Language Attrition: The Nkpor Igbo Dialect Situation

Language Matters
Studies in the Languages of Africa
ISSN: 1022-8195 (Print) 1753-5395 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rlms20
Language Attrition: The Nkpor Igbo Dialect

Situation
Chukwuma Okeke & Gloria Okeke
To cite this article: Chukwuma Okeke & Gloria Okeke (2017): Language Attrition: The Nkpor Igbo
Dialect Situation, Language Matters, DOI: 10.1080/10228195.2017.1336640
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2017.1336640
Published online: 19 Sep 2017.
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Download by: [Australian Catholic University] Date: 20 September 2017, At: 08:37
ARTICLE
LANGUAGE ATTRITION: THE NKPOR IGBO

DIALECT SITUATION
Chukwuma Okeke
Department of Linguistics, Igbo and Other Nigerian Languages
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
chukwuma.okeke@unn.edu.ng
Downloaded by [Australian Catholic University] at 08:37 20 September 2017
Gloria Okeke
Department of Linguistics, Igbo and Other Nigerian Languages
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
gloria.obasi@unn.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
When speakers of two or more languages come into contact, the sociolinguistic implications
of the contact situation are multifaceted: from language shift to language attrition, and
possibly, language loss. Language attrition manifests among speakers for whom a language
other than their first language plays an important role in their life. This article explores the
negative language attitude of Nkpor dialect speakers, and the attrition of Nkpor dialect of
the Igbo language as a result of dialect contact. Specifically, the article investigates and
describes the manifestations of attrition in Nkpor dialect and the perception of Nkpor people
of this emerging sociolinguistic phenomenon. Data collection was through observation,
questionnaire and interview. The result shows that Nkpor dialect speakers have shifted
towards Otu Onitsha dialect, and the few old persons who still use the dialect do so in
very restricted situations. Based on this shift, possible dialect attrition is imminent in Nkpor
speech community.
Keywords: Language attitude, language attrition, language contact, language death,

language loss; language shift
Language Matters https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2017.1336640

Volume xx | Number xx | 2017 | pp. 1–22 ISSN 1753-5395 (Online), ISSN 1022-8195 (Print)
www.tandfonline.com/rlms20 © Unisa Press 2017
1
Okeke and Okeke Language Attrition
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Language Attrition
Generally, language attrition involves the gradual but steady decline, weakening or
loss of native speakers’ proficiency in their mother tongue as a result of their negative
attitudes, interference or lack of loyalty towards the language/dialect. But this is
not supposed to be so, because, naturally, speakers’ urge to react positively to their
language/dialect or to protect it against outside influences is of the utmost importance
to them. And as such, every speech community usually stands by their language or
dialect against outside encroachment because the language/dialect is a unifying factor

for them; the language/dialect identifies and sets its speakers apart from neighbouring
speech communities. Therefore, according to Sands, Miller and Brugman (2007), issues
of language/dialect maintenance or shift are determined by people’s positive or negative
attitude to their language/dialect.
According to Schmid (2002), whenever the issue of language attitude comes up,
it presupposes that the speech community in question is bilingual or multilingual in
nature. Furthermore, Schmid says that when two or more languages/dialects coexist, the
attitude of the interlocutors towards one of the languages/dialects may be either positive
or negative depending on the interlocutors’ loyalty towards their language/dialect, So,
the loyalty possessed by the interlocutors to one of the languages/dialects may shift
to another language/dialect within that speech community. But when the attitude and/
or loyalty of the interlocutors is negative, it leads to language/dialect shift and other
sociolinguistic phenomena like language/dialect attrition and language/dialect loss.
According to Fasold (1984, 18), studies on language attitudes are based on three
factors, viz., the language itself, attitudes towards speakers of a particular language/
dialect, and attitudes towards language/dialect maintenance and planning efforts. Fasold
further posits that the attitudes of speakers of a language towards a language/dialect are
determined by different properties and functions performed by that language or variety
of a language in that speech community. As pointed out earlier, one such attitude is
language loyalty. This positive attitude is engendered by the unifying, separatist and
covert prestige functions of that variety of language, as well as the economic status of
the language/dialect. The unifying function of language identifies a people as a distinct
group who are different from other language communities. It also serves as a medium
of exclusion for non-members.
In line with the economic view, Appel and Muysken (1987, 30) rightly observe that
one of the major factors responsible for language shift is economic change. According
to them, any language that is associated with modernisation, industrialisation and
urbanisation, high social status, educational status, mass media, etc. attracts loyalty from
people from various language backgrounds. And in Dorian’s view (1982, 47), “language
loyalty persists as long as economic and social circumstances are conducive to it.” But
Dorian quickly adds that “if another language proves to have greater value, a shift to
2
that other language begins.” Dorian further avers that whenever the language users in
a speech community have a positive attitude, the issue of language maintenance (by
which we mean the conscious effort by the speech community to protect their language
against foreign encroachment) arises. However, when attitudes are negative, language
shift and possible attrition become imminent.
Most studies on language attrition, according to Schmid (2002), are on language
loss as a result of many factors, one of which is the negative attitude of speakers of
a language/dialect towards their language/dialect. Broadly, language attrition involves
how interlocutors in a speech community interact and react positively or negatively on
issues bordering on individual and collective observed language behaviour within the
speech community. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are

• examining and evaluating the language/dialect attitudes, shift and attrition in the
speech of Nkpor community of the Igbo language, a small minority group inhabiting
the eastern part of Niger Igbo region, with a view to describing the sociolinguistic
phenomena of dialect shift and attrition;
• finding out the reasons for the shift and the result of attrition, which may be as a
result of some ethno linguistic factors such as migration, urbanisation; and
• evaluating the perception of the people towards the shift and attrition of Nkpor
dialect.
1.2. Overview of Nkpor and Otu Onitsha Dialects

The case of the Igbo language (in Anambra state of Nigeria) is an interesting one in
Nkpor because of the multidialectal situation observed in the speech community).
According to Okeke (2006, 5), Nkpor is a town located at about “six kilometres east of
Onitsha, with Ogidi to the north, Obosi to the southeast and Umuoji to the west. The
town is at the south western part of Idemili-North [Local Government Area] of Anambra
state, Nigeria.” Nkpor dialect is one of the East Niger group of dialects according to
Nwaozuzu’s (2008, 24) classification of the Igbo language into clusters. There are two
Igbo dialects that co-exist with Nkpor dialect (ND) in the Nkpor speech community,
viz. Standard Igbo (SI) and Otu Onitsha Dialect (OOD). The major differences between
ND and SI are presented below, and in section 5, the major differences between ND
and OOD are also presented to make clear the distinctlinguistic features in the above
mentioned-dialects which exist in the Nkpor speech community. According to Okeke
(2006, 6–10), ND differs from SI in many ways (observe ND and SI consonant and
vowel charts below).
3
Table 1: ND consonant chart
Labio- Dental
Post Alveolar
Labialized
Alveolar
Bilabial
Palatal
Glottal
Dental
Velar
Velar
Plosives p b t̺ d̺ k g kw gw
Implosives ƥ ɓ
Fricatives f s z ʃ ɣ ɦ
Affricates ʧ ʤ
Trill r
Approximants ʦ ǳ j w
Nasals m n ɲ ŋw
Lateral l
Approximant
Adapted from Nnanyelugo (2003)
Table 2: SI consonant chart
Labialized Velar
Post Alveolar
Labio- Dental
Labio Velar
Alveolar
Bilabial
Palatal
Glottal
Velar
Plosives p b t d k g kp gb kw gw
Fricatives f v s z ʃ ɣ ɦ
Affricates ʧ ʤ
Trill r
Approximants j w
Nasals m n ɲ ŋ ŋw
Lateral l
Adapted from Ikekeonwu (1986)
4
Figure 1: ND Vowel Chart

Adapted from Nnanyelugo (2003)
Figure 2: SI vowel chart
Adapted from Ikekeonwu (1986)
5
The major areas of difference between ND and SI are as follows:

1. ND uses /l/ in environments where SI uses /r/ as in:
ND SI Gloss
a. ọ́kpálá ọ́kpárá son
b. ụ̀tàlị̀ ụ̀ tàrị̀ cane
c. ụ́tàlà ụ́tàrà foo foo
2. ND in some contexts uses /n/ where SI would use /l/ as in:
ND SI Gloss
a. ùdènè ùdèlè vulture

b. ụ́gbànà ụ́gbàlà egret
c. ékwūnā ékwūlā do not say
3. ND uses ‘gwo’ as a perfective marker while SI uses ‘la’ as in:
ND SI Gloss
a. àgágwó àgálá (had) gone
b. èmégwó èmélá (had) done
c. nụ́gwó nụ́lá (had) heard
4. ND uses /r/ or /f/ in some contexts where SI uses /h/ as in:
ND SI Gloss
a. àrụ́ àhụ́ body
b. árụ́rụ́ áhụ́ hụ́ ant/insects
c. áfụ́fụ́ áhụ́ hụ́ suffering
d. áfà áhà name
e. éfìfiè éhìhiè afternoon
f. órù óhù slave
5. Nkpor dialect has /ʦ/ and /ʣ/ affricates in addition to the two affricates /ʧ,ʤ/ it has
in common with SI, as in:
ND SI Gloss
a. asị /àʦɪ́/ asị /àsɪ́/ lie
b. isi /íʦí/ isi /ísí/ head
c. azụ /áʣʊ̀/ azụ /ázʊ̀/ fish
d. adzụdzụ /àʣʊ̀ʣʊ̀/ azụzụ /àzʊ̀zʊ̀/ cold
e. ezu /éʣū/ ezu /ézū/ lake
f. oche /óʧé/ oche /óʧé/ chair
g. ji / ʤí/ ji / ʤí/ chair
The above are some of the major differences between ND and SI. In section 5 of
this article, based on data analysis, the major differences between ND and OOD are
highlighted.
6
The town of Nkpor is divided into two regions—Nkpor-Uno and Nkpor-Agu.

According to Okeke (2006), indigenes of the Nkpor-Agu speech community exhibit
multidialectal attitudes towards ND. As discussed above, Nkpor has its own peculiar
dialect, which evolved from the Igbo language with SI as its standard variety used with
the English language (the second language (L2)) at state level in official domains such
as education, law, business, churches, and administration.
Unfortunately, some decades ago, according to Okeke (2006), it was observed
that the attitudes of Nkpor-Agu speakers of ND towards their dialect were negative,
which lead to a shift towards an evolving dialect, OOD, within Nkpor-Agu region of
Nkpor. As pointed out earlier, the Nkpor speech community is multidialectal because
of the presence of different Igbo-speaking people from various Igbo states in Nigeria,
mainly for commercial purposes, and the proximity of the commercial city of Onitsha to
Nkpor. In order to achieve mutual intelligibility among these Igbo-speaking people with
different Igbo dialects and backgrounds, the Nkpor speech community unconsciously
developed a new dialect that is quite different from the indigenous ND and SI (see
Okeke 2006, 47) originally in use in the speech community (though SI registered its
presence later in the town when education came into Nkpor speech community). In her
study of the Igbo dialects cluster, Ikekeonwu (1986,18) observes this dialect and calls it
the “Otu Onitsha dialect of Igbo,” in other words, the dialect of Onitsha traders.
OOD evolved from the synthesis of various linguistic features from neighbouring
Igbo dialects around the Nkpor community, namely Ogidi, Obosi, Onitsha and even SI.
In Okeke’s 2006 research on language attitude and shift in the Nkpor dialect of Igbo,
he observes that the speakers of ND in the Nkpor-Agu region of Nkpor (which shares
a common boundary with the commercial city of Onitsha) were observed to be shifting
towards this new dialect (OOD), but as will be observed in section 5 of this article,
the shift is gradually metamorphosing into dialect attrition. The negative attitudes as
discovered by Okeke (2006, 272) was because of some socio-demographic factors like
migration, contact and intermarriage.
The researchers, therefore, are motivated to study this continued attitudinal
indifference of Nkpor indigenes towards ND in order to draw the attention of the indigenes
to this natural sociolinguistic phenomenon emerging in the town and to educate them on
the impending dialect attrition, which is about to engulf ND, and enlighten them to take
some political and educational measures to ensure that ND regains its original place
within the Nkpor-Agu region and guard against the gradual encroachment of dialect
attrition on the Nkpor-Uno region (which is presently experiencing mild dialect shift).
2. LANGUAGE ATTRITION: AN OVERVIEW

Usually, when two or more languages come into contact over a period of time, the
contact situation brings about some changes as a result of the influence of one linguistic
7
system upon the other. The outcome of such language contact situation according to
Thomason and Kaufman (1988, 100) is as follows:
1. rapid shift to the dominant language
2. language maintenance with heavy borrowing in all areas
3. language attrition or death
Language attrition according to Holloway (1997, 28) is “a slow process in which the
native speakers of one language gradually give up use of their language in favour of
another.” The above definition shows that language/dialect attrition is a sociolinguistic
phenomenon which results from language/dialect contact due to many factors like
migration, intermarriage, commerce, etc. involving speakers of languages/dialects of
unequal status, where the speakers of the dominated language/dialect gradually shift to
the dominant language to the detriment of their own language/dialect, which may after
some years result in language death.
Schmid (2002, 10) sees it as
a lonely process triggered by language isolation experienced by an individual; not as a member
of a community but as an ex-member ... in other words, it investigates the situation where a
speaker (of a first language (L1) or a later learnt second or foreign language (L2 or FL)) can no
longer do something which s/he had previously been able to do, and the loss of proficiency is not
caused by a deterioration of the brain due to age, illness or injury, but by a change in linguistic
behaviour due to a severance of contact with the community in which the language is spoken.
It could be observed from the above definitions of attrition that language contact
situations play a very important role in a language/dialect’s situation. As was mentioned
in the introduction, the present study started with Okeke (2006). The findings of this
research are partly in line with Schmid’s view because it shows that there is rapid shift
of Nkpor-Agu indigenes towards the dominant dialect (OOD) due to dialect contact. But
from the researchers’ present observations and findings (as will be seen in section 6),
ND’s situation is gradually deteriorating to dialect attrition. And in line with the view
that languages/dialects die gradually, Rabins (1986, 551) observes that
A language does not cease to be used all at once, but it loses certain territories of use; it might
cease to be spoken, but continues to be written, or vice versa. It might be given up as language
in public and in economic activities but continues to be used at home, etc. It might lose speakers
belonging to one social class, but remain alive in others, or its use may shrink in general, but
small groups go on using it.
It is also pertinent at this juncture to distinguish between language shift, attrition and
death since these concepts have a lot in common. Language/dialect shift involves a
community of speakers of one language gradually shifting allegiance to another language
because of factors such as the economic status of the language/dialect, modernisation,
8
industrialisation, etc. (Giles, Bourhis and Taylor 1977). Consequently, Schiffman (1998)
says that language death occurs when a linguistic community ceases to use their original
language due to negligence. According to Schiffman, the first stage of this negligence
is language shift. The second stage is when the speakers become a subset of speakers
of another language, or when the last speaker of a language/dialect dies as a result of
genocide, natural disaster. And the last stage is when the speakers are scattered in such a
way as to break up the language community. In other words, the language is not spoken
elsewhere. From the above explication, the major difference among language shift,
attrition and death is that when there is language attrition it presupposes that language
shift has taken place (Hutchinson and Ní Ríordáin 2010). And attrition is a more gradual
sociolinguistic phenomenon that results in language loss or death due to cultural change
and language replacement by assimilation to a dominant culture, or negative attitude
to a language, by government policy, local communities. It can also be caused by the
negative attitude of the language/dialect speakers. But language shift and attrition are
similar in that the end point of both is dialect extinction.
This present study differs from Schmid’s work that Schmid studied German
immigrants in the US who shifted towards the use of English, but the shift did not put
German at risk of language death. The German speakers no longer speak German due
to isolation from the target language community. But the target language (German) is
not at risk of dying out due to the negative attitudes of the German immigrants. This is
the case because German is still used in other German societies and also among non-
immigrant Germans. Also, this present study is partly in line with Holloway’s (1997)
assertion that native speakers of one language may gradually abandon the use of their
language in favour of another language. According to Holloway, it is another form of
language attrition when there is a generational shift from one language to another by
the speakers of the language/dialect as a result of negative language attitude and/or
economic status of the language/dialect in question, which usually leads to complete
language loss after some generations.
As far as ND is concerned, the dialect is in serious competition with OOD and
some aspects of Rabin’s postulations capture and describe its situation based on this
competition. ND has been lost among the younger generation and semi-elderly members
of the community (see sections 5 and 6 below). It has ceased to be used in public and in
economic activities. To make matters worse, a greater number of the town’s population
is made up of non-indigenes who are the major users of OOD, and who also exercise a
lot of negative linguistic influences on the indigenes.
This article, therefore, views attrition from the dialect perspective and sees the
sociolinguistic phenomenon of attrition as the process of dialect loss. In other words,
it is the ongoing changes within individuals (Nkpor indigenes) who no longer speak
ND, not because of isolation from the target language community, but because of their
negative attitude towards maintaining their indigenous ND.
9
3. METHODOLOGY
This article adopts both the qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection
and the research design is a survey, designed to conform to the standard procedures
that obtain in the study of observed language behaviour. The population of the study
is speakers of ND from the five villages that make up the town of Nkopr, namely
Umusiome, Ububa, Amafor, Isingwu and Mgbachu. Therefore, indigenous Nkpor
people residing inside and outside the town constitute the research population. The
cluster random sampling technique was used to select representative units of the entire
population from which the researchers gathered their data. The population of Nkpor
indigenes residing in and outside the town were clustered along the five villages in
the town. Each cluster was further subdivided into households for easy study. Two
households were randomly selected in each cluster, giving a total number of ten
households in each village. The researchers interviewed two people in each household.
The head of the household, who could be a man or a woman, was interviewed together
with a young person in the household. In a situation where the head of the household
was a young person, another elderly or semi-elderly member of the household was
interviewed. Thus, twenty respondents were used in each village. Each respondent,
whether literate or illiterate, was interviewed and given a questionnaire. The illiterates
were guided through the questionnaire by the literate members of the household, the
researchers, or their field assistants. A total number of hundred respondents were
orally interviewed and given questionnaire. The sample consisted of men, women and
youths (40 years downwards) and all the respondents were indigenes born and bred
in the town, while those living outside the town had spent at least their primary and
secondary school days in the town before they left. The corpus for the study was directly
elicited from the 100 randomly selected representative participants in face-to-face oral
interviews. They were asked questions on different topics which they answered freely
in their normal speech behaviour at homes, market places, traditional gatherings, and
cultural events. The interest of the researchers was not their answers to the question but
recording their speech, which aided in finding out whether there are signs of dialect
attrition and loss in the phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic structures
of the dialect. By contrast, the questionnaire, made up of 35 items (questions), was
prepared and administered to the selected population, and completed by ticking the
appropriate column. Data collected orally were analysed qualitatively while data from
the questionnaires were analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics.
3.1. Socioeconomic profile of Nkpor native speakers used in the

study
Based on the profile of Nkpor dialect speakers used for the study, all the respondents were
born and raised in Nkpor. As earlier mentioned, the participants are 100 native speakers
of ND from the five villages that make up the town. This representative population has
10
spent the greater part of their lives in the town; therefore, any dialect shift and attrition
observed in their speech was based on internal influence (i.e., influence from within the
town). ND is supposed to be their daily dialect used in all domains, with SI as the dialect
of education used in schools. All the respondents had parents who spoke ND and OOD,
and the younger parents could also speak SI, which they learnt in schools through the
reading of the Bible and other liturgical texts or in government schools (primary and
secondary). Some of the respondents had formal education while some had not (observe
Table 1).
Table 3: Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Respondents

No of Percentage
Items Category
participants (%)
1 Gender Male 65 65
Female 35 35
2 Age last birthday 60 and above 30 30
51–60 10 10
41–50 25 25
31–40 15 15
30 and below 20 20
3 Indigenous status (females) Nkpor indigene 25 25
Non-Nkpor indigene 10 10
4 Indigenous status (males) Nkpor indigene 65 65
Non-Nkpor indigene 0 0
5 Academic background Tertiary 30 30
Secondary 40 40
Primary (up to standard six) 28 28
None 2 2
From Table 3 above, it can be observed that a greater percentage (65%) were males while
the lesser population (35%) were females. Furthermore, a greater proportion (30%)
of the population fell within the age range of 60 years and above, while the smallest
section (10%) was between 51 and 60 years. In addition, as far as the indigenous status
of the respondents is concerned, 25% of the female respondents are Nkpor indigenes,
10% are non indigenous female spouses married into the town from other Igbo states,
with two respondents married from Benue and Kogi states in Nigeria (which are non-
Igbo-speaking states). All the male respondents are indigenes of Nkpor (65%). Finally,
the majority of the participants (40%) attended secondary schools while only 2% did not
11
acquire any formal education. But 30% of the respondents acquired tertiary education
and 28% of the population studied up to primary-school level (standard six/elementary
six). All the respondents are Igbo speakers, but while all the male respondents and
71.4% of the female respondents have ND as their native dialect, others (28.6%) have
various dialects of the Igbo language (Imo, Abia, Enugu, Awka, Nnewi, Rivers State
Igboid dialects, Asaba, Ika Igbo and Ebonyi dialects) as their native dialects. Based on
our interview and observation, the non-indigenous female spouses learnt ND and OOD
as adults through their husbands, relations and friends when they got married into their
various families. A good number of the elderly non-indigenous female spouses still
try to maintain their native dialects as much as possible, and as such, see OOD as a
good alternative, especially when they are conversing with their children. But with their
husbands and their relations, they try to speak ND. Furthermore, based on participant
observation, the 30 elderly respondents (60 and above) use ND in restricted domains
such as their homes and use OOD in all other domains, while the younger respondents
(31–40 and 30 and below) no longer use ND in any domain. In the families of this
latter group, children grow up to acquire the OOD as their mother tongue instead of
the indigenous ND dialect. According to Søndergaard (1996), attrition varies across
speakers, and so, in the elderly respondents’ homes in Nkpor, the parents to a very little
extent maintain ND while a handful of their children are marginal speakers of ND. From
our questionnaire responses, it was observed that attitude and level of social network
relationship with non-family members, together with migration, play a vital role in this
regard (see Figure 3 below).
Also, the semi-elderly group (51–60 and 41–50) from our observation in
ethnographic fieldwork are neither here nor there. From their tape-recorded utterances,
this group are marginal speakers of the two dialects but they maintain OOD more than
they do ND. But on average, the representative population of the study, as shall be
observed in the next section, exhibits a serious tendency towards dialect attrition.
4. DIALECT ATTRITION IN THE NKPOR-AGU REGION OF

NKPOR
As shall be observed in this section, many ND lexical items and structures have been
dropped and replaced with their OOD equivalents. The attrition in ND, therefore, is
present along the lines of morphological, lexical and syntactic units. The semantic
content of the lexical items and structures are still those of ND. In other words, they
still have the same semantic content and meaning. But it should be noted that sparse
documentation makes it difficult to determine all the lost linguistic features. The next 3
subsections (4.1, 4.2 and 4.3) present a qualitative analysis of ND attrition based on the
corpora elicited from the respondents
12
4.1. Morphological Attrition in Nkpor Dialect

Below are some of the key ND morpheme markers abandoned by the respondents in
favour of their OOD counterparts. Note, in (6b) the ‘-rV’ frame means that the ‘r’ is
constant while the ‘V’ stands for any of the 8 vowels in SI (observe the vowels in Figure
2 above).
Nkpor Dialect Otu Onitsha Dialect English Gloss
6a. -gwé/-gwo -go perfective marker
b. -lụ́ -rV past tense marker
c. -rọ́ -lọ́ negative marker

d. -yà-èlí -gà-èlí auxiliary plus main verb
(usually used for future
tense)
e. -àgbá -pụ̀/chàpụ̀ completeness
Below are sentences reflecting the usage of the above morphemes:

a. Ó līgwō/līgwēē ńnī Ó līgō ńnī S/he has eaten food.
b. Ó jèlụ̀ áshịá Ó jèrè áfịá S/he went to market.
c. Ò jérọ̄ áshịá Ò jélọ̄ áfịá S/he did not go to market.
d. Ọ́ yà-èlí ńnī Ọ́ gà-èlí ńnī S/he will eat (food).
e. Òbí, líàgbá ńní ánwà Òbí, litọpụ/lípụ́/líchàpụ́ nni afụ Obi, finish eating that food.
From the illustrations in (6), it is observed that some of the respondents (the young
generation, semi-elderly and non-indigenous female spouses, irrespective of their age)
completely shifted from ND morphemes to OOD morphemes. All the ND morphemes
were dropped by the above- mentioned category of respondents in favour of their OOD
counterparts. It should also be pointed out that all the morphemes in (6) apart from
(6b) under OOD are not similar to SI morphemes. SI has its own set of morphemes, as
can be seen in the illustrations. Also, from the collected corpus, only in very restricted
domains do the ND variants of the morphemes manifest among the elderly (60 years
and above for both males and females that are Nkpor indigenes). In the corpus of the
semi-elderly (40–51) responses and among the younger generation (30 and below), only
OOD variants manifested for both males and females.
13
4.2. Lexical Attrition in Nkpor Dialect

Under lexical attrition in ND, 20 lexical items extracted of the respondents’ utterances
are presented. These words have been completely replaced with OOD lexical items by
the younger generation (males and females); semi-elderly (males and females) and all
the younger and semi-elderly respondents among the non-indigenous female spouses.
Only a small percentage of non-indigenous elderly female spouses and all elderly
indigenous spouses (males and females) retained the ND variants of the lexical items.
7a. ńjùnà /ńʤùnà/ éjùnà /éʤùnà/ snail

b. àsị́ /àʦɪ́/ àsị́ /àsɪ́/ lie
c. ánwụ̀lị́ /áŋwʊ̀lɪ́/ áñụ̀lị́ /áŋʊ̀lɪ́/ happiness
d. àshụ́ /àʃʊ́/ àrụ́ /àrʊ́/ body
e. áshị́shịá /áʃɪ́ʃɪá/ áfị́fịá /áfɪ́fɪá/ weed
f. ị́gbà /ɪ́gbà/ ọ̀kpà /ɔ̀kpà/ cowpea
g. ǹdụ́à /ǹdʊ́à/ ùgbúà /ùgbúà/ now
h. àzị̀ éshìshè /àʣɪ̀ éʃìʃè/ ńní éfìfiè /ńní éfìfiè/ lunch
i. énìnì /énìnì/ ègwúsí /ègwúsí/ melon
j. ìnìnè /ìnìnè/ ákwụ́kwọ́ ńnī /ákwʊ́kwɔ́ ńnī/ vegetable
k. àfụ́fā /àfʊ́fā/ áṅàlà /áŋàlà/ garden egg
l. ákwụ̀kwà /ákwʊ̀kwà/ òsí ìtè /òsí ìtè/ tripod
m. ḿméē /ḿméē/ ọ̀bàlà /ɔ̀bàlà/ blood
n. ákpụ́ /ákpʊ́/ lóílóí /lóílóí/ cassava
o. ógōdō /ógōdō/ àkwà /àkwà/ bed
p. ázụ̀ /áʣʊ̀/ ázụ̀ /ázụ̀/ fish
q. ézèọ́gwụ̀ /ézèɔ́gwʊ̀/ ídìdè /ídìdè/ earthworm
r. òkpóòfù /òkpóòfù/ ọ̀sụ́sọ̄ /ɔ̀sʊ́sɔ̄/ sweat
s. ụ̀màbà ʊ̀màbà/ ọ̀bọ̀ /ɔ̀bɔ̀/ laziness
t. íché /íʧé/ òkwútē /òkwútē/ pebble
A close look at the words in (7) shows that some of them (7a–e) have their consonants
or vowels replaced with other ones. For instance in (a), the voiced alveolar nasal /n/ is
replaced with the close-mid front unrounded vowel /e/. In (b), the voiceless affricate /ʦ/
is replaced with the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. In addition, /ŋ/ replaced /ŋw/ in (c)
while /r/ took the place of /ʃ/ in (d). Finally, in example (7e), /f/ replaced /ʃ/. In examples
14
7f–t, we have cases of loss and complete replacement of existing forms with new words
from OOD.
Another interesting feature of ND observed, that is currently undergoing attrition,
is the phonological process of consonant deletion. In the pronunciation of the words in
(8), there is consonant deletion involving the first consonant of the words, as in:
Consonant Deletion in ND
8a. azịza /àzɪ́zà/ /àɪ́zà/ broom
b. akwụkwọ /ákwʊ́kwɔ́/ /áʊ́kwɔ́/ book
c. onugbu /ònúgbù/ /òúgbù/ bitter leaf

d. ojije /òʤíʤé/ /òíʤé/ going
e. akụkọ /ákʊ́kɔ́/ /áʊ́kɔ́/ story
f. onyinye /òɲìɲé/ /òìɲé/ gift
g. asụsụ /ásʊ̀sʊ́/ /áʊs̀ʊ́/ language
h. ọbụbụụ /ɔ̀bʊ́bʊ́ʊ̄/ /ɔ̀bʊ́bʊ́ʊ̄/ caterpillar
i. ogige /ògìgè/ /òìgè/ fence/wall
j. ọchịcha /ɔ̀ʧɪ́ʧā/ /ɔ̀ɪ́ʧā/ cockroach
In OOD, words are pronounced with all the consonants. In other words, no consonant
deletion is involved in the pronunciation of words. The phenomenon of consonant
deletion from the corpora collected and analysed is presently lost in the speech of the
above mentioned category of respondents in 4.2.
4.3. Syntactic Attrition in Nkpor Dialect

Below are some structures extracted from our corpora. In this section we have the
following short forms: part. stands for participle, perf. marker stands for perfective
marker, neg. stands for negation, and rV stands for past tense marker:
Nkpor Dialect Otu Onitsha Dialect
9a. Shídō yā Zídā yā
bring-down it/s/he bring-down it/s/he
Bring him/her/it down
b. Ọ́ yà-èlí ádzụ̀ Ọ́ gà-èlí ázụ̀
S/he will-eat fish S/he will-eat fish
S/he/it will eat fish
15
c. Òbí ànụ̀gwó/-gwéé nwáànyị̀? Òbí ànụ́gó nwáànyị̀?

Obi perf marker woman Obi perf marker woman
Is Obi married?
d. Ọ̀ gárọ̄ āshịā Ọ̀ gálọ̄ āfịā
S/he go-neg market S/he go-neg market
S/he did not go to the market.
e. Fá ághārọ̄ ējē Há ágālọ̄ āgā
They will-neg go They will-neg go

They will not go.
f. Kà ànyị́ gbáá àzị̀ éshìshìè Kà ànyị́ líé ńní éfìfìè
Comp we eat food afternoon Comp we eat food afternoon
Let us take lunch.
g. Ọ̀ jérọ̄ ēbē ọ̀nà Ọ̀ jélọ̄ ébé ọ̄bụ̄nà
S/he go-neg place anywhere S/he go-neg place anywhere
S/he did not go anywhere/S/he went nowhere.
h. Ọ́ jụ̀lụ̀ ítsí n’ànà Ọ́ kụ̀lụ̀ ísi ́ n’ànị̀
S/he hit-rv head prep-ground S/he hit-rv head prep-ground
S/he hit her/his head on the ground.
i. Ọ́ dọ́nọ̀ n’énú ógōdō Ọ́ nọ̀ n’énú àkwà
S/he sit prep-top bed S/he sit prep-top bed
S/he is sitting on the bed
In the syntactic structures in 9, many variations can be observed. But it is important to

observe that it is not a case of language variation, where an individual speaker realises a
syntactic structure in two or more different ways in various contexts. In the examples in
9, the respondents use the OOD forms instead of the ND variants. Apart from the elderly
(60 and above) as observed in the corpora and also observed in actual practical language
use situations where some of the structures are sparsely used in very restricted domains,
others (60 and below) use the OOD variants in all domains. The above phonological
features, morphemes, lexical items and structures are completely lost among the semi-
elderly and younger generations of the sampled population. The greater percentage
of the loss of ND phonological and other linguistic features has been traced to heavy
borrowing from and replacement with OOD (especially names) and small-scale
borrowing from SI. Overall, we saw from our data analysis convincing evidence of loss
and replacement of words for already existing concepts in ND. This point is emphasised
because previous studies (e.g. Sands, Miller and Brugman 2007) posit that borrowing is
16
for new concepts. But the reverse is the case in the dialect under investigation. As could
be observed in 7, apart from few words that have the same segmental variants, others
are completely new words for existing concepts.
We also observed that only the elderly and a handful of the semi-elderly respondents
know some of the basic vocabulary items in ND. For instance, ákwụ̀kwà ‘tripod’ is
the ND equivalent of òsí ìtè in OOD. Many of the semi-elderly and all the younger
respondents disclosed during the interview that they had never heard of the word
ákwụ̀kwà. The response is the same for words like ụ̀màbà ‘laziness,’ ǹdụ́à ‘now,’ and
ógōdō ‘bed,’ among others. So there is a clear indication of loss of basic ND vocabulary
items. In terms of words related to parts of the body, the loss was only observed in a few
phonological variants of some vowels and consonants among the younger generation
and all non-indigenous female spouses. For instance,
10a. isi /ítsí/ vs isi /ísí/ ‘head’
b. azụ /àdzʊ́/ vs azụ /àzʊ́/ ‘back’
c. eze /édzē/ vs eze /ézē/ ‘tooth’
d. igbugbele /ígbùgbèlè/ vs egbugbere /égbùgbèrè/ ‘lips’
e. mpala /ḿpàlà/ vs mpata /ḿpàtà/ ‘thigh’
f. ile /ílé/ vs ire /íré/ ‘tongue’
Furthermore, among the younger generation, there are also few cases of word
replacement such as
11a. ọkpa /ɔ́kpà/ vs ụkwụ /ʊ́kwʊ́/ ‘leg’
b. ọrụ nsị /ɔ́rʊ́ n̄ sɪ̄/ vs ike /íkè/ ‘buttocks’
c. ikpu /íkpù/ vs ọtụ /ɔ́tʊ̀/ ‘vagina’
d. igbi /ìgbì/ vs anyụlụ /áɲʊ̀lʊ̀/ ‘alveolar ridge’
e. nkọnọ /ǹkɔ̀nɔ̀/ vs akpịrị /àkpɪ́rɪ̄/ ‘throat’
At this juncture, the following should be pointed out:

1. There is a name for every object in the two dialects (ND and OOD). There is no loss
of concepts; rather there is loss of lexical items for concepts (to the disadvantage
of ND). In other words, words and/or structures from OOD replaced words and/or
structures for these concepts in ND, resulting in gradual ND attrition.
2. From the corpora, ND has not undergone any semantic shift and/or attrition.
The replaced linguistic features as presented above have not lost their semantic
features, qualities and contents. Also, areal lexical semantic traits typical of ND are
maintained. For instance:
12a. énìnì vs ègwúsí ‘melon’
17
b. m̀wọ́ vs ọ́bá édè ‘cocoyam barn’

c. ezeọgwụ vs idide ‘earthworm’
So, irrespective of the replacements, the meanings are still the same because the
lifestyle of the speakers has not undergone any major shift, but ND lexical items
used for these words have been replaced by OOD.
5. OPINIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF NKPOR INDIGENES

REGARDING REASONS FOR SHIFTING TOWARDS
OOD
The opinions of respondents regarding why speakers of ND are shifting towards OOD
were elicited using the responses of the respondents in the administered questionnaire.
The responses were analysed quantitatively and the results are presented in Figure 3.
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
More Elite
Urbanisat Inter- Lack of Dialect OOD Unprestig Use of
Migration users of code-
ion marriage interest inferior modern ious OOD
OOD mixing
No 5 46.7 56.7 88.3 90 81.7 71.7 86.7 86.7 91.7
Yes 95 53.3 43.3 11.7 10 18.3 28.3 13.3 13.3 8.3
Figure 3: Opinions of the respondents regarding reasons for shifting towards the Otu
Onitsha Dialect
18
The opinions of the respondents regarding why speakers of ND are shifting towards
OOD were elicited. The results as presented in the bar chart above run thus: On whether
urbanisation was responsible for the shift of ND speaker towards OOD, the majority
(95.0%) were of the opinion that urbanisation was a major factor while only 5.0%
indicated that it was not responsible for the shift. Also, on whether migration was the
reason, the majority (53.3%) was of the view that migration was also responsible. On
whether intermarriages, lack of interest in the dialect, or feelings that ND was inferior
and that OOD was more modern were responsible for the shift, the majority, 56.7%,
88.3%, 90.0% and 81.7% respectively, denied this. Furthermore, the percentage of the
respondents on the shifting of ND was also obtained from the questionnaire. The result
is presented in Table 4.
Table 4: Mean Scores and Standard Deviation of the Percentage of Respondents

Regarding Mixing and Shifting of Nkpor Dialect
Standard
S/ Mean
Items Deviation Remarks
No (x̄ )
(SD)
1 The infiltration/mixing of Nkpor dialect weakens the 3.55 0.53 A
dialect
2 The infiltration/mixing of Nkpor makes people not to 3.37 0.61 A
learn/acquire the actual Nkpor dialect again
3 The infiltration/mixing of Nkpor dialect has led to 3.48 0.57 A
the loss of some flavour and original words used for
expression in the dialect
4 The shift is making Nkpor-Agu people lose their 3.50 0.70 A
identity
5 The shift is good because it helps people to 1.88 0.74 D
understand the dialect better
6 The infiltration/mixing of Nkpor dialect had made non- 1.90 0.82 D
indigenes to use the dialect easily
7 The shift is mainly noticed among the young people 3.20 0.66 A
8 The shift is mainly noticed in Nkpor areas that 3.27 0.61 A
are very close to the boundaries with other towns
especially Onitsha
9 The infiltration/mixing of Nkpor dialect will lead to the 3.28 0.69 A
shift of the dialect
endangerment of the dialect
loss of the dialect
19
Standard
S/ Mean
Items Deviation Remarks
No (x̄ )
(SD)
12 The infiltration/mixing of Nkpor dialect will encourage 1.93 0.84 D
other people to settle in Nkpor-Agu region of Nkpor
13 The shift is mainly noticed among female individuals 2.97 1.02 D
14 The shift is mainly noticed among male individuals 2.22 0.90 D
15 The shift is mainly influenced by Otu Onitsha dialect 3.13 0.68 A
Note: “A” stands for ”Agree” while “D” stands for ”Disagree.”
In trying to determine the reasons for the attrition of ND, which may be as a result of ND
mix with OOD or ND shift to OOD, the results from Table 4 show that the respondents
agreed to issues raised in items 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15 with item 1 which states
that the infiltration/mixing of Nkpor dialect weakens the dialect, having the highest
mean (3.55). On the other hand, they disagreed on the issues raised in items 5, 6, 12,
13 and 14 with item 5, which states that the shift is good because it helps people to
understand the dialect better, having the lowest mean score of 1.88.
6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Based on our analysis, which used a corpus directly elicited from the respondents, there
is evidence of gradual dialect attrition. Linguistic features of ND have been discovered
to be lost and gradually replaced with those of OOD at different linguistic levels—
phonologically, morphologically, lexically and syntactically—in most social and home
domains. But overall, there is great infiltration by OOD of ND. The high level of
attrition observed reflects the fact that the transition to OOD is a gradual loss for ND.
We make this claim because in 2006 when the study started, ND was found in use in
more social and domestic domains among Nkpor indigenes (semi-elderly and elderly
people [male and female]) than we observed in the present study. Ten years after the first
study, the shift persistently and gradually continued and currently only in very restricted
intimate domains (like in homes and few restricted cultural and political contexts) does
one observe ND in use by a handful of the elderly indigenous respondents (male and
female, who are 60 years and above). Even this restricted use is discouraged by the
younger generation, semi-elderly and all non-indigenous female spouses. In addition,
the attitude of ND speakers (from the authors’ observation as native speakers of ND),
which was integrative (a mark of identity and a unifying tool) and instrumental in 2006,
currently is no longer integrative but instrumental in certain restricted domains. By
“instrumental” we mean that the cultural setting demands the use of ND for a particular
cultural ceremony. So ND is used as an instrument of achieving that cultural or traditional
purpose.
20
From the analysis of the questionnaire, the opinions of the respondents regarding
why they were shifting towards OOD shows that urbanisation and migration are still
responsible for this shift and ND’s gradual attrition (observe the bar chart above in
Figure 3). These variables (urbanisation and migration) were also responsible for ND
shift towards OOD in 2006 (see Okeke 2006). Furthermore, the analysis finds that the
multidialectal nature of the town of Nkpor gives OOD the opportunity to emerge as a
dialect of mutual intelligibility and communication among the different migrants and
indigenes of Nkpor-Agu. The great influx of people from different Igbo states in Nigeria
for commercial purposes adversely affected the indigenous Nkpor dialect. Based on
observation and inferences drawn from the data analysis, one of the disturbing findings
is that currently the younger generation of the Nkpor-Agu speech community acquire
OOD as their mother tongue instead of ND (observe the excerpts of their utterances
in examples 6–11). Furthermore, from the responses of the respondents, the semi-
elderly and younger generations no longer use ND in any domain. Any language/dialect
experiencing this kind of problem according to Haruna (2006) is actually moving toward
extinction.
The serious threat currently posed by OOD to the indigenous ND is multifaceted,
from loss of morphemes and lexis to grammatical structures, and on another level, to
the younger members of the Nkpor speech community now growing up to acquire either
OOD lexemes or SI lexemes or both, with all the linguistic features in ND gradually
atrophying. If this natural sociolinguistic phenomenon of gradual dialectal attrition is
not examined, described and gauged, complete dialect attrition and death are imminent,
since ND has seriously shifted towards OOD.
This article wishes to conscientise ND speakers on the need to protect their dialect
against foreign encroachment so as to protect their identity and natural heritage. Since
it will be difficult to use ND in education because the SI serves that function, Nkpor
indigenes, whether by birth or marriage, especially the elite, are encouraged to use ND
in home domains, and in cultural and political gatherings of the town. If the elite (who
the younger generation looks up to) use ND as they should in the above-mentioned
settings, it will help to erase the feelings of inferiority among some Nkpor indigenes
(especially the younger ones) and give the dialect the prestigious status it deserves,
thereby changing speakers’ negative attitude towards the dialect and making the dialect
regain its status in Nkpor town.
REFERENCES
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Dorian, N. C. 1982. “Language Loss and Maintenance in Language Contact Situations.” In The Loss of
Language Skills, edited by R. D. Lambert and B. F. Freed, 44–59. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
Fasold, R. 1984. The Sociolinguistics of Society. London: Basil Blackwell.
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Giles, H., R. Y. Bourhis, and D. M. Taylor. 1977. “Towards a Theory of Language in Ethnic Group
Relations.” In Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations, edited by H. Giles, 307–349. London:
Academic Press.
Haruna, A. 2006. “Best Options to Safeguard Endangered Language of the Trans-Saharan Region.” A paper
presented at a UNESCO/National Council for Arts and Culture joint workshop held at Zodiac Hotel
on April 13, 2006.
Holloway, C. E. 1997. Dialect Death: The Case of Brule Spanish. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hutchinson, W., and C. Ní Ríordáin, eds. 2010. Language Issues: Ireland, France and Spain. Oxford: Peter
Lang.
Ikekeonwu, C. I. 1986. “Aspects of Igbo Dialectology: A Comparative Phonological Study of Onitsha and
Central Igbo Dialects.” Journal of West African Languages 15 (2): 93–103.
Nnanyelugo, U. 2003. “The Phonology of Nkpor Dialect of Igbo.” M. A. diss., University of Nigeria.
Nwaozuzu, G. I. 2008. Dialects of the Igbo Language. Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press.
Okeke, C. O. 2006. Language Attitude and Language Shift: A case study of Nkpor dialect. M. A. diss.,
University of Nigeria.
Rabin, C. 1986. “Language Revival and Language Death.” In The Fergusonian Impact: In Honour of
Charles A. Ferguson on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Vol. 2: Sociolinguistics and the Sociology
of Language, edited by J. A. Fishman, A. Tabouret-Keller, M. G. Clyne, B. Krishnamurti and M. H.
Abdulaziz, 543–554. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Sands, B., A. L. Miller, and J. Brugman. 2007. “The Lexicon in Language Attrition: The Case of N|uu.” In
Selected Proceedings of the 37th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, edited by D. L. Payne and
J. Peña, 55–65. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
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messeas/maltamil/node2.html
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22

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Language Matters

Studies in the Languages of Africa

ISSN: 1022-8195 (Print) 1753-5395 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rlms20

Language Attrition: The Nkpor Igbo Dialect

Chukwuma Okeke & Gloria Okeke

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2017.1336640

Published online: 19 Sep 2017.

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LANGUAGE ATTRITION: THE NKPOR IGBO

Keywords: Language attitude, language attrition, language contact, language death,

Language Matters https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2017.1336640

dialect against outside encroachment because the language/dialect is a unifying factor

speech community. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are

1.2. Overview of Nkpor and Otu Onitsha Dialects

Table 1: ND consonant chart

Adapted from Nnanyelugo (2003)

Table 2: SI consonant chart

Adapted from Ikekeonwu (1986)

Figure 1: ND Vowel Chart

Figure 2: SI vowel chart

Adapted from Ikekeonwu (1986)

The major areas of difference between ND and SI are as follows:

a. ùdènè ùdèlè vulture

The town of Nkpor is divided into two regions—Nkpor-Uno and Nkpor-Agu.

2. LANGUAGE ATTRITION: AN OVERVIEW

3.1. Socioeconomic profile of Nkpor native speakers used in the

Table 3: Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Respondents

4. DIALECT ATTRITION IN THE NKPOR-AGU REGION OF

4.1. Morphological Attrition in Nkpor Dialect

c. -rọ́ -lọ́ negative marker

Below are sentences reflecting the usage of the above morphemes:

4.2. Lexical Attrition in Nkpor Dialect

7a. ńjùnà /ńʤùnà/ éjùnà /éʤùnà/ snail

c. onugbu /ònúgbù/ /òúgbù/ bitter leaf

4.3. Syntactic Attrition in Nkpor Dialect

c. Òbí ànụ̀gwó/-gwéé nwáànyị̀? Òbí ànụ́gó nwáànyị̀?

They will-neg go They will-neg go

In the syntactic structures in 9, many variations can be observed. But it is important to

At this juncture, the following should be pointed out:

b. m̀wọ́ vs ọ́bá édè ‘cocoyam barn’

5. OPINIONS AND PERCEPTIONS OF NKPOR INDIGENES

Table 4: Mean Scores and Standard Deviation of the Percentage of Respondents

6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Fasold, R. 1984. The Sociolinguistics of Society. London: Basil Blackwell.

Schiffman, H. F. 1998. “Language Shift.” Accessed February 12, 2017. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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