LANGUAGE BEHAVIOUR AND ITS EFFECTS IN A MULTILINGUAL SETTING: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION OF OGORI/MAGONGO PEOPLE OF KOGI STATE

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Date
2011-03
Authors
ZUBAIR, ADINOYI YAHAYA
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Abstract
Multilingualism has been defined as the ability of an individual to speak two or more languages in any communicative event. Therefore, intra-group societal multilingualism is a situation where a speech community has access to two or more languages without any of the languages threatening the existence of the other. The study seeks to find out how Ogori/Magongo people, who are multilingual, use the various languages they speak in that setting and the effects this behaviour produces in them. The aim is to understand the impact of multilingualism on a population where more than one language is in use. Fishman’s theory of language choice in a multilingual setting has been adopted as the framework for this study because of its suitability. In doing this, the questionnaire and interview methods were adopted to elicit responses from the respondents, in addition to non-participant observation method. The findings revealed that certain factors like topic, domain of interaction and role relation determine who speaks what language to whom, when and why in that setting. Also, the study has established that intra-group societal multilingualism is stable and widespread in Ogori/Magongo as well as the fact that multilingualism has positive impact in the behavior of Ogori/Magongo which has given them wide range of choice of languages.
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A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE POST GRADUATE SCHOOL, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 7 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA MARCH, 2011
Keywords
LANGUAGE,, BEHAVIOUR,, EFFECTS,, MULTILINGUAL,, SETTING:, SOCIOLINGUISTIC,, DESCRIPTION,, OGORI/MAGONGO,, PEOPLE,, KOGI STATE
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