Assessing the Vitality of Maasai: Evidence from Language Portraits of Adolescent Students in Arusha (Tanzania)

The current vitality of the Maasai language may be evaluated by analyzing the language portraits produced by secondary-school students in the predominantly Maasai region of Arusha. Two kinds of data – pictorial (presentational) and verbal (discursive) – suggest that a devaluation of Maasai, which has been observed previously among the older generation of school-age children’s parents, is evident in this generation of children as well. Three factors of this demotion are dominant in the data: (a) although ethnic Maasai students – who tend to be trilingual speakers of Maasai, Kiswahili and English – attribute to Maasai a significance exceeding that associated with Kiswahili and English, the relevance of Maasai is primarily connected to their emotions and their regional and traditional identity and immediate lifeworld context (Maasai being related to the past and the local); (b) Kiswahili entertains an interethnic and statal relevance for these children, being viewed as a tool necessary for work, prosperity, and life in the country (the present and the national); (c) the relevance of English is perceived by them as pertaining to affairs of the external-community and to their international economic prospects and opportunities (the future and the global).