Safeguarding a mother tongue and mother nature — Global Issues

Although each Nami and Tomoyuki have been born on Okinoerabu Island (at present dwelling to solely 12,000 inhabitants), neither realized to talk Shimamuni – a neighborhood number of the Kunigami language – fluently as youngsters.

Kunigami was added to UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Hazard in 2009 and labeled as “undoubtedly endangered” to boost public consciousness that “youngsters not be taught the language as a mom tongue within the dwelling.”

A household takes motion

After studying that the indigenous language of Okinoerabu Island was formally thought-about endangered, the couple and their 4 youngsters took it upon themselves to translate their love for language into impactful actions which have since resonated far past the island.

Okinoerabu Island residents weren’t simply involved about dropping a language, but in addition more and more alarmed by the proliferation of marine litter. In what started as a faculty undertaking assigned over the summer season break, the Sao youngsters determined that they might sort out each points concurrently by performing every day seaside clean-up whereas partaking in language actions, akin to singing and retaining a diary in Shimamuni to doc their day-to-day progress.

Leveraging the Shimamuni vernacular as a thread of shared native id connecting folks from numerous walks of life, the Sao household has since expanded its conservation pursuits to incorporate cooking native delicacies, offering haircuts to residents of nursing properties, studying arts and crafts on the neighborhood centre and taking part in a “Shimamuni Salon” the place language classes are supplied and native environmental points are often mentioned. The purpose is to domesticate the subsequent technology of eco-conscious Shimamuni audio system.

“With out these community-driven actions, the language would turn into extinct with the passing of its aged audio system,” stated Dr. Sumittra Suraratdecha, assistant professor of linguistics on the Analysis Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA) in Thailand.

Linguistic range and sustainable improvement

When queried concerning the underlying motivation for his household’s involvement in such a broad vary of actions, the considerate Tomoyuki cites the urgency of reaching the bold Sustainable Improvement Objectives (SDGs) by 2030.

He felt that quite than imparting to his youngsters data that he acquired via formal schooling 20 to 30 years in the past, it might be higher to help their studying by doing and thereby facilitate their accumulation of real-life experiences that can empower them to make a distinction.

Because it seems, the Shimamuni language not solely serves as a car for transmitting native data, akin to conventional dessert recipes, to the island’s youth, it additionally improves the effectivity of communication about environmental points to aged islanders, a few of whom as soon as harboured the mistaken perception that marine litter ought to merely be left to degrade by itself.

Given the present international actuality of burgeoning non-degradable waste and microplastics, the Shimamuni mom tongue helps to convey the true extent of the issue to senior residents with higher immediacy.

Reflecting on the circumstances of the Sao household and their artistic response to native ecocultural challenges, Kyungah Kristy Bang, a marketing consultant for multilingual schooling on the UNESCO regional workplace in Bangkok and coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Multilingual Training Working Group, remarked that “celebrating linguistic range could be an efficient instrument and resolution to reaching the SDGs on the native stage.”

Recognition on a world stage

In October 2023, the Sao household had the chance to current their inspiring story on the seventh Worldwide Convention on Language and Training, in Bangkok, Thailand.

As representatives of Okinoerabu Island taking part in a significant worldwide convention co-hosted by UNESCO, they attended the occasion, which drew over 450 language consultants and members from all around the globe.

The Sao household garnered island-wide help, as the 2 principal cities on the island united in serving to to arrange the household’s presentation movies and canopy a portion of their journey bills.

“Whereas the convention brings collectively varied stakeholders, akin to coverage makers, practitioners and researchers who share their experiences with language in schooling, we frequently overlook that there’s extra usually a whole group or neighborhood, or in such case a household, driving the sustainability of linguistic range,” stated Brandon Darr, a schooling marketing consultant with UNESCO’s regional workplace.

For Tomoyuki, reaching recognition on a global stage has solely served to strengthen his household’s guiding sense of objective.

“Our purpose is to dwell a mentally ample life,” he stated.

His spouse concured.

“When our youngsters develop up, they’ll dwell wherever,” she stated, “however I need them to protect their language and tradition of their hearts.”