Mainstreaming the ethnolinguistic vitality of the Etulo language of Benue State-Nigeria

Abstract

Language contact as a sociolinguistic phenomenon has been discovered to have brought about several implications ranging from language choice, language attitudes, linguistic borrowing, code-switching, bi/multilingualism, language endangerment to language loss and death. Language endangerment as one of the critical implications of language contact has befallen several languages of the world today. The co-existence of different ethno-linguistic groups in a particular area for whatever reasons paves way for the relation between the languages they speak often resulting into language endangerment and other sociolinguistic implications. In Nigeria today, of the over 400 languages, half of them are tilting towards language endangerment. This paper studies the language of the Etulo people of Benue State and their endangered language condition. It investigates the several factors that have been responsible for this unfortunate language condition. Using the ethno-linguistic vitality theory, the study delves into the field with the use of structured questionnaire as a tool for ascertaining the endangerment of the Etulo language. The results of data analysis suggest that the Etulo language is gravely endangered and requires urgent and drastic rescue action to save it from outright loss and eventual death.

Keywords: language endangerment, Etulo, ethnolinguistic vitality, language loss, language death, Nigeria