AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF MOTHER TONGUE AND LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT PROCESS

Abstract

There is no denying the fact that many languages of the world are vanishing at an irrepressible pace, and the status quo of many indigenous languages in Nigeria is an accurate mirror to this reality. According to a UNESCO report, around 27 languages in Nigeria are in the danger zone. There are many causative factors behind this situation. One important factor can be the parents,
not teaching their local languages to their young ones. This paper attempts to analyse the role of parents and especially mothers in the transmission and preservation of languages. The key aim is to investigate whether or not; the mothers in Nigerian society are promoting their local or native dialects. For this purpose, a survey research is conducted. The tool of the study is a questionnaire
that is administered to a sample population of mothers. The responses collected from a population sample (comprising of almost 300 mothers) exposes the fact that at present a great number of mothers and especially educated mothers tend to emphasizese the learning of Pidgin (for general communication) and English (for educational purposes) among their children rather than their
native dialects. The situation is worse with the Igbo language. In this regard, (UNESCO) Advisory Committee on Language Pluralism and Multi-language Education predicted that Igbo language and by implication, culture, may be heading for extinction, and subsumed by other stronger Nigerian languages by 2025, if nothing is done by its speakers (Abanobi, 2012).This is alarming and demands certain actions on the part of the government to sensitise the public on the importance of their native languages. The paper suggests the formulation of policies besides the broadcasting of some awareness programmes for the common public, to avoid a heritage of
‘zombie languages’.