A language spoken daily by Comorians, ShiKomori occupies an important place in the life of the population. However, its use is still limited to writing, school and administration. Thus, despite its presence in daily exchanges, its place in these sectors raises questions about its evolution and its use in Comorian society. To better understand the difficulties and prospects associated with the use of ShiKomori in Comorian society, we met with Mohamed Ahmed Chamanga. The specialist answered our questions about the evolution and place of this language.
What are the major obstacles, whether political, economic or sociological, that today prevent ShiKomori from moving from the oral status of the daily to that of the language of instruction and administration?
The use of ShiKomori in teaching and administration requires some preconditions. This can’t be done on the run. We must first train teachers. They should know how the language works and how it should be written. As far as the use of language in administration is concerned, it is necessary to start with the simplest. Start with administrative forms that must be bilingual. But this implies the development of a technical lexicon. In order to achieve this, the state must be seriously involved by putting in place the necessary political will and means.
In particular, it must set up an ad hoc committee to define the objectives and the various stages. When these are clearly defined, a permanent committee of linguists, educational specialists will have to be set up to prepare teaching materials, including textbooks, teaching tools, etc.
What are the major scientific advances (dictionaries, grammars, alphabet codification) made by researchers in recent decades, and are they sufficient for immediate official use?
Today, we have a number of scientific studies which help us to understand the intrinsic functioning of the language. There are grammar books, dictionaries that must certainly be developed and enriched. It is also necessary to make them educationally accessible to as many people as possible.
The alphabet and spelling are codified, although some improvements can still be made. As noted above, their use requires prior learning.
How to manage the integration of the four variants of the archipelago (shingazidja, shindzuani, shimwali, shimore) into the educational and administrative system without creating a sense of marginalization of one island from another?
In order to achieve the harmonious integration of ShiKomori into the educational system, we intend to preserve in each island the local dialect, i.e. ShiNgazidja in Ngazidja, ShiMwali in Mwali, ShiNdzuani in Ndzuani and ShiMaore in Maore.
This has the advantage of not disrupting and penalising children in their learning. It is at the college level that students of one island will be introduced to the dialect of another island, so that, after four years, they are comfortable in all the dialects of ShiKomori.
Is the debate between the use of Latin and Arabic writing (ajami) to write ShiKomori decided at the scientific and institutional level? What are the pedagogical implications?
This debate was justified at a time when very few students attended French school. Today, all children go to public or private school where the Latin alphabet is used.
On the other hand, the majority of the current population is now familiar with this Latin script. Indeed, most posters, the written translation of the Koran and some religious texts are already done with Latin characters. And this is no longer a debate. After all, the chosen alphabet, whether in Latin or Arabic characters, can only be a communication instrument. Might as well opt for the most effective.
Finally, our regional environment, as in Tanzania with Swahili or Madagascar with Malagasy, shows that the use of Latin characters has long been an acquis, although in these two countries the Arabic characters were in use before the 19th or 20th century.
Specifically, what would a successful educational model in the Comoros look like? Should ShiKomori be used as a primary language before making a transition to French and Arabic?
Educationally, there is evidence that mother tongue learning offers more benefits, particularly cognitively. The child feels comfortable and understands faster. This also allows him to have better respect for his cultural and environmental identity.
It therefore seems to us that the use of ShiKomori as a language of instruction is desirable from the kindergarten to the preparatory course (CP) or even the elementary first year course (CE1). As we have said, this must be done gradually, ensuring that all teaching and teaching materials are available. The introduction of foreign languages can take place gradually, as a subject taught and/or as a teaching language.
Does the Comorian language have the lexicon necessary to write a judgment in court, a law or a science course?
The answer to this question derives from what was pointed out above. The development and enrichment of technical vocabulary is necessary. It should be noted that not all languages are “born” with all technical words. Everywhere new words have been created from the language itself, or borrowings have been made more or less adapted to the morphophonological structure of the host language.
If the Comorian State decided today to fully implement the formalization of shikomori, what would be the first three priority steps to be implemented in the next five years?
ShiKomori has been one of the official languages of the Comoros since 1992 (see Constitution). Official spelling of the ShiKomori date from 2009. But since then, no progress has been observed because of a general lack of real political will.
It is not enough to “ply” decrees or decrees for the teaching of ShiKomori to be effective. See what we said in the first question. If we want to introduce it into the education system, we must not consider ShiKomori as something very easy because we are talking about it. This requires a long process of learning, training, creation and genuine commitment from political authorities.
Richda Radjab (internship).
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