by
Obododimma
Oha
I know that
language changes over time and place; I know this from my memory of our
introductory linguistics class many years ago. But as a native speaker of Igbo
who is familiar with speech in many parts of Alaigbo and also who grew up as a
rural boy, at least, I know greetings in Igbo. I know what can be said and what
cannot be said in the language. I also know when this change is taking a very
funny turn. Mind you: I am not a language purist; in fact, one can no longer
purify Igbo from colonial influences and un-Igboness! With this personal orientation,
I nevertheless cannot help laughing when I hear greetings like “ụtụtụ ọma,” “abalị
ọma, “ and so on. I wonder and ask: “What is happening? Has Igbo loss of linguistic
memory got this far?” How can mere translations of greeting forms from English
become Igbo greetings? Don’t we have equivalent forms of greeting in the
language in the mornings or any other time, to make us now root for
translations?
Before I go
on to examine this funny orientation, let me explore some implications. One is
that there are no other forms in Igbo that can be used as English “Good
morning;” so, translation from English becomes the last alternative. Africa and
her indigenous languages always signify lack, inadequacy, and Englishness, in
all forms of cultural expression, is the
avatar sent by the maker to rescue or teach them. But this is a bad and
unclever lie. Igbo people do not need the salvation, neither do they need
English to come to the rescue. Long ago, I started hearing forms like “ị saala
chi?” “ị bọọla chi?” “ị pụtala?” and so on. So, we have to jettison them as we
have done to other forms of Igbo cultural life in order to be fully born-again
as “English”?
If you look
closely, you would discover that greetings like “ị bọọla chi?” and “ị saala
chi?” are inquiries of a sort and do reflect a different perception of where
the person waking up has come from. “ị saala chi?” and “ị bọọla chi?” are
inquiries that remind us to think about the day, chi, as an opening or
something an individual opens? We open it gently and are not aware of all it
brings, all its contents. Even though the one greeting may not be asking the
addressee to explain all these, it is still a subtle invitation to be mindful
of the day. Only a true well-wisher can bother to ask one to do so, to lubricate our relationship with language.
Some other
Igbo persons may simply ask: “Kaa?” “kedu?” “”ọlia” “kedu ije” which can be said at any time of the day. Of course, they have their dialectal origins and
variants. But to think that they do not exist or are incapable of expressing Igbo
realities, such that we have to invite Englishness to the rescue by way of
translation, is blatantly insulting to Igbo.
As indicated
initially, this may have to do with forgetfulness. Many young Igbo do not know
simple things again in the language, not to talk of speaking it faultlessly or
writing it. They cannot remember names of types of yam, for example. They don’t
know what days in Igbo are. They do not know names of various birds. They would
even debate on social media the difference between leopard and lion. Is
this not a dying society, such that it would take Fulani militia called “vigilante”
to police their communities for them, apart from slaughtering Christmas goats
for them!
ọ dị egwu!
What is this greeting called “ụtụtụ ọma”? Where is it from? Is translation a
trap or an assistance in this case? What is this attempt at translating the
other, when it is unnecessary? I am watching this translation of greeting and
the fact that the self has been tutored to take the linguistic enslavement over
and to preach it and even indoctrinate young ones through the school system!
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