Article-Abstract

Research Journal of Educational Studies and Review

Research Paper|Published June 2022|Vol. 7 (2): 23-30. https://doi.org/10.36630/rjesr_22004

 

Linguistic Hybridism and the Murder of Tongue in the South Western Nigeria

 

Yemi Ogunsiji

 

Department of English, Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo, Nigeria.

 

ABSTRACT

The southwestern part of Nigeria is heavily populated by the Yoruba people and a good number of them have formed the habit of the use of English thereby jettisoning their indigenous language. This has led to language endangerment which might later cause the extinction of the indigenous language. This study aims to examine the sociolinguistic environment of the Yoruba/English bilinguals with a view to highlighting some areas in which there are instances of “murder” of the mother tongue as well as the English language used. Data were collected and analyzed. Guided by the research questions, the findings revealed that there had been a form of hybridization of the two languages which has implications for its meaning and cultural effects. Such a hybridized use has the Yoruba language as the base and this has affected the use of English one way or the other. The study concluded that such a hybridized language use will have some unpalatable implications for the two languages involved. If we want to be creative, our elements of hybridization will not be by unknown mistakes; rather, it will be by deliberate productivity and manipulations that will show a variety that will be rich in our environmental linguistic variables.


Key Words:
Linguistic hybridism, culture, indigenous language, mother tongue, second language.

 

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