Or there's always...

...Zaghawa .

Sociolinguistically, it's noteworthy that when asked what their first language is, students will tell you the language in which they received their education: Arabic, or French or Swahili, and keep shtum about their first language - the language they learned as babies. We might think that they are unwilling to mention the language of their home because it has diminished status. But maybe they think their linguistically curious teacher is a nosey parker? Maybe asking someone "What do speak at home?" isn't too far away from "What do you say at home?" To which "none of your business" could be an appropriate response.

I only mention it now because a student told me today, when I was helping him fill in a form, that his first language is really Zaghawa, not Arabic as he had said before. Arabic is "for outside". Zaghawa is difficult for outsiders to learn, he said: "like Chinese".

Comments

  1. Gorilla BananasSat Apr 21, 08:15:00 am BST

    I have no shame in telling humans that I speak in gorillanga when I'm in the jungle.

    ReplyDelete

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