Human languages develop
alongside with the life span of their speakers. It’s the speakers that
motivated its development and other wise. If they are strong, courageous, and
intelligent, their language would be strong enough to be well placed and wide
spread beyond their political boundaries. Less privileged languages belong to a
very minority group politically marginalized and socially isolated,
economically below average and educationally left behind. These are the
situations critically observed by the experts to classify languages at various
endangerments status. In the assessment of this essay, Kyanganci or the Kyanga
language is seen as one of the…
LINGUISTIC BALANCED SHEET OF KYANGA:
(Between Endangerment Status and Extinction)
Aliyu Muhammad Bunza
Nigerian Languages Department
Usmanu Danfodiyo
University, Sokoto
Being
a paper presented at the first international conference on Endangered Languages
in Nigeria in Honour and Memory of Professor M.K.M. Galadanci, organized by the
Department of Linguistics, Bayero University, Kano. Theme: Endangered Languages
in Nigeria: Structure,
Policy and Documentation, 4th – 6th August, 2014 at Bayero University,
Kano.
Introduction
Human languages develop
alongside with the life span of their speakers. It’s the speakers that
motivated its development and other wise. If they are strong, courageous, and
intelligent, their language would be strong enough to be well placed and wide
spread beyond their political boundaries. Less privileged languages belong to a
very minority group politically marginalized and socially isolated,
economically below average and educationally left behind. These are the
situations critically observed by the experts to classify languages at various
endangerments status. In the assessment of this essay, Kyanganci or the Kyanga
language is seen as one of the endangered species critically at the brink of
extinction. It belongs to the language family of Niger-Congo branch of
languages, and is spoken in the Republics of Niger, Benin
and Nigeria.
Arguments raised herein are reviews of Dr. Rose Jones declaration which says:
“The Kyanga
people are the original inhabitants of the region where Nigeria, Niger
Republic and Benin Republic
meet and they continue to live in that area although the majority has ceased
speaking the Kyanga language having
assimilated to Hausa, Zarma, Dendi, Busa, and Boko. There are over 200,000
ethnic Kyanga living today (2011:9)”.
Who
are the Kyanga?
Kyanganci
is the name of the language, while Kyangawa
are the speakers or ethnic group. The termed “Kyanga” in which Kyanganci
and Kyangawa is derived is a
Hausanized Kyanga vocabulary which
majority of the ethnic-group believed it to be Hausa. The name “Kyanga” is no doubt a Hausa
pronounciation as evident in “Ky” groups in the Hausa consonants. Thus, Kyangawa and Kyanganci are the Hausa terms for the ethnic group and the language
respectively.
In addition, they are also
known as “Kyenga” which I assumed in
the name they called themselves, unlike “Kyanga”
as proclaimed by Dr. Jones, 2011. They are called Tyenga, Tienga, Changa and
Tchanga, by different ethnic groups. Tienga/Tyenga/Tchanga is used in
francphone countries. The Busa (Busawa) and Bokobaru called them “Kyanga” as stated by Jones, a term I
believed they borrowed from Hausa language.
In my assessment of the
vocabularies and the grammar of Kyanganci,
it is unique, uncorrupted and never suffered any brutal colonial language
policy. It possesses all necessary linguistic ingredients to be an independent
language in its own right. They are proud to be Kyangawa and very proud of Kyanganci
as their language. Indeed, the title given to the Kyangawa chiefs “Kyanga”,
and the historical kingdom in Nigeria
is “Kyangakwai”. Kyangawa has their traditional facial marks identified by the four
major Clans Saaki, Siba, Kosoko and Misira. The major economic occupations are
farming, fishing, salt mining, fishing traps, arms manufacturing. Noted popular
hobbies are wrestling, war, spirit possession, and drinking liquor. Traditional
religion animism and fetishism control the central administration until the
coming of Islam and Christianity in the region.
Historical
Origin:
The history is well preserved
in their oral tradition and carefully monitored by the elders and ruling class.
Their first settlement was said to be in Benin, at Garu then they moved to
Mokasa. They were on the Island of Lele (Laata in Kyanga)
near Gaya in the Benin Republic
for about 1000 years. In the 17th century their Chief Kyanga Umaru converted to Islam and went
to Mecca, and
on his return founded a new settlement at Yelu. In another report it says Kyanga Daka founded Kyangakwai, Kyanga Umaru
founded Yelou while Kyanga Dobi
founded Bana.
Kyangawa
Territory:
Kyangawa
are found in Nigeria
in the local governments of Bagudo, Dandi and Shanga in Kebbi state. In Dandi
they have over twenty (20) towns/ villages, in Bagudo around eleven (11), while
in Shanga only one is noted. They are found in about 19 popular towns/villages
in Benin Republic
and about 13 towns in Niger
Republic. Their estimated
population in Kebbi is around 212,500. In Benin Republic
around 15,000. In Niger Republic about 70,000 (Jones, 2011) by this
assessment Nigeria
has the lion share of Kyangawa ethnic
group in the West African region. This is the motivating factor to this review
to balance the equation in the linguistic balance sheet between endangerment
status and extinction.
Kyanganci
Between Endangerment and extinction:
In the recent discovery of
Whalen and Harrison (2000) that, the world’s 6000 distinct languages may fall
into the endangerment status, by the year 2100 only half of these languages may
be spoken a loss of one language every 12 days. These are the aforeseen
linguistic consequences threatening many West African languages. As observed by
Obahiagbon (2010:890) an endangered language is one with a weak political
status, only a few users and reduced function. In contrast, Agbedo and Omeje
(2010:12) assessed the endangerment status by the number of such language
speakers. It is likely that Agbedo and Omeje were influenced by some experts’
claim that language is endangered if it has less than 5,000 speakers
(Brenzinger, Haine and Sommer cited in Agbedo, (2010:122). Going by the experts
observation, Kyanganci might have
serious symptoms of endangerment in the 20th century as I observed
that:
i)
Kyangawa
has no strong political status in Niger
and Benin Republics. Very unfortunate, their past
political glory of 17th – 19th century is tremendously
reduced too within Nigeria.
In Dandi, Bagudo, Shanga local governments they exist only by name.
ii)
Their previously or
historically occupied territories and towns are no longer under their control.
In many of these prominent towns Kyangawa
are no where to be found as at the year of this study (2014). Bunza was founded
by Magawata Gulma Bakyange, Dakingari by Kyangawa
of Fana, and Kyangakwai the political
headquarters of Kyangawa. In all
these places, Kyanganci as a language
has completely gone. Cultural rights of Kyanganci
are no where practiced. Kyanganci
facial marks have long been abandoned. Kyangawa
political institutions diminished in their totality.
iii)
Out of the current population
estimate of the Kyangawa (200,000) in
Dr. Jones assessment of 2011, as at today 2014 there is hardly ten percent of
this estimate with speech capacity in Kyanganci.
Kyanga speakers with Kyanga identity may not to be up to ten
percent. Thus, users of Kyanganci
language are very few and its function is extremely low.
iv)
Though this is still an
ongoing research, but I observed that, in Nigeria speakers of Kyanganci are as few as 1,000. This
number is decreasing by the day.
These are among other
characteristics I observed in the present Kyanganci
situation of endangerment. In the other side of the experts opinions on
extinction, one may observe critical condition which the language and its
cultural values and facing. Some experts/theories view extinction in the
language context as follows:
i)
When children are not taught
the language of the community and mortality rate among elders is high. This is
the very situation of Kyanganci in
the Kyangawa political chiefdom, Kyangakwai. During my visit, July, 2014
there is no single speaker in Kyangakwai,
Geza, Bunza, Zogirma, Mungadi, Dakingari, Fana, Ona, Gyasharo, Shiko and the
rest of villages and settlements of the ancient Kyanga ethnic group.
ii)
In most Kyangawa settlements and villages the language is not chosen as a community
based language. The Kyangawa people
are very few even in their own locality. Thus, its gradually extinction.
iii)
In some linguistic opinions,
people that are forced out of their homes into a new settlement with different
languages may fall victims of extinction. Kyangawa
of Kyangakwai were forced to flee to Benin and Niger Republic.
In the host communities, they met with strong indigenous languages as Hausa,
Fula, Zarma, Dendi, Bisa, Busa, Bokobaru, Shanga, Gurma and Tuareg. Thus, Kyanganci in Diaspora was seriously
weaken by the forces of these communities.
iv)
Social status of Kyanganci as well as the social class of
its environment is another reason. In the Franphone countries, it was dominated
by French and in Nigeria
by English. At the community level, it was forced into extinct by Hausa. In the
field of religious activities Arabic took over. In consequence, end Kyanganci was forced into extinct.
The
UNESCO’S Status of Endangerment
In the UNESCO’S framework for
the assessment of language vitality, 2013, the intergenerational status of
languages are identified under six stages, and grouped into three
sub-divisions. The stages are categorized into:
0)
Extinct
6) Critically endangered
5)
Severely endangered
4)
Definitely endangered
3)
Unsafe
2) Stable yet threatened
1)
Safe
UNESCO’S assessment and
question of language endangerment is not on the number of the speakers but the
prospects of the language to be actively alive from one generation to another
without fear of extinction. Kyanganci
as a language is between the last three stages of UNESCO’S assessment (2-0).
The stage is “severely endangered” reads:
“The language is spoken only by grand
parents and older generations. While the payments
generation may still understand the language, they typically do not speak it to
their children”.
As at year 2014, the Kyanga language is said to have existed
in the twelve (12) towns of Bagudo local government, only two or three villages
are evidently true to declaration. The remaining ten (10) towns may be either
in (1 or 0) group. The stage one of the verdict of critically endangered reads:
“The youngest speakers are in the great
grand parental generation and the language is not used for everyday interactions.
These older people often remember only part of the language but not to speak it
since there may not be anyone to speak with”.
Kyanga
ethnic group of Shanga local government and part of Niger Republic
are in this category. The speakers are very few, very old and can hardly
remember the relevant vocabularies with true Kyanga cultural values. To be frank, half of the vocabularies are
borrowed either from Hausa, Zarma, Dendi, French or Fula. Kyanga of Niger
and Benin Republic are in the stage of critical
endangerment.
Zero stage reads:
“There is no one who can speak or remember
the language”.
The population of Kyanga as estimated by (Jones, 2011)
stated the percentage of Kyanga
ethnic group in various local governments and selected villages in the following:
1)
Bunza LGA, Bunza 10%, Zogirma
5%, Raha 5% 500
2)
Suru LGA, D/gari 10%, Giro 3%,
Tinifei 15% 250
3)
Maiyama LGa, Mungadi 25% 150
4)
Birnin Kebbi LGA 500
5)
Niger
stage, Pisa,
Konkweso 5% 100
The estimated figures of 1000 Kyanga speakers as cited above by 2011,
is at today 2014 at zero stage. After a very thorough investigation in the
month of July, 2014, I discovered that, there is no a single Kyanga ethnic group who can remember any
thing in the name of his languages in all the study area above.
Forces
Behind The Kyanganci Endangerment:
During the first week of the
research under review, I was able to visit the first ancient city of Gyangawa “Kyangakwai”. In addition, I was
opportuned to contact their elders and chiefs. In the ancient city there is no
person who can remember a single “Kyanga”
word, let alone to construct a sentence. In the course of our discussion, I
lauds my dismay for the total extinction of Kyanganci
in the world most ancient city of Kyangawa as far
back as the eleven century. The respondents addressed my enquires neatly as it
entails:
Religious
Factor:
Famous Kyanga ancestors were animist. The 19th century Jihad
has very little impact (if any) on the Kyanga
geopolitical zones. In addition, the decendants were very proud of their
history and culture. Thus, they resisted all external aggressions by the
Fulani, Askiya, Arabs and colonial forces. Their Kingdom refused to succumb to
any tribal over lordship under any guise. In this view, the area was given many
sort of names by the enemies and unpleasant slave dealers and merchants. It is
named “Dandi” a no man’s land of ungodly people. It is sometimes called
“Kufuru” the land of infidels. Muslims were advised not to learn the language
because it is the language of the people in the hell fire. The Muslim Kyangawa were forced to abandon the
language in the name of religion. This fabricated tale in the name of God
endangered the language severely in the following context:
i)
Muslim community (which are the majority) desist from marrying Kyangawa and Kyangawa ladies were not accepted by the Muslim community.
ii)
Kyangawa who embraced
Islam were forced to ignore their language and move to either Hausa, Zarma,
Dendi or Busa.
iii)
Kyanganci became
seriously restricted to the ancient Kyangawa
animist land and very few Dendi and Busa who are yet to abandon their
traditional religion.
iv)
Islam was in Kyanga
land at least a century before its arrival in Hausaland. Kyanga Umaru was converted to Islam in the 17th century.
With all these remarkable records, Kyanga
converts believed in the misled statement of abandoning their language in the
name of Islam. Therefore, the Muslim Kyangawa
who are versed in Islam did not attempt to reduce their language into writing,
for the fact that you cannot use ungodly language in writing words of God.
Consequently, Kyanganci was not in
the picture of Ajami writing style.
v)
The very few Kyanga
children who were able to benefit from early Western education, embraced Hausa,
Zarma and Dendi in writing Boko scripts. This is a second big blow to the
endangerment status of Kyanganci
language in the post-colonial era.
vi)
Social entertainments which are believed to be a strong antidote
to the endangerment symptoms were harassed. Poetry and songs of Kyanga language are considered as abomination.
Throughout the research period I was not able to get a single name of any Kyanga poet or an orator. The absence of
such an important instruments of linguistic relevance is no doubt a severer
endangerment status.
Political
Factors:
Kyanga
history is well balanced and very preserved in Kyanga oral tradition. However, Kyanga
geopolitical boundaries are not as stable as the history of Kyanga. The ancient city of Kyangakwai
had been alone with no supporting Kyanga
villages and town around. This contributes to the extinction of Kyanganci in the city to date. The Kyanga old settlement of Bunza, was put
under the territory
of Gwandu in the defunct
Sokoto caliphate. The moment, the language is in total extinction in Bunza,
Zogirma, Dakingari, Mungadi, Birnin Kabi and Tindifai. These are all in Gwandu emirate.
The Shanga in Yawuri, Shanga LGA is a sub-dialect of Kyanga of Illo district, this group is also in Pisa
and Konkweso in Niger
State. They were brutally
colonized by the indigenous languages which lead to its extinction. In
Nigerian, only in Dandi and Bagudo LGA is very little Kyanga spoken (if any). The very insignificant percentage of its
speakers in Nigeria
failed to get them special attention by the authority to develop the language
in writing or to provide any assistance that can save the language from its
critical state.
In Benin Republic,
Kyanga were dominated by Busa and
Dendi. In the republic
of Niger, Zarma, Hausa,
Adar and French posed a problem. The KYANGAWA
OF Niger
were treated more Kabawa of Kebbi because of the closeness and similarities in
their culture and political set up. The Kyanga
of Benin and Niger Republics
were assimilated into the leading tribes, their language and culture partially
abandoned and hence Hausanized or Zarmanized.
Assimilation:
From the aforementioned study,
we can see that the subject under review is at a severer stage of endangerment
bound for extinction. The critical period encountered by Kyanga language necessitates Kyanga
to assimilate with Kabawa, Zarma, Dendi, Hausa, Busa to survive the status of
endangerment or else become extinct. We can read this carefully from the
following points:
a)
The Kyangawa dominated towns and villages in Dandi LGA, Kebbi state are
(20) none is bearing Kyanga name. 18
are Hausa names, 1 Lelna and 1 Zarma-Kyanga
name.
b)
In Bagudo local government,
the Kyanga twelve towns and villages
are not bearing Kyanga names, 5 are
Hausa names, 4 Zarma, and the remaining 3 are either Dendi or Busa.
c)
Kyangawa
in existence attributed the assimilation due to the lack of strong Kyanga central administration system.
Their elders and able-bodied men were pushed out of their ancestral
settlements.
Kabi kingdom refused to
recognize their political position. Sokoto caliphate was also hostile and they
stand at the defence. The British and French colonial administration did not
pay any heed to the Kyanga language
and culture. Throughout the colonial epoch, Kyanga
were without any written literature or documentary records of their norms and
culture. They were either treated as Hausawa or Kabawa or Zarma or Dendi and
sometime Busa even by the Busa chiefs.
The
Result:
Certainly Dr. Ross Jones, 2011
research of Kyanga is unprecedented
and perfectly conducted as cultural anthropological survey of Kyanga History, people and culture.
Alas, the status of Kyanga language
and its state of affairs were not given very much heed. In the review of the
documents, my findings are evidently the converse to those of Dr. Ross Jones,
2011. Kyangawa were the early
settlers of Dendi area, Zarma, Busa, Dendi, Kabawa, Fulani, Gobir, Lelna, and
the rest were their honourable gues. The Kyanga
tribal marks are the early tribal marks in the region. In Kyanga Oral tradition it was during the reign of Kyanga Manu that Kabawa borrowed the
marks and adapted it as Kabanci marks with some modifications. As per the case
of endangerment or extinction it is safer to accept the “endangerment” hence,
very few are still bearing the name and can speak the corrupted version with
extreme difficulties. It is yet to extinct.
The Kyanga language was in Dendi land since, 15th century
during the region of Kyanga Daka
1526-1562, the son of Muhammadu Askiya of Shonghai empire. The records of 24 Kyangas (Chiefs) were well preserved
with dates. The original record must either be in French, English or Arabic and
in which ever case, Kyanga language
must be used to reduce their names in writing, their histories and
contributions. Barajen Yelu Zarummai Kyangakwai
and Idris Alhaji Mairiga, reactivate Kyanga
in ajami and Romans scripts. Kyanga
Islamic scholars are reviving Kyanga
in preaching and sermons. Commentary of the Holy Qur’an in Kyanga language in Ajami style is at advanced stage. If this is
done through the level of endangerment might be reduced to a minimal. And the
hope for its survival will therefore become very high.
Recommendations:
·
African Union must come out
with special endowment funds to address issues in African endangered languages.
·
It is evident that Kyanga does not exist but the features
are very clear.
·
There is need to have a
special technical committee from the state ministry of education to develop
teaching aids for Kyanga language.
·
The West African Association
of Kyangawa must utilize all its
might to rescue the present situation of the language in a more scientific
methods for the experts to get where to start.
·
Dandi, Yawuri, Shanga and
Bagudo local governments should create an adult training centers of teaching
native speakers of Kyanga the art of
writing in roman and Arabic scripts (ajami) for the language to be saved.
·
Federal Universities in the
catchment areas, tertiary institutions, research centres of cultural heritage
must give the immediate first aid helping hand through workshop or in house
conference on the subject.
Conclusion:
I really appreciate Dr. Ross
Jones effort in preparing Kyanga
wordlist of about 428 with equivalent English meaning. This is a pointer to the
real academic handling of Kyanga
language. As I observed, Kyanga
ceremonies, festivals, jokes, and rites of passages are gradually Hausanized
and Islam is the predominant religion across the community. Kyangas are not Hausawa in culture and
socialization. The little survived vocabularies need competent handling and the
language is in dire need of writing system. The ancient cities of Kyanga must not ignore their ancestors
and treasury of their cultures and histories in the language of their fore
fathers. The very few that can speak the language must be supported and
protected in the game, it is not the question of number of speakers but how
well it is preserved and how best it can perform. The fewer the speakers, the
better in its originality. In the UNESCO’S balance sheet, if a single speaker
of a given language remains in his active speech capacity out of the millions
of the native speakers, the language is still and yet to be extinct, alive
active and in control of Nigeria, Niger and Benin republics borders. Kyanganci is still active on the borders
of Nigeria, Niger and Benin
Republics
Bibliography
Tchangakoye,
B.Y, & Mairiga, I. (n.d) Historique Des
Tchengas,
Niger.
Jones,
R. 2011. Who are the Kyanga?
Website-Ross-Jones.
Esimi.org.
Idudhe, P.A. 2002.
“Threat of extinction to minority languages: An
overview of
Isoko language”. In O. Arohunmolase (ed) Development of the minority languages
in Nigeria.
Ondo complete computers and educational services, pp. 60-67.
Maduka, C.T. 2005. “The
Igbo in World Culture; Goodbye to
identity”. A
lead paper presented at annual Congress and Conference of the Igbo studies
Association held at the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka,
September 21-24.
UNESCO Framework for
the Assessment of language Vitality, 2003.
Cited in
Okwudishu, 2009.
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