Abstract
Globalization can be viewed from economic, cultural and socio-political perspectives including information and communication technology (ICT). In view of this, it is seen as the increasing empowerment of western cultural values including language, philosophy and world view. In many African countries Nigeria inclusive, English language which is the language of colonization is gradually becoming a global language due to its influence and subsequent adoption as the official language by many African nations which are largely multi-cultural and multilingual under the British colony. This trend has not only relegated the status of Nigerian Indigenous languages to the background but has also threatened their existence in Nigeria which accommodates over 500 native languages. If this trend is left unchecked, the ill-wind of globalization will gradually sweep the native languages including the so-called major ones (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) out of existence particularly in Nigeria. This paper discusses globalization as one of the major factors for language endangerment with respect to Nigeria as a nation, with a view to proffering possible solutions capable of sustaining and empowering the nation’s socio-cultural and economic stability.
Highlights
Africa is said to be the continent with the world’s most linguistically diverse
The fact that, devastating ferocious diseases, habitat displacement as well as impact of globalization leading to language and cultural extinction, this paper examines Nigerian indigenous languages with a view to ascertain the impact of globalization
From the discussion so far, it can be deduced that globalization is a multi-faceted phenomenon that touches every aspect of human life such as economic, social, political, commercial, information, communication, technology as well as linguistics
Summary
Africa is said to be the continent with the world’s most linguistically diverse. It is established that the central African Republic with a population of about 3 million has 18 distinct language groups; Cameroon - 279 languages; DRC 221 languages; Chad 127 languages; Tanzania 131 languages, Zimbabwe 16 languages and Nigeria, a whopping 400 languages. As predicted by many scholars that, as many as 60 to 90% of the world’s languages, about 6,900 of them are at risk of extinction within the 100 years The evidence for the concern languages under threat can be seen in the steady stream of works available on sociolinguistic issue (Fishman, 2001; Agwuele, 2010; Tarugarira, 2009; Ode, 2015 & Dega, 2015) Expressing his concern about language endangerment and its apparent causes, Dega posits that it is estimated that mostly in some regions across the world; about 90% of the languages may be replaced by dominant languages at the end of the 21st century. Possible relevant solutions capable of changing the situation for the better towards language development and national cohesion have been proffered
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