Linguists have called on African Universities to take the initiative in the development and use of indigenous terms in all subjects and disciplines.
This formed part of the recommendations at the end of the first Linguistics and African Languages International Conference (LALIC) with the theme “Empowering African Languages: Challenges and Solutions” organised by the Kwara State University, Malete.
The conference, which had Professor Emeritus Ayo Bamgbose of the University of Ibadan as keynote speaker, attracted scholars from Nigeria and other parts of the world.
In a communiqué signed by the convener of the conference and Head, Department of Linguistics and African Languages, Prof. Nike Lawal, it was also recommended that African Universities should make competence in African languages part of graduation requirements for their degree programmes.
“African linguists should form a network with researchers in other fields to develop terminologies for various fields,” the communiqué stated, adding that the universities should undertake the development of human capacities in language technology for African languages.
It also expressed the need for government and external agencies to be encouraged to directly fund research and development in African languages.
According to the communiqué, such steps become necessary in view of the growing challenges facing the indigenous languages.
It noted that the local languages have been overshadowed by the use of official language for most purposes in government, academic environment and other domains.
While calling for the review of current policies in order to enhance the status of African languages, the communiqué said the language policies adopted by most African governments in general were unfavourable to indigenous languages.
