Sakun Language Prospects and Summary
Outlook
There is a mixed outlook for the Sakun language. Should the language slowly stop being taught as the first language to Sakun children, and should Hausa be allowed to gradually keep encroaching on the language structure and domains, there is the potential for Sakun to become a case of language absolescence.
However, the current actions promoting language maintenance look promising. According to A Grammar of Sakun (Sukur), the Sakun community is facing an increase in pride in their identity, which will hopefully spread to the use of their language. On top of this pride, the Sakun community has a strong history of preserving their culture traditions, as seen by their UNESCO classification (3).
In the worst case scenario, there is always documentation of the language. As mentioned before, there is not much documentation on the language historically, but that is slowly changing. These documentations will allow the language to remain dormant with the possibility of being awoken again instead of becoming extinct. According to the Endangered Language Archive, the current documentations of the language include:
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- Michael Thomas's dissertation "Grammar of Sukur"
- The ELAR Sakun archive
- Wordlists documented by anthropologists
However, outside of these academic resources, there are not many places with information on the language. There are not many media sources for the Sakun language as it is so small and only newly written. There are many websites that talk about the culture of the Sakun people, including the UNESCO website, but there is little language documentation on these sites. There are also a couple of informational videos about the community due to their UNESCO status, like the documentary linked on the homepage of this website. While these videos do feature some snippets of the language, it is not something that is focused on and many the snippets of the language can only be heard in the background.
Summary
Sakun does not elict a great need for worry just yet, especially compared to many other languages of the world (several of which are showcased in the other exhibits on this page). However, in order to keep Sakun from getting to a point of great endangerment, there is a necessary course of action. I propose the following methods for fighting against the endangerment of Sakun:
1.) Continued and increased language maintenance
Maintaining the Sakun language is the only way to stop the language from slowly transforming into Hausa. If there is not adequate preservation and maintenace to the language as it is, it will continue adopting parts of the Hausa language into it until it is no longer recongizable as Sakun.
2.) Continuation of passing the language on as a first language
As any linguist will tell you, a language is on the fast track to extinction when it is no longer being taught to new generations. While Sakun is not to that point yet, it is paramount that the language stays as far away from that point as possible. Each new generation of speakers is another generation of safety for the existence of the language.
3.) Continued embracing of multilingualism
Multilingualism is practiced a lot in the region where Sakun is spoken (in addition to much of the rest of the world), and it works very well and has proven to be very useful. If this practice is sustained, the Sakun (and speakers of other tribal languages) will not be forced to choose between their tribal language and the more dominant languages of society, allowing an avenue for these endangered languages to continue to be used.
4.) Reintroduction of the language into all domains of society
As of right now, Hausa is the language used most across the different domains of use, followed by English. This is an issue because it promotes a language shift from Sakun to both Hausa and English. Reintroducting Sakun into the different domains will allow for more use of the language within society and put a stop to language shift.
5.) Increased documentation
There is not much documentation on the Sakun language. Really, the only substantial documentation materials stem from Michael Thomas's dissertation, and that one piece of work can only document so much. If there is to be successful preservation of the language and successful development of teaching materials in the language (especially for the diaspora), further documentation needs to be done.
6.) Introduction into more online medias
The online presence for Sakun is very, very small, however in the increasingly digitized world, an online presence can very well be the defining factor in if a language becomes extinct or not (Belmar 2). Sakun is a written language, and even if internet access is spotty with the main speaker population, there are diaspora in places with guaranteed internet access. There is opportunity for Sakun to have a digital presence, and it should by all means be taken advantage of.
Proactive actions are necessary now because time is imparative for saving languages and the knowledge encoded in them. In cases like Sakun, steps focused on increasing the language use within speaker population should be the focus of linguisitic efforts, but it's important to remember that it's never too early to start taking the steps to document and preserve a language. Documentation is a very time-consuming process and ideally the entirety of a language will be documented before it's last speaker dies, meaning there is a set amount of time to be utilized. It is better to get a start on the process while the speaker population is still rather large than waiting until there are only a handful of elderly speakers left.
There is so much to lose if the Sakun language dies out and is not at the very least preserved. The Sakun people are still a very traditional people, and (like with all languages), their language reflects these traditions and the knowledge essential for surviving in the traditional way. Should the language die out completely, especially before there is adequate preservation of it, this knowledge and worldview can be lost forever.