LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM MARSABIT COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

This paper interrogates the two opposing positions regarding the implications of
language loss to the survival of the relevant culture. While one position (cf.
Miyaoka 2001:8; Thomason 2001:10) holds that language and culture require each
other for their continued survival, the other position (cf. Duenhauer and Duenhauer
1998:76; Rigsby 1987:370) contends that the relationship between them is such
that, in spite of their closeness, the loss of one does not necessarily lead to the
loss of the other. The discussion is based on the linguistic situation in Marsabit
County. The county is linguistically heterogeneous with over ten indigenous ethnic
communities who claim to be natives, and not (recent) immigrants. The languages
spoken by these inhabitants of the county are drawn from two major language
phyla: Afro-asiatic and Nilo-Saharan. A good number of these languages, however,
are grappling with the threat of assimilation following contact with other
(indigenous) languages whose speakers, apparently, exhibit some dominance
(political, economical and statistical) over the rest. In particular, the paper
examines the threat posed to Elmolo and Rendille by Samburu, and to Burji, Waata
and Konso by Borana. Using illustrations drawn from these cases of language shift,
the paper demonstrates that the decline of linguistic diversity in Marsabit County
has a potentially impoverishing effect on the culture and by extension on the
human development of the county.