English and the pace of endangerment in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines oral questionnaire data in order to assess the tenability of the prevailing hypothesis that Africa's language endangerment situation is characterized by the replacement of minority vernaculars with indigenous majority languages. Questionnaire items attended to evaluation accorded minority vernacular as well as language choice in home and non‐home settings. Data were obtained from adults, teenagers and children in the Emai‐speaking region of rural southern Nigeria. The resulting language‐use profiles show that across age groups, evaluation of vernacular mother tongue is positive. Remaining elements of the profile, however, reveal variation according to age. Adult profiles reflect an explicit multi‐language preference for vernacular and for English varieties. Teenagers exhibit a shift toward single‐language usage of the vernacular in the home and of English in non‐home settings. While maintaining this general trend, children evince a strong preference for English with siblings and show an emerging preference for English in speaking to mother and father. The onset of this intergenerational shift in home‐language use argues that in rural areas of southern Nigeria, English is propelling the abandonment of indigenous, minority languages.