Language (In) Equality, Language Endangerment and the Threats to Nigerian Languages

Abstract

Whereas there are arguments in favour of the equality of languages, the nearly eight thousand languages of the world do have unequal statuses in terms of the population of their speakers, their geographical spread, their national and/or international applications or uses and their socio-economic value. Some of the languages have so few speakers and such limited geographical spread and socio-economic value that they are hardly known outside their native habitats and they are at risk of endangerment and death in no distant time. This paper dwells on issues of language equality/endangerment, addresses the endogenous threat posed by some indigenous Nigerian languages to some minority Nigerian languages on one hand, and the exogenous one posed by the English language to all Nigerian languages on the other hand. The work accentuates existing fears that many languages among Nigeria’s minority groups in particular, are threatened with endangerment from within and outside. With language being an intrinsic part of self/cultural/national identity, it is proposed that older generations should put forth their languages as indispensable possessions by using them consistently, unashamedly and transmitting them to younger generations for posterity.

Keywords: Language, (in)equality, endangerment, transmission, generations, culture, identity, Nigerian languages (major/minor), the English language