Will Somali be spoken in 2106?

[Castro]

When all those who can read Somali die of old age and all who remain are either those born in Somalia after 1985 or those born in exile, could the language survive the extinction pressures from within and without?

 

Unesco: Languages under threat

 

More than half of the 6000 languages spoken in the world today may disappear by the end of the century, the UN cultural organisation Unesco said on the occasion of International Mother Language Day.

 

The day was marked at Unesco headquarters in Paris by a conference on linguistic diversity focusing on the difficulties of African, Asian and American minorities to preserve their traditional tongues.

 

Koichiro Matsuura, Unesco director-general, said: "When a language dies, it is a vision of the world that disappears.

 

"Language is much more than an instrument, considerably more than a tool."

 

He added: "In structuring our thoughts, in coordinating our social relations and in building our relationship with reality, it constitutes a fundamental dimension of the human being."

 

Internet a factor

 

A major part of Unesco's efforts to safeguard languages is aimed at ensuring greater diversity on the internet and in official texts, the organisation said.

 

 

Matsuura: When a language dies, a vision of the world disappears. Today 72% of internet sites are in English, followed by German at just 7%, and French, Japanese and Spanish at 3%.

 

About 90% of the world's languages are not represented at all on the internet, Unesco said.

 

Some 20% of languages have no written version.

 

In Africa - where one-third of the world's languages are spoken - about 80% of these are purely oral, and thus in greater danger of dying out, Unesco said.

 

The African Union has declared 2006 a year of African Languages.

 

Source

[Cara.]

This is scary. I remember watching a documentary about a Native American tribe in which the last person to speak the language was being interviewed. Linguists recorded his words on tape, just to have a sample. There's something tragic about losing a language entirely, that's a whole way of thinking and perceiving the world that's no longer available to us (in reality it never would be to most people, but the possibility should exist )

 

But I don't think Somali is in danger of dying out. For one think, Somalis don't have another language widely spoken within Somalia (like Arabic or English or French), unlike many other African nations. Every Somali individual would have to learn another language and prefer it to speaking Somali. Very likely in the diaspora, but not so much so in Somalia.

[Maf Kees]

Besides that Callypso the Somali population belongs to the top 5 fastest growing countries in the world along with: Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Tchad and Yemen. All Muslim and safe one, black nations. It's estimated that Somalia will have a population of between 40 to 50 million halfway through this century. Let's not talk about how much Maryoley nuunoyaal there will be crawling around at the end of this century. With that said the Somalis are relatively isolated as a society and the rift between Somalia and the rest of the world is growing. So the Somali language is not at risk at all.

[Baluug]

Yeah, I agree, that af-Somali is not under threat of extinction. Another thing I might add, is that Somali's are marrying non-Somalis like myself which in turn is helping the language to spread further to their children, and will soon not be limited to just Somalis, but also to "halfies", as someone in here put it so eloquently at one time.

[Khayr]

Originally posted by Castro:

Koichiro Matsuura, Unesco director-general, said:

"When a language dies, it is a vision of the world that disappears.

 

"Language is much more than an instrument, considerably more than a tool."

 

He added: "In structuring our thoughts, in coordinating our social relations and in building our relationship with reality, it constitutes a fundamental dimension of the human being."

How many parents teach their kids the english Alphabets FIRST, compared to their own or for the Muslim parents-compared to the Alf, Ba'as'?

 

 

"When a language dies, it is a vision of the world that disappears.

[juba]

Originally posted by Mr. Jibis:

non-Somalis like myself which in turn is helping the language to spread further to their children, and will soon not be limited to just Somalis, but also to "halfies", as someone in here put it so eloquently at one time.

ACTUALLY, "halfies" will have a harder time learning their language because they have to balance two different cultures. Im a 100% sure your kids will not know Somali because of their surrondings (canada) and their mixed race. (a double wammy lol)

 

Somali is in danger because most of the population is located otuside of Somalia and the coming generations will only speak english, swedish, and arabic. This is a result of the state of Somalia. If it was stable more people would stay and our culture wouldn't be faced with possible extinction.

[Oz]

I was born in kenya never understood a single word in somali back then. came to learn at the age of my teen hood..lucky been surrounded by family from somalia,

 

Indeed it's going to cost us 'then' if parents won't do there part..!

[Naden]

Actually, only a small fraction of Somalis are outside of Somalia and the oral nature of the language will protect it for some time to come. Once (if) the country becomes stable :rolleyes: , and an education system is established that uses probably a mix of Arabic and English, we may have to deal with the erosion of the language among new generations getting a formal education.

 

Originally posted by juba:

Somali is in danger because most of the population is located otuside of Somalia and the coming generations will only speak english, swedish, and arabic. This is a result of the state of Somalia. If it was stable more people would stay and our culture wouldn't be faced with possible extinction. [/QB]

[-Serenity-]

What meaningful 'advantage' is there to holding on to the Somali language?

[juba]

Originally posted by naden:

Once (if) the country becomes stable :rolleyes: , and an education system is established that uses probably a mix of Arabic and English, we may have to deal with the erosion of the language among new generations getting a formal education.

but when one is in their own country and surronded by their culture it will be difficult to forget the language even if you take another in school.

[Jafarel.]

I honestly think that if the world continues to exist till then, Somali will be a spoken language and Somali cities will be flourishing...

 

We will inshallah get a government in the next few yrs or the current one will succeed...and the condition/s of the somali people will change thereby preserving our language/s and cultural identity/ies. Call me a dreamer....

 

And Allah (SWT) knows best..

[FatB]

but is there realy a somali language? an offical somali language, is the somali (how ever broken it is) the same as the one spoken 10 or 20 miles down river?

 

isn't it reported that there is over 70 different dilects all to be considered as somali? some times i wonder how people understand each other :confused:

[Castro]

Originally posted by Amelia:

What meaningful 'advantage' is there to holding on to the Somali language?

None.

[Gabbal]

^Iska ilow dee.

 

Solution? Send your children back home until they are of school-age. By then, they have an excellent grasp of not only their language but of their whole cultural heritage.

[Castro]

Comprehension, Kashanre. The question is what meaningful advantages does the language possess for it to deserve survival not whether one should forget it. What do you think the advantages are? If you can't think of any, then none stands.