Saving Nupe

Spoken by millions, and adored for its richness by scholars in European and American universities, but regarded as ‘remote’ and ‘undeveloped’ by some Nupe sons in Nigeria, the language today has become   threatened. But the powerful history of this highly creative, trading, fishing and scholarly group is still very alive. One place where these threats […]

Spoken by millions, and adored for its richness by scholars in European and American universities, but regarded as ‘remote’ and ‘undeveloped’ by some Nupe sons in Nigeria, the language today has become   threatened. But the powerful history of this highly creative, trading, fishing and scholarly group is still very alive.
One place where these threats may be seen is Yauri in Kebbi state, which does not fall within Nupeland proper, but here there is a significant Nupe population,  drawn to that riverine   community a hundred years ago where they have excelled in fishing and in canoe making activities. It looks like a good place outside the traditional borders of Nupeland, to measure the state of the language. The people are Nupe by name, appearance and culture, but in terms of the use of the language, they can hardly be called Nupe.  By a riverside which is itself symbolic of life, the language begins to decline and  is in need of oxygen. Gadu Abu Umma, Nupe himself, has been in Yauri for a very long time making canoes. He tells Daily Trust, against sounds  of the  sawing of wood by young men  “We Nupe have been here for more than a hundred years.We were here before Yerwa became capital of Birnin Yauri.” He shed more light on the Nupe presence in Yauri “Our grandfather was a great fisherman here. He made boats and was also a blacksmith.” The population of Nupes in Yauri is put at 10,000. But Gadu Umma says that the language itself has suffered over the years “Few of us can speak the language, and the mothers teach the children in  Hausa.We are now like Hausas, but originally we were Nupe.”
He mentions that nobody  in the house of the present leader of the community  can speak Nupe, arguing “The elders among us cannot speak the language. Therefore, children won’t be able to speak it too.” Yauri shows how the Hausa language has slowly displaced Nupe in many households, and has then become the language of first choice among a people who were once Nupe .
Nupe is also threatened within Nupeland itself, as  Samuel Kolo Tswanya, a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida  University, Lapai, explains “The colonial mentality is a huge problem today in our societies. People see English as being more important than  the local  language,and as being more relevant to their life  than Nupe.”
He also comments on the rise of Hausa “In the past it was more important to speak Hausa than your local language. People now say how can I send my children to school to speak Nupe? No, he should go and learn Hausa or Arabic or English.” But the government has played a role in bringing about the decline in the language. The professor, who also holds an MA in Linguistics, argues “The government itself is not promoting the language for political reasons. In Niger State, we have three major languages, Nupe, Hausa and Gbagyi. But you find that today Hausa is now the dominant language.”
He now describes a situation where Hausa has completely pushed aside Nupe in the households “Nupe people prefer to speak Hausa in their houses, and are fond of  giving Hausa names to their children. They like  to be known as good speakers of English, rather than good speakers of Nupe, their  language. If you want a scholarship to go and study Nupe or Gbagyi, you will not be encouraged to do that. People don’t see the need for it.”

He adds “People want to be known or associated  with English. But they forget that the falling standard of English we are talking about, is as a result of the falling standard of the mother tongue. If you can speak your mother tongue very well, English would not be a problem. If you ask a child what is a table or a bed, he can tell you what these are in English, but he wont be able to tell you the same  names  or words for these in Nupe. This is because they  don’t know your language, and English has become their mother tongue.” Then he says “Some of us, even myself I am guilty of it. Even at home your child will speak English to you, rather than Nupe.”
Then there is the paradox that the National Policy on Education actually advocates that the language of the immediate environment should be taught in every part of Nigeria, which includes all Nupe speaking areas, for example. But this is not the reality on the ground. His words “I don’t think this is happening, because we must now ask who are those to teach the language, and most teachers don’t understand the language themselves. Then the facilities to teach the language are absent, and the environment to learn is not there. Also, there are no books written in Nupe. “He recalls that in 1982 the Niger State government attempted to publish local language books in Hausa, Nupe and Gbagyi, but this fizzled out after a while.”
Professor Tswanya now draws attention to a study he did a while ago “I did a study in Niger and Plateau states. My interaction with parents in the various schools showed that they will prefer their child to be able to speak English rather than the local language, despite the national policy on education. A parent would rebuke a child if it gets a credit in Yoruba or Hausa, rather than in English.”

Like many other Nigerian languages, Europeans have been at the forefront of documenting the Nupe language. For example, the first Nupe-English dictionary was written in 1912 by Reverend Banfield. Again, the same Reverend Banfield wrote a grammar of the Nupe language in 1914. The scholar  also refers to a tradition which identifies a contribution by Samuel Ajayi Crowther “Sources said Samuel Ajayi Crowther wrote some hymn books in Lokoja in Nupe. But people don’t reckon so much with it, as it is a mixture of both Yoruba and Nupe.”
Next, he draws attention to the fact that Nupe does not feature  on the  syllabi of Nigerian universities and colleges of education “Nupe is not being studied in any Nigerian university, or college of education. It is not. Its there on paper that Nupe  should be taught, but I can tell you that no school is teaching it. The college of education and the new state university of education here in Minna, have it as a course only on paper. But I don’t see it working. Who are those to teach it, and to provide materials?”
He adds that scholars are not investigating Nupe, and that the level of research today within Nigeria is very low. According to him the study of Nupe is flourishing abroad “It is being studied in Europe. There is more research on Nupe in the western world, and this is because of the richness of the grammar that they have identified. One person who has such great interest in the language is Professor N.V Smith of the University of London, who got a PhD in the language in 1961, he says.
He sheds more light on the work by N.V Smith “He was the first to tell us of the peculiar nature of Nupe grammar, especially the verb and the use of repetition in Nupe which European intellectuals found very interesting. Before then there were other studies on Nupe but not written in Nupe, for instance there was Nadel’s Black Byzantium. Nadel was an anthropologist, and he wrote about the anthropology of Nupe.”
In the USA Nupe is studied  also because of “the nature of the pronouns in the language. The scholars understand that the adjectives in Nupe  are post modifiers, whereas in English we have pre modifiers. So, they are very interested in how this works in the language.”  
Professor Tswanya posits that Nupe is a threatened language “It is a threatened language. Last year the Nupe Language Committee was inaugurated by the Etsu Nupe Yahaya Abubakar. I was made chairman of the committee. We have a lot of manuscripts to develop, but the support is not there. People prefer to receive individuals who come with proposals on politics, than to hear  one saying that he has a manuscript, or that he wants  to write a Nupe grammar. They won’t listen to that. When the Europeans come,they come with support from Rockefeller or other foundations, to study the Nupe language or other languages in the country. But here one cannot go to  the scholarship board, and say I need support for a research project on Nupe.One cannot even go to the TetFund.”
He explains further on the work of committee “But the language is declining even though we are trying to sensitise people. The Etsu Nupe realised that the language is dying, and he recognised that those who can resuscitate it are still very few. So some of us were called into it. We have some manuscripts, but we need support. If we can publish these,it will go a long way in saving the language. Solomon Yisa’s dictionary was published by the committee. His problem is that he is not a linguist. But his is a very good effort. While the rest of us could not write, he has done it.”
He says that generally most Nupe see their language as a “remote, primordial language, and one which is not yet developed. For socio political reasons, it is not brought into the limelight, if not, in Niger State we are the majority group.”
On some of the strengths of the language today, he adds that Nupe is spoken in its “clear, unadulterated form in communities outside Bida” and argues “that code switching and code mixing is very  common in  Nupe  towns, and people cannot do without it when speaking.”
But whats the way forward? Professor Tswanya argues “The way forward is captured in the national policy on education, which states that every school in Nigeria has to teach a language of the immediate community. Higher institutions are also free to offer degrees in local languages. In the college of education, they have it on paper that they should teach Nupe, but they say that the enrolment is poor. But who are those to teach it? That is the major problem. Before you develop interest in teaching anything, you must also know it. But the teachers are not forthcoming. Then with the decline in funds being allocated to institutions, I don’t think government will want to put any money into the department of languages.”

In saving the Nupe language, a great role can be played by public spirited individuals, says Samuel Tswanya “The owners of Nupe can develop the language. There are public spirited individuals who are rich and who naturally support such causes. That is how it is done in developed societies. There they can’t wait for the government, but here those who have the will don’t have the means, and these are two different things.”
He adds that  in less than 50 years the language will vanish, as well as many other languages in Nigeria, if efforts are not made to save them, saying that just half of the population of the  Nupe speak an unadulterated form of the language. Then he opines  “Unless we develop our own languages, even the technology we are talking about will continue to go down. For instance, you have a child who does not understand his own language, and then he starts learning English. It doesn’t work that way. There must be primary socialization. In other words your own language must be known to you. Then other things will  follow and the country will develop.”