Climate change and preservation of minority languages in the upper regions of Ghana:A systematic review

A well-recognized fact is that addressing the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities and minority groups remains a central focus toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,specifically Goals 11 and 13.Approaches for effective adaptation to climate change through national and local efforts fundamentally aim to create environmentally sustainable,socially inclusive,and economically vibrant communities.This paper associates the impacts of climate change to the preservation of threatened minority languages in semi-arid areas in Northern Ghana.This review relies on primary and secondary sources on climate-induced migration,minority languages,and threats of language loss through a keyword search followed by rigorous content analysis.The study confirms that forced displacement due to harsh climatic and other environmental conditions is currently occurring in the upper regions(Upper East and Upper West Regions)of Ghana with minority linguistic groups being forced to migrate to the southern part of the country,where their culture and language are threatened due to large linguistic groups.The literature well establishes the north-south mobility with various debates on its root causes.However,the phenomenon is understudied along with the lack of specific national strategies for addressing it and the associated language loss.Therefore,the need emerges for further studies to enhance the current understanding of the phenomenon to inform policy interventions and protect minority languages threatened by climate-induced migration.The focus on an understudied subject and geographic scope makes the findings extremely relevant for the expansion of knowledge on internal migration in the context of climate change in Northern Ghana.

Addition of Minority Languages to Standards of Safety Information

The necessity of adding safetyinformation which is in minority languagesinto standards is discussed.The requirementsof the WTO-TBT agreement and IECare analyzed.The relevant laws and foundationtechnology for minority languages inChina are discussed.The precedents ofstandards or technical regulations are enumerated.The conclusion is put forward thatsafety information in minority languagesshould be added into standards as soon aspossible.

China's Ethnic Minorities and Their Own Languages

China has 56 ethnic groups, who speak a total of 120 languages. Chinese, China＇s official language, is spoken by the Han, Hui and Manethnic groups, and all the other ethnic groups have their own languages. About 15 million people speak the Zhuang lan- guage, outnumbering speakers of any other ethnic minority language. Quite a few ethnic minority groups have two or even more spoken languages. Though belonging to the same ethnic group, the ethnic Yaos who live in different places speak four different languages -the Mian, Bunu, Lajia and Yangbu. The ethnic Jingpos also have four different spoken languages the Jingpo, Zaiwa, Langsu and Leqi.

On General Issues of Bilingual Education for Minority Ethnic Groups

Minority language literacy is an important issue in national education policy for any multi-nationality country.China sticks to the policy of safeguarding the rights and interests of ethnic minority groups to use their own languages and writing systems.In education,considering communications among different nationalities and the development of minority ethnic groups,a bilingual education policy is being implemented by insisting on teaching students in their own ethnic languages;when the mastery of their own languages has been achieved,bilingual teaching will be employed.There are three types of bilingual teaching for minority ethnic groups:teaching in their own languages,with Mandarin Chinese added;teaching in Mandarin Chinese,with minority languages added;teaching both in Mandarin Chinese and in minority languages.The biggest problems to be solved in implementing bilingual education in ethnic minority regions are the editing of language textbooks and supporting materials for minority ethnic groups and the training of ethnic minority teachers.

Linguistic Diversity in Trans-cultural Communication

The transcultural communication that characterizes our times needs to be carried out in a few commonly shared languages and this requirement has sharpened the awareness about uneven language status. While defenders of minor languages frequently make use of such concepts as ecosystem, human rights, capital, power, imperialism, etc. To express alarm at the spread of the English language in the present world, researchers tend to forget that these concepts applied to languages are only metaphors which, taken at their face value, would conceal the non- exclusive nature of language as a communicative instrument. A question is raised as to whether we should go beyond an essentially nationalist perception of language inherited from the nineteenth century.