ÀBÌ'NE ÀKÀMTE NEGHAM NE ÑGEUMBA

Frequently, the concept of development is often restricted to the concerns relating to physical infrastructures.  Seldom is language seen as integral to development.  A cursory look at many of the countries and cultures that have made physical and technological advances in infrastructural development would inform us that such advances are made alongside with developmental advances in language.  As new inventions and scientific discoveries are made, be it in medicine, space exploration or computer design, such new vocabulary as sonogram, astronaut, laptop, etc is developed to describe these new inventions.

Scholars and policymakers who are concerned with underdevelopment of Africa very often focus exclusively on physical and infrastructural underdevelopment.  The problem, however, is much more acute when one looks at the degree to which development in traditional African languages are lagging.  While several African languages are underdeveloped, others have become extinct or moribund with only a few hundred speakers left.  Along with this atrophy, is the disappearance of the names and knowledge of medicinal plants and the indigenous know-how that sustained Africa for thousands of years.  A 2005 UN Conference on Trade and Development lamented this rather accelerating demise of African languages and the debilitating impact this is going to have on biodiversity.

Central Standard Ñgeumba is one of several pedagogical efforts to reverse the demise of one of Africa’s traditional languages and stem the doomsday dissipation of Africa’s human, cultural and environment values.  Inspiration for this book came about through a roundabout way.  Initially incensed by one of his professors who referred to African languages as underdeveloped and unstructured, the author eventually came to terms with the realization that an unwritten language is an underdeveloped language.  He took upon himself the daunting challenge of doing something about it.  In so doing, the author is in every respect contributing his own quota to Africa’s development.

The challenge is all the more daunting because Ñgeumba, a tributary of the Bantu family of languages has no previously transcribed sources.  All of what the author has produced here therefore has come from careful and extensive personal investigation.  He has had to take several trips across the Atlantic to conduct interviews with traditional rulers, village elders and recognized language experts.  For stylistic conformity, he has consulted multiple library sources, including modern linguistic texts.  For the Ñgeumba language, the publication of Central Standard Ñgeumba is both a cultural and historical milestone.  It transforms, for the first time, a language that has been spoken for thousands of years into a written language.  It establishes a base, and will henceforth become a vital linguistic resource for all future writers interested in the study and development of African languages.  Up until now, undocumented African languages and Ñgeumba language in particular, were underdeveloped.  With the publication of this text, Central Standard Ñgeumba, has begun the process of becoming developed.  If software programming is for computer development what the written language is for social and cultural development, then the linguistic software that will help spur the development efforts of the Ñgeumba people is now in place.