Same ancestral mother tongue for all?
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Posted on Tuesday 25 March 2008 - 11:21
By Evans Wafula and Portus Chege
Protus Chege took a journey to Kitale and found out how Scot's
research has revealed the mysterious linguistic ties between EA's
Karamojong and Euro-Asian speakers.
The epithet 'Dark Continent' was routinely used by the
colonialists to refer to Africa as a continent of a people with
inherently inferior cultural roots and intellectual fiber.
Of course, the notion has long been dispelled by Africans'
spectacular advancements in all fields of human endeavor, including
the arts, science and literature.
And one man's efforts at putting the notion to bed have produced
startling revelations that suggest a linguistic relationship between
the Karamojong of Uganda and European and Asian speakers, hinting at a
common language between mankind, which contradicts archaeologists and
anthropologists' inquiry and findings of the 20th century as of mere
Stone Age.
John Wilson, a Scot, reveals from his research that the language
of the Karamojong contains words that are similar to or identical with
and have identical or related meanings with Scots Gaelic, Spanish and
the Tibetan of the Indian sub-continent, among others.
"There is no doubt that mankind spoke a common language at a
certain time. The research I have done proves beyond any doubt that
through language Africa shared the same cultural beginning as the rest
of the world," Wilson says.
Wilson says Karimojong, the language of the Karamojong, a
Nilotic people that live in North-East Uganda and have close cultural
and linguistic ties with the Turkana of Kenya, Topossa of Southern
Sudan and the Dongiro of South-West Ethiopia, has the same linguistic
connection with those of other languages.
He says lack of research on Africa by the whites had created a
wrong perception that an otherwise rich African culture was unworthy
of consideration let alone scientific inquiry.
"Throughout Africa during the colonial era, no notice had ever
been taken of extant cultural patterns; it simply translated not only
as indifference but contempt..."
"We whites did no research on Africa. The Karamojong culture was
not primitive and we made no attempt to preserve it."
Posted in 1952 as an agriculture officer to Karamoja district in
north-east border of Uganda which borders Kenya for 200 miles, Wilson
was awe-struck by the unique ways of the Karamojong.
Until the 1960s, the Karamojong, a fiercely proud people who
regarded outsiders as fleeting interlopers, were semi-nomadic cattle
herders and peasant farmers whose measure of wealth was cattle.
They walked naked; the man with a pair of long spears for
defensive purposes, a splendid carved wooden stool or neck-rest and a
snuffbox on a chain around the neck or shoulder. In pierced earlobes
would hang curiously assorted objects while on their heads they wore
beautifully constructed headdresses of human hair, painted and
decorated with feathers.
Wilson discovered that all the paraphernalia was an historical
throwback to ancient civilizations, especially Egypt.
And it was not until Dictator Idi Amin Dada came to power that
they started wearing clothes. "This brought their whole culture to an
end." Or at least, until Wilson came around to resuscitate it out of
his research.
Being a naturalist, he started collecting plants and getting
them scientifically named. As recognition of his efforts, he was sent
for a post-graduate course in Tropical Ecology and later co-authored
The Vegetation of Uganda (1964).
In fact, four species of plants are named after him, two of
which, Aloe Wilson, and Caralluma wilsonii, can be found within the
museum garden.
He retired from government service in 1968 and embarked on
research on that community's culture the results of which he has
preserved in The Treasures of Africa Museum in Kenya's Western
Province township of Kitale.
The museum preserves artifacts that arguably cannot be found
elsewhere in the world. Therein is preserved in excess of 130 examples
of Karamojong pottery, many of which bear a single or pair of handles,
polished stone axes, emblematic and decorative objects, among others.
Wilson discovered that words denoting human atmosphere, dwelling
and lifestyle, livestock, agriculture, context of cultivation and
pastoralism had a striking similarity with those describing similar
concepts in European and Asian languages.
This, Wilson argues, points at the possibility of a 'common
ancestral "Mother Tongue" and shared elements of a common material
culture between people from the continents.
This pervasive linguistic connection suggests that particular
lifestyles and lexicon are based on shared experience rather diffusion
of words from one language to another out of cultural interaction.
"There is no doubt that mankind spoke a common language at a
certain time. The research I have done proves beyond any doubt that
through language Africa shared the same cultural beginning as the rest
of the world. It was not primitive."
For instance, he compared the form of Karamojong pottery with
those dating back to ancient Europe and the Middle East and notes a
striking similarity in the lexicon.
"It occurred to me that the names of specific parts of African
pottery had a resemblance to the corresponding words in ancient Asia
and Europe," he says.
The corresponding similarity, he says, can be found between
Karimojong, on the one hand, and Asian languages like Hebrew and
Sumerian and European ones like Spanish and Gaelic, on the other.
For example, such Spanish words as 'jarro' (a pitcher, jug);
tacho (earthen pot); tibor (a chamber pot), corresponds with
Akarimojong's a-jarosior, (to empty a (ceramic) jug); a-jarapiar (to
drink noisily (from a jug)); and atibo (a distinctive small pot or
jug) respectively.
Similarly, Karimojong words such as abaal (a wide-mouthed beer
pot), abichir (kind of small pot), and atako (vessel for storing ghee)
respectively correspond with Gaelic words Ballan (a drinking vessel),
Biceir (beaker) and Tacar (kitchen).
Also, the researcher says Karimojong words related to
pastoralism have similar linguistic features with those of the Tibetan
language of the Indian sub-continent.
For instance, the Akarimojong word a-karijij, which means to
curdle milk, has a relationship with dkar-kro, which is Tibetan for
milk and curds. Also, Tibetan tshir (squeeze forth) dovetails with aki-
chirit, which is 'milk cows' in Akarimojong.
Indeed, Wilson's assertions are borne out by the fact that these
modern languages are so geographically spread but with distinct
thematic commonalities between their word lists that the conclusion
that the various languages formed a single entity some time in the
past becomes inescapable.
Indeed, conclusions that fly in the face of archaeological
inquiry and findings.
"Instead of digging up remains all we need to do is take words
of an African language with corresponding ones in a European language.
Nobody in the world has compared the words of an African language with
those of a European language."
Wilson faults archaeologists accuracy on the exact historical
time frame of the Iron Age, which they put at 1100 BC.
"One of the most important discoveries I have made in my thirty
years of research is that the Iron Age probably began as far back as a
million years before the time archaeologists say it did," Wilson says.
Wilson says that there is therefore need to evaluate Africa's
cultural heritage of hundreds of thousands of years as opposed to
archaeologists' definition of it as primitive Stone Age.
It is in recognition of Wilson's accomplishments that Kesarine
and Associates, a regional rural development consultancy, has
volunteered to link up local and regional universities and research
institutions with Wilson's work.
"We would like to see more public investment in what Wislon is
doing," said Michael Wekesa, a senior partner at the firm.
The Treasures of African Museum could also come in handy for the
country's tourism, especially now that the Western circuit is of
particular interest.
"The museum can be a powerful tool for enhancing the development
of communities in the neighborhood and beyond," added Kesarine's Irene
Karani.
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Same ancestral mother tongue for all?
