AN ASSESSMENT OF LEVEL OF LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF EGGON LANGUAGE OF NASARAWA STATE
AN ASSESSMENT OF LEVEL OF LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF EGGON LANGUAGE OF NASARAWA STATE
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Date
2016-06
Authors
SARVI, SULEIMAN ADAMU
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Abstract
The contribution of the study is to investigate and find out whether Eggon Language of Nasarawa State is endangered, the degree of its endangerment, factors responsible for its endangerment and whether the endangerment is reversible. It contains five chapters with chapter one as general introduction which contains the Statement of the problem, the aim and objective of the study, research questions, justification of the study, the scope, basic assumptions and significance of the study. In chapter two, the related literatures have been reviewed in which general observations on the review and the ground for the present study have been provided. Chapter three contains issues on the research methodology in which a part from the library work, three hundred and eighty one (381) questionnaires has been filled by equal number of respondents and the same number has been interviewed, as informants, in collecting the data of the research. Area and population samples have been determined and the latter has been based on 381 respondents for a total population of 50,000 – 52,000 etc. The chapter also discloses the theoretical framework of the study, its assessment and the justification for using it in the present study as the pioneer work that has empirically tested the framework. After ascertaining the endangerment of Eggon, the work has endeavoured to discover the degree of the endangerment of the language and has been found to be severely endangered. The research has also discussed that the intergenerational language use of the Eggon, and the negative attitude of the native speakers towards the language have been discovered the major factors that have initiated and hastened the endangerment of the language. However, the endangerment has been found to be reversible as the language is not extinct. It is still spoken by some generations and transmitted by some parents. Finally, the research recommends that, to revitalize the language, there is an urgent need to document and standardize the language and adequate pedagogical, grammatical and literary materials should be provided.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Post Graduate Studies, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Doctor of Philosophy in African Languages,
Department of African Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Arts, Ahmadu Bello University,
Zaria, Nigeria June, 2016
Keywords
ASSESSMENT,, LEVEL OF LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT,, EGGON LANGUAGE,, NASARAWA STATE,