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Language is the human universal mode of communication, and is dynamic and constantly in flux accommodating user needs as individuals interface with a changing world. However, we know surprisingly little about how language responds to market integration, a pressing force affecting indigenous communities worldwide today. While models of culture change often emphasize the replacement of one language, trait, or phenomenon with another following socioeconomic transitions, we present a more nuanced framework. We use demographic, economic, linguistic, and social network data from a rural Maya community that spans a 27-year period and the transition to market integration. By adopting this multivariate approach for the acquisition and use of languages, we find that while the number of bilingual speakers has significantly increased over time, bilingualism appears stable rather than transitionary. We provide evidence that when indigenous and majority languages provide complementary social and economic payoffs, both can be maintained. Our results predict the circumstances under which indigenous language use may be sustained or at risk. More broadly, the results point to the evolutionary dynamics that shaped the current distribution of the world’s linguistic diversity.

The study explores the advantages of using African indigenous languages as languages of instruction in African universities and to interrogate how the use of indigenous languages can improve fairness, transparency and honesty in the way students handle academic work. This study adopts decoloniality and technology appropriation model. To collect empirical data the study makes use of interviews to gather views and perspectives of purposively selected university lecturers from selected Zimbabwean universities. The findings show that use of African indigenous languages as languages of instruction in Zimbabwean universities is ideal and offers many benefits to both learner and teacher. Additionally, the use of African indigenous languages will neutralize the threat of AI in the Zimbabwe education sector. As such, this study calls for the adoption of African indigenous languages as a panacea to the ethical dilemmas that are exacerbated by the use of AI by university students

Indigenous African languages have often suffered neglect in health development campaigns until recently. Considering the multi-faceted effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on different peoples and societies worldwide, this article argues that vaccine campaigns in African settings cannot be impactful if they are not disseminated in the indigenous African languages. The article is hinged on Salawu’s model of indigenous language for development communication, which affirms the connection between language of communication and people’s understanding of the message communicated. The study employed a survey experimental research method. Using the pool sampling technique, both online and offline questionnaires were used to survey the opinions of 191 Nigerian and 114 South African respondents in Lagos and Mafikeng, respectively, about dominant indigenous languages used for COVID-19 vaccine messages, their degree of understanding vaccine messages and their acceptance or rejection of the vaccine messages. Interview sessions were conducted with five purposively selected health communication and media experts to determine the significance of and challenges encountered in the use of indigenous African languages for COVID-19 vaccine campaigns. The quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools, such as frequency count and percentage, chi-square, percentile and logistic regression; while the qualitative data were thematically analysed. While respondents mostly identified with messages in Yoruba, Igbo, Setswana and isiZulu, a few respondents identified with a combination of languages, although these languages did not influence their acceptance of vaccines.

The use of indigenous African languages in official circles has largely been determined by Africa's contact with the west. In particular this has been the usage of English, French and Portuguese in most of Africa's colonial world. This has attracted the use of such terms as Anglophone, francophone and Lusophone, respectively, even after African governments have attained independence from their colonial masters. To a large extent, the influence of English has been determined by colonial governments' and natives desire for their academic pursuits and not necessarily by the wider use of indigenous African languages. For sociolinguistic purposes English, French and Portuguese, largely, have been conveniently used for communicative purposes. It is also notable that Christian missions have had a significant role in the establishment of these ex-colonial languages. As a result these languages have had much influential institutional forces, where they have emerged as languages of power and prestige over indigenous African languages. In this article reasons for learning and development using ex-colonial languages are amply given and the reader is given the responsibility to assess the powerful position of English and other ex-colonial languages in education and social practice and in the over all national development of institutional forces, such as new governments that have emerged, societies and communities at large. The neglect to address the effective use of indigenous African languages has been the prime factor in the lack of using these indigenous African languages as media of instruction and in their use in national development, science and technology for the majority. Language is the normal medium that a given group knows best, which provides the necessary skills for human to become effective and efficient for there to be overall national development. The central argument, therefore, is that the language used by the majority is important for human resources training and vital for overall national development. Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 4 () 2007: pp.55-74

Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

In this article, we examine the relationship between Indigenous language use and community-based well-being among four Nahua ethnic groups in Mexico, taking into account the role of positive emotions related to speaking the heritage language as a mediator of the influence of its use in the family domain on community-based well-being. We employ an emic community-based well-being scale, a second scale measuring the use of Nahuatl and Spanish across different domains of social life, and a third scale measuring positive emotions related to the use of Nahuatl in order to examine the relationship between Nahuatl use and community-based well-being, in a sample (N = 552) of Indigenous Nahua participants (55.4% female, Mage = 37.9, SD = 18.3) coming from four different regions of Mexico. Results from the mediation analysis revealed that the relation between the frequency of Nahuatl use and community-based well-being in the total sample is partially mediated by experiencing positive emotions related with Nahuatl use. Furthermore, the relation between Nahuatl use and community-based well-being was also found to be moderated by group membership. Our study confirms that the role of heritage language use for Nahua communities in Mexico is beneficial and that this effect is also significant in communities strongly affected by language loss and assimilation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The study aimed to examine the associations between experiences of racial discrimination within communities with suicide mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Age-standardised suicide rates (ASRs) were calculated using suicides recorded by the Queensland Suicide Register (QSR) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland from 2009 to 2015. Rate Ratios (RRs) were used to compare ASRs in areas with high and low levels of reported discrimination, and other comparative community-level risk and protective factors (remoteness, socio-economic resources, and Indigenous language use). The age-standardised suicide rate was 31.74 deaths per 100 000 persons/year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for the years 2009-2015. ASRs were significantly higher in areas where more of the First Nations residents experienced recent discrimination (RR = 1.33; 95%CI = 1.05-1.70, p = 0.02), and the age-specific suicide rate was significantly higher for those aged 25-34 in areas with more discrimination (RR = 1.67; 95%CI = 1.04-2.74, p = 0.03). By comparison, the ASRs were not significantly higher in areas with regional and remote communities (RR = 1.10, CI 95%=0.75-1.61, p = 0.60), or areas with lower socioeconomic resources (RR = 0.86, 95%CI = 0.66-1.13, p = 0.28). Areas in which more First Nations residents spoke Indigenous languages had significantly lower ASRs (RR = 0.71; CI95%=0.53-0.95, p = 0.02). Suicide mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland were influenced by experiences of racial discrimination within communities and Indigenous language use, with greater associations reported than with socio-economic resources or remoteness. The findings reflect the public health risk of discrimination and provide evidence for enacting strategies to reduce institutional and personal discrimination to reduce suicide.

Indigenous Languages in Parliament and Legislation: Comparing the Māori and Indigenous Australian Experience

Linguistic diversity, official language choice and human capital

The continued use of European languages in African classrooms has been labeled by some as ‘linguistic imperialism’ in the literature. Questionable arguments have been advanced to justify the official neglect of indigenous African languages in education, but the reality is that such arguments are no longer valid. Efforts by some African governments to remedy the situation have been mediocre at best. For instance, South Africa has 11 official languages but English and Afrikaans remain the de facto mediums of instruction in schools. No significant efforts are being made to develop and encourage the use of indigenous African languages in schools. In addition, Departments of African languages are being scaled down in South African universities, and the colleges of Education which were at the forefront of teaching these languages have been closed down. This paper attempts to look at the challenges and prospects of making the concept of 11 official languages a reality in South Africa classrooms.

South Africa’s 1996 Constitution, subsequent to the attainment of democracy in 1994, was hailed as a distinct document in protecting languages, particularly indigenous languages. The inclusion of these languages generated a new lease of life and provided a unique opportunity especially for the judiciary to ensure their transmission into the legal domain by developing the scope and content and to not limit them as communication tools but also of records in the judicial processes. This role by the courts is particularly important because in the past, courts were used as instruments of oppression against the black majority of South Africa’s populace. The subordination was extended to other institutions such as those of higher learning, that were handicapped in producing legal education which would infuse the African content in the generation of knowledge that may have societal change objectives. Today, the indigenous language’s occupation of the constitutional space and its transmission into reality has been minotirised and subject to intense debates and views on their legitimacy as language of records in the judicial processes. The Heads of Court’s resolution for the exclusive use of English as the language of record to the exclusion of other languages generated these debates. They cited logistical problems and the enhancement of access to justice that compelled them to adopt the resolution. However, the question the resolution raises is the impact it would have on the production and preservation of indigenous legal in the establishment of a “just society”. Against this background, the paper is revisiting the debates on the effect of the non-use of indigenous languages as languages of records in South Africa’s judicial processes through an assessment of the jurisprudence that emanates from the courts with reference to the scope and content of the interrelationship between the right of access to justice and right to understand. The objective of this paper is to advance an inclusive approach of the language of rights that will ensure that the richness of the meanings and concepts of indigenous languages are preserved in the archives of the administration of justice. The purpose to regenerate the debate is motivated by what appears to be the subsiding deafening debates and views on the development of the content of the constitutionalised indigenous languages in the judicial processes and acceptance of the status quo of the exclusive dominance of English as language of record. The argument is limited to record-keeping and starts off by setting a framework for the protection of the right to a language and its linkage to the right to understand. The discussion is reinforced by case law relating to the use of indigenous languages and the impact it would have on the consolidation of the preservation project.

Integrating indigenous languages in MTN Nigeria's advertising signifies a powerful evolution in the company's approach. It underscores the value of local cultures while driving business growth. This study explores the changing trends in the use of indigenous languages in advertising practice, particularly in the context of globalisation. It focuses on MTN advertisements from 2019 to 2023 and the staff of advertising agencies in Lagos and Abuja. It is anchored on the theory of linguistic imperialism and the reception theory of communication. The study adopted the survey and content analysis research design and used the Snowball and purpose sampling methods. Findings show that while Pidgin is the most widely used indigenous language in advertising, the overall trend in MTN advertisements shows a decline in usage over the years, with occasional increases in specific years. Findings also highlight a growing recognition among consumers, as identified by respondents, of the importance of using Indigenous languages in advertising campaigns for culturally or regionally associated products despite the need for clear consensus on their efficiency. The study recommends advertising strategies that align with local linguistic identities to foster consumer engagement.

* Background The South African education system supports the use of previously marginalized indigenous languages as a sign of reform and ensures inclusivity and equitable access to education. However, the use of indigenous language in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is still debated. Nevertheless, the use of indigenous languages in mathematics and science is gaining increasing interest, with initiatives like Mother Tongue based Bilingual Education (MTbBE) requiring learning resources in various languages. In addition, the effectiveness of such resources needs to be investigated to understand how they are received by the target community. Method This qualitative research used a case study approach to investigate the influence of a Scientific Language Register written in Sepedi on classroom interaction and discourse. This study included three schools in the Seotlong Circuit, and each school was treated as a case study. Each case consisted of one Sepedi-speaking Natural Sciences and Technology (NST) teacher and one Intermediate Phase classroom of Sepedi-speaking learners. Data from these participants were collected using lesson observations and diary entries. Inductive Content Analysis was used to analyse the data. Results The Sepedi Scientific Language Register positively influenced classroom atmospheres, encouraging interactions and promoting enquire-based learning. This is important in science, which aims to promote inquiry-based learning. This emphasizes the importance of indigenous language learning materials in science. Conclusion The Sepedi Scientific Language Register bridges a gap between Language and Science, and promotes free interaction between learners and teachers. Therefore, it has been proven to be an effective learning resource for teaching science. Hence, this study recommends using the Sepedi Scientific Language Register as a learning tool for Natural Sciences Technology.

This chapter examines the role of indigenous language media and how it has impacted safe motherhood practices in Lagos State. The objectives are to know how the media using indigenous languages have been able to reach more women and inform them on best practices on safe motherhood practices and whether professional health providers communicate in indigenous language to women during ante natal sessions. A questionnaire was administered on pregnant women and nursing mothers at a public general hospital in the state while nurses were interviewed on the use of indigenous language. The research was also carried out in three indigenous radio stations in Lagos. The study found that for Nigeria in general, and Lagos State in particular, to reduce maternal mortality rate and advance in safe motherhood practices, involvement of indigenous language media is imperative in giving women necessary information. The majority of the respondents answered that they would prefer health workers to speak in the local language.

Discussions about migration, geography, and Indigenous language use are key ways that community members perform, negotiate, and contest identities and politics in multilingual Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, a federally-recognized Native nation located within the city of El Paso, Texas. This linguistic anthropological piece illustrates how tribal members creatively use local ways of speaking and the indexing of language ideologies to critique hegemonic discourses that constrain tribal members’ Native identities and call into question the tribe’s status as an Indigenous community. Through “indexing”—or pointing to—dominant and emergent narratives about place and language, Ysletans are able to enhance their visibility as a nation and their political and social influence in the region and beyond. Speech genres focusing on the 17th century Pueblo revolt, the seizure of lands near the U.S.-Mexico border, and the loss of the tribe’s Indigenous language allow community members to assert sovereignty, belonging, and indigeneity in the face of these criticisms by Indian and non-Indian audiences.