Towards The Assessment Of The Status Of Ekiehe Language

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the status of Ekiehe in the direction to know whether the language is surviving or disintegrating to a lower status. In particular, the study examined the use of Ekiehe in the informal domains, the Hehe attitude towards their ethnic language and the status of the transmission of Ekiehe to the next generations. The UNESCO‟s Language Vitality and Language Framework by Ad Hoc Expert Group on Language of 2003 guided this investigation. The three factors of language endangerment used are intergenerational language transmission; the trend in the existing language domains and community members‟ attitude towards their language. The analysis of the information obtained revealed that Ekiehe is unsafe since it is in a gradual shifting to Kiswahili language. Ekiehe is only used purely and predominantly in traditional practices while, in the rest of informal domains, Ekiehe co-existed with Kiswahili. The unequal status between Ekiehe and Kiswahili makes Kiswahili roots to grow even deeper in the informal domains, particularly at home domain; hence, the gradual shift of Ekiehe to Kiswahili is observed. Following the findings from this study, it is suggested that necessary steps should be put in place to rescue the language from disappearance. It is also recommended that language policies should allow the use of ethnic languages in some formal domains, like worship areas, early childhood education, massmedia and the courts. Parents are also advised to find all possible mechanisms to ensure their children learn at least one of the parents‟ ethnic languages