Ogiek and Akie: How many peoples for how many languages? What is their future?

Abstract

Ogiek and Akie are the names of two African endangered languages belonging to the Nilo-Saharan, Kalenjin family, originally spoken by scattered groups of hunters and gatherers in a region stretching from southern Kenya to Northern Tanzania. These languages are now in danger due to the loss of their habitat caused by climate change and to an unbalanced diglossia with majority languages (Kikuyu and Swahili in Kenya, Maa and Swahili in Tanzania). Despite their close familiarity and possible common origins, the two languages and speaker communities followed different paths, at least it was so during the last 200 years. This paper aims to investigate how the two different historical, ecological and political contexts impacted the two languages and cultures. On the basis of the fieldwork carried out by the authors in the two areas, the authors aim to point out the extent to which projects of cooperation for the promotion and safeguard of the local languages and cultural intangible heritage have the potential to slow down or reverse the tendency towards languages decline and possible demise.