Mother-tongue Speakers Research Articles

Assessing the Intersectionality of Language Anxiety and Outcomes for African Learners Writing Examinations in English

This study investigated the intersectionality of language anxiety, writing examinations in English, and outcomes for non-English mother-tongue learners in South Africa. The study focused on the impact of these three factors on learner performance and delved into this intersectionality by reviewing the literature on anxiety stemming from writing examinations and the impact of the language medium used in assessing learners. Qualitative document analysis was used to collect and analyse the data for this study. It involved gathering literature from psychology, education, and language studies to reveal a correlation between anxiety, writing examinations, and the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT). The study concluded that using English as a medium for examinations can have a negative impact on learners who may not be linguistically competent to express themselves effectively in English, even if they were taught using translanguaging pedagogies. It argued that the true potential and outcomes of learners will only be fully realised through the exam process if they are allowed to write examinations in their mother tongues; and recommended that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) should allow for examinations to be conducted in all official languages for all grades and encourage learners to write examinations in their mother tongues. The only examinations they should be required to write in English are those for English Additional Language, like Afrikaans mother tongue speakers who can write all their examinations in Afrikaans except for English as a subject. Keywords: Anxiety, English Hegemony, Examinations, Language of Learning and Teaching, Linguistic Injustice

Identification, description and classification of consonants and vowel phonemes in Nambya language of Hwange district in Matabeleland North Province in Zimbabwe

Nambya language has been scantly researched on. While it has been introduced at primary, secondary and tertiary level, there is no consensus on the agreed phonemes. With the background of learning a Language of Wider Communication (LWC), the LWC has influenced the way Nambya is written or spelt. This paper investigates the phonemes in Nambya, a previously marginalised language spoken by an estimated 117 000 inhabitants (https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups / -retrieved 16 June 2022.) found in Hwange district. The study employed a qualitative design and was conducted in Hwange district in western province of Zimbabwe. The study attempted a systematic description and classification of Nambya consonants, and vowels using a descriptive framework. This research aimed to establish and provide a detailed study of the consonant sounds available in the language. The target population were the mother tongue speakers who had either learnt the language at formal setups or were natural speakers of the language. Expert and homogeneous purposive sampling techniques were applied to select participants and the sample size was ten. Data was generated through semi structured interviews and focused group discussions. It was also collected through primary and secondary sources and analysed according to consonantal and vowel structures of the language. The study found that Nambya has basic 5 vowel system. The consonant structure includes single and modified consonants. Long vowels are restricted to (i) the future tense, future (Incidental) Indicative, affirmative, other persons, (ii)in the third person singular of negative tenses and present indicative negative.

Is personality reflected in the gestures of second language speakers?

Previous studies on gestures and personality suggest an ambiguous picture of the effects of the various personality dimensions on the different types of speech-gestures and adaptors. In foreign language learning an additional variable to take into account is proficiency, which some studies have shown to affect gestures. In this study, we explore how various intrinsic variables, including personality, proficiency, gender and age affect the gestures of 61 Cantonese speakers of English as a second language. Participants were asked to narrate a video cartoon. Their proficiency and the frequency of gestures produced was based on those narrations. A functional categorization of gestures was followed, dividing them into semantic and discursive, and that also noted adaptors and micro-gestures, referred to as "flutters." Personality was self-reported using the 44 question Big-Five inventory. Correlations and a series of generalized linear models were developed to explore the interplay between variables. Agreeableness was found to be positively correlated with semantic gestures; and neuroticism and age were negatively correlated with flutter duration. Contrary to the findings from previous studies, no significant relationships were found between neuroticism and adaptors or semantic gestures, nor between extraversion or openness and semantic gestures. Proficiency and gender had little effect on gestures. As personality has been shown to be an important factor in gesture production in mother tongue speakers, we expected to also see a similar result with foreign language speakers, this not being so suggests that other variables, aside from those tested, should be considered. In particular, the results suggest that emotion and emotional constructs, such as anxiety, self-confidence or empathy, might have a greater impact on gesture production than proficiency or personality, a point which should be taken into account especially in language evaluation contexts or professional contexts with second language speakers.

Going the Extra Mile: Improving Linguistic Quality in Translation

In this century, the rise in mother-tongue speaker driven projects has led to the downplaying of the importance of linguistics. Many projects operate on the assumption that linguistic training is unnecessary for mother-tongue translators. There is documented evidence though that many translators are strongly influenced by a high prestige source text while drafting. In South Asia at least, a large number of organizations are doing translation, and not all of them value linguistic training. I contend that a more realistic solution is to have translation consultants pick up the slack by looking for language-related issues in the draft. In my research, I examined renderings of NT passages in eight South Asian language projects covering different language families. Of the 82 consultant note subcategories taught in training workshops, I restricted my review to 24 that deal especially with linguistic issues. The results show that the reviewing consultants detected only 3% – 20% of the issues that I found. I demonstrate tools for consultants to examine the actual draft even if they do not know the language. I also discovered that many potential errors are influenced by the forms of the classical regional language versions used as model texts. The issues discovered affect quality in two ways: naturalness and pragmatic accuracy. Looking for these potential errors is worth the extra time and effort on the part of the consultants, who can be easily trained for this enhanced review process.

The Implementation of Visual Grammar in Slovene Classes to Mother Tongue Speakers

The discussion focuses on the implementation of visual grammar in the study program for primary school teachers in the course Slovene language 1 - basics of text. It points out the theoretical premises of the Systemic Functional and Visual Grammar as the basis for discussing the multimodal texts, and along with a case study (34 student exam solutions) and findings from practice, presents the more challenging areas of student acquisition of theory and metalanguage. It justifies the need and shows the possibility of teaching multimodal textual analysis in school education.

Some new perspectives on the Soweto uprising: H. M. L. Lentsoane’s poem “Black Wednesday” (“Laboraro le lesoleso”)

The epic poem about the Soweto uprising, “Laboraro le lesoleso”, written in Sepedi (Northern Sotho) by H. M. L. Lentsoane has only recently been translated into English by Biki Lepota as “Black Wednesday” and published in the anthology Stitching a whirlwind (2018). In this article I suggest that, by discarding English, some crucial shifts from the bulk of protest poetry written in English must have taken place. Lentsoane wants to speak directly to fellow mother tongue speakers and not a national or broader African or international ear. It becomes clear that, by deploying various strategies based in orality, the poet manages to contribute new material and new approaches to creative texts of black protest during the apartheid years, e.g., a release from specific apartheid content about their oppression that every indigenous speaker had common knowledge of; an adherence to orality in terms of presentation, vocabulary, and form; and a linkage with the ancestors and a release from trying to reach the conscience of whites. This manifests through the poem’s particular perspective and emphasis as narrative, as telling, combined with vivid visceral poetic imagery of the event. The poem evocatively captures the unfolding of incidents while at the same time shifting the focus to an ancestral demand to stand up for righteousness in a universal field of justice.

A phonetic case study of Tŝilhqot’in /z/ and /zʕ/

This paper provides an acoustic description of /z/ and /zʕ/ in Tŝilhqot’in (Northern Dene). These sounds are noted by Cook (1993, 2013) to show lenition and some degree of laterality in coda position. Based on recordings made in 2014 with a single, mother-tongue speaker of Tŝilhqot’in, we describe their acoustic properties and examine their distribution as a function of prosodic position and segmental environment. We find that they vary along three dimensions: manner (fricative–approximant), degree of retraction (non-retracted–retracted), and laterality (non-lateral–lateral). In addition, some tokens have a characteristic ‘buzziness’, which has been associated with the Chinese front apical vowel (Shao & Ridouane 2018, 2019) and the Swedish ‘Viby-i’ (Westberger 2019). We argue that ‘lenition’ (Kirchner 2004, Ennever, Meakins & Round 2017) can only account for some of the observed variation and suggest that both /z/ and /zʕ/ are specified for two tongue articulations: tongue tip/blade and tongue body (Laver 1994), encompassing laterality (and concomitant retraction) in addition to the primary coronal gesture.

A matter of honour: Speaking Hozo (Ak’mo Wandi), an endangered language in western Ethiopia

This article is concerned with Hozo, a minority language spoken in western Ethiopia, and its speakers. Today, the use of Hozo, which belongs to the Mao branch of the Omotic languages, is declining rapidly. We seek to explore the discourses and practical circumstances that underlie language change and loss, and how the language community makes sense of their options and choices. Our research methods are mainly ethnographic, and the evidence is drawn from both long-term fieldwork with in-depth interviews and participant observation, and ten years of practical experience from various language development projects in the area, with Hozo mother tongue speakers and speakers of other Mao languages. The results show that although speakers base their choices of language use on practical considerations, the language itself has an important symbolic value that awards the community a sense of kap’á (honour) and demonstrates ancestral “purity”. Hence, language development may not necessarily increase the practical functions of Hozo or halt the language loss, but it may still have implications beyond the generation of the last mother tongue speakers.

Do student teachers see what learners see? – Avoiding instructional dissonance when designing worksheets

Background: The judicious use of worksheets ought to contribute to the establishment of literacy, with a special significance for multilingual classrooms where neither teachers nor learners are mother tongue speakers of the instructional language. Disparity between the pedagogical intention of the worksheet and learners’ interpretation of the message often creates instructional dissonance.Aim and setting: The aim of this nested study was to establish the quality, and (mis)use of worksheets as implemented by student teachers during their work-integrated learning stint in selected urban South African primary schools.Design and methodology: Using a self-designed grid, a qualitative document analysis underpinned by visual ethnography was conducted on 45 worksheets. These texts were prepared by the student teachers for literacy, numeracy and life skills lessons offered to 6- to 9-year-olds. Criteria used for the simple analysis included appropriateness for the age group, visual complexity, accuracy of language use, cultural compatibility, layout, clarity of instructions and alignment with expected learning outcomes.Findings: Findings suggested the hasty conceptualisation and creation, or inappropriate choice of worksheets used as learning support material. Apart from linguistic barriers because of poorly formulated tasks, the worksheets were generally culturally insensitive, and contained grammatical inaccuracies compounded by technical and design shortcomings. These lacunae defeated the pedagogical purpose of most worksheets and generated instructional dissonance.Conclusion and implications for teacher education: The careful crafting and implementation of worksheets coupled with sound content knowledge of language and literacy principles would alleviate learner bafflement and enhance the learning opportunity. We take the position that well-designed worksheets should serve a focused purpose and link directly to literacy and learning of the instructional language.

Oral diadochokinesis and associated oro-facial function in young and old German mother-tongue speakers: A cross-sectional study.

ObjectivesThe aims of this study were to compare oral diadochokinesis and to test associations with oro‐facial functional parameters in healthy young and old German speakers.BackgroundOral diadochokinesis is a key component in the concept of oro‐facial hypofunction and relates to tongue and lip motor function but may depend on the linguistic background.Materials and methodsHealthy German speakers with a minimum of 20 teeth were recruited to form a young (<60 years) and an older group (≥60 years). Oral diadochokinesis was assessed as the number of repetitions/s for the monosyllables /pa/, /ta/ and /ka/ to evaluate movement capacity of the lip, the anterior region of the tongue and the posterior region of the tongue, respectively. Maximum voluntary lip force, maximum voluntary bite force, masticatory performance, maximum voluntary tongue pressure, xerostomia and swallowing function were assessed with validated instruments. Results are presented as median (IQR).ResultsSixty participants formed the younger group (n = 35, 30.0 years [24.0‐49.0]) and the older group (n = 25, 64.0 years [62.0‐72.0]). Counts/s of /ta/ were different between age groups (younger group: 6.0 vs older group: 5.4) but not for syllables /pa/ (younger group: 6.0 vs older group: 5.8) and /ka/ (younger group: 5.6 vs older group: 5.0). The oral diadochokinesis with /pa/ was overall associated with maximum voluntary lip force; oral diadochokinesis performed with /ta/ was associated with tongue pressure, and oral diadochokinesis with /ka/ with swallowing function. Masticatory performance was not associated with oral diadochokinesis but with maximum voluntary bite force, xerostomia and with maximum voluntary tongue pressure.ConclusionsThe published thresholds for oral diadochokinesis should be reconsidered in non‐Japanese mother‐tongue speakers. However, they still play an important role in the overall concept of oro‐facial functional assessment.

Translations and interpretations of baptizontes (Mt 28:19–20) in some Ghanaian mother tongue translations of the Bible

Scholars have written on Jesus’ command to make disciples, but little work has been done on the translation of baptizontes. Using the mother-tongue biblical hermeneutics approach, this article analyses the translation of baptizontes in 12 Ghanaian mother tongue Bibles. The findings are that the various Ghanaian mother tongue translations of Matthew 28:19 render baptizontes variedly, to suit the indigenous Bible readers. Translators sometimes use religiocultural words and phrases that express a similar idea in their contexts to translate the word. Thus, Bible translation always involves interpretation. Translators sometimes coin their own words or consult mother tongue speakers for information in order to render words and phrases that are difficult to translate. This article has added an African (Ghanaian) interpretation of baptizontes in Matthew 28:19. This fits into the overall aim of the journal to promote African theology.Contribution: This article makes a contribution to the Special Collection ‘Africa Platform for NT Scholars’ on the Ghanaian (African) interpretations of baptizontes in Matthew 28:19–20.

Exploring the learner profile of the English Home Language classroom in select urban secondary schools

In a democratic South Africa, English has increasingly become the preferred medium of instruction despite the majority of South African learners being mother tongue speakers of other languages. Many learners in urban areas are enrolled to take English Home Language and especially novice teachers expect them to have mother tongue proficiency. However, the reality is that learners come from diverse backgrounds and a single class comprises learners with varying levels of English proficiency. This study seeks to establish who is the actual target audience seated in the socalled English Home Language class. Quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire completed by 642 Grade 8 and 9 respondents at three suburban schools in Gauteng. Cross tabulations were used to compare different variables. Key findings indicate that respondents – although multilingual – do not considerthemselves adequately proficient in English. Secondly, the role of the caregiver as initial source of learning English has been underestimated. Although smallscale, the study highlights the mismatchbetween classroom reality and curriculum requirements. Results suggest that the national education authorities need to adapt policy documents so that what is currently expected of learners might be more easily accomplished in the English class. The questionnaire may serve as a useful resource to determine the linguistic profile of a particular target group.&#x0D;

Where Are the Goalposts? Generational Change in the Use of Grammatical Gender in Irish

The Irish language is an indigenous minority language undergoing accelerated convergence with English against a backdrop of declining intergenerational transmission, universal bilingualism, and exposure to large numbers of L2 speakers. Recent studies indicate that the interaction of complex morphosyntax and variable levels of consistent input result in some aspects of Irish grammar having a long trajectory of acquisition or not being fully acquired. Indeed, for the small group of children who are L1 speakers of Irish, identifying which “end point” of this trajectory is appropriate against which to assess these children’s acquisition of Irish is difficult. In this study, data were collected from 135 proficient adult speakers and 306 children (aged 6–13 years) living in Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht) communities, using specially designed measures of grammatical gender. The results show that both quality and quantity of input appear to impact on acquisition of this aspect of Irish morphosyntax: even the children acquiring Irish in homes where Irish is the dominant language showed poor performance on tests of grammatical gender marking, and the adult performance on these tests indicate that children in Irish-speaking communities are likely to be exposed to input showing significant grammatical variability in Irish gender marking. The implications of these results will be discussed in terms of language convergence, and the need for intensive support for mother-tongue speakers of Irish.

Africa Pulse

Africa Pulse Chris Dunton There are eight volumes in the Africa Pulse series recently published by Oxford University Press (South Africa). This set of books represents one of the most dynamic contributions to the African literary heritage for many years. As the publisher's note states, "the texts translated for this series have been identified time and again by scholars of literature in southern Africa as classics in their original languages" (Hall iii).1 The first volume discussed below has introductory comments on the value and processes of translation that apply to the set as a whole. The anthology Stitching a Whirlwind comprises forty-two poems or excerpts from longer poems with the originals (in Sesotho, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Setswana, Sepedi) and their English translation printed on facing pages. In her foreword one of the translators, Gabeba Baderoon, states that when the poems are gathered together (and bearing in mind southern Africa's history of enforced separation) they "engage in an imaginative exchange across barriers of language, author and period, overcoming decades of riven conversations" (viii). One notes that this is something the poems are being asked to do, not necessarily part of their authors' aspiration. But Baderoon's point is borne out by the anthology. The poems in each language are not clustered together—rather, the arrangement is, roughly speaking, thematic—which strengthens the point about speaking across. On that score, one of the praise poems included is "The praises of a maskandi singer" and one can imagine, for example, Basotho readers coming across this isiZulu poem and thinking, how like their own lithoko (praise poems) this is, but how interestingly different, too. Baderoon expands on her point: "translation should be our thirteenth language. [South Africa has twelve official ones]. Instead, our literary culture, publishing, and education systems have not kept pace with this polyglot reality" (viii). Although all power to the translators; how much added value there would be if "The praises of a maskandi singer" appeared not only in English translation but in Sesotho also.2 (Baderoon's observation bears on language policy in postapartheid South Africa; in his foreword to one of the Africa Pulse novels, Oliver Kgadime Matsepe's Tears of the Brain, David wa Maahlamela also touches on this issue, commenting: "Until tangible multilingualism is implemented, translation is likely to remain the only mechanism in the South African context to demonstrate that African languages are as fecund and flexible a medium as English or any other European language. Notably, in the case of languages of limited diffusion, [End Page 170] particularly when the source language is of rich cultural intensity, translation can either resuscitate or suffocate literary merit" [Maahlamela iv]).3 Antjie Krog, one of the translators of the poems in Stitching a Whirlwind and the coordinator of the volume's translation team, has an introduction in which she remarks: "This anthology gives readers a glimpse of the incredible depth and wealth of beauty, knowledge, flair and brilliance found in the literatures of indigenous languages in southern Africa" (xiii), and the volume bears this out handsomely. As a specialist in translation theory and practice, Krog notes that "translators [of poetry] now often work in tandem: a mother-tongue speaker and a poet" (xiv), the practice followed in this volume. S. E. K. Mqhayi's "Sinking of the Mendi" is given twice, with alternative translations by two different teams: a fascinating validation of Krog's comment that "the translation [should not be seen as being] equivalent to what is on the page next to it" (xiv). The volume kicks off with love poems and poems on beautiful women, for example, "Nomkhosi of my father" by B. M. Vilikazi: "Your firm steps as you walk / tire a young man courting. / He passes you and then takes a glance backwards, / watches you and tears flow" (Hall 3). One of the most striking poems, Otty Nxumalo's "Why does it keep saying?," protests at the repeated cry of a dove, reminding him painfully of lost patterns of social behavior and interaction, a topic that might have proven maudlin but is made vibrant by the poet's close observation and wit ("Here they eat sweets and ice blocks … here they...

Teacher Narratives of Social (in)justice: Early Experiences Shaping Pedagogy

This paper explores a sample of English language teachers’ perceptions and practices of social justice in Johannesburg, South Africa. These teachers teach substantial numbers of learners who are not mother tongue speakers of English, learning exclusively through an English medium. This accounts for injustices that face learners regarding access to and performance in education. These learners are of various linguistic backgrounds and require support to meet the basic promotion and pass requirements for English proficiency. Guided by critical pedagogy, social justice education and multilingualism, this study explored teachers’ narratives of their experiences of justice/injustice. In examining teachers’ narratives this study explored whether these experiences of justice/injustice shaped teachers’ perceptions of social justice and if teachers actively took up positions as agents of change through their teaching practices. Using a qualitative exploratory case study method, data in the form of written narratives was elicited from ten English teachers from two secondary school sites. This study found that teachers’ views, values, and attitudes were shaped by their own experiences of injustices and marginalization. All teachers believed they play a critical role in the personal and academic growth of their learners and acknowledged the potential role they possibly play as agents of individual and social transformation. Curriculum demands and contextual factors for some made the enactment of social justice pedagogy challenging. Language was highlighted as a key area where learners were disadvantaged in the learning process and further support was needed.

일본어 외래어 발음습득의 언어 의존성과 보편성 - 12개 언어 모어 화자의 발음오류 실태 조사를 중심으로 -

본고에서는 한국어를 포함한 12개 언어의 모어 화자의 일본어 외래어 발음오류 실태를 분석하고, 그 결과를 토대로 일본어 외래어의 발음 습득과 운용에 있어서 관찰되는 언어 의존성과 보편성의 실체를 파악하고자 하였다. 그 결과를 요약하면 다음과 같다. 먼저, 학습자의 일본어 외래어 발음의 습득과 운용에는 학습자의 모어의 음운체계의 영향과 학습자의 모어의 음운체계에 의존하지 않는 언어 보편적인 특성이 독립적으로 또는 복합적으로 작용하고 있음이 확인되었다. 다음으로, 일본어 외래어 발음의 습득과 운용에는 학습자의 선습득 언어인 영어의 발음과 철자의 영향이 크게 작용하고 있음이 밝혀졌다. 따라서, 학습자의 선습득 어휘로서의 외래어 발음 습관과 영어 발음 능력이 일본어외래어 발음에 미치는 영향은 매우 크다 할 수 있다. 결론적으로, 일본어 외래어의 발음 습득 및 운용에 있어서 관찰되는 언어의존성과 보편성을 보다 체계적으로 규명하고 그 결과를 외래어 발음 교육에 활용하기 위해서는 학습자의 모어와 일본어의 음운체계의 대조연구, 보다 면밀한 중간언어 연구, 학습자의 모어의 외래어와 일본어 외래어의 음운구조에 관한 대조연구 외에, 학습자의 영어 발음 능력 등에 관한 면밀한 연구가 필요하다.

Challenges Encountered on the Rekete ChiNdau—Leave a Legacy Facebook Page

The article presents a netnographic study in the area of language and media studies. The purpose of the study was to identify challenges faced by Ndau users on the Rekete ChiNdau—Leave a Legacy Facebook page. Using an ethnolinguistic vitality model to explore speaker-writers’ motivations for online civic engagement, the article provides evidence that the group encounters several orthographic, lexicological (terminological), and language choice dilemmas that often militate against Ndau identity construction and assertion in Zimbabwe. To boost Ndau speaker-writers’ resistance to Shona and English’s cultural and linguistic hegemony, a number of practical interventions are proposed to enhance their online participation and strengthen their overall group vitality. Implementing the proposed intervention measures would not only mobilise linguistic and ethnic solidarity, but also support mother-tongue speakers’ efforts to document, develop and standardise Ndau in Zimbabwe.

Vernacular Lexicography in African Languages: From Early Days to the Digital Age

This article discusses some aspects of vernacular lexicography in African languages from a historical perspective. Firstly, it focuses on early lexicographic activities of missionaries who developed dictionaries alongside other print materials in African language communities where they worked. Because these pioneer lexicographers lacked prior lexicographic training and experience, as well as sufficient linguistic experience and cultural understanding of the people they interacted with, their dictionaries are fraught with limitations and prejudices which have been subjected to criticism from mother-tongue speakers. However, the article acknowledges the vital contributions of those earliest activities to African lexicography and the development of African languages in general. Secondly, the article deals with modern vernacular lexicography inspired by digital affordances and linked to the revitalization, documentation and preservation of marginalized and endangered minority languages. Talking Dictionaries developed by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages are discussed as they relate to African languages, particularly in Zimbabwe. With reference to African languages, Talking Dictionaries highlight challenges which are linked to the level of lexicographic development and general development of the languages. Drawing on the broader context of Talking Dictionaries in non-African languages where the fortunes have been more positive, as well as other digitally inspired lexicographic projects that involve speech communities, suggestions are made regarding improvement of vernacular lexicographic activities in African languages.

Attitude Towards Bangru Language of Arunachal Pradesh: The Natives’ Perspective

This paper investigates the language attitudes among Bangru in Arunachal Pradesh, an ethnically and linguistically diverse state in the north-eastern region of India. Bangru, an unclassified language cluster is spoken mainly in about 15 Bangru villages of Sarli circle in Kurung Kumey district, a northernmost frontier district bordering Tibet (China) in the north-east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The total population of Bangru mother-tongue speakers is numbers about 1,023 (39.35%) out of approximately 2,600 persons in the Sarli circle Although there is no separate Census record on this community, however, according to the data gathered, the Bangru account for about 1.14% of the total population of Kurung Kumey district. A questionnaire was used to collect data on language preference, language parents prefer their children to learn, and reasons for language preference. Results suggest that while a positive attitude played a significant role in learning Hindi and English among some of the groups under investigation, it proved to be of no help in maintaining the ethnic language. Hindi and English were reported as very important for education, economic privileges and social interaction. Ethnic language, on the other hand, was preferred for purely symbolic reasons (symbolizing a group’s ethnic identity).

Language distribution in Nepal and question on unit of additional official language

Nepal has 123 languages within six families of spoken languages and a sign language. She has federal administrative structure and three levels of government. There is no majority language at national level. Nepali is the only majority language at province level with majority in 4 among the 7 provinces, and 21 majority languages at local level. The distribution of languages in terms of mother tongue speakers varies considerably among the different levels – national, province and local – as well as among the different units of the same level – among the provinces and among the local levels. According to the provision in the prevalent constitution, one or more majority language(s) spoken as mother tongue in a province can be additional official language of the province provided by the particular province through province law. This paper looks at the language data at different levels and concludes that the province is not the appropriate unit for use of additional official language in terms of cost effectiveness and inclusiveness, instead local level is the appropriate unit. Thus it suggests to consider local level as the unit of implementation and include the languages above 25% mother tongue speakers in the local level for the additional official language.