Abstract
This study investigates the factors that are responsible for the levelling of Ìkàr??-Àkókó dialect. Specifically, the paper examines the impacts of Nigerian indigenous languages, especially Yorùbá, on the dialect. The study aims at identifying the patterns of changes in the dialect and their impacts on the ethnic identities of the people. The work is based on the variationist approach pioneered by William Labov in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The tools used for data collection include questionnaire, oral interview and observation. The findings of the study reveal that the dialect manifests different stages of changes, vital domains like home, school and work place, which are supposed to be the strongholds of this dialect are being encroached upon by languages other than the mother tongue in the study area. It was found that the changes in the dialect are not due to the influence of English language only, but to indigenous Nigerian languages, mostly Yorùbá. It was concluded that the gradual levelling of Ìkàr??-Àkókó dialect is caused in part by restricted domains of use, increase in population; lack of commitment to indigenous language use by the native speakers; and suppressive language policy in the nation. The study recommends sensitization campaigns as a way of maintaining and sustaining the status of indigenous languages.
Highlights
The global challenge of language endangerment calls for more research attention on strategies to solve the problem
This study investigates the ethno-linguistic levelling of Ìkàrẹ-Àkókó dialect in Ondo State, Nigeria
On language spoken to parents, 95 constituting 47.5% of the respondents who are children use Yorùbá when communicating with their parents 16 making 8% use English to communicate with their parents, 61 making 30.5% who are children use Ìkàrẹ-Àkókó dialect to with their parents
Summary
The global challenge of language endangerment calls for more research attention on strategies to solve the problem. Dialect levelling is said to be triggered by contact between dialects, often because of migration, and it has been observed in most languages with large numbers of speakers after the industrialization and the modernization of the area or areas in which they are spoken It results in unique features of dialects being eliminated and "may occur over several generations until a stable compromise dialect develops" (Siegel, 1997, p.128; Hinskens, 1998, p.35). Dialect levelling has been shown to occur in mobile populations where there is a high level of dialect contact In such areas, individuals regularly find themselves in face to face interaction with speakers of other varieties and in their efforts to accommodate, their interlocutors tend to avoid features that are unusual or markedly regional or which might lead to comprehension difficulties (Trudgill, 1986, p.25). It attempts to ascertain whether the levelling of the dialect has impact on the ethnic identities in the study area; and suggests measures that can be taken to sustain the dialect
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