Quinn Cunningham, who is working closely with Prof. Michael Marlo from MMUST’s School of Medicine, is interested in different aspects of languages and can fluently speak Tiriki and Swahili. He has been in Kenya since 21 July 2021 and notes that Kenya is a hospitable Country with different cultural environments and ecosystems. “It has been very fascinating. I have tried different local foods such as ,” he said.
From left; CoD LLE-Dr. Fridah Miruka, Dean SASS-Dr. Rose Auma, Mr. David Barasa, Deputy Director IIKCS-Dr. Lucy Mandillah, Director-DCCM-Dr. Lydia Anyonje, Mr. Jeveti Wesley and Quinn Cunningham
Speaking during the courtesy call, the Deputy Director – IIKCS, Dr. Lucy Mandillah, who spoke on behalf of the Director– IIKCS, noted that it is important to document our indigenous languages for future generations. “We welcome Quinn to the institute. Research documentation will be imperative as we work together on Indigenous language activities and projects. There is a need to document for the sake of future generations. Staff and students exchange in computational linguistics and different aspects of indigenous languages will be anchored in IIKCS. We will work closely with the Department of Language and Literature Education Prof. Marlo and Quinn will be our contacts at Missouri University,” she said.
Dr. David Barasa was impressed to have the two institutions partner in matters indigenous language, saying it will go a long way in ensuring that our languages are better known globally and preserved for future generations. He further said that computational linguistics has proved to be one of the best ways to document data of different languages. “This is a great opportunity for MMUST in computational linguistics which will help us build on data of different languages,” he said.
The Dean, School of Arts and Social Sciences (SASS), Dr. Rose Auma applauded the University of Missouri for choosing MMUST for partnership in indigenous languages. “As a school we are impressed to be part of the initial stages of partnering the two institutions. We are the school in charge of languages, and are ready to support this move,” she said. Dr. Fridah Miruka, the Chairperson of the Department of Languages and Literature Education was also impressed with the collaboration, saying that the partnership is as a result of a good relationship between the two institutions. “Linkages with the University of Missouri will be a good point to work together in fostering Kiswahili, and a perfect opportunity to network and carry out joint research,” added Dr. Miruka.
