Deb Aronson

Language of Love

Eyamba Bokamba welcomes and inspires linguistics students

First appeared in Illinois Alumni in May 2008 under Profiles

Eyamba Bokamba joined the University of Illinois Department of Linguistics 34 years ago, and since then he’s made it resound with the intonations of a continent.

Bokamba has grown the African languages program from one language to five and developed more than 35 African language courses, as well as more than half a dozen African linguistics ones. By the mid-1980s, the UI program in African languages had become the most comprehensive of its kind in the country.

In some respects, Bokamba is the Program of African Languages and Linguistics (PALL). “I’m the mother and father of what is going on,” he said, with the wide smile of a proud parent.

In addition to his work within the department, with the help and support of the UI Center for African Studies, Bokamba directed the prestigious Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI) last summer and will do so again this summer. Hosting SCALI, an intensive and unique language program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, is a national honor and a recognition of the strength of the African languages program at Illinois.

At 68, Bokamba is a grandfather twice over, but he looks both younger and taller than he is. His square face is framed with short hair, and his richly colored skin has few wrinkles. In class, his deep voice resonates with authority as he paces the room. And that classroom means a great deal to him.

For all the pride Bokamba takes in building PALL, that achievement would mean nothing if it weren’t for his students.

“Figuring out how languages work amounts to doing detective work,” he said. “I find it fascinating to see the students develop those skills.”

Linguistics can be roughly divided into two areas: the theoretical, which looks at how language is structured and learned; and the applied, which looks at how language is used in society. By studying a language’s implicit and explicit layers of meaning, one can better comprehend how the mind works and understand the human experience more fully.

For UI senior Amelia Coleman, it is just this detective work that appeals to her. “It’s like language has this secret structure,” she said, “and once you learn it, you see that the average person doesn’t even realize what they are saying. [As a linguistics major] I feel like it means something different to me and that I belong to a kind of secret club.”

Bokamba has a knack for opening up those secrets to many students.

“He played a vital role in my academic life,” said graduate student Tholani Hlongwa. “I would feel angry and frustrated, like I can’t do it, but then I come out of his office with a problem solved. …You can talk to him about everything and anything.”

Bokamba is used to facing challenges and solving problems. Growing up in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), he lost his mother when he was 3. With the help of his father and uncle and the support of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) which sponsored him, Bokamba came to the U.S. at the age of 15 to pursue his dream of furthering his education. Starting in the early 1960s, he lived with many different host families in Ohio and Kansas.

To this day, those host families are part of Bokamba’s own extended family; he refers to each member as mother, father, sister or brother. That concept of an extended family - full of extra parents, uncles and aunts - is a practice Bokamba imported from his homeland for the benefit of both himself and his students. Although Bokamba has four grown children, he and his wife, Molingo, have gathered the PALL students around them like so many more offspring.

“Outside of school, his home is our home,” said Hlongwa. “At school we call him professor Bokamba, but at his house we call him Dad.”