Identity

Tamazight – Language, power, and identity in North Africa

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Berber flag.svg

This is a translation and updated version by Mena B. Lafkioui of her original article in Dutch, which can be read here. A Danish translation is available here.

Language is central to the Amazigh claim. Through language, the Imazighen are able to understand and fully appreciate their millennia-old and richly layered linguistic and cultural heritage. At the same time, language functions as a crucial symbol and instrument of power. If the Imazighen wish to preserve and further develop their Amazighness or Tamuzgha – that is, their transnational collective Amazigh identity – then speaking and writing in Tamazight is indispensable.

The vast majority of today’s North African population descends from the Imazighen, the original inhabitants of the region. Tamazgha, … ↪

Swahili: The Rise of an African World Language

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kofi2

Today Lingoblog celebrates United Nations Swahili Day with this post by Kofi Yakpo.

Encounters with Swahili

In 1995, I won a scholarship to study Swahili at the Institute of Swahili and Foreign Languages in Zanzibar, Tanzania. I had crammed for two months before the qualifying exam, trying to catch up with African Studies students who had been studying Swahili for two years. I couldn’t utter a single coherent sentence, but I knew all the nominal classes and verbal extensions by heart. It got me through.

I stayed with the family of Bi Faiza in Michenzani, Zanzibar, a household consisting of Bi Faiza and her three daughters. She welcomed me as her son, and so, my journey of learning began. … ↪

Expanding Greenlandic Language to Support 2SLGBTQIA+ Terminology and challenging the colonial heteronormativity

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Billede1

Greenlandic is a language which is rich in cultural heritage, and it is currently evolving to be more inclusive by developing words and terms for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. This is a big step, enabling all queer Inuits in Greenland to express themselves in their native language.

Last year, Sipineq+ (a volunteer association for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Greenland) started this important work. They teamed up with three volunteer translators to create a list of 132 words and terms which cover the wide range of identities and experiences in the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum. They collaborated continuously and discussed their suggestions on what these terms could be in Greenlandic and they explained the meaning to our volunteer translators. This helped the translators to … ↪

The Language Song/Oqaatsigut

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TheLanguageSong

Language is something all humans share, and perhaps, since we all have it, we sometimes take it for granted. During my years as a researcher I have spoken with many people who themselves, their parents, or grandparents have lost their language. A language loss is often experienced as a trauma and simultaneously as a loss of one’s culture, identity, and roots. A language is but one attribute of a person’s individual identity and group identity. This attribute very often coincides with other attributes – traditions, heritage, clothing, food and more. When a language disappears, due to colonisation or other types of power manifestations, many other of the groups’ attributes disappear.

About half of today’s languages are at risk of dying … ↪