Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-8zxtt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T17:13:28.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multilingualism and Language Function in Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Mobolaji A. Adekunle
Mobolaji A. Adekunle*
Affiliation:
School of Languages and Linguistics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. On leave, University of Lagos, Nigeria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

To the casual observer, social communication across linguistic boundaries in Nigeria appears impossible as an indisputable consequence of the country's linguistic diversity. But this bird's-eye view of the language situation could be misleading. A more realistic picture emerges when this multilingual situation is studied in relation to the interaction among people within and across linguistic or administrative boundaries. As William Mackey has adequately put it,

Bilingualism is not a phenomenon of language; it is a characteristic of its use. It is not a feature of the code but of the message….

If language is the property of the group, bilingualism is the property of the individual. An individual's use of two languages supposes the existence of two different language communities; it does not suppose the existence of a bilingual community. The bilingual community can only be regarded as a dependent collection of individuals who have reasons for being bilingual (1968, p. 554).

In view of the importance of historical and administrative factors in the Nigerian social situation, language function will be discussed in terms of interaction within and across administrative units. Consequently, the problem of linguistic diversity and language function will be dealt with at the following levels of social interaction: (1) the district level, (2) the divisional level, (3) the provincial level, (4) the state level, (5) the regional level, and (6) the national level.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , September 1972 , pp. 185 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Bamgbose, Ayo and Spenser, John (ed.). The English Language in West Africa. London: Longman Group, 1971.Google Scholar
Brosnahan, L. F. “Some Historical Cases of Language Imposition.” Language in Africa. Papers of the Leverhulme Conference on Universities and the Language Problems of Tropical Africa, held at University College, Ibadan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963. Pp. 7–21.Google Scholar
Colonial Office Advisory Committee on Native Education in Africa. The Place of the Vernacular in the Native Education of Africans. 1927.Google Scholar
Fafunwa, Babs. “The Importance of the Mother-Tongue as Medium of Instruction.” Nigeria Magazine, No. 102 (September-November 1969).Google Scholar
Fajana, A. The Evolution of Educational Policy in Nigeria, 1842-1939. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Ibadan, 1969.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Charles A. “Background to Second Language Problems.” In Rice, Frank A., ed. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1962a. Pp. 1–7.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Charles A. “Language Factor in National Development.” In Rice, Frank A., ed. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1962b.Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph. The Languages of Africa. The Hague: Mouton, 1963.Google Scholar
Grieve, D. W. “English Language Problems in West African Schools.” West African Journal of Education, Vol. IX, No. 2 (June 1965).Google Scholar
Mackey, William F. “The Description of Bilingualism.” In Fishman, J. A., ed. Readings in the Sociology of Languages. The Hague: Mouton, 1968.Google Scholar
Mid-Western Nigeria, Government of. Standing Orders of the Mid-Western House of Assembly. Benin: Government Printer, 1965.Google Scholar
Northern Nigerian Government. “Kano Province.” Provincial Annual Report 1960. Kaduna: Government Printer, 1960.Google Scholar
Oke, D. O. “The Vernacular as a Medium of Instruction in Nigerian Primary Schools.” Journal of the Nigeria English Studies Association. Vol. III, No. 1 (1969).Google Scholar
Stewart, William A. “Linguistic Typology.” In Rice, Frank A., ed. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1962a.Google Scholar
Stewart, William A. “An Outline of Linguistic Typology for Describing Multilingualism.” In Rice, Frank A., ed. Study of the Role of Second Languages in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Washington: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1962b.Google Scholar