Somali culture,ethics and history is added to Minnesota schools curriculum officially as a class

[Idilinaa]

@Idilinaa

There is a difference between a heritage language and a native/first language. Almost no Somalis born and raised in the West are solid native speakers of Af-Somali, they are second language speakers of the language. Linguists use the term heritage speaker for such people. The term mother tongue and native language are a bit misleading, giving it an ethnic baggage. In linguistics they use terms like L1, L2 etc.

First/Native language speaker is the language the baby/children learns and hears from in their parents the first few years before learning and hearing english. That is always/usually Somali. So yeah thats what they mean when they say ''mother tounge'' , ''first language'' ''native language''etc.

It doesn't imply them to be solid native speakers from the get go.

 

[Apollo]

First/Native language speaker is the language the baby/children learns and hears from the parents the first few years. That is always usually Somali. So yeah thats what they mean when they say ''mother tounge'' , ''first language'' ''native language''etc.

It doesn't imply them to be solid native speakers from the get go

IMO, first / native language to me implies one reached full development in that language, i.e. spent most of your childhood plus early formal education in it.

Heritage speakers are IMO not native / first language speakers of a language since the host nation's language is usually far more dominant and they are better able to express themselves in the host nation's language.

Linguists usually do not consider heritage speakers to be L1 speakers of a language.

 

[Idilinaa]

I absolutely believe that it's a sole responsibility of every parents to teach their kids about their language, culture and heritage.

Its so sad to see Somali kids who cannot speak their language, while their parents speak fluent Somali. Wait parents can speak fluent but the child cannot

Simply speaking the language with your parents at home wont guarentee Somali language fluency, infact if that was to be the case then most Diaspora Somali kids would be extremely fluent in Somali. The research on language learning shows the opposite of this .

What will help them learn their language is consumption of content in that native language, reading books, listening and hearing the language spoken etc. Thats where these types of programs can help fill the gap.

Chirping up about Somali parents responsibility to teach their kids , misses it. This is assuming they have the time and resources to teach or that simply speaking Somali to them in a foreign language dominated setting will do the trick.

 

[Idilinaa]

IMO, first / native language to me implies one reached full development in that language, i.e. spent most of your childhood plus early formal education in it.

Heritage speakers are IMO not native / first language speakers of a language since the host nation's language is usually far more dominant and they are better able to express themselves in the host nation's language.

Linguists usually do not consider heritage speakers to be L1 speakers of a language.

Definition of the term:

In most cases, the term native language refers to the language that a person acquires in early childhood because it is spoken in the family and/or it is the language of the region where the child lives. Also known as a mother tongue, first language, or arterial language

https://www.thoughtco.com/native-language-l1-term-1691336

 

[Apollo]

Definition of the term:

https://www.thoughtco.com/native-language-l1-term-1691336

There are multiple definitions of it and even in that definition, diaspora Somalis don't match the ''region where the child lives'' criteria.

Here is a huge paper speaking out against lumping native speakers who live in the region where the language is dominant and heritage speakers into the same category:

Frontiers | Deconstructing the Native Speaker: Further Evidence From Heritage Speakers for Why This Horse Should Be Dead!

The category “native speaker” is flawed because it fails to consider the diversity between the speaker groups falling under its scope, as highlighted in prev...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[Idilinaa]

There are multiple definitions of it and even in that definition, diaspora Somalis don't match the ''region where the child lives'' criteria.

Here is a huge paper speaking out against lumping native speakers who live in the region where the language is dominant and heritage speakers into the same category:

Frontiers | Deconstructing the Native Speaker: Further Evidence From Heritage Speakers for Why This Horse Should Be Dead!

The category “native speaker” is flawed because it fails to consider the diversity between the speaker groups falling under its scope, as highlighted in prev...

www.frontiersin.org

They match the part that says ''because it is spoken in the family''. This is the first language Somali kids hear and learn.

Thats what makes it a ''mother tounge''. Or do you think Somali hooyo's and/or aabo's speak English to their toddlers?

 

[Apollo]

They match the part that says ''because it is spoken in the family''. This is the first language Somali kids hear and learn.

Thats what makes it a ''mother tounge''. Or do you think Somali hooyo's and/or aabo's speak English to their toddlers?

Scientifically there is a difference between monolingually-raised/majority language region native speakers and heritage ''native'' speakers. Read the intro of that paper. Native speaker is a terrible term and lumps these two groups together despite them having vastly different abilities in a language.

Search for heritage speaker in google scholar and you will find many more articles stating that they aren't the same.

 

[Idilinaa]

Scientifically there is a difference between monolingually-raised/majority language region native speakers and heritage ''native'' speakers. Read the intro of that paper. Native speaker is a terrible term and lumps these two groups together despite them having vastly different abilities in a language.

Search for heritage speaker in google scholar and you will find many more articles stating that they aren't the same.

You are arguing around terminological semantics. So long as we know what is meant by it , you can call it mother toungue or first language, heritage speaker etc if you feel thats more accurate.

 

[Idilinaa]

 

[Marshall D Abdi]

Wow they do this after I already graduated??

I needed to flex on the cadaans that Somalis were the first africans to kabaash a white superpower.

Incorrect Carthage’s we’re on of many destroying on their yard romans aka Punic wars