Linguists in IAM
Over the years, IAM has often had the privilege of having some trained linguists on our team; these people have done important work on literacy development and minority language studies here in Afghanistan. We recognise the importance of language and linguistic work. As such, we are excited to share a little bit about what some of our linguists have been doing lately.
Afghanistan’s Linguistic Diversity
Afghanistan is a country of incredible linguistic diversity. There are two national languages, Dari and Pashto, as well as a total of six other languages mentioned in Afghanistan’s constitution. These additional languages, according to the constitution, are considered official third languages wherever the majority of people speak them. This includes Uzbeki, Turkman, Baluchi, Pachaie, Nuristani, Pamiri, among other current languages in the country.
The linguistic diversity of Afghanistan is easy to overlook. This is especially due to the fact that most men can speak one or both of the national languages. By focusing on the two national languages, however, there are some demographics of people that are excluded. Many women from minority backgrounds are primarily in the home or in remote villages. As they are otherwise uninvolved in trade, many do not speak Dari or Pashto. As such, some of these minority languages are the sole languages of women. This is important for IAM to consider, as the active inclusion and involvement of women in development is incredibly important. In order to affect societal change on a large level, it is crucial that our beneficiaries can be spoken to and included in our work.
Recent work in linguistics
Recently, linguists working with IAM have been focusing on a project on Turkman language development. There are approximately 1-4 million Turkman speakers in Afghanistan. The Turkman people in Afghanistan, generally speaking, have less access to educational or economic opportunities as other people groups.
Part of the lack of access to opportunities is tied with literacy. Previously, Turkman speakers had to become literate through Dari. Now, however, the Turkman community has come together; they are starting to develop their own alphabet, as well as publications in their own language. The hope for this language development is not only to increase the beauty and honour of the language but also to one day be sending their children to a Turkman school, where they can learn all of their subjects in their mother tongue.
Why does it matter?
In literacy, there is a maxim that a person only learns to read once. Once someone has learned to read, they can then transfer that skill over to another language–they do not need to learn how to read again. This maxim is even true if you learn to read a language and then switch to a different alphabet altogether, such as learning to read English and then transferring that skill over to the Persian alphabet. As literacy is a key skill that opens a multitude of educational and economic doors, it is monumental if a Turkman speaker, or any other minority language speaker, can first learn to read in their mother tongue, and then transfer that over to Dari, Pashto, or another language.
Some people do overcome the barrier of learning to read and write in their second language. It can prove more difficult to others, however. As such, they may give up when literacy requires learning an entire language first.
There has been a multitude of studies on mother tongue education. Often, the assumption is that going to school without knowing the national language is just as beneficial as going to school without it. Studies show, however, that students can keep up for a few years; they often begin to struggle, or even drop out, after the third grade. Pedagogically, having children learn to read in their mother tongue not only prevents this drop off, but also allows children to learn to the best of their abilities. They are then uninhibited by linguistic barriers.
How this fits with IAM
So what does this all have to do with IAM’s involvement?
Because of our recognition of the importance of Turkman children having access to literacy materials in their mother tongue, this project focused on translating twelve children’s books. Another NGO has agreed to print these books in full colour with beautiful pictures. As a result, Turkman speaking children will be able to have high-quality books in their first language.
In addition, this project has enabled our linguists to get to know some Turkman scholars. Part of the hope is giving them vision for creating more reading materials, beyond the scholarly articles and materials they were focusing on. Ideally, others will continue to produce Turkman literature, and Turkman literature can become a part of children’s education.
Love for All
Here at IAM, one of our core values is “Love for All.”
To take that seriously means to not simply serve the people we first encounter, or who are easiest to work with, but also to look at other groups. All IAM expatriate staff learn Dari, and that is one way to talk to many people–but doesn’t cover everyone.
As a relatively small NGO committed to long-term and sustainable development, IAM is able to invest in some of these smaller minority groups. Many NGO’s which have to achieve high numbers of beneficiaries are unable to focus their wide-reaching programmes on minority groups. Linguistic development is well suited to our commitment to long-term, sustainable work, and investment in communities and people.
To implement our value of “Love for All” in Afghanistan means that we both ensure we do not discriminate based on ethnicity, but also that we take ethnicity into account when thinking about who we are going to serve. Perhaps it would be easier to serve only those who speak Afghanistan’s national languages. However, we value working among minority groups as well. While we do not currently have new expatriate staff learning minority languages, previous projects in minority language dominant areas have had staff trying to learn the local languages. These languages have included Uzbek and other local dialects, such as Hazaragi. While this Turkman project is winding down now, we hope to continue work in linguistics and language development in the future.
If you are curious about other linguistic work, click here to read more.