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Accepted Paper:
Paper short abstract:
African languages are a wet well of traditional knowledges. For her to fit in the global economy as a contributor, the medicinal knowledge needs to be digitised to carter for the health challenges of benefactors beyond a defined community and widen her scope to stand the test of time.
Paper long abstract:
Indigenous knowledges on healthcare medicine are embedded in African languages and culture but in oral form. These decline with language endangerment. There is economic growth retardation at the global win-win development platform. The precolonial Africa had a strong indigenous knowledge on handling health challenges such as childbirth and diseases (eclampsia, difficult delivery, cancers, STDs and chlamydia, fractures, and fevers) which shifted to exoglossic languages they do not have mastery of. These health issues are challenging to Africa today, while making waves in the world. The poor economy of Africa leaves her people wanting while resolving to unfounded superstition. The people do not understand these costly and demanding alien concepts, though these knowledges existed before, but not digitised, now coded, and considered mysterious. This paper seeks to document the crucial knowledges that can foster a holistic development and revitalise moribund languages of Africa, while valorising her economy, and demystifying the exigences. Digitising these health challenges and their remedies will step Africa up the ladder on the global terrain. Sequentially to healthcare, focus will be speaker-centre, using snowball and purposive sampling techniques to elicit data from 2 language custodians (from 2 different communities) and 3 traditional healers. A survey guided by ten-disease wordlist and remedies use to record audio and video, transcribed, and archived using the digital technology to increase Nyang vocabulary, knowledge as well as boost economic strength of the beneficiaries.
African languages and the digital economy: opportunities and challenges
Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -