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The tower of Babel or the Pentecost upper room?
Impacts and Implications of Language Diversity In African Churches
Retrospective Study And Prospective Projection

Interdenominational Theological Center

Ethnotheology, and Afro-centric Language controversy

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. Definition of Language

III. Ethnic Group, Kinship and the Individual

IV. Varieties of Language

1. Language and Dialects
2. Special language forms: Slang, Argot and Others
3. Miscellaneous other acts and expressions of worship

V. Language and Culture

1. Variation within language
2. The Cultural Force
3. Language distribution
4. Translation
5. Bilingualism and Multi Lingualism

VI. Language Change

1. Development of Language families
2. Causes of language change

VII. Notes On the Languages of Ethiopia

1. Oromo
2. Amharic: Language of Government
3. Geez and Arabic: Special Status

VIII. Conclusion

II. Definition of Language

Language is medium of expression and communication. It is the expression of ideas by means of speech-sounds combined into words. Words are combined into sentences, this combination answering to that of ideas into thoughts. In other words language can be defined as a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group cooperates. This social group can emerge as a result of ethnic, tribal, social or geo-political relationships.

Linguists say, every physiologically and mentally normal person acquires in childhood the ability to make use, as both speaker and hearer, of a system of vocal communication that comprises a circumscribed set of noises resulting from movements of certain organs within his/her throat and mouth. By means of these he is able to impart information, to express feelings and emotions, to influence the activities of others, to comfort him/her with varying degrees of friendliness or hostility toward persons who make use of substantially the same set of noises.

Different languages constitute different systems of vocal languages; the degree of difference needed to establish a different language cannot be stated exactly. No two people speak exactly alike; hence, one is able to recognize the voices of friends over the telephone and to keep distinct a number of different unseen speakers in a radio broadcast.

Language is species-specific to human beings. Other members of the animal kingdom have the ability to communicate about things outside immediate, temporal and spatial contiguity, which is fundamental to speech. The most important single feature characterizing human language against every mode of animal communication is its infinite productivity and creativity. Human beings are unrestricted in what they can talk about; no area of experience is accepted as necessarily incommunicable, though it may be necessary to adapt one’s language in order to cope with new discoveries or new modes of thought.

Language interacts with every other aspect of human life in society, and it can be understood only if it is considered in relation to society. The science of language is known as linguistics. It is a highly technical subject, embracing both descriptive and historical with major divisions such as; phonetics, grammar, and semantics dealing in detail with these various aspects of language.

III. Ethnic Group, Kinship and Individual

Africa is a multi racial and multi lingual continent with a relatively superlative amount. According to John S. Mbiti, “Africa has al the main races of the world, and each group can rightly claim to be African. Ethnologists and anthropologists have classified them broadly as follows: The Bushmanoid peoples who were generally short in stature and with light yellowish skins are found in scattered areas of eastern and Southern Africa. The Caucasoid peoples are medium to tall in stature, with light to medium brown and pink skins, and are found in the extreme southern, northeastern and northern Africa. They are a recent arrival in Southern Africa where they have driven away the indigenous people from the best area of land, or slaughtered them. The Mongoloid group formerly occupied the island of Madagascar, but in the course of centuries the peoples mingled and largely got mixed with Negroid people from the continent. … The Negroid peoples are found in almost every part of the continent, having occupied it as far north as Egypt and Morocco in the former millennia. … The Pygmoid peoples are found in the Zaire region, are very short and have light, brown yellowish skins. Obviously there have been and continue to be ethnic mixing both biologically and culturally, and one would not wish to lay great stress on the distinctions which may also have academic value.” (Mibiti, 1990, p. 98)

These ethnic distinctions are exceedingly marked by the medium of communication and by the complexion of peoples’ skin color. In some parts of Africa these ethnic differences were used to create rifts of separation and points of contention and bitter fights. Each people has its own distinct languages and not simple a dialect. Naturally, these languages are related to one another, and scholars have classified them into families or stocks. When dialects or languages were counted, we come to the estimated figure of 2100, and to a higher figure when some are duplicated across political boundaries. Mbiti estates that, “The main linguistic groups are: Bantu, found in eastern, central and southern Africa, and extending west wards up to the Cameroons; Hamitio-semitic, found in south-eastern and northern Africa; Khoisan, in southern Africa; Malayo-Polynesian, on the island of Madagascar; Nigiritic, in western Africa, Sudanic, in the Sudan stretching westwards. In addition there are European languages-English, French, Portuguese, Afrikaans and Spanish-being spoken with local modifications, mainly in areas of former colonial rule. French and English are the main international languages; they are here to stay, and we might as well consider them as African languages since they are the greatest legacy we have inherited from the colonizers, and this inheritance no body can take from us. Arabic is the most widely spoken language in Africa, were you find it you also find Islam. There are attempts here and there to foster indigenous languages like Swahili and Hausa… the majority of African youth are more interested in learning and mastering a Euro-African language like French and English than in spending energies on national or tribal languages.”

In many instances the multi lingual factor in Africa is more of cause to the ethnic controversy, conflict and contention than Unity. It is has the dominant oppressive domain utilized by people against each other as the grave tool. Language issues have been a very delicate and sensitive issue in the ethnic and racial connections and communications. On the hand there multitudes of tribal and ethnic groups who share a common linguistic denominator as a mutual medium of communication to do trade, education and other governmental administrative systems.

IV. Varieties of Languages

The word language contains of multiplicity of different designations. Two senses are language as a universal species-specific capability of mankind, and languages as the various manifestations of the capability, as with English, French, Latin, Swahili, Malay, and so on.

a. Languages and Dialects

It has already been indicated that no two persons can speak an exactly identical speech. Within the area of all but the smallest speech communities there are subdivisions of recognizably different types of language, called dialects. According to description given on the Encyclopedia Britannica, “In practice however, the terms dialect and language can be used with reasonable agreement. One speaks of different dialects of English (Southern British English, Northern British English, Scottish English, Midwest American English, New American …and so on, with of course, many more delicately distinguished sub dialects within these very general categories), but no one would speak of welsh and English or of Irish and English as with in the same areas and often by people living in the same village as each other.”

The frontiers of the modern nation-states of Europe tend to correspond more or less to language areas, with certain notable exceptions, such as Switzerland and Belgium. There is a general tendency to group European dialects within political frontiers as dialects of the national language of the country. This practice is reinforced under modern social conditions, as children of most countries in Europe are taught literacy in the “standard language” or standard dialect, of the country they live in.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “Speakers often differ in their dialect not only regionally but also socially, though these divisions are less easily represented graphically on the dialect maps of linguistic geographers. Some times socially preferred dialects are themselves regional.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1976, #10, p. 646) This reality exactly matches with a lot of linguistic phenomenon in most African regions. Furthermore it is one of those factors causing linguistic clashes between regional dialects with superior motivations and exclusive regional mentality.

b. Miscellaneous other acts and expressions of Worship

Most commonly it among many African countries it is customary to incorporate God’s name into children’s names. This is an expression of worship, signifying in some cases that the child has been born in answer to prayer and therefore the parents want to thank God for the child: in other cases it signifies a particular attribute of God which may be suggested by the circumstances surrounding the child’s birth; or it may indicate the parent’s wish to praise God through the name of their child. John S. Mbiti, “These names become a life long Testimonies of particular concepts of God which people want to express; and when so used, the concepts are immortalized, made concrete and externalized. This practice is reported among the Azande, Banyrwanda, Burundi and Nuer, and we can illustrate it with examples. In expressing God’s wisdom and power, the Bonyarwanda and Burundi name their children Ntawuankira which means ‘no one can refuse Him His way’, or Ntirandekura which means “he has not let me drop yet.’ …Proverbs are common ways of expressing religious ideas and feelings. Unfortunately little study of proverbs has been made, and our information on the subject is scanty. It is in Proverbs the we find the remains of the older forms of African Religious and Philosophical wisdom.” (John S. Mbiti., 1990. p. 66-67)

In many African studies it is explicitly stated that, God is often worshipped through songs, and African peoples are very fond of singing. Many of the religious gatherings are ceremonies and gatherings and ceremonies are accompanied by singing, which not only helps to pass on religious knowledge but also it helps create and strengthen corporate feeling and solidarity. Further more human self-expression and theological ideals are formulated in that pattern. Singers are leading in the theological venture of the continent.

V. Language and Culture

Language and culture are very closely tied to each other. The connections between the two deserve an independent investigative and research treatment. In many cases it has been seen that language is much more than the external expression and communication of internal thoughts formulated independently of their verbalization. In demonstrating the inadequacy and inappropriateness of such a view of language, attention has already been drawn to the ways in which one’s mother tongue is intimately and in all sorts of details related to the rest of one’s life in a community. This fact according to linguists is a true of all peoples and all languages; it is a universal fact about language. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “ Anthropologists speak of the relations between language and culture. It is, indeed more in accordance with reality to consider language as a part of culture. “Culture” is here being used, as it is throughout this article, in the anthropological sense, to refer to all aspects of human life in so far as they are determined or conditioned by membership in a society.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1976, 310, p. 654) Culture covers a very wide area of human life and behavior; and language is manifestly the most important part of culture.

a. Variation within language

Language is culturally transmitted. It is learned and to the lesser extent it is taught, when parents deliberately encourage their children to talk and to respond to talk and, correct their mistakes and enlarge their vocabulary. If language is transmitted as part of culture, it is no less true that culture as a whole is transmitted very largely through language, insofar as it is explicitly taught.

Language variation plays a great role in differentialting social and occupational groups in a society. This tend to be self-perpetuating unless it is deliberately interfered with. Children are in general brought up within the social group to which their parents and immediate family members belong and they learn the dialects and speaking styles of the group along with the rest of the subculture and behavioral traits and attitudes that are characteristics of it. This is largely unconscious and involuntary process of acculturation, but the importance of the linguistic manifestations of social status and of social hierarchies is not lost on aspirants for personal advancement in stratified societies.

Among Africans this reality exist in it’s own form and pattern. Encyclopedia Britannica putts it this way, “The deliberate cultivation of an appropriate dialect, in its lexical, grammatical, and phonetic features, has been the self imposed task of many persons wishing ‘to better themselves’ and the butt of unkind ridicule on the part of persons already feeling themselves secure in their social status or unwilling to attempt any change in it.” (Britannica Encyclopedia, 1976, p. 655) People of a given class identify with a medium of communication that most represent the class than use any medium of communication. Language is some times a very effective tool most brutal dictators use to abolish the existing culture and enhance some the distinct of marks of the oppressor’s identity.

b. The Cultural Force

Culture is a very dynamic phenomenon influencing all aspects of human life. According the writings of Dr. Adeyemo Tokunboh, “The second vehicle for universalism in Africa is found in the current culture movement. In one of Nigeria’s cultural journals, a Christian writer said, ‘Cultural revival is out to liquidate the of the missionaries and their deception which made our people throw away their precious heritage.’ Throughout the nations of Tropical Africa there is rebirth of cultural interest and all means are sought to propagate it. This includes art exhibitions and university courses on African culture and arts.” (Dr. Adeyemo Tokunboh, 1979, p.85) This is a very vibrant cultural dynamics shaking African cultural and ideological framework. It is breaking every cultural boundary or boarder. It is awakening cultural consciousness and an awareness of the reality of being an African in the true sense of it. Language is the basic manifestation and component of a given society in a given setting. It is basically a dynamic factor that gives a certain culture its power and medium of self-expression and value propagation as a contribution to the global human value system. This reality makes language significantly important to a given culture on the other hand the very existence of language with the dynamical panorama of societal culture creates a cultural force that in turn creates force of language within the frame work of cultural force.

c. Language Distribution

The language factor in building a community of any sort is always very delicate and sensitive. Because the issue some times boils down to asking people to forsake their own pride in their own cultural identities to create a conducive arena for the public to establish affiliations. But, one can definitely ask if it is worth it? According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Tacit or deliberate agreements have been reached where by one language is chosen for international purposes when speakers of several different languages are involved. In the Roman Empire, broadly, the western half used Latin as a lingua franca, and the eastern half used Greek. In the Western Europe during the middle ages, Latin continued as the international language of taught in schools. Later the cultural, diplomatic and military reputation of France made French the language of European diplomacy. This use of French as the language of international relations persisted until the present century.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1976, p. 656)

When nations and nationalities of different geo-political categories come together for meetings and conferences it is usually agreed which languages shall be officially recognized for registering the decisions reached; and the provisions of treaties are interpreted. This can also more than one language to be inclusive of more than one language which makes the occasion more inclusive and embracing to people of all corners of the world.

d. Translation

Prior to the inventions and development of literary communication a continuous concomitant of contact between two mutually incomprehensible tongues was taking place through oral translation. “Before the invention of diffusion of writing, translation was instantaneous and oral; persons professionally specializing in such work were called interpreters, in predominantly or wholly literate communities, translation is thought of as the conversion of a written text in another, though the modern emergence of instantaneous translator or professional interpreter at international conferences keeps the oral side of translation very much alive.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1976, p. 656)

The issue of translation is very applying and relevant to the discussion of language in the contest of African Ethnic setting. Most of the Bibles and educational books are translated and prepared from European books rather than going back to the original text with the original languages. Most of the translators were also Europeans with Europeans motivations and intentions. This should be taken into consideration we treat the scripture in the vernaculars of African dialects. Further more proper acknowledgment to the translators should be granted with well-balanced critical reading of the documents at hand.

e. Bilingualism and Multi Lingual

The only way to described African language complexity is through the word Bilingualism or multilingualism. It is only in encountering a second language that one realizes how complex language is and how much effort must be devoted to subsequent acquisition. Every normal persons masters his mother tongue with unconscious ease, people vary in their ability to learn additional languages, just as they vary in other intellectual activities. In African setting the dynamic of language acquisition is paramount. People learn other languages very easily, quickly and deficiently. Speaking more than one language is common. There a huge number of people who are multilingual. They are the ones who speak more than two or three languages. People take learning peoples language as a treasure for pleasant times to have trade exchange and for times of trouble to seek refuge and cohabitation during war, persecution and starvation.

VI. Linguistics Change

In the transmission of a language from one generation to the other every language changes. These changes take place in pronunciation, word forms, syntax and word meanings (semantic change). These changes are mostly very gradual in their operation, becoming noticeable only cumulatively over the course of several generations.

a. Development of language Families

In the structural aspect of language, the process of language change are are best observed by comparing written record of a language over extended periods. This is most readily seen by English speakers through setting side by side present day English texts with the 18th century English. In the transmission of a language from parent to child slight deviations in all aspects of language use occur all the time. These small deviations may grow into accents, modes of speech and other forms. If this is not well handled the effect may result in the emergence of a linguistic expression. The changes are progressively cumulative. Linguists have discovered a very practical insight when it comes to unitary and centralized languages. A community with a strong central direction and a central cultural focus will not experience a lot of change. But in more scattered communities and in larger language areas like Africa, the very cultural and administrative ties are weakened and broken. These cumulative deviations in the course of generations give rise to wider regional differences. Such differences take the form of dialectical differentiation as long as there is some degree of mutual comprehension but eventually result in the emergence of distinct languages. This is how language families have developed. The unitary original languages are called Proto, common parent, or common languages. They were there as a common medium before the separation commenced. But still whatever it may have been it was just one language among many and of special status in itself. It was certainly in no way the original language of humankind. It had it’s own original history.

b. Causes of language Change

Most scholars tend to agree that the fundamental cause of linguistic change and hence of linguistic diversification the minute deviations occurring in the transmission of speech from one generation to another. Population movements play a great role in this development. In most African countries territorial aggressions and conquests have played a great role in formulating linguistic mediums and modes of communication. There some linguists who say conquest do not always lead to the suppression of a language. Greek was ruled for centuries by Turkey and remained using the Greek language and having a national pride. Language do not just spread and compete with each other for territorial use. They are in constant contact, and every language bears evidence of this throughout its history.

VII. Notes on the Languages of Ethiopia

Linguists categorize Ethiopian languages into two major families of languages: Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan. Surveys also indicate that three subfamilies of the Afro-Asiatic family are represented in Ethiopia i.e., Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic. The Ethio-Semitic languages belong to what is termed a South/West Semitic branch of the Semitic languages. More than twenty Ethiopian languages are Cushitic, e.g., Oromo. The Oromo languages belong to an east Cushitic branch of the Cushitic languages. More than twenty Ethiopian languages are Cushitic, e.g., Oromo.

The official language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is Ge’ez. This ancient Semitic language, to which Amharic and some other modern Semitic languages in Ethiopia are related, is used in the worship services of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. According to Eskil Forslund, “Ge’ez is not however taught in the school system of the country. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, itself compares the importance of Ge’ez with that of Latin and Roman Catholic Church. In the ancient Axumite kingdom both church and state used the same language e.g. Ge’ez.

The first Bible Translation to an Ethiopian language was the translation into Ge’ez. This was an achievement of the Axumite period and was probably the gradual process from the late 4th or 5th century to the 7th. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church recognizes the need to use what is termed as the local language, which obviously refers to Amharic. In the churches work, but sees Ge’ez as superior because the local language was wanting in words needed for the purpose of religious service.” As far as Ethiopian linguistic setting is concerned this discussion gives a brief introductory synopsis of the whole picture. The language dynamics is a very interesting and a very unexplored area of specialty. It is a very rich and insightful anthropological project. In many African studies and departments of Humanities scholars are commencing to see the significance this languages of human antiquities to better understand and perceive the developmental phenomena and the evolution of human civilization.

VII. Conclusion

In the last five centuries, the tribal peoples of the world have had more extensive and disturbing encounters with the religions and cultures of highly sophisticated and powerful civilizations than ever before. Such encounters were brought about by the expansion of the European peoples across the world except Asia and Islamic areas of the North Africa and the Middle East. In the encounter between large, powerful, highly organized and literate societies and small, weak, and nonliterate tribal peoples, the latter have responded by developing a vast proliferation of religious movements.

These movements owe something to the religious of both their own and the newly introduced cultures, without being completely identified with either the old tribal or the new invasive religions. They are in this sense, new religious creations and the similarity of the situations in which they arise, of their characteristics features, and of the variety of their forms makes it possible to consider them in the aggregate as a new development in the history of religions. This phenomena translates itself to many