Don’t tag your mother witch because of old age problems of SPEECH AND COGNITION

By Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, Professor of Applied Linguistics

In many of our homes across Nigeria and Africa, we have watched it happen. Mama who once told the best stories, prayed the longest prayers, and corrected us with perfect proverbs suddenly begins to struggle.

She repeats questions. She calls your name wrong. She slurs her words. She forgets where she put her wrapper. She gets confused in the evening.

And too quickly, someone in the compound whispers: “Mama don become witch.”

As a Professor of Applied Linguistics, and as a daughter, I am begging us today: Stop. Old age problems of speech and cognition are not witchcraft. They are medical, linguistic, and human.

1. What is really happening to Mama’s speech and mind?
Language and thinking live in the brain. As we age, the brain changes. Add hypertension, diabetes, small strokes, poor nutrition, hearing loss, or even loneliness, and you get predictable changes:

• Word-finding problems: The word is “on her tongue” but it won’t come out. So she describes around it. “Bring me that… that thing for cooking.”
• Slurred or slower speech: Muscles weaken. Stroke survivors may have dysarthria.
• Repetition and confusion: Short-term memory declines. She will ask “Have you eaten?” three times.
• Sundowning: More confusion in the evening. Common in dementia and after small, unnoticed strokes.
• Hearing loss: If she can’t hear well, she will answer wrongly. We then say “she is dulling.”

None of these mean she is evil. They mean her brain needs care.

In Applied Linguistics, we study how language breaks down. Aphasia after stroke, dementia-related discourse, age-related language change. These are documented globally. They are not spiritual attacks.

2. Why do we rush to tag “witch”?
Three reasons: fear, ignorance, and grief.

We are afraid because we don’t understand the medical explanation. We are ignorant because health education has not reached our parlors. And we are grieving because the sharp, strong mother we knew is changing before our eyes. Tagging her becomes an explanation that gives us control.

But the cost is terrible. Once a woman is tagged, she is isolated. Children avoid her. She stops getting food and medicine. She is accused, beaten, and sometimes killed. We lose our history keepers, our prayers, and our moral compass.

3. What should we do instead?
First, see it as health. Take Mama to the hospital. Check blood pressure, blood sugar, and for signs of mini-strokes. Many “old age” problems improve with drugs, therapy, and hydration.

Second, use language to help, not to harm.

• Speak slowly and face her when talking
• Give her time to find words. Don’t finish her sentences in anger
• Reduce noise and distractions
• Write reminders and use pictures
• Sing old hymns and songs with her. Music often outlasts speech in the brain

Third, protect her dignity. Do not argue in front of her. Do not call her names. Do not post videos to “shame” her online. The same mouth that fed you deserves respect when it falters.

Fourth, get support. Talk to a doctor, a neurologist, and a speech-language therapist. Join caregiver groups. You are not alone.

Conclusion
Our mothers carried us for 9 months and carried our stories for a lifetime. Old age will test language and memory. That is biology, not wickedness.

Let us choose knowledge over superstition. Let us choose care over accusation.

The next time Mama forgets your name or repeats herself, don’t tag her witch. Hold her hand, remind her gently, and take her for check-up.

Because one day, it will be our turn to forget words. And we will pray that our children remember this article.

_Prof. Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies is Professor of Applied Linguistics. She writes on language, culture, gender, and health communication.
Prof. Mercy Olufunmilayo Adesanya-Davies holds a B.A English & Yoruba (OAU, Ife), M.A English (University of Ilorin), Ph.D Applied Linguistics & Communication Studies (University of Port Harcourt), P.G.D.E (University of Port Harcourt), Doctor of Divinity (DD), and Ph.D Clinical Linguistics and Psychology (USA). She is a linguist, educationist, and expert in health communication and discourse analysis.