Whose Language Is It Anyway?

I had written this article back when we read Rebecca Martinez's article entitled, "Languages and Tribal Sovereignty."  The article speaks to the sovereignty of language, or determining who has the authority to define it, speak it, and teach it?

While living in Malawi, I lived in a region in the North where 21 different languages are spoken.  I would often joke that, while riding my bicycle to the nearest town, I would greet each village in a different language.  However, what I discovered through learning these different languages, was that no one in particular seemed to have a firm understanding of which words belonged to which language.  The different tribes had been living so near to each other, and the families had intermixed over such a long period of time, that no one really understood where one language ended and the other began.  This, I imagine, is a commonplace situation for those language groups that live in close proximity.

According to Malawi custom, the traditional authority would be the de facto government for determining sovereighty, though the traditional authority is generally a patrilineal chiefdom. As many of these chiefs were more interested in gaining additional power and status, very few were seriously considerate of their cultural traditions over the favor of institutional government.  It drew the question for me: who then is the sovereignty of each tribe's cultural traditions and language if the legitimate authority has little or no interest?