Mainstreaming the ethnolinguistic vitality of the Etulo language of Benue State-Nigeria

Language contact as a sociolinguistic phenomenon has been discovered to have brought about several implications ranging from language choice, language attitudes, linguistic borrowing, code-switching, bi/multilingualism, language endangerment to language loss and death. Language endangerment as one of the critical implications of language contact has befallen several languages of the world today. The co-existence of different ethno-linguistic groups in a particular area for whatever reasons paves way for the relation between the languages they speak often resulting into language endangerment and other sociolinguistic implications. In Nigeria today, of the over 400 languages, half of them are tilting towards language endangerment. This paper studies the language of the Etulo people of Benue State and their endangered language condition. It investigates the several factors that have been responsible for this unfortunate language condition. Using the ethno-linguistic vitality theory, the study delves into the field with the use of structured questionnaire as a tool for ascertaining the endangerment of the Etulo language. The results of data analysis suggest that the Etulo language is gravely endangered and requires urgent and drastic rescue action to save it from outright loss and eventual death. Keywords: language endangerment, Etulo, ethnolinguistic vitality, language loss, language death, Nigeri

Sociolinguistic study of language contact in Ubolo speech community, Enugu State-Nigeria

This paper presents a preliminary report of the linguistic study of language contact in a rural speech community of Ubolo, Enugu State, Nigeria, using a sociolinguistic approach. The researchers selected seven linguistic groups in the area of study. They are Ubolo (the indigenous community), Awka, Onitsha and Owerri from different regional linguistic groups of Igboland. Others include: Hausa, Idoma and Yoruba from other ethnolinguistic groups in Nigeria. The researcher relied mostly on unstructured oral interview, direct observations, group discussions, and interactive sessions. The data collected for the study were analyzed using Higa’s directionality model of analysis. From the study, five basic issues that influenced language contact in Ubolo speech community were established from the factors examined. These are trade/historical antecedents, access roads, border areas, migrations. More specifically, the research revealed the effects of language contact to include linguistic borrowing, code-switching, and hyperadoptation. In addition, it was discovered that the factors that influenced linguistic borrowing in the area of study include: Domain or the contact area, age, convergence, prestige, referee design, and interaction