By Our Correspondent
Language is said to be complete when it has provisions for every object introduced to the society using the language for communication.
Therefore, almost every indigenous language in the country, known as a mother tongue of the respective native speaker, is complete and can pass as means of communication.
Language embodies culture and other values of the native speakers, and linguists advice that native speakers ought to communicate in their mother tongues to their children to save the languages from going extinct.
However, for reasons known to some individuals, many parents have left the use of mother tongue for foreign languages.
For instance, Mrs Mary Simon, a housewife, said that there was nothing wrong if a child cannot speak the native language.
Simon said that speaking English as a first language was good.
She, however, advised that parents should endeavor to teach their children their mother tongue.
Mrs Blessing Abdul, a hair stylist, children need to start learning their mother tongue from birth.
“As parents, if you speak your native language to your child from birth, they will understand and grow with it.
‘`As parents, as long as you can speak your language, inculcate that in your children because that is their identity and they deserve to speak and understand it.
‘`My husband and I agreed to speak our dialect to the children and now that they are grown up, they understand and speak the language very well.
‘`When I took them to the village, my people were surprised to see my children speaking the language very well and that made me proud.”
“Living in the city should not be an excuse for parents not to teach their children their language. One is identified by the language he or she speaks, so not teaching them their language is denying them their identity. `
’`Speaking English to your children at home will not help them to learn their language, so it is better to speak your language to them as they will be taught English in school,’’ she said.
Eko Waters, a student, said he couldn’t speak his language because it was not spoken to him by his parents. I don’t know how to speak my dialect, but I do understand. This is because my parents never taught me nor communicated with me in our mother tongue.
‘`My parents wanted me to learn English first, so they thought speaking English to me at home was the best, forgetting that I will learn it in school.
“Today I see some students like me that don’t speak their dialect and this is either that they were not taught or that they refused to learn.
“I think that parents should learn to communicate with their children in their dialect because it has some form of identification and it helps you to relate with your people,
”I am worried for our own children, if majority of us do not speak our languages, who will teach them?
“Will our languages not go extinct? “ He said.
Glory Madukwe, also a student, said a situation where children grow up in a state outside his or her community of origin could affect them speaking their language.
He said that some children neglect their native language and have no interest to learn it because they don’t have people to communicate with in the language.
“I was born in Nasarawa State, my parents did not teach me my dialect (Igbo), but yet I know how to speak because I picked interest in the language and I learnt it,’’ he said.
Arome Drogba, a student of Nasarawa State University, said he speaks his dialect though not fluent, adding that he is a product of inter-tribal marriage.
“My father is Igala and my mother is Idoma, my mum spends more time with us at home and speaks Igala occasionally but she speaks her dialect to us more.
“And all this affected us, making us confused, not to be able to concentrate on one language to learn,’’ he said.
Drogba advised that parents should try and speak their dialects to their children and wards at home, adding that it’s good to communicate with children in their mother tongue.
