In search of national language
Let’s begin this discussion by asking ourselves three pertinent questions:
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(i) What is a national language?
(ii) How does a language qualify to be picked as a national language?
(iii) Does Ghana have a probable national language? We shall be very brief.
First, what is a national language? The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (8th Edition) defines a national language as “A shared language of communication used between people whose languages are different.
Dictionary.com also defines it as “the language spoken and written by the majority of people in a country; also the official language of a country, recognised and adopted by its government (emphasis mine).” The two definitions are clear, except that the second adds that the national language must by spoken and written by a majority of people in a country. We shall return later to what majority in this context implies.
How then does a language qualify for adoption as a national language? Let us first look at the acquisition of language. Anthropologists will argue that where there is no language there is no man, and vice versa, and here communication art aptly captures the interrelationship between man and language, and vice versa. Psycholinguistics, however, deals with the mental processes which underline the acquisition and use of language.
By this we imply a cultural regime that embodies the mutual sharing of ideas, symbols, meanings, thoughts and emotions by a people living within the same geographical or ethnic location. In this exercise, the catch phrase is shared meaning. This is because there cannot be effective communication where the intended meaning is lost on the listener, hearer or viewer.
We can, on this premise, launch into the wider discussion of the acquisition of a national language and whether Ghana, at its current level of socio-political development, has a potential national language or is ripe for the acceptance of one of its local languages as a lingua franca (national language).
Some essential conditions should be met for a language to be accepted as a national language or lingua franca.
These are: (a) the political neutrality of the language;
(b) a linguistic correlation (connection) between the proposed national language and the indigenous languages of the country for users to learn or understand it;
(c) the said language must be the mother tongue of a substantial community of speakers spread all over the country.
Beginning with the first condition, one is happy to note that no one language bloc in Ghana poses a political threat to any other in Ghana. Fortunately, Ghanaians are a happy family of political animals living together, though having for now agreed to operate from ethnicity-biased political families. How far the connecting strands can hold is the question one considers with a prayer.
And the next point. Language is dynamic and Ghanaians travelling the length and breadth of the country on commercial activity have not only intermarried but also enriched their individual languages by borrowing from and lending words in order to get by. We would not belabour the linguistic plane for obvious reasons.
Now, to the thorny point: Does any of the Ghanaian languages qualify to become a national language?
The only language that presents some claim to this probability is Twi. The Twi language is widely spoken in Ghana today owing largely to the Twi-speaking industry which one respects immensely. Ghana owes its fast growth to this enviable quality of the Akan. The Twi-speaking Akans have traversed the country in their search for greener pastures, settling in new areas and taking their culture along with them, even if they kick against other cultures at times.
Does Twi qualify for selection as a national language? To this question one would respond with a cautious ‘yes.’ Twi may be widely spoken in Ghana; it may not pose any political threat and it may be easily understood by most Ghanaians. But it has a tragic flaw that will make no less a socio-political commentator than K. B. Asante, writing in his column in the Daily Graphic (Voice From Afar) on the topic ‘Do We Have a National Language?’ on Monday, February 17, 2014, note that “some are unhappy with the neglect of their language and a rift between the different language groups is developing.” May the good Lord forbid!
The issue: Remember Chuks Kofi Wayo quarrelling in radio programmes in the past over why he should be forced to speak Twi when he was not a Twi-speaking Ghanaian? Have you ever heard a friend or colleague being asked why he or she cannot speak Twi despite being a Ghanaian? Ghanaian languages could be used in community-based mass media. Why is it being used in national media? Why place Twi headlines in newspapers read all over the country by non-Twi-speaking persons? Is there a tacit agenda to impose one language on Ghanaians? For now, no one language poses a political danger in Ghana; the greater danger is the steady cultural invasion. The Hutu-Tutsi strife stemmed from a class warfare, with the Tutsis perceived to have greater wealth and social status. The strife in Burundi had no tribal or religious causes. It was a class warfare with colourations of the perceived rich and powerful. Ghanaians can learn to avoid that in any guise.
Judged from the above, Ghana does not have a potential national language. Its national coherence and stability are far more desirable than the acquisition of a national language. The socio-political climate is just not ripe for it. And that is why one wants to agree with K. B. Asante that Ghanaians seek proficiency in the functional use of the official language, which is English. The search for a national language is ongoing.