Siberian Federal University

Issue

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences. 2014 7 (3)

Authors

Christopher, Nkechi M.

Contact information

Christopher, Nkechi M.:Department of Communication and Language Arts University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria; E-mail:

Keywords

code-switching; language contacts; language death/extinction; language maintenance; language shift; linguistic diversity

Abstract

Socio-politico-economic developments in Nigeria favour language shift from local languages to English, a situation making local language maintenance and sustenance difficult while portending language extinction. Codeswitching between English and Nigerian languages is posited as a stage in the process of language shift to English and eventual extinction of local languages. Contributing to the evolving linguistic situation are: extreme linguistic diversity, tenacious resistance to language imposition, nascency of democratization, people mobility in the quest for survival in a poor economic environment, the absence of a viable language policy, neglect of local languages in the education of the child at home and school, and the dominance and viability of the English language for the individual in socio-economic life of the nation. Nigeria is experiencing linguistic transition that may eventually see the extinction of many Nigerian languages if unchecked. Under the situation, language owners may be the best group to save their languages (over 500) from extinction

Pages

381-393

Paper at repository of SibFU

https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/10247

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).