Intermarriage can also cause linguistic shifts, my own independent study of social factors
The Himbacracy Philosopher
Intermarriage can also cause linguistic shifts
because, for social and economic reasons, families may prioritize teaching
their kids the dominant language. Apparently, anyone can marry whomever they
want, regardless of differences in culture and language, thanks to the world of
technology and democracy. However, because they can change the language use
patterns of minority language speakers and their children, mixed marriages may
contribute to language shifts in the home.
In those days, our people, particularly the Ovaherero
community, were not accustomed to forbidding their children from marrying
members of other tribes for a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons was
the language shift; they knew that if they allowed such marriages, their
language, and culture would shift. However, thanks to technology, democracy,
and so-called civilization, children now choose for themselves whom they want
to wed, regardless of their background, but the following factors contribute to
language shift and culture change:
(i)
Economic, social,
and political issues such as poverty (which may cause migration into any
marriage of their choosing), the linguistic majority's social and political
domination, etc.;
(ii)
demographic variables such as a declining
speaker population, geographic isolation, etc.
The majority of young people will disagree with this
notion, however, someone will become watchful after a negative encounter.
Following such an experience, people take extra precautions to avoid
recurrences. The institution of marriage is a key socialization tool since it
serves as the cornerstone of houses. Marriage may be counted on to play a
significant role in maintaining a language and culture in this way. However,
because they can change the language use patterns of minority language speakers
and their children, mixed marriages may be a factor in language shifts in the
home. As a result, marriages between partners who speak the same native tongue
have a higher chance of maintaining a minority language than marriages between
partners who speak different languages.
Because one man's meat is another man's poison,
everyone's experience may vary. However, there are those who have married
intermarriage and have never had a problem. I am speaking from my own personal
perspective; anyone else may view it in a different way. What I consider to be
worthless to one person may be precious to another. The likelihood of fruitful
interracial interactions is increased as a result of interracial marriages. In
my own research, I have discovered that when one has pleasant interracial
contacts, prejudice, and discrimination against members of an out-group
(someone from whom one has a different racial identification) decreases.
Language attitudes affect a person's motivation to
acquire a second language, hence they are directly related to language shift.
One of the key elements that affect language maintenance and change is
attitude. To put it another way, language shift depends greatly on "the
self-image of the minority group" and attitudes toward its linguistic
surroundings. For instance, parents' perspectives on their language ultimately
affect their choices over whether or not to pass it down to their children.
While attitudes toward the English language tend to favour its use, attitudes
toward minority languages tend to favour their abandonment. Similarly to this,
when a low-status language develops a bad reputation and image, prospective
speakers steer clear of it to avoid being identified with its undesirable
image.
Numerous studies have supported the significance of
values in the preservation and shift of minority languages, and I discovered
that some minority language speakers do, in fact, harbour animosity toward
their native tongues. For example, I'll caution against the mindset of many
native speakers of minority languages, especially the youth in the town’s
minority who like speaking Afrikaans or English to one another. I am
particularly concerned about the minority groups' waning interest in their
native tongues in towns and their current preference for English, which signals
the minority languages' quick abandonment in private spheres of life.
You shouldn't put too much faith in something's
ability to succeed. You can believe that everything is fine without taking the
long view, that people are blind to how others perceive them, or that they
cover up their flaws. A bed bug stinks, but because they are only familiar with
that stench, they are not aware of how offensive it is to others. People who
don't care about the value of language and culture might assume everything is fine
when it's actually not. Do not put yourself in a dangerous situation or limit
your alternatives for future action.
After the horse has bolted or the stable has been
burglarized, it is too late to lock the stable. What you must understand is
that once language or culture changes, it won't be possible to return to the
previous state. From a Himbacracy philosophical standpoint, I prefer to
preserve what we had before we lost it. As Namibians, we must respect one
another while still preserving our native tongues and cultures. There is a
beginning and an end to everything. So, whether you want something to end or
not, when its time comes, it will. When you discover you've followed the
incorrect path, it will be obvious that you've lost the things you were supposed
to keep. However, turning around will be challenging because you have nowhere
to start. If at all feasible, get married inside your community to preserve the
richness of the area as well as your language and culture.
Given that this is a small-scale personal study, I won't
make any sweeping statements about the ramifications of what I've learned.
However, it can be argued that I have at least made some perceptive
observations regarding the roles that mixed marriages play in language shift,
and subsequent studies with larger samples may build on my individual
research. Minority languages are passed
down through families from one generation to the next. As I correctly noted, a
minority language's likelihood of surviving or dying out largely depends on
"the degree to which the language is passed on from one generation to the
next within the household context." Minority languages get endangered if
parents don't make sure their kids learn and speak them.
According to the findings of my observation, many
mixed-language families reveal a persistent failure or unwillingness on the
part of parents to pass on minority languages to their children. If this trend
continues, the existence of such minority languages is unclear in the future.
Based on the facts that "intergenerational transmission is heavily
dependent on home language use" and "the home language question does
enable predictions of future use of the languages concerned," this
conclusion has been drawn.
Without the family's assistance, minority language
preservation will be challenging. Language maintenance requires the cooperation
of both parents and kids. If parents do not speak the language to them or
encourage them to speak it, children will not play any part in the preservation
of the mother tongue. Mixed-language households will continue to migrate to the
former ones as long as dominant languages continue to be linked with political,
social, and economic benefits while minority languages are not, with obvious
implications for the future of minority languages. Raising the value of
minority languages should be an intentional status planning aim, for example,
by requiring their usage in prestigious sectors like education, the media, and
the parliament, in order to significantly stop the shift away from minority languages.
These Otjiherero proverbs, which I'll close with, say
that anything rooted in the truth lasts considerably longer than anything built
on lies. An elderly person's words of wisdom are not lessened by their terrible
breath.
Uerimanga Tjijombo
Himbacracy Philosopher
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