Ibibio Language in Sciences: What We Lost and are Recovering
Language carries so much more than just communication; it carries knowledge, it is a means of understanding the universe for a people. The ancient knowledge of the Ibibio language of southeast Nigeria is rich with knowledge of the natural world, the human body and the cosmos that has been passed down throughout the ages. But out of the many indigenous languages in Africa, Ibibio has experienced a subtle yet tangible disappearance of its scientific terms. Today, we are trying to recover what was lost and to consider Ibibio a language that can communicate the whole of modern science.
A Language That Once Knew the Sky
Natural phenomena were named by Ibibio speakers; in fact, it was a testament to their advanced ability to observe the world around them, well before formal schooling in English was widespread. For instance, the word ‘udọk’ not only referred to the rainbow but also to its meaning and importance in the context of culture and spirituality. That flash of lightning that would brighten the sky was referred to as ‘akepkep’ or ‘amnen-mnen’. They were not primitive words but concrete, practical words that were connected to a form of thought that was cognisant of the weather, the seasons and astronomical events.
The Ibibio people also had names for the constituents of human life. “Obong eyen” translates to “foetus” or “embryo” and refers to the recognition of human growth before birth, a long time before the modern period of embryology. It was drawn with the Ibibio language, and body parts and their names were inscribed. It was science, practised and passed on from generation to generation, that was indigenous.
The Colonial Rupture
The introduction of colonial education introduced a basic change. English became the language of teaching, of medicine, of law, of all things that mattered in the ‘modern’ world. The Ibibio, like hundreds of other African languages, was forced into the private sphere, into the language of the market, the home, and the village, but not the classroom or the laboratory.
This had an awful effect. The majority of the Ibibio speakers lost access to scientific knowledge. A child may talk to you about what he saw in the rainbow in Ibibio but not the physics. The terms which once referred to nature were more and more rarely used and were replaced by their English equivalents, including ‘udọk’ for rainbow and ‘akepkep’ for lightning. Scientific register was removed from the language.
The significant thing about this loss was there was no need for it. The scientific domain is not necessarily a domain which cannot be described in indigenous languages; it is just a domain in which there is a shortage of the scientific terminology due to systematic exclusion. There was knowledge there. The words were there. They were simply forgotten.
What We Are Doing Now
Today, it is recognised that this loss needs to be reversed. Around the world, African scientists and language activists are making strides towards creating scientific terminology in their mother tongues. The development is not the replacement of English but of a parallel scientific vocabulary which may be used to learn science in the mother tongue.
This is already the case for the Ibibio. New dictionaries with over 20,000 words include words for scientific entities including disease names (akpaikpai ikọn̄), plants and animals and the body. There are apps like “Learn Ibibio Language” that offer its users the opportunity to learn the language and others like medical terms, body parts, and weather. Children’s textbooks are being prepared for primary school. The goal is to make Ibibio a language that can be talked about with pride, both at home and in the diaspora, and confirm that Ibibio is not a language that is out-of-date but a language of knowledge, culture, and history.
The Terms We Are Reclaiming
Consider the words we are recovering:
Rainbow = ‘udọk’ – a word that once connected the heavens to the earth
Lightning = ‘akepkep‘ or ‘amnen-mnen‘ – a term that named the fire from the sky
Fetus/embryo = obong eyen – a recognition of life in its earliest form
Glass = ‘agrasi‘ – a word for a material that transformed human vision
Government = ‘okonsit‘ – a term for the structures that organize society
Industry/company = usiakifia – a concept of organized human endeavor
Rainbow (alternative) = anukabasi—literally “God’s bow”, a poetic understanding of the phenomenon
All these words are worldviews. They do not simply refer to translation but to meanings set in a cultural context that are more meaningful than the translation.
The Path Forward
It is not a journey back in time we’re going on when we’re recovering Ibibio’s scientific jargon. It is a good idea. It is easier for children to learn when it is in a language they can comprehend. Communities can participate in development in a more meaningful way when they can interact with the community in their own language on subjects like health, agriculture, and technology.
The task is challenging. It must create new words to express new concepts that did not exist in the previous use of the language in a scientific context. Requires standardisation and training and policy support. It is happening – word by word, class by class, generation by generation.
The Ibibio language is NOT a dead language. It is not even on the verge of death. It is recovering. In that recovery, we’re not only reclaiming words; we are reclaiming a way of knowing the world. The rainbow still has a name; Lightning has a name, after all. They are brought back to life each time they are read.