ARBA MINCH – Several researches are being carried out to invigorating the purging of some languages and myriads of cultures in southern Ethiopia, Arba Minch University announced.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald,University’s Institutes of Culture and Language Research Director, Seid Mohammed (PhD) said that a research team has been organized toconduct a study to revive languages, like Ongota, that have only five speakers.
According to Seid, the university is working in close collaboration with different institutes and stockholders and they have run activities in full swing.
“The extinction of a given language signifies the disappearance of the unique cultures and indigenous knowledge conveyed in using it. That is why the university has relentlessly taken the issue very seriously and acted accordingly. The institute is also conducting a research on Erborie peoples’ language called Horr. Quegu languages, which do also have only few speakers, are also being researched,” Seid added.
According to the Director, the university is doing researches on languages that had very limited number of speakers or appears at the verge of distinction.
In due process of reviving these languages, the work of incorporating them in the curriculum of education has to come to the forefront, he suggested.
He further elucidated that apart from conducting researches on the aforesaid languages, revitalization of the cultures reflected by them need to receive due attention. As to him, as a research university, his institute has done a multitude of researches up on languages and cultures through a range of institutions under its supervision so as to get the nation benefited.
Seid exhorted his idea saying in order to augment cultural preservation of the nation, researches like the above listed ones have to be well strengthened as language is the key to knock the door of the peoples’ culture and knowledge.
BY MEKDES TAYE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2024
