Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0262/02627.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 37KB | 580 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02627}
$Pretitle{357}
$Title{Nigeria
Chapter 2B.   Language}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert Rinehart}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{hausa
language
yoruba
fulani
ibo
ethnic
groups
nigeria
political
state}
$Date{1981}
$Log{Figure 15.*0262701.scf
Quranic Schools*0262702.scf
Hausa Religious Leaders*0262703.scf
}
Country:     Nigeria
Book:        Nigeria, A Country Study
Author:      Robert Rinehart
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1981

Chapter 2B.   Language

     Of the four widely recognized language categories in Africa (each roughly
equivalent to Indo-European in scope), three-Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Kordofanian,
and Nilo-Saharan-are represented in Nigeria. Two major divisions-Chadic and
Semitic-comprehend the Afro-Asiatic languages of the land. The most important
Chadic tongue is Hausa, spoken as a native language by more than a fifth of
Nigeria's people and, according to one estimate, by another tenth as a second
language. (Still others may have some acquaintance with it as a lingua franca
in the north.) Of the perhaps ninety other Chadic languages spoken north of
the Niger-Benue valley, none had more than 200,000 speakers in 1963, and some
are spoken by very small numbers of people. Arabic, the only Semitic tongue in
Nigeria, is spoken by the Shuwa Arabs of the far northeast, and many other
Muslims, particularly clerics, are familiar with it to varying degrees.

     Two divisions of Nilo-Saharan-Saharan and Songhai-include a total of
three languages in Nigeria. The most important of these by far, subsumed under
Saharan, is Kanuri in the far northeast. Two tongues-Zarma and Dendi-subsumed
under Songhai are relatively unimportant in Nigeria.

     The western division of Niger-Kordofanian-Niger-Congo-comprehends the
remainder of Nigeria's languages. It in turn is subdivided into a number of
groups (families) of roughly the distinctiveness of the Romance and Germanic
branches of Indo-European. By far the greatest number of languages-more than
150-are subsumed in the Benue-Congo family, but of these only a few-Ibibio
(including the important Efik dialect), the closely related Anaang, and
Tiv-were spoken by more than 1 percent of the population. Several others-among
them Ejagham (Ekoi) and Kana (Ogoni)-were mother tongues of local importance.
The Kwa family subsumed fewer than fifty languages, but among them were the
second and third most important tongues in Nigeria-Yoruba and Ibo. In addition
eight to ten other languages were primary in specific states or otherwise of
some importance (see fig. 15). Nearly as many languages were included under
Adamawa as under Kwa, but none was of substantial significance. Of the three
other Niger-Congo families-Gur, Mande, and West Atlantic-represented in
Nigeria by one or two languages, only the West Atlantic tongue Fulfulde
(spoken by the Fulani) was significant.

     In addition to the indigenous languages, two others are important-English
and Nigerian Pidgin. English is the country's official language, used in
government in all formal situations (the 1979 Constitution specifies its use
in the National Assembly) and in much daily work at the higher levels,
particularly when those engaged in it have different mother tongues. It is
also employed in the upper reaches of the industrial and commercial world and
in much of the press and other media. In education English is introduced at
the primary school level and used exclusively in secondary schools and
universities. Nigerian Pidgin is characterized by a structure akin to that of
Nigerian languages, apparently those of the south, and by a lexicon that
borrows much from English. Unlike English, which is used in exchanges between
educated Nigerians, Pidgin is more likely to be used in southern ethnically
mixed urban areas among those with little or no formal education and by
southern Nigerians living in enclaves for strangers in northern cities and
towns.

     Even if they do not use English or Pidgin many Nigerians find themselves
in situations that demand from them a degree of bilingualism (or
multilingualism). In the north during the colonial era and well into the
postindependence period, Hausa had an official or (later) a quasi-official
status. It was used in regional government and was the language of instruction
in the schools, even among non-Hausa. This status and the general numerical,
economic, and political dominance of the Hausa led to its becoming widely
understood and used as a lingua franca, and some of the smaller groups have
given up their own languages for Hausa.

     In southern Nigeria other languages have become second tongues in the
cities and towns and in rural areas characterized by relations between two
or more ethnic groups. In southwestern urban centers (including Lagos, the
capital) numerically dominated by Yoruba, their tongue is commonly used by
others. Yoruba also seems to be widely accepted as a second language in less
urban areas, e.g., at rural markets and in churches on the eastern border of
Yorubaland, even when the Yoruba are in a minority.

     The situation in the southeast has been more complex. In the pre-colonial
era the languages of coastal groups (some quite small) that controlled trade
with groups in the hinterland became the second languages of the inland
peoples. When political and economic patterns changed under the British, these
second languages were either shed or changed. For a time when the Ibo were
dominant in the old Eastern Region, their language was of some importance as
a lingua franca, but the establishment of four states in that region in the
mid-1970s has altered the situation.

     From time to time politicians, scholars, and others have argued that
Nigeria ought to have an African language as its official tongue, if not alone
at least in addition to English. In general it has been suggested that such
a language would serve as both symbol of and means to national integration
and might permit a more rapid and widespread growth of literacy than does
English. The argument for a national African language has foundered on the
fact that a likely candidate would be identified with a specific regional and
ethnic entity to which others have been historically antagonistic. Practical
obstacles to making one indigenous language official are that the native
speakers of such a language would have a head start and that it would probably
be no easier for the speakers of Yoruba (a Kwa tongue), for instance, to learn
Hausa (a Chadic language) than it would be for either to learn English. In
these circumstances it is unlikely that an African language will be instituted
as an official national language in the near future. In the meantime the 1979
Constitution provides for the use of Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo in the National
Assembly "when adequate arrangements have been made" (presumably for
simultaneous translation).

     English is not only the official language used in formal contexts between
equals and between superiors and subordinates in the federal government and
in larger business complexes (even when those involved may speak the same
indigenous language), but it is used in many unofficial situations. Linguist
Rebecca N. Agheyisi, writing in the late 1970s, notes that "it is now
possible to talk of a . . . social 'class' . . . comprising members of various
. . . linguistic groups for whom the 'public,' and indeed predominant, use
of English exists as one of their salient status symbols."

     Even if English is not used, Nigerians, at least in the south, interlard
the local language with English words. The quantity of English used in a
specific exchange varies, but even when it is quite high the speakers think
of themselves as using the local language and therefore engaged in informal
conversation or as making a formal one less so. Sometimes English words are
used simply to refer to a thing, action, or idea for which a local term does
not exist. In other contexts, however, the use of English-even in informal
conversa