How has the quest for <i>itiwa sleeti</i> aided the neglect of African indigenous languages?

Abstract

Itiwa sleeti in a loose translation means “to break the slate,” is an aphorism that was used during colonial period and beyond by Igbo- Africans to denote an unbridled passion to the acquisition of western education. Due to the high cost of acquiring western education and the intellectual rigor involved, many African parents could not face this challenge at that point in time. As a result these parents later took up the remedial challenge of bequeathing their children this perceived asset which they didn’t get. Unfortunately, this unbridled pursuit has left many valuable African cultures to be neglected and subjugated on the long run. The disastrous impact of this neglect is felt in the use of African indigenous languages because many of them are currently endangered while some have gone into extinction. My aim in this essay is to show how the unbridled quest for western education has aided the neglect of African indigenous languages. Though, some external factors like multilingualism, (which is a fall out of mindless partitioning of the continent by the west), Over-reliance on foreign languages as official language of instructions by Africans and their government and underdeveloped vocabularies and concepts have necessitated this neglect. I argue that there is an internal factor that is pioneered by African parents to foist these foreign languages on their children with the “mind view” that foreign languages serve the “actual need” of the hour more than indigenous languages. I contend that since the indigenous languages help the African child to establish both emotional and intellectual closeness with their parents in communicating their feelings in their own indigenous language at home, then restoration of African indigenous languages should begin from the home since charity they say begins from home.