The recent return of Mr. Mabugu, a 30-year-old Zimbabwean deportee who spent 21 years in the United States, highlights a rarely discussed but deeply impactful phenomenon: first-language attrition and its profound effects on identity and cultural memory.

At nine years old, Mr. Mabugu left Zimbabwe, fluent in Shona but still in the early stages of language consolidation. Upon returning, he revealed a startling truth: “I can’t speak Shona anymore. I don’t understand it.” This personal revelation opens a window into neurolinguistics and sociolinguistics, raising important questions about how and why native languages can fade away, even entirely, in the minds of those who once spoke them effortlessly.

Neurolinguists explain this through the brain’s remarkable plasticity. Our neural networks prioritize efficiency, reinforcing pathways we use regularly and pruning those left dormant. For Mr. Mabugu, two decades immersed in an English-speaking environment meant his brain adapted by strengthening English language circuits, while the neural pathways for Shona progressively weakened.

This synaptic pruning isn’t just about forgetting words; it represents the gradual erosion of grammar, phonology, and cultural nuances embedded in the mother tongue. What makes this especially profound is that language is more than communication — it is a vessel of identity, tradition, and community belonging.

Two key factors contributed to Mr. Mabugu’s language attrition:

Age at Departure: Leaving Zimbabwe at nine meant his Shona skills were still fragile. Childhood-acquired language is more vulnerable because it lacks the reinforcement and maturation that happen through adolescent and adult social interactions. Without these, retention becomes difficult.

Sociolinguistic Isolation: Living in the US cut Mr. Mabugu off from Shona-speaking communities and cultural contexts. Without social interactions, the cues and motivations to use and maintain Shona disappeared, accelerating the loss.

Mr. Mabugu’s experience transcends language loss; it is a form of cultural amnesia. The disappearance of his mother tongue creates a disconnect from Zimbabwean heritage, traditions, and social networks that language sustains. For many diaspora Zimbabweans, this story resonates deeply as migration and displacement increasingly shape lives.

His case exemplifies how identity and language are fluid, shaped continuously by environment and experience. It challenges communities and policymakers to consider how to support heritage language retention, especially among young emigrants, to preserve cultural continuity.

As Zimbabwe faces ongoing migration and diaspora dynamics, understanding cases like Mr. Mabugu’s can inform education, cultural programs, and social support systems designed to keep mother tongues alive , not just as languages but as keys to identity, memory, and belonging.

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