Written By: Babatope Babalobi

According to studies by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and views expressed by language teachers and linguists, twenty-nine Nigerian minor languages had become extinct, while another 29 minor languages are in danger of extinction.  Three Nigeria’s major languages -Yoruba, Igbo, and Ishekiri are also endangered.

In 2006, UNESCO reportedly predicted that Igbo language, spoken by over 70 million people, may become extinct in the next 50 years. In 2017, Dahunsi Akinyemi, a language teacher and author, posited that Yoruba language could die out in 20 years or less. UNESCO tracks all world languages based on five criteria: safe, vulnerable, definitely endangered, severely endangered, critically endangered, and extinct.

‘Vulnerable’ languages are spoken by most children, but restricted to certain domains. ‘Definitely Endangered’’ languages are the ones children no longer learn as mother tongue in the home. “Critically” endangered languages are the ones that the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language infrequently. “Severely” endangered languages are spoken by grandparents and older generations, while the parent generation may understand it but do not speak it to children or among themselves.

Nigeria multilingual diversity reflects in the heterogeneity of the languages spoken in most of the states, as only few states such as Kano, Anambra, Imo, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti are predominantly monolingual. Hausa, lgbo, Yoruba are the three major languages spoken predominantly in the North, South East, and South West respectively. Each of the major languages have distinctive dialects.- Igbos have an extreme dialect diversity ranging from the central/standard Igbo (Igbo Izugbe), to other forms-Owerri, Umuahia dialects, Awka, Anambra, Onitsha, Udi, Nsukka, Orlu, and peripheral Igboland dialects such as Ikwerre, Izzi, Ezaa, Ikwo, Ika and Ukwuani.

Apart from these major local languages, there are three other languages widely spoken in Nigeria. These are English, Arabic, and Pidgin. English was a left-over of British colonialism; Arabic was spread, particularly in the North through the Usman Dan Fodio Jihad of the 19th century.  Pidgin is neither a local nor foreign language but emerged as an adulteration of English language by native speakers.

English language has achieved predominance as Nigeria’s official national language. Many homes in Nigeria, particularly in the South are English speaking. In almost all urban homes in the south, children and adults do not greet themselves in the native tongue. Good morning has replaced E kaaro in Yoruba, Ina Kwana in Hausa, and Ututuoma in Igbo. It is ridiculous that most new generation children, particularly those in urban areas cannot pronounce their local names or towns of origin correctly.

Asking new generation children to speak the local dialect is stretching a joke too far. English language has its own advantages. Apart from being a global language, it is also unifying in a multilingual culture. However, no serious people relegate its mother tongue in preference for a foreign language.

Causes of local language regression in Nigeria are mixed linguistic ecology of urban towns, forcing residents of different linguistic background to speak a common language such as Pidgin or English and inter lingual marriages forcing parents to speak a common language rather than indigenous languages to their children. The future of Nigeria local languages lies with the speakers.

There is an option of selling our language birth right for a mess of English pottage in the manner of biblical Esau. There is the second option of reviving it and preserving its heritage. If parents refuse to speak their native languages to their children, of course the next generation will not speak it to their offspring, leading to extinction of these local languages within the next two to three generations

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