Speaking the Bissa language has undoubtedly become daunting to some Bissas, especially to those born and bred in the southern part of the country. Among many Bissa families, the language seems to be petering out, igniting some concerns to be raised by leadership of the Bissa fraternity. Against this backdrop, Bissanewsonline opened the floor for members to share their opinion on the topic: “what has accounted for the inability of some Bissas to speak their own Bissa language?”
Shaibu Samandulugu – P.R.O Bissa Fitness club
Some parents are the cause of their wards inability to speak the bissa language. I always use myself as an example, born and bread in Accra, my parents never allowed us to speak any othe language with them except the Bissa language, if you needed something and you couldn’t say it in bissa then you won’t get it. So you see, it made me and my siblings hold the bissa language in high esteem cos we were made to understand that is was the only tribe we had.
Rahma Seidu – Accra
I think it’s from an interplay of both factor 1&2 additionally, some of our grandparents saw other tribes as more superior and therefore they were not confident enough in accepting their own and were therefore speaking hausa and Moshie to their children instead of the Bissa.
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Mamma Samira – Upper East
It’s the parental upbringing. If you have your children and you don’t speak your own language to them, how do you expect them to speak. I don’t see place of birth and other reasons to be a factor to this issues.
I know some people who were born and bred in different places rather than their hometown but can speak bisa fluently.
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Awudu Issah Guerm – Kumasi
The major reason is due to parents negligence :
After giving birth to their wards instead of raising them with their mother tongues they use other people’s dilect eg: Hausa ,twi ,ga etc to raise them
This has caused a lot of Bissas not to know and speak their own language. Also one big Problem is that we intend to focus more and learn more about other people’s culture,traditions and customs living our own behind.
We leave our homes and we leave our language there
When we go out we don’t speak our language but rather use others language instead of our own.
Latifa Yenboni – student, Accra Technical University
Most of our parents do not help impact the language in us ,this is because they see the language to be inferior
So they end up speaking languages like hausa, twi etc with their children which at the end of the day do not help. Also those at the high positions when you meet them and speak Bissa to them they will be like they don’t understand what you are saying.Its like they are ashamed of the language.So if we have dignitaries who are so powerful, they have everything and they are so ashamed of the language, it doesn’t boost the younger ones to be proud of the language
One of the biggest problem also is that we do not help each other.The sense of belonging is lacking and that is making some Bissas not to like the language.
One other reason for which people not to speak language is lack of Education.If people get educated about the tribe, the language will be respected. Educating people about the rich cultures and history of the Bissa tribe will bring to bare the importance of the Bissa people and that will directly result in the willingness to learn and speak the language as well.For me am a proud Bissa
Khadijah Musah Dimba – Graduate, UDS
I’m victim. l mean I’m a Bissa but can’t speak🤦♀️,shame on me🤣. What do l think accounted for the inability of some Bissas to speak their own Bissa language? Hmmmm, nice question.l will blame it on both parents and place of birth. Why do l say that? I was born in Takoradi were the common language was fantse, l found myself in the midst of fantes, l breath in fantse,l eat fantse and l bath with it🤣🤣🤣🤣.So how can l possibly speak the Bissa language? But l don’t only blame the place of birth but my parents too, especially my dad because he is a Bissa.lf at least he had tried speaking it with me from birth then I’m sure l will have been speaking it by now, my mom tried,she is a Kussa and l can speak the Kussasi because both my mom and dad spoke Kussasi with me from birth and up till now. So if my dad had tried the Bissa with me then I’m sure l would have been perfect by now.
Hamdia Fusseni – student, University of Cape Coast
I think the guardians are to be blamed. Because you hace to make sure the children understand your language even if they refuse to speak, you just speak with them and gradually they will get there. For me, place of birth does not matter but what matters most is the parent speaking the language with their children.
Zaribu Osman Abdul Hakim – student, Tamale Technical University
The reason why some of us can’t speak is that the community we live in, you will find it difficult to see your Bissa partner and the inter tribal marriage . Example like am half Bissa and half Dagomba I understand the Bissa but I find it difficult to speak.
Suweiba Seidu Bara – Parliament of Ghana
In my personal opinion, both parent are Bissas but they didn’t force us to speak because sometimes when they speak in Bissa language to us, we the children find it difficult to understand what they mean. On the part too they also think they can continue and started using the common language “Hausa” till date.
Yussif Abdul Rauf Bansi – student, West African Senior High, Accra
I think what accounts for some us not being able to speak the Bissa dialect fluently or not at all are: Education. Most people forget the Bissa dialect for western languages once they get in higher institutions. As a results, they lose fluency in the Bissa dialect. Occupation: of some of our parents makes difficult for them to teach their children the Bissa dialect. Some parents are bankers or renowned business men and usually leaves the home at dawn and return in the evening. They don’t have enough time to interact with their children not to even teach them the language. The children are left under the care of unknown house help. Migration: Finally, migration of some parents from the rural areas to the urban centres with their family brings about the inability of some of members not being able to speak the Bissa dialect fluently or not at all because, the urban centre is a cosmopolitan comprising of different ethnic groups all over the world. As a results, some of the dominant tribes like Twi,Hausa are likely to overcome the few tribes like Bissa. Any offsprings from this generation are usually likely to speak the dominant tribe like Twi or Hausa.
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