UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
BASIC STANDARDIZATION OF ALL UNWRITTEN
AFRICAN LANGUAGES (BASAL)
(Cameroon)
Received: summer 2006; last update: summer 2008
Brief description:
The language development and documentation project ‘Basic Standardization of
All Unwritten African Languages’ (BASAL) applies a methodology for developing
a writing system for languages that have only oral forms, and in this way support
and facilitate wider use of such languages in their communities. The essential
steps involved in this are: documentation, alphabetization, preparation of
language materials, literacy classes and training of local language workers.
The nine minority languages of Cameroon that have been covered so far by the
project are Gbete (spoken in the Eastern Province), Bembele (spoken in the
Eastern and Centre Provinces), Mada (spoken in the Far North Province),
Bangolan (spoken in the North-Western Province), Bikele (spoken in the Eastern
Province), Kwasio (spoken in the Southern Province), Tuki (spoken in the Centre
Province), Bamali and Mfumte (both spoken in the North-Western Province).
BASAL was developed by the National Association for Cameroonian Language
Committees (NACALCO) Centre for Applied Linguistics based in Yaoundé,
Cameroon. Under this project, young volunteer linguists carry out documentation
of languages in cooperation with members of speaker communities, who are
subsequently trained as language workers and trainers in literacy. A set of basic
materials (alphabet, orthography guide, teaching manuals, word lists, etc.) is
developed to allow the communities to use their mother tongues in media, in local
schools and adult literacy centres, and in everyday and public life.
UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
Reader’s guide:
This project provides an example of a large-scale language development and
safeguarding effort initiated by an academic institution and implemented with
crucial volunteer and community involvement. The project is based upon the
notion that creating literacy (including generating a standardized written form of a
language that formerly had no written form) is nowadays a vital component in
language survival. This report outlines the types of materials produced in view of
this concept of ‘creation of literacy’. Further, a pay-it-forward-type capacitybuilding system is described, under which young volunteer linguists train
community members in language teaching and documenting techniques in order
to ensure the sustainability of language safeguarding and development efforts.
Contact information:
Project contact and author of the report:
Mr Etienne Sadembouo
NACALCO Centre for Applied Linguistics
PO Box 2905
Yaoundé
Cameroon
1.
INTRODUCTION
Background: current situation in the language community:
The official languages of Cameroon are English and French; however, language
policy in Cameroon actually favours the development of ‘national’ (African)
languages. Two recent laws on decentralization (Law No. 2004/018 and Law No.
2004/019 of July 2004) give power to regions and councils to promote national
languages and literacy in their respective areas. The general idea is that these
national languages will serve as media of instruction in early primary education
and facilitate the transition to education in one of the official languages of
Cameroon (French or English), deemed necessary for educational and economic
advancement.
A concrete measure for integrating national languages into the school system
was the nomination of a National Pedagogy Inspector for national cultures and
languages in the Ministry of Secondary education in September 2006. In August
2007, the Ministry of Secondary Education appointed a second inspector for
national cultures and languages as well as four provincial inspectors.
Impetus for the project:
When the BASAL project was started by the Centre for Applied Linguistics of the
National Association for Cameroonian Language Committees (NACALCO) in
2000, fewer than 77 of the more than 250 local languages identified by
researchers in Cameroon were able to be used conveniently in literacy programs.
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UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
Developing standardized writing systems for oral languages was found to be
crucial in promoting the wider use of these languages, especially in mother
tongue education and in literacy programs. Such education programs were found
vital not only because they promote education by bringing people to literacy, but
also because they help preserve the living heritage of the communities
concerned. The goal of the project was furthermore to have speakers participate
in the safeguarding of their own languages.
2.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The project’s main goals and scope:
BASAL’s ultimate goal is to provide unwritten languages with a writing system
and basic language materials in order to prepare and support their use in
education, in other official domains of language use such as media and
administration, as well as in everyday life in the communities.
As an additional part of the project, the materials produced are tested in a first set
of literacy classes organized for community members. To sustain activities in the
villages, community members are trained as language specialists and trainers for
literacy classes. In addition, a local language committee is established for each
language to coordinate activities. The language committee is in charge of
regulating the promotion of the standard language model and promotion of
literacy in the mother tongue in the entire community after the linguists’ departure.
The project’s strategies and activities:
Young linguists (postgraduates in applied linguistics from Cameroonian
universities) work as volunteers with speaker communities of the targeted
languages in order to :
(1) establish the writing principles of the languages based on scientific linguistic
analysis;
(2) produce first reference materials for the languages: alphabets (lists of
selected symbols to be used in writing for a particular language), orthography
guides, transition manuals from literacy in French/English to literacy in the mother
tongue, ‘big books’ (primers) and small dictionaries;
(3) teach first literacy classes;
(4) build capacities by training local people as future trainers.
Specifically, project activities start with an assessment of linguistic materials
already existing for a given language, in particular descriptions of the sound
system. Additional sociolinguistic research is then conducted by the volunteers
with regard to inter-comprehension among local dialects, the choice of a
‘standard’ dialect and evaluation of overall language vitality.
On the basis of these components the alphabet and orthography guide are then
produced. The alphabet is based on the principles of the Alphabet général des
langues camerounaises proposed by Tadadjeu and Sadembouo (1984).
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UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
The orthography guide captures guidelines and rules for writing the respective
language. It is a descriptive booklet of about 15-20 pages describing the sound
and tonal system of the language as well as the combination of sounds in words
and sentences.
The transition manuals are 70-100 pages and target community members who
are already literate in an official language (commonly, French) and also have
speaking competence in the local language. The manual is a didactic booklet
providing practical instructions as well as exercises on reading and writing the
local language. In a set of approximately twenty lessons, it explains articulation,
use of letters (particularly in comparison to the official language), morphology
(word formation), use of diacritics for tones and prosody, etc. A manual is tested
and edited in collaboration with the community before printing the final version.
The ‘big books’ contain stories with pictures, presented in book form and created
in collaboration with the community. Each book tells one short story in fifteen to
twenty short sentences, each accompanied by an illustration. The books are
produced for literacy classes and targeted especially towards children. The big
size of the characters used confers to them the name of ‘big books’ and facilitates
group reading, e.g. in the classroom.
Capacity building is carried out via workshops conducted by volunteer linguists
from the NACALCO Centre for Applied Linguistics. Three workshops are
commonly organized in each community. The first workshop is oriented towards
the presentation of the new alphabet using the alphabet chart and booklet; the
second provides training in orthographic principles and the use of the
orthography guide and transition manual; and the third, limited to three or four
selected people, is pedagogically-oriented. This latter workshop provides training
for future trainers in literacy classes in the respective community and for future
authors of practical materials for non-formal education in the community.
Approximately two years are needed to complete all activities for a particular
language if an analysis of the sound system already exists. If not, about six more
months should be considered to provide for the initial phonological study.
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UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
Project organizers:
The BASAL project is carried out by the NACALCO Centre for Applied Linguistics
in Yaoundé, Cameroon, which serves as the technical branch of the local
language academies association. The main staff of the centre is made up of
university professors and senior lecturers. Its mission is to provide scientific
assistance to local language academies in language documentation and training
and to reinforce capacities of local language practitioners in the fields of material
design, literacy and formal education.
So far, nine volunteer students and five professors have been involved in the
BASAL program. For the Bembele and Gbete languages, six local community
members have been trained to promote language development and literacy
implementation. For the other seven languages covered by the project, literacy
classes have been going on for three to five years. Today, as a result of the
project, a good portion of people in the communities concerned are able to read
and write their own local languages and support their own language development.
Mobilization of resources:
At the beginning of the project, NACALCO benefited from financial support
provided by SIL International, then by UNESCO (for two new languages). The
project has also received tremendous help from people in local communities via
provision of lodging and cooperation during researchers’ stays in the field.
3.
OUTCOMES
Achievements and positive results:
(1) Reference materials:
In the course of the project, alphabets, orthography guides, transition manuals
and big books were developed for each of the nine languages covered so far,
enabling local speakers to achieve literacy in their mother tongues and to use
their languages as efficient media of written communication. A total of 28 titles
were produced, with 12 additional booklets in early stages of production.
In addition, four dictionaries have been published, and four more are close to the
printing phase. The dictionaries were produced on the basis of word lists that had
been collected by the student volunteers using a reference list; these lists were
compiled using ‘Toolbox’ and ‘Shoebox’, two computer programs that facilitate
the production of dictionaries.
The materials produced so far have been successfully introduced into the
communities for literacy development purposes. Some materials such as
transition manuals, primers and wall alphabet charts are used in teaching and
self-training by literates, neo-literates and even illiterates. Certain materials are
distributed free of charge, while others such as dictionaries are sold.
Some community members were reportedly surprised to see that their language
could be transformed into print; however, it is now more typically the case that
efforts are going on in all active endangered language sectors to produce written
materials such as short stories and other texts for language documentation and
preservation.
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UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
(2) Capacity-building:
As mentioned before, capacity-building in this project involved training community
members in reading and writing their mother tongue as well as teaching them
some basic principles of conducting adult literacy activities on their own, in their
own area, taking into account the needs of learners.
The community members trained early on are now local literacy supervisors.
Having this status, they train other community members and organize literacy
activities. Workshops are conducted by local people according to their local
arrangements and schedule.
Overall, the positive attitude generated by the project activities is now motivating
language communities to collect whatever information pertains to their culture,
primarily for language documentation and for generational transmission.
The Gbete language in particular is now being used on the community radio
station in Képéré.
Capacity-building in this project furthermore took place with the involvement of
volunteer-linguists, who benefited greatly from the hands-on experience and
training in their fieldwork.
Overall, activities begun under the BASAL program, especially literacy classes
are currently thriving in the communities under the auspices of the local language
committees founded during the project. Local and external elites are now more
aware of their role and ownership in the development of their language.
Problems encountered:
(1) Selection of volunteers can be a challenge: volunteer work for the project is
based upon the personal commitment of young linguists who devote the time
they can to assist a language community. The idea of volunteer work is at times
difficult to pass on to subsequent collaborators, who mostly consist of people who
need to work for remuneration. In addition, volunteer work is not always
adequately valued by communities and the government.
(2) Language documentation work does not provide immediate financial rewards
for the community. This type of project may thus, in the beginning, need to be
accompanied or preceded by awareness-raising activities in the community that
can show the long-term benefits of such initiatives. A few committed speakers, for
instance, can soon attract and bring others to the project.
(3) Lack of adequate means to support the volunteers and mentors (equipment,
transportation and allowance, communication) can be another challenge, as are
the tough working and travelling conditions in very remote areas.
Future prospects:
The NACALCO centre wants to continue in its endeavour to provide all
Cameroonian languages with writing systems. Substantial financial assistance is
needed to carry out this work. In this regard, it would be desirable for the
government to adopt a clearer, more concrete linguistic policy encouraging the
protection and development of minority languages.
NACALCO would furthermore like to carry the BASAL program over to other
African countries.
The Academy of African languages (ACALAN) is on its
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UNESCO REGISTER OF GOOD PRACTICES IN LANGUAGE PRESERVATION
way to implement a new ‘African linguistic plan’, and the BASAL programme
methodology is a resource for this plan.
Linguapax Africa, a new organization working in collaboration with UNESCOCAT
in Barcelona, Spain, and whose activities are coordinated in Africa by the
NACALCO Centre for Applied Linguistics, has been planning to apply the BASAL
program to two endangered Ethiopian languages and two endangered
Cameroonian trans-border languages. Currently, organizers are trying to secure
initial funds for this project.
Experiences gained:
Cultural and linguistic development has to be initiated by communities, who
should be actively involved in project work (supported by a strong and competent
national centre) and responsible for all major decisions. The safeguarding of
African languages and cultural heritage should be the concern of Africans
themselves, and the volunteer work involved has to be promoted and valued by
communities and authorities at all different levels: local, regional, national and
continental.
Community engagement has been fundamental for the success of the BASAL
program in Cameroon. It has also helped speakers regain pride in their culture
and confidence in their language as the best tool for communication and basic
education in their local community.
Recommendations to people wishing to carry out similar projects:
What one can take away from the Cameroon BASAL experience is the
knowledge of the crucial importance of setting up similar types of activities that
promote the development of local languages and that can be carried out by local
people themselves. Such knowledge can usefully be communicated to
governments and private institutions in view of promoting similar projects
elsewhere in the future.
4.
FURTHER RESOURCES
African Academy of
http://www.acalan.org/
Languages
/
Académie
Africaine
des
Langues:
This project was selected in the framework of UNESCO’s work for the
safeguarding of endangered languages and intangible cultural heritage.
Web: www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages
www.unesco.org/culture/ich
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