THE AKURMI TONGUE IN CONFUSION; WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? by ANTHONY BAKO

 

Prior to the contact of the Akurmi speaking people with their neighbours, the people had their unique and peculiar cultural values which they held tenaciously to. However, the Akurmi peoples contact with their neighbours was in three phases;

 The first phase was the Akurmi contact with their immediate neighbours Hausa-Fulani, if generalized, but Hausa if specified.

The second phase  was their  contact with their other neighbours such as: Ningi, Gure, Kahugu, Rumaya, Buta, Jere, Buji, Amo, Janji, Chokobo, Piti, Kunda, Lemoro, Binawa, Kinugu, Reshuwa, Chawai, Ribam, Kono, Dingi, Kataf, Jaba, Surubu, Baju, to mention but a few.

While the third phase was the last stroke that broke the camel’s back, which was the influx and contact of the Akurmi people with the elements of the Western World, the British colonialists.

Consequent upon these, the contact of Akurmi people with this three categories of their neighbours gave birth to both positive and negative impacts in Akurmi cultural heritage  in particular, and their  history as a whole. But tracing the factors that brought about this negative development among Akurmi people remain the compact core of this discussion. However, it should be noted that; language as a system and tool of communication is a historical phenomenon. It is the must needed evidence of one’s identity, especially an Akurmi person. We have two fundamental factors that fuelled this unfortunate incidence, which are the internal and external factors.

INTERNAL FACTOR

Akurmi people sojourned in Borno Empire for 730 years as estimated having left Saudi Arabia where Akurmi people claimed their originality. Though this issue has attracted a lot of controversy among Akurmi historians both professionals and non professionals alike, because of inadequate evidence yet to substantiate these divergent views.  Akurmi people interacted with their neighbours in Borno throughout the above mentioned period. This interaction therefore, was done in areas like trade, settling of disputes, pressure to be Islamized, and also pressure by the Bornu inhabitants on the Akurmi people to give out their daughters in marriage.

At this juncture therefore, Akurmi migratory kind of life style was put to rest and the situation got Akurmi people exposed to different values that were completely opposite to that of theirs before settling in their present location. The confusion in Akurmi tongue which has grown to a concerned stage today took its bearing from Bornu, because base on available evidence historically the first people Akurmi people met and lived with, for so long were the people of Kanem Bornu before they were forced to leave Bornu by pressure mounted on them  to be Islamized, and to give their daughters to the non Akurmi people of Bornu into marriage, and by extension the unfavorable nature  of the land to Akurmi traditional food crops like: “Ijanam”, “Akuwe” and “Adogari” as argued by some Akurmi historians and scholars.

After the above years, the Akurmi people left Bornu for Kano where they lived for 435 years approximately. But before that, as the journey to Kano got more difficult the group was divided into two because of argument on whether they should proceed to where they didn`t know or to go back to an already known settlement. One group proceeded while the other group decided to settle back there. The place they settled was called “indare mun kare” (a forest of argument) which presently comprised of; Jansauni, Juran-Akurmi and Kogom. Though the later has a chunk of Hausa people living there now; while for those who proceeded to Kano were faced with the same challenges they faced while in Borno. In addition, there was incessant raid of Akurmi communities by the Tunkun- Bawa, and some of the Akurmi daughters got missing in the process. As this continued the Akurmi people became exhausted and moved from Kurmi to Dala hills, from Dalla hills to Yakasai. This was another contact which further affected the Akurmi original mother tongue, and the reason being that, the languages spoken in Bornu was and is still different with that of Kano. As such, the initial infection encountered in Bornu was now on another dimension.

The Akurmi people then left Kano after 435 years having found Kudaru hills which were more favorable for protection, rivers for fishing, land for farming and above all tick forest for their religious practices (Uchimtu). The Akurmi communities began to expand and occupied the present day Lere Local Government Area, which later synergized both the Akurmi groups again. But on another level, it is argued that, the groups that refused to continue with the journey to Kano was the groups that later on formed the present day Garun Akurmi and other Akurmi communities around her. Even though; historically it has not yet been proven.   

Further more, the coming of Othman Dan Fodio’s Jihad in the 19^th century had a far- reaching impact on the Akurmi people, culture and their society as a whole, and particularly the Akurmi people of Garu Akurmi. The Jihadist asked Akurmi people to sign the so called Amana system which by interpretation means the promise of protection, justice and equity as provided by Islam. The Akurmi people of Garu accepted and signed the ‘Amana system’, because of this, a quite number of concerned Akurmi persons have asked and still asking questions such as ‘why, and for ‘what?’,  perhaps, the flexible relationship enjoyed by the Akurmi of Garu with the Muslim Fulani long before the out break of the Jihad might have influenced their acceptance of the Jihadist ideology and signed the said agreement.

There were other contacts between the Akurmi people and their other neighbours like: Amo, Rumaya, Gure, Kahugu, Kataf, Chawai, Ningi etc.  These contacts however have gone a long way in affecting Akurmi original tongue, of which today you find a lot of mix up in the original mother tongue with those of their neighbours.

Owing to the above factors, the Akurmi mother tongue by some omission and mixture of words became two dialects. For example,  Akurmi from places that includes but not limited to; Garun Kurama, Kadiri, Gurza, Yadi, Abadawa, Kawuchi, Dyano, Nmbare, Kafanuwa, Jura, Jan-Sauni, T’diyere and Lagga, are called ‘ubjangu’ ‘urake’; which is the combination of both Hausa and Akurmi tongues. They also pronounce the word ‘sannuwa’, ‘sallema’ which portrays some elements of Fulani tongue which largely use ‘L’ in their speech instead of ‘N’. But Akurmi people from places like; Kudaru, Yarkasuwa, Maigamo, Kare, Jankasa, Gadan-Pambeguwa, Bola, Kakku, Goron-dutse, Ung/Damina, Ukam, Ung/Ishaya, Wurokon ciki da na  waje, Girka/Kampha, and the closest around them use ‘N’ in place of ‘L’ and ‘L’ in place of ‘N’ and its so because these places were less affected by the Jihadist.  In addition, places like Woba, Payo even Kudaru and some other places you find Garu Kurama speaking tongue style because of intra- marriages and changing of environment for one reason or the other.

EXTERNAL FACTOR

 The last stroke that broke the Camel’s back was the coming of the British colonialists  to Akurmi land. At the onset of the colonial activities via Christian missionaries in 1917 and 1921, virtually all the Akurmi long existing cultural heritage were tampered with and discouraged, considering them as fetish. At this point, there was the introduction of a new religion that is Christianity, Schools and Hospitals were built; raffia palm gave way to iron sheets, mud blocks gave way to cement blocks, and smaller compounds for bigger ones. As some of the Akurmi people got exposed to some of these social things, they began to consider their own culture as ‘old fashioned’. 

The culmination of some of the above factors to a greater extent had affected the original Akurmi mother tongue, as the jihadists were largely Fulanis. For example, in terms of words pronunciation which include but is not limited to (Nafiya nau, Ujuwango, Sanuwa, are now pronounced as Lafiya lau, Urake, Sallema etc.

While the Akurmi of Kudaru who vehemently rejected the signing of the Amana system were less affected by the challenges cited above, though some of the people in these areas were converted to the new religion as introduced by the migrant jihadist.

However, it will be of importance to note that the settlement of Akurmi migrants in places like Bornu, Kano, etc, the coming of the jihadist, Europeans, as well as the various influences they encountered, marked a great turning point in the history of Akurmi land, thereby diluting the tongue and making some of the indigenous Akurmi people unable to speak fluently their mother tongue, as well as affecting the culture and to a greater extent their heritage.

                             CONCLUSION, AND PERSONAL SUBMISION.

From the knowledge of hindsight, it is shown that inter-group relation is inevitable in human existence, as no community, state, country, nation, kingdom, or empire ever developed and can develop in isolation. Thus, inter group relation has both negative and positive impact on any society, but more particularly on Akurmi people as it negatively affected their cultural heritage such as; mode of dressing and the way they interacted as well as their political autonomy, but to a larger extent their extant mother tongue. Though colonialism had some positive impacts like the introduction of hospitals, Modern learning Institutions MLI (schools), new religion (Christianity/Islam) and general exposure to modernization which boosted economic, political and social institutions of Akurmi speaking people, but this is secondary.

Any action without counter reaction, the former assumes the position of superiority. But when there is counter reaction there is every tendency of attaining equilibrium in the race. To the Akurmi people! The time has come, be consciously armed and react against this new values which have slowly crawled into your long existing culture, in order to regain your  outstanding qualities (identity). Be part of this campaign and you will not go unrewarded.