completely alien phonological library and speaking pattern from English or Afrikaans, making languages like Xhosa extremely difficult to master for someone who natively speaks a language like Afrikaans or English.

Language has a definite impact on culture, and when a language dies, a part of the culture dies with it. N|uu is a language spoken in South Africa similar to the Taa (!Xoo) language and is spoken by the San people (Pejoratively called ‘Bushmen’) The N|uu language is a functionally extinct language, meaning it is no longer spoken on a daily basis. It does have a handful of speakers, however, they all live separately from each other, and cannot intercommunicate. N|uu is one of the luckier languages, though, as it’s revival efforts have been somewhat successful, and there are now some passive speakers. This is thanks to Katrina Esau, an elderly native speaker of N|uu who had opened a school dedicated to teaching local children the N|uu language. In the modern world, it is often difficult to maintain a thriving culture, especially with the spread of industrialization and subsequent cultural homogeny. Spreading this dying language helped reaffirm a sense of culture for many San people,  as language is one of the only things left that connects them to their history. The main reason N|uu (along with hundreds of other African languages) was endangered, to begin with, was colonialism and the attempts by Dutch colonizers to purge South Africa of its native languages. This caused deep-rooted shame in the culture and language of native South Africans, which may explain the reluctance to learn their native languages.

While languages like English and Afrikaans may be more convenient to learn for the sake of business and general communication, these non-native languages lack the intricate cultural vocabulary that many native African Languages possess. English and Afrikaans have a vocabulary that works well for the culture and lifestyle of their place of origin, which for both languages is in Western Europe, which both emphasize more urban lifestyles, and have a vocabulary that corresponds to that. In contrast, Pre-Colonial South Africa was largely hunter-gatherer-based and day-to-day life was lived in villages and tribes, which were often nomadic. Subsequently, these African languages reflect their unique cultural identity through specific vocabulary “‘When you look at the African languages, you learn that they help communicate different perspectives on life, relationships, spirituality, the earth, health, humanity,’”(Fihlani, Pumza). Cultural language contains a great deal of knowledge about how life was lived by the descendants of their native speakers “There is a wealth of knowledge on survival that has been passed down through the years in indigenous communities that the Western world knows very little about and when these languages die, that unique knowledge is also lost,”(Fihlani, Pumza).

Despite ever-expanding industrial society, not all hope is lost for Indigenous peoples and their Languages. Many continue to battle for their cultural identity, and though many cultures and languages are lost along the way, many live on, thus preserving their culture. These languages provide a huge amount of information, which continues to inform us about how life used to be in Africa and restores the connection between the people of today and their ancestors.

Claassens, Carina. “This Is the World's Most Difficult Language.” Culture Trip, The Culture Trip, 13 Aug. 2017, theculturetrip.com/africa/botswana/articles/this-is-the-worlds-most-difficult-language/. This is from a travel-blog-style website aimed to educate curious tourists about their destination at a rudimentary level. Though not the most scholarly, it is a reputable travel website and offers simple numerical information. There is very little subjectivity in this article, especially when it comes to the numerical data and evidence. This data also aligns with what many other sources say.

Comrie, Bernard. “Taa.” DOBES, 2012, dobes.mpi.nl/projects/taa/language/. This source seems quite reliable. This is a well-accredited source based in Germany and was written at a university. The source is dedicated t researching endangered world languages, and the data all aligns with its sources.

Fihlani, Pumza. “Trying to Save South Africa's First Language.” BBC News, BBC, 30 Aug. 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39935150. This is a second-person account of how the near extinction and revival has affected one of the only remaining speakers of the language. It is from BBC which is typically a very reliable source. There is little quantitative data, but this source is being used more for pathos than logos.

Herzog, Marvin Irving, et al. “West Germanic Languages.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Oct. 2010, www.britannica.com/topic/West-Germanic-languages. Brittanica is typically a very reliable source for quantitative data. The data used is widely attested and common knowledge among scholars. Much is known about this topic, and there is little room for error. There is virtually 0 pathos in this publication, so there is a very low chance of high subjectivity.

“Https://Undark.org/2018/04/04/Language-Brain-Cognition-Perception/.” Https://Undark.org/2018/04/04/Language-Brain-Cognition-Perception/, DigitalVison Getty/Vectors, 2018, zjf683hopnivfq5d12xaooxr-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/lang2-1480x833.jpg.

Lane, James. “The 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World.” Babbel Magazine, 19 Sept. 2019, www.babbel.com/en/magazine/the-10-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world. This is from a successful and reliable language learning website, and the data is easy to find and likely accurate. The author is very credible and has worked for NPR along with being a language teacher for a number of years. The data is widely researched and is pretty straightforward, and the data seems in accordance with any other iterations I've seen of it.

Maddieson, Ian. WALS Online - Chapter Consonant Inventories, 2013, wals.info/chapter/1. This article is from WALS or the World Atlas of Language Structures, which is entirely dedicated to the structure of languages. This provides, simple, quantitative data in a very objective way. It is published by Oxford University, which helps its credibility.

O'Rourke, Ryan. “4 Easy Foreign Languages You Never Thought of Learning (and Why You Should).” Matador Network, 24 Oct. 2013, matadornetwork.com/abroad/4-easy-foreign-languages/. This is another reputable travel website with a rudimentary language section. The article is about the easiest languages to learn. While ease of learning a language is highly subjective, this article provides reasoning as to why the languages mentioned are easy to learn. Once again, this information checks out with many other sources and seems completely logical.