Tamaddun
Vol 21 No 1 (2022): June 2022

A Socio-Linguistic Profile of Nigeria’s Eastern Borderlands

Otora Osmond Agbor (University Of Calabar, Nigeria)
Angela Ajimase (University Of Calabar, Nigeria)



Article Info

Publish Date
24 Jun 2022

Abstract

The paper examines the phenomena of language maintenance, shift, separation, and spread of the demographic proportion of the ethnolinguistic groups on either side of the borders, and argues that language use in various public domains is consistent with language policy, planning, and development. The paper is anchored on visible data in a conceptual framework that offers a triglottic configuration that has been used in both and within various multilingual states in Africa, and more specifically with Cameroon by Tadedjeu (1975) and Nigeria by Brann (1981). The Tadedjeu and Brann framework enabled an analysis of the border configuration concerning languages. It is indicated that the seemingly autochthonous peoples of the border are so deeply rooted that it appears most of them wandered there within the last few centuries. Thus, with the growing level of interdependence across the border region, it is considered that the younger generation of the border peoples will someday wander into cities, become bilingual, and forget their language, leaving behind a vanishing generation of chthonophones.

Copyrights © 2022






Journal Info

Abbrev

tamaddun-life

Publisher

Subject

Humanities Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences

Description

Tamaddun is a multidisciplinary peer reviewed and open access journal in language, literature, and culture. The aim is to publish conceptual and research articles that explore the application of any language in teaching and the everyday experience of language in education. Its scope is international ...