CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
It is no gainsaying that language is an essential heritage of every society. This is because it is
not only a cultural trait but one which is of great antiquity. It is the most important vehicle of
a people’s culture (Oluwabamide, 2007). Apart from that, language is the most distinctive of
all the traits which separate human beings from any other being conceivable (Oyelaran,
2010). Furthermore, it is quite impossible to conceive of either the origin or the development
of culture apart from language. This is because language is that part of culture, which more
than any other, enables men not only to make their own experiences and learning continuous
but, as well, to participate in the experiences and learning of others. It is obvious therefore,
that language plays a unique role in the total network of cultural patterns, since, it apparently
functions together with most, if not all, other cultural behaviour.

Among the cultural traits that can be considered as Nigerian heritage, language is the most
important. It is obvious that language, especially the indigenous languages is the most
important cultural heritage of the people of Nigeria. This is because it has not only endured
but also survived through the ages. It may be interesting to note that though some of
Nigeria’s indigenous languages face the danger of extinction, they still continue to exist and
are still being spoken by the people. That language is the most important heritage of any
country, which can be buttressed by the following comments made by Elugbe (2012):

Language is one of the, if not the, most enduring artefacts of culture. Unless
forced by conquest or by superior numbers, or by social, economic and political
domination to give up their language, a people can always have their history
traced through their language.
Nigeria is a multicultural country; this implies that it is a multilingual country. In
other words, in Nigeria, so many languages represent so many cultures. Here, the ethnic
communities are in their traditional, social and cultural environments. Ethnic loyalty and
language loyalty are strong due to the fact that centripetal force or the regional ethnic
tendency had been well entrenched before the more recent centripetal force (Adekunle,
2010). Nigeria is a plural society, that is, it is a country made up of many ethnic groups
(Oluwabamide, 2007). There are three (3) major ethnic groups in the country – Ibo, Hausa
and Yoruba -, each of which has its own unique language. There are other minority cultures

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numbering more than three hundred. Like the three major cultures, each of these minority
cultures has its own unique language.

Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa, by implication, the languages of these three ethnic groups are
regarded as the majority languages. On the other hand, other ethnic groups numbering more
than three hundred whose population and influence are not as vital as the other three are
altogether regarded as minority groups and/or cultures and their languages as minority
languages. Perhaps Bleambo’s definition may enhance some understanding of the concepts of
minority and majority languages in Nigeria. Bleambo (1991, p.1) conceives of minor
languages as “those Nigerian languages that are not major.” According to Bleambo the major
languages are in two groups: the foremost being Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba, closely followed by
the second, which comprises of Edo, Efik, Fulfulde, Igala, Izon, Kanuri, Nupe and Tiv. But in
the Nigerian parlance, Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba are considered as major languages.

Culture is a product of the human mind and it is defined, propagated and sustained through
language. The relationship between language and culture is indisputably symbiotic. Language
serves as an expression of culture without being entirely synonymous with it. In most cases, a
language forms the bases for ethnic, regional, national or international identity. The concept
of nationhood finds resonance in the adoption of a national language around which the
diverse ethnic groups can rally. The English language in Nigeria started with the advent of
British explorers. Then we had the era of “Coast English’ this was followed by colonization,
characterized by full entrenchment of British cultural values, education and of course the
English language. This era culminated in the passage of Education Ordinance of 1926, which,
according to Omolewa (2000) “gave prominence to the need for a proper use of English and
made certification a prerequisite for employment in most professions” Since then, the English
language has come to stay and holds sway as the only language which can unite the over five
hundred and thirty languages we have in Nigeria. (Bamgbose 2009).

1.2 Objectives of the Study

Individual ethnic groups, their languages and their cultures, are strongly linked but should
never be confused. Linguists trying to develop language classifications always warn of the
dangers of conflating language and ethnic group distributions but these warnings are
routinely disregarded by non-linguists since the language maps produced appear to illustrate
handily the distribution of ethnic groups. Indeed, it would be disingenuous to claim that there
are no general correspondences between language and ethnic distribution, especially in the

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case of minority groups. Nonetheless, it must be emphasized that the social definition of an
ethnic group has many aspects, of which language is just one. Nigeria is the third most
ethnically and linguistically diverse country in the world, after New Guinea and Indonesia.
This ethnolinguistic diversity has very significant implications in almost every area of the
economy.

The aim of this research is to examine language and culture as a tool of identifying people’s
tribe/ethnic groups in Nigeria, a study of Ijebu indigenous language of the Yoruba tribe. The
study will specifically;

i. Examine the language attitude and ethnic identity of the Ijebu people of the
Yoruba tribe
ii. Find out how the Ijebu people of the Yoruba tribe use their language
iii. Ascertain the relationship between the culture, language use, their ethnic identity
of the Ijebu people of the Yoruba tribe.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking, language and culture are important symbols of tribal and ethnic identity
and an important basis for ethnic identity. The native language recognition strongly
characterized in various ethnic groups, and thus often becomes the basic symbol of different
minorities (Mei, 2006). In Nigeria, based on the analysis of the language identity and ethnic
identity of the Ijebu indigenous People of the Yoruba tribe, it can be concluded that their
language identity and ethnic identity are inseparable; behind the ethnic identity, mainly
language and its cultural identity are at work. Chengfeng (2011) found that the degree of
tribal and ethnic identity has the relationship of the linguistic and cultural differences, the
frequency and the scope of communication. If the language and cultural differences are large,
and external community is widespread, the contrast of each of them will be stronger, the
perception of their ethnicity is clearer, and will more likely produce a strong dependence on
their ethnic feelings. Thus, the problems this research would be looking into are

i. The language attitude and ethnic identity of the Ijebu people of the Yoruba tribe.
ii. How the Ijebu people of the Yoruba tribe use their language
iii. The relationship between their culture, language use, ethnic identity of the Ijebu
people of Yoruba tribe?
1.4 Dissertation Statement
In this research study, the interplay between language and culture as a tool of identifying
peoples tribe/ethnic group in Nigeria. However, this study considered Ijebu part of the
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Yoruba tribe that can be found in some part of Ogun State and Lagos State. The vital role of
language in creating mental representation and identification of tribe and ethnic group will be
equally highlighted.

1.5 Research Methods

This study adopts a case study research method. Hence data will be gathered through the use
of interview and observational methods as the research instruments. Hence, data obtained will
be decode and further analyse.

1.6 Research questions

The study has been carried out to provide answers to the following questions

iv. What is the language attitude and ethnic identity of the Ijebu people of the Yoruba
tribe?
v. How do the Ijebu people of the Yoruba tribe use their language?
vi. Is there a relationship between their culture, language use, their ethnic identity?
1.7 Significance of the Study
This study is of great significance and value - it can improve the theory regarding ethnic
identity and language sustainability, as well as provide some reference for Ijebu language
planning and policy. Hence, it will further strengthen the ethnic people’s identity, promote
bilingual education and protect ethnic minority endangered languages. The study will
enlighten bilinguals/multilingual on the importance of language and culture among tribes as
their means of identification. The study will add to the body of literature in the aspect of
language use, language/cultural identity of ethnic groups, especially the Yoruba’s. it will
further serves as guide for students in the field of linguistics who might be of interest in
related research.

1.8 Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study is limited to understand the language use and culture how it can be use in
identifying the Ijebu people of Yoruba tribe of some part of Ogun State and Lagos State in
Nigeria. The Ijebu people amongst other ethnic minorities of the Yoruba Tribe can be
majorly found in some Ijebu town and cities like Ijebu Ode, Remo-Ilisan, Ijebu-Igbo, Ago-
Iwoye, Oru-Ijebu, Itele, Epe, Sagamu, Ikorodu to mention few. Data extract for this research
would be delimited to the Ijebu people in Ijebu-Igbo and Ijebu Ode.

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1.9 Operational Definition of Terms
Language: Language is a structured system of communication.
Culture: Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions,
and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs,
capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.
Tribe: The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human
social group.
Ethnic group: a community or population made up of people who share a common cultural
background or descent.

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 CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0 Introduction
The review of the literature is crucial in any research work. This is because it enables the
researcher to study theories related to the identified topic and gain clarity of the research topic. In
this chapter, a detailed literature review on language and culture as a means of ethnic and tribal
identity is provided.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

In applied linguistics, social constructionist and post-structuralist perspectives have been
influential in the study of language, culture and ethnic identity. These theoretical approaches
emphasise the multiplicity and fragmentation of language, culture and identity practices as
they are affected by local and global contexts. Studies drawing on social constructionism and
employing approaches to discourse such as Conversation Analysis, interactional
sociolinguistics and ethnographic discourse analysis conceptualise identities as performed,
negotiated and interpreted in discourse. These studies have shown that identity categories and
their social meanings are not taken for granted nor are they located in the individual or the
group. They are locally constructed in discourse and through the interactants' social and
embodied behaviour in everyday interactions. Central to the social constructionist paradigm
are the interactants' language practices and the linguistic strategies they deploy in order to
make identity claims. As Benwell and Stokoe (2006: 4) argue "rather than being reflected in
discourse, identity is actively, ongoingly, dynamically constituted in discourse [italics in the
original]." A social constructionist perspective emphasises interactants as social actors that
align or distance themselves from social categories of belonging in different discursive
environments. This means that in "doing" identity work participants may foreground
particular identity categories, or they may downplay and ignore others. The role of the analyst
is not to presuppose which social categories the interactants will orient to or are relevant in a
given discourse context but rather to examine the interactants' own identity claims as "who
we are to each other, then, is accomplished, disputed, ascribed, resisted, managed and
negotiated in discourse" (Benwell and Stokoe 2006: 4; also see Benwell and Stokoe, this
volume). The context-dependency of identities has been aptly captured by Moerman (1974:
62) in his study of Lue ethnic identity in the following remark: "The question is not 'Who are
the Lue?' but rather when and how and why the identification of 'Lue' is preferred."

Language and identity studies drawing on post-structuralism and employing approaches to

discourse such as Foucauldian discourse analysis and feminist post-structuralist discourse
analysis, have emphasized the role of power and inequality in processes of social
identification. As Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004: 10) maintain:

poststructuralist theory recognizes the sociohistorically shaped partiality,

contestability, instability, mutability of ways in which language ideologies
and identities are linked to relations of power and political arrangements in

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 communities and societies.
Studies drawing on post-structuralism have foregrounded the uneven distribution of linguistic
resources and the structural constraints within which speakers have to act. According to
Block (2007: 13), post-structuralist approaches allow for "more nuanced, multileveled and
complicated framings of the world around us." This resonates with Kroskrity's (2001: 108)
caution "against any approach to identity, or identities that does not recognize both the
communicative freedom potentially available at the microlevel and the political economic
constraints imposed on processes of identity-making." For instance, Heller's (1992; 1999)
ethnographic explorations of the use of French and English in Ontario and Quebec, Canada,
at a time of socio-political and economic transformations, demonstrated that access to
linguistic resources is linked to access to material resources and that language choice can no
longer be unproblematically linked to a particular ethnic identity. Heller illustrated how
language can act as a mechanism for social inclusion and exclusion. In the context of her
study, mastery of the valued variety of French and English became a marker of elite status in
the new economy. Heller illustrates how this placed some individuals at an advantage over
others when it came to gaining access to learning the two codes (French and English) and to
maintaining and/ or establishing networks that open doors to positions of privilege and
power.

In addition, social constructionist and post-structuralist paradigms have enabled language,

and cultural identity researchers to investigate the interanimation of different identity aspects
and how participants may take up, highlight or downplay particular identity categories.
Scholars have been able to acknowledge that while some identity aspects may be subject to
negotiation in given situations, others may be found to be non-negotiable because individuals
and groups may be positioned in ways they do not choose by more powerful groups in
society. In this context, individuals and groups may question, resist or transform accepted
identity options and may draw upon their linguistic resources more or less strategically to
negotiate a "third space" (Bhabha 1994) where new and hybrid identities can be performed
and maintained. As such, ethnicity is not examined on its own but as it intersects with and is
shaped by other social categories, such as gender, age, social class, religion, geographical
location and so on (see Block and Corona, this volume for discussion of intersection). For
example, Doran (2004) showed how young people used Verlan (a code characterised by
syllabic inversion, borrowings from minority languages and prosodic and phonemic
differences from standard French, spoken by young people of different ethnic backgrounds in
suburban Paris) as a resource to perform hybrid identities that diverged from dominant
discourses available by mainstream French society. Doran (2004: 95) maintained that
"speakers' choices to use, or not to use Verlan in particular settings were tied to various
aspects of identity, including ethnicity, class, cultural values, and the relation to the
stereotypical figure of the suburban youth street culture, la racaille."

Many scholars investigating the intersection of language and cultural identity draw on both
social constructionist and post-structuralist perspectives. Pavlenko and Blackledge (2004: 13)
cogently argue that such an analytical framework brings together "the social constructionist
focus on discursive construction of identities" and "the poststructuralist emphasis on the role

7
of power relations'." Both perspectives to language and identity presuppose that ethnicity is
negotiated, fluid and malleable. However, May, Modood and Squires (2004: 13) in their
introduction to the edited collection Ethnicity, Nationalism and Minority Rights remind us
that these conceptualisations of language and ethnicity may not resonate with the personal
and collective experiences of many people and identify the following disjunction between
theory and the reality on the ground: "there is something strange going on when theorists
proclaim that ethnicity is 'invented and set out to 'decentre' it, while at the same time the news
is full of ethnic cleansing and genocide". In a similar vein, Edwards (2009: 48) maintains that
"[f]or most societies throughout history, ethnocentrism, hostility and prejudice towards ‘out-
groups’ have been the norm." In this context, May, Modood and Squires (2004) caution that
it is important "to explain why ethnicity does seem to continue to mean something to so many
people".

2.2 Conceptual Review

2.2.1 Concept of Language
According to Framkim and Rodman (1988:314) describes the branch of linguistics
that deals with how language change what kind of change occur and why they occurred as
Historical linguistic or Historical and Comparative Linguistics. The Nineteeth century
historical and comparative linguistic based their theories on observations that certain
language resemble and have systematic differences.

Languages are known to be genetically related in the sense that it is assumed of

language when they showcase systematic differences. The 19th century scholars aimed to
establish the margin language families of the world and also to develop and elucidate the
genetic relationships that exist among the world’s language. The scholars aimed to establish
the margin between the language families of the world and to define principle for the
classification of language.

Fromkim and Rodman (1988:318) stated that for most languages, historical records
and dated back for more than a thousand years ago and are studies to know how languages
were once pronounced. The spelling in early manuscripts tells us a great deal about the sound
systems of older forms of modern language. If certain words are always spelled one way and
other words another way. It is logical to conclude that the two groups of words were
pronounced differently even if the precise pronunciations are not known. Once a member of
orthographic contrasts are identified, good guesses can be made as actual pronunciation.
These guessed are supplemented by common words that show up in all stages of the
languages. Allowing their pronunciation to be traced from the present, step by step into
reconstructing the same system of Elizabethan English. By Comparing the pronunciation of

8
various words in several dialects, earlier forms of language can be reconstructed and the
changes which occurred in the some inventory and phonological rules will be obvious.

2.2.2 Characteristics of Language

`A close look at the definitions of language given above shows that there are some qualities
that are unique to all human languages. Here we shall explore such characteristics which will
no doubt, give you more insight on what language is all about.

1. Arbitrariness: This, as a characteristic of language, means that there is no logical

relationship that exists between the sound used to refer to a thing in a language and the
thing to which the sound refers. This means that the process of naming an object and the
reference to it is essentially that of general agreement or convention. For instance, there is
no direct connection between the word pen and the object it refers. The same is with the
word seat and what it refers. Finegan (2008) explaining arbitrariness, made reference to
arbitrary signs which include traffic lights, rail road crossing indicators, wedding rings,
and national flag. He maintained that there is no causal or inherent connection between
arbitrary signs and what they signify or indicate and so can be changed. We can exemplify
the above points in this way: It is a well-known fact that the traffic light sign for stop is
Red. If the Federal Road Safety Commission decides to use the colour purple as the signal
in place of red, it can do so. The relationship is generally arbitrary between words and
what they represent. Students of English who have read that magnificent work of
Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, will understand this more. Remember the scene where the
young Juliet exclaimed: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name
would smell as sweet.” This tells you that if we had called rose hand it would still possess
all the qualities it has today. You may think that rose smells sweet simply because it is
called rose, but Juliet tells you immediately to banish such thought as the flower would
have smelled as such even if it were named demon.

2. Discreetness: The sound segments used in any language differ significantly from one
another. Speakers of different languages can identify the sound segments in the word of
their language even though it appears to be a continuous flow of noise. In the English
language for example, there are forty-four discrete sound segments. The difference
between the word ‘pit’ and ‘pat’ for instance lies in the sounds that occur at their middle
position /I/ and /ӕ/. If these two sounds were replaced with /ɒ/ as in /pɒt/ and /e/ as in

9
 /pet/, the meaning of the words would change. Therefore the sounds /p/, /I/, /ӕ/, /t/, /ɒ/,
and /e/ are all discrete sound segments in the English language.

3. Duality: The duality of language means that it has two levels of organization; the primary
and secondary levels. At the secondary level, the speech sounds are meaningless but at the
primary level, they combine to form higher meaningful units. Language comprises strings
of noises called speech sounds or phonemes, which have no meaning attached to them.
When the speech sounds combine with one another in such a way that they obey the rules
of combination in the language they attract some meaning. For example the sounds /b/, /u/,
/l/, /k/, /m/, /ӕ/ /p/, /f/, /I/, /ʃ/ when combined sequentially in the English language can
form the words bull, cap, map, and fish, respectively. Besides, duality here could mean
also that there are two patterns to language, the spoken and the written version. The
spoken version is seen as the real version, since there are many who can speak a language
well but cannot write a word of it.

4. Systematic: This characteristic of language means that it follows a laid down rule. In the
game of football or any other games, for instance, the inability of the players to follow the
set rules either disqualifies or attracts some penalty. The same way human language is like
a system and as such the absence or wrong arrangement of any of its components can mar
the entire system. Language is made up of sound segments which combine accordingly to
form words, and words combine to form sentences. Every language has rules that guide
words and sentence formation. In the English language for example, a singular subject
takes a singular verb while a plural subject takes a plural verb.

5. Specie-Specific: The specie-specificness of language means that man is the only animal
that uses language in the true sense of it. This ability of language use differentiates him
from other animals. No human being is born with a particular language but man according
to Chomsky is endowed with an innate capacity known as Language Acquisition Devices
(LAD). This enables him to acquire language once he is exposed to it. Giving credence to
this, the New Encyclopedia Britannica has it that every physiologically and mentally
normal person acquires in childhood the ability to make use, as both speaker and hearer, of
a system of vocal communication that comprise a circumscribe set of noises resulting from
movement of certain organs within the throat and mouth. This means that it is only man
that makes use of the organs of speech in speech production.

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6. Creativity: Creativity is a characteristic of language which means that man has the ability
to construct as many sentences as possible including the ones he has never heard before
inasmuch as he understands the language. One cannot buy a dictionary of any language
with all the sentences found in that language since it is not possible for any dictionary to
list all the possible sentences. Fromkin et al (2003) are of the view that knowing a
language means being able to produce new sentences never spoken before and to
understand sentences never heard before. It is not every speaker of a language that can
create great literature but anyone who knows a language very well produces enormous
utterances if one speaks and understands new sentences created by others. The creative
nature of language therefore enables one to generate as many sentences as possible in
different context provided one understands the language. Thus, for every sentence in the
language a longer sentence can be formed, then there is no limit to the length of any
sentence and therefore no limit to the number of sentences. Creativity is, therefore, a
universal property of language. You can create as many sentences as possible so long as
you understand the language.

7. Conventionality: Convention relates to laws that are not written, that come from people’s
day to day way of doing things. Conventionality as a characteristic of language expresses
the fact that there is no intrinsic connection between a word and what it refers. The word,
table, and the object, table, have no intrinsic connection that says that the object must be
called table. Rather, it is convention, the fact that more people were using the word to refer
to the object that gave the object its name.

8. Displacement: An important characteristic of the language is its ability to refer to things

that are distant from a speaker in time and space. What we mean here is that in using
language, you can talk about the present as well as about the past and the future. You can
describe what you are doing now as well as what you did ten years ago. You can also talk
about the person sitting right here with you as well as one who sat with you three months
ago. Other human activities cannot engage distant subjects as such. For instance, you can
only kick the person sitting before you and not the person sitting in another place far away
from your location.

9. Dynamism: Dynamism expresses the ability of language to allow for changes in forms
and functions. It is this dynamism of language that allows words to acquire new meanings.
It also allows newly invented or discovered objects to have new names.

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10. Learnability: Learnability is the character of language that makes it possible for it to be
learned. Thus, every language worth the name can be learned by anyone who has interest
in learning it and who has put in serious effort towards doing so. Scholars hold that the
learnability of language depends on the innate capacity possessed by the human person to
learn new languages. This capacity to learn language inherent in man is described as
Language Acquisition Device (LAD). With LAD, every human person has the capacity to
learn as many human languages as he wishes.

11. Rapid Fading: Rapid fading refers mainly to spoken words. As a characteristic of
language, rapid fading means that words of language, when spoken, do not hover for a
long time in the air. It fades away immediately such that one that was absent when it was
said would not grasp the words.

2.2.3 Functions of Language

The function of anything means the job that thing does. God gave man language for particular
purposes. A thorough understanding of functions of language will help you, in no small
amount, in mastering and having control of any language you speak. This unit examines a
number of functions which language performs. Consequently, you shall learn about the
following functions of language, referential function, abnatural function, affective function,
transmission of culture, medium of thought, phatic function, recording function and
identifying function of language.

1. Referential Function of Language: Language plays referential function when it

communicates information about something. To communicate is the most noticeable function
of language and some scholars argue that to communication is the purpose of language. It is
the foundation of all kinds of expression. A referential user of language only wants to pass
information about something. Thus, in referential function of language, language what is said
must refer to something that can be seen, felt, touched or conceived by the person to whom
the language user addresses. For instance, if you tell your neighbor, take away your teacup
from my table, you have employed language to perform its referential function because you
have referred to an object, teacup, that should be placed on another object you referred, table.
If you are to make the same statement using Igbo language while addressing a Yoruba
speaker who does not understand Igbo, you cannot be said to have communicated, and you
have not also used language referentially. In their daily interactions, human beings report, ask
for and give directions, explain, promise, apologize, bargain, warn, scold, and so on.

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Politicians and leaders of government use language to pass information to the governed about
their developmental activities to people. Whenever they do this, they are using language
referentially.

2. Abnatural Function of Language: Communication of information is not the only

reason why we use language. Conversely, there are times when you want to hide information
from people or at least from a vast majority of people. When this is the case you put such
information in codes. Such codes are known to you alone or to few individuals who can
decode it. When you do this, you have employed language to play its abnatural function.
Language scholars view every language, whatsoever, as a symbol, a public code sort of. For
the most part, language as a symbol is devised for communicative purposes. When this is the
case, language only targets to make clear what is hidden. However, there are times when
language is used as a code to hide something from the public eyes. Such languages are often
special languages meant for only a few persons who have access to the meaning of the code.
Note that language plays two roles simultaneously here, that of hiding information from a
large number of people and conveying information to few persons. Laycook and Mühlhäusler
(1990) write that abnatural function of language “are attempts to create codes which could
provide access to the secrets of the universe and systems for concealment of information,
either for the use of small privileged groups or, in the case of some forms of glossolalia, for
individuals only.”

3. Medium of Thought: That man is a thinking animal is a truth held ever since the
time of the ancient philosophers. The most recent formulation of this is found in Arendt
(1971) who regards the human person as thought made flesh and writes that: Speaking out of
the experience of the thinking ego, man is quite naturally not just word but thought made
flesh, the always mysterious, never fully elucidated incarnation of the thinking ability. …
neither the product of a diseased brain nor one of the easily dispelled ‘errors of the past’, but
the entirely authentic semblance of the thinking activity itself. Despite this identification of
the human person as a thinking being, we only become aware of it simply because we have
language with which we bring to light the thought content of the human person. The
implication of this is that all the mental activities that take place in the minds of men, would
have no means of expressing themselves in the absence of language. On this note, Deutscher
(2007) writes that it is only language that can free our thinking from inaccessibility. Thus, the
human person’s invention of language, and their learning of it, is heavily linked to their
desire to express their thought.

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4. Affective Function of Language: The affective function of language refers to the
ability of language to address individuals differently. Language used affectively is intended
to express the relationship between a speaker and the person he addresses. Here one is
conscious of the relationship he holds with every speaker as well as the environment he finds
himself. What is being exploited here is the ability of the same words of language to call up
different understanding and meaning in the mind of listeners. For example, a student who
comes into the classroom, shakes his best friend’s hand and says to him My Guy, how are you
today, will receive a pleasant reply from his friend who interprets the statement as acceptable
and good show of friendship. The same statement made to a lecturer in the same classroom
and at the same time by the student will attract serious caution if not outright punishment to
the student involved. Thus, the student, without being told, knows that the appropriate form
of greeting to his lecturer will be more of something like this: Good morning, sir. How are
you sir? Thus, Thomas et al (2004) writes that, “by selecting one as appropriate and not
another, you would be exploiting the affective aspect of language and showing yourself to be
sensitive to the power or social relationship between you and the person you are addressing.”

5. Transmission of Culture: Culture is simply referred to as the people’s way of life.

Rules and norms of society are passed on to the younger generation by the old through the
use of language. Through language, man is able to trace the history and way of life of his
people from the distant past. In the olden days children usually sit around the elders and listen
to the stories of their age-long tradition. During most traditional festivals, a brief history of
such festival is recounted for the interest of the young. The ritual of repeating the history of
such festivals is to help retain the culture of the people in perpetuity. Through language,
people get to know why their culture is different from other people’s culture. By so doing,
they would have respect and regard for the culture of others.

6. Phatic Function: Language plays the phatic role when it serves as instrument of
initiating and keeping friendly relationship with others. Thomas et al (2004) write that phallic
function of language relates to “the everyday usage of language as ‘social lubrication’”. It
expresses the desire in our species to engage in peaceful relation with one another. We need
to open up this relation and keep it going. Thomas et al (2004) give examples of human
discussions where language is used for phatic purposes. Thus, if somebody came up this
morning to you and said, You look cute in your new skirt,” and you replied, Thank you,
Thomas et al (2004) hold that both of you at the time of this conversation were exploiting the
phatic properties of language. In this usage, they write, “no important information is being

14
exchanged, but you are both indicating that you are willing to talk to one another, are pleased
to see one another, and so on.” Thus, the phatic function of language helps to link people and
encourage peaceful and pleasant co-existence. They are about the small talks that help people
to avoid conflict and stay together as friends.

2.2.4 Identifying Function of Language

People and things are named with languages. What name a person or a thing is given
becomes his or its identity. The implication of this is that language is that tool through whose
help individuals and objects assume identity as separate entities living in our world. Filch
(1998) supports this view when he avers that every human being has a name and that is what
identifies that person. You can imagine a situation where there is no language to name
people. In such a situation people may rely on just their memories to differentiate between
individuals. On meeting a new person one is likely to note down his appearances, the colour
of his skin, his height, and so on. But this too will be impossible without language for you
need language to note that the person is either black or white. Assuming that it is possible to
note these things in one’s mind by some other means, communicating what you have noted to
others is quite impossible. Indeed, language plays important function in identifying people.

2.2.5 Concept of Culture

Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms
found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities,
and habits of the individuals in these groups (Edward, 1871). Culture is often originated from
or attributed to a specific region or location. Culture can be defined as all the ways of life
including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation
to generation. Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." As such, it
includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, art. norms of behavior, such as
law and morality, and systems of belief.

Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization,
which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies
acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and
demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group.
Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can
wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change
(Jackson, 2018).

Cultural change, or repositioning, is the reconstruction of a cultural concept of a society

(Eugene, 2014). Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and
forces resisting change. Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies.

15
Culture is considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of
phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. Cultural
universals are found in all human societies. These include expressive forms like art, music,
dance, ritual, religion, and technologies like tool usage, cooking, shelter, and clothing. The
concept of material culture covers the physical expressions of culture, such as technology,
architecture and art, whereas the immaterial aspects of culture such as principles of social
organization (including practices of political organization and social institutions), mythology,
philosophy, literature (both written and oral), and science comprise the intangible cultural
heritage of a society (Macionis and Gerber, 2011).

In the humanities, one sense of culture as an attribute of the individual has been the degree to
which they have cultivated a particular level of sophistication in the arts, sciences, education,
or manners. The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes been used to distinguish
civilizations from less complex societies. Such hierarchical perspectives on culture are also
found in class-based distinctions between a high culture of the social elite and a low culture,
popular culture, or folk culture of the lower classes, distinguished by the stratified access to
cultural capital. In common parlance, culture is often used to refer specifically to the
symbolic markers used by ethnic groups to distinguish themselves visibly from each other
such as body modification, clothing or jewelry.

Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce—or
inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices. War or competition over resources
may impact technological development or social dynamics. The sociology of culture concerns
culture as manifested in society. For sociologist Georg Simmel (1858–1918), culture referred
to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been
objectified in the course of history." As such, culture in the sociological field can be defined
as the ways of thinking, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together shape a
people's way of life.

Culture can be either of two types, non-material culture or material culture (Macionis and
Gerber, 2011). Non-material culture refers to the non-physical ideas that individuals have
about their culture, including values, belief systems, rules, norms, morals, language,
organizations, and institutions, while material culture is the physical evidence of a culture in
the objects and architecture they make or have made. The term tends to be relevant only in
archeological and anthropological studies, but it specifically means all material evidence
which can be attributed to culture, past or present.

Cultural sociology first emerged in Weimar Germany (1918–1933), where sociologists such
as Alfred Weber used the term Kultursoziologie ('cultural sociology'). Cultural sociology was
then reinvented in the English-speaking world as a product of the cultural turn of the 1960s,
which ushered in structuralist and postmodern approaches to social science. This type of
cultural sociology may be loosely regarded as an approach incorporating cultural analysis and
critical theory. Cultural sociologists tend to reject scientific methods, instead hermeneutically
focusing on words, artifacts and symbols (Sokal, 1996). Culture has since become an
important concept across many branches of sociology, including resolutely scientific fields
16
like social stratification and social network analysis. As a result, there has been a recent
influx of quantitative sociologists to the field. Thus, there is now a growing group of
sociologists of culture who are, confusingly, not cultural sociologists. These scholars reject
the abstracted postmodern aspects of cultural sociology, and instead, look for a theoretical
backing in the more scientific vein of social psychology and cognitive science
(Griswold,1987).

2.2.6 Aspect of Culture

The culture of a every society is characterized by three elements or componential aspects

which are;

1. Culture is a pattern of behavior,

2. Culture is learned, and

3. Culture is Transmitted from One Generation to the Next

Culture is a Pattern of Behavior: Culture refers basically to the style of behavior. This style
is found to be present in the behaviors of the majority of people living in a particular culture.
This pattern varies from culture to culture, and as a result, consumptions vary among
countries. The pattern of behavior you will see in South-Asian culture will definitely not be
seen in other cultures. The behavior established by culture is found to be practiced by the
majority as it satisfies their needs. Someone not following the established pattern of behavior
is likely to be condemned by others in society. Since the majority follows the same style of
behavior in a particular culture, it becomes a pattern. To be successful, marketers must find
out the patterns of behavior and design their marketing strategies accordingly to be successful
in a culture.

Culture is Learned: The second important aspect relating to culture is that we learn it
through experiences and interactions. The aspects of culture are not found in an individual
right from his birth. He rather learns those from others in the society as he follows, observes,
and interacts with them. Since experiences vary among people of different societies, they
learn different things resulting in differences among cultures. For example, a South-Asian
child grows in a European country among the Europeans and will definitely not learn South-
Asian cultural aspects but the European cultural aspects, influencing his behavior. It clearly
indicates that culture is learned, not present from birth, why people of different cultures see
the same object or situation differently. The reason is that their learning differs. For example,
wearing mini-skirts by females is seen negatively in South-Asia, where it is seen positively in
Western countries. Since people of two different cultures learn differently, they are likely to
view the same object differently. People learn about their cultures from their parents and
different social organizations and groups. This will be discussed later.

Culture is Transmitted from One Generation to the Next: We have in our culture in terms
of values, ideas, attitudes, symbols, artifacts, or other, and we are likely to conform to those.
We follow the patterns of our cultures and teach them to the next generation to guide them.

17
This process of transmitting the cultural elements from one generation to the next is known as
‘Enculturation”. Thus, cultural elements do not persist in one generation but are transmitted
to the next generation and survive the entire life span of an individual. That is why a lot of
similarities in behaviors are found between people of two different generations.

2.3 Comparative Reconstruction of Languages

Comparative reconstruction is a branch of comparative linguistic which deals and

shows the relatedness or relationship of one language to another. Comparative reconstruction
is set out to explain and as much as well given with evidence that although language change,
these languages are related to one another in different degrees. Comparative reconstruction
deals with the relationship between two or more languages and techniques used to discover
whether these languages have a common ancestor. Yule, (1985:167) states that comparative
was the most important branch of linguistics in the 19 th century in Europe. Historically the
study was founded by Sir William Jones in 1786 that Sanskrit was related to Latin, Greek and
German.

Comparative reconstruction deals with the historical relationship between languages

which are recognizably related through similarities such as vocabulary and word formation
and syntax , Wardhave (1970) this is under comparative linguistics, a branch of historical
linguistics, which enables us follow through the development of a language from an early
stage, and to distinguish inherited feature from recent innovation. Comparative reconstruction
is a comparative method under comparative linguistics and compares two or more languages.

According to Greenbery (1968), the techniques in this field were developed with
language whose history can be traced through written records, it is used to compare proto
forms of differences languages to see areas of similarities and differences which could help in
determining the cognac degree which is also the proto degree. Since the development of
Comparative linguistics in the 19 century, a linguist who clams that two language are related,
in the absence of historical evidence, is expected to back up that claim by presenting general
rules that describe the different between their lexicons, morphologies and grammars.

According to Fromkin and Rodman (1988:317) when the differences among two or
more language are systematic and regular, as exemplified by regular sound correspondence,
the language are likely to be related even if the “parent” language no longer exists, by
comparing the “ daughter” languages this is what we are attempting to in the case of Ibibio
Efik and Anaan in order to order to trace the comment on their historical and linguistics
origin. The method of reconstruction of a parent language from a comparison of the daughter
is called comparative method or comparative reconstruction.

A brief example adapted from Fromkin and Rodman (1988:317) will suffice to
illustrate how the comparative method or reconstruction works. Consider these words in four
Romance language French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese; Cher, Caro, Caro,: dear” Champ
Campo, Compo” field “ chandelle, candela, candeia “ candle”. To use the comparative
method, analyst identify regular sound correspondence in what they take to be daughter
language and each correspondence, the reconstruct a sound of the parent language. In this

18
way, the entire sound system of the parent mybe reconstructed. The various phonological
changes that occurred that development of each daughter language as it descended and
changed from the parent are then identified. Sometimes the sound that analyst choice in their
reconstruction of the parent language will be the sound that appears most frequently in the
correspondence.

2.4 Language and Culture

The relationship between language and culture is a complex one. The two are intertwined. A
particular language usually points out to a specific group of people. When you interact with
another language, it means that you are also interacting with the culture that speaks the
language. You cannot understand one’s culture without accessing its language directly.

When you learn a new language, it not only involves learning its alphabet, the word
arrangement and the rules of grammar, but also learning about the specific society’s customs
and behavior. When learning or teaching a language, it is important that the culture where the
language belongs be referenced, because language is very much ingrained in the culture.

It has been seen that language is much more than the external expression and communication
of internal thoughts formulated independently of their verbalization. In demonstrating the
inadequacy and inappropriateness of such a view of language, attention has already been
drawn to the ways in which one’s native language is intimately and in all sorts of details
related to the rest of one’s life in a community and to smaller groups within that community.
This is true of all peoples and all languages; it is a universal fact about language.

Anthropologists speak of the relations between language and culture. It is indeed more in
accordance with reality to consider language as a part of culture. Culture is here being used,
as it is throughout this article, in the anthropological sense, to refer to all aspects of human
life insofar as they are determined or conditioned by membership in a society. The fact that
people eat or drink is not in itself cultural; it is a biological necessity for the preservation of
life. That they eat particular foods and refrain from eating other substances, though they may
be perfectly edible and nourishing, and that they eat and drink at particular times of day and
in certain places are matters of culture, something “acquired by man as a member of society,”
according to the classic definition of culture by the English anthropologist Sir Edward
Burnett Tylor. As thus defined and envisaged, culture covers a very wide area of human life
and behaviour, and language is manifestly a part, probably the most important part, of it.

Although the faculty of language acquisition and language use is innate and inherited, and
there is legitimate debate over the extent of this innateness, every individual’s language is
“acquired by man as a member of society,” along with and at the same time as other aspects
of that society’s culture in which people are brought up. Society and language are mutually
indispensable. Language can have developed only in a social setting, however this may have
been structured, and human society in any form even remotely resembling what is known
today or is recorded in history could be maintained only among people utilizing and
understanding a language in common use.

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2.4.1 Transmission of language and culture

Language is transmitted culturally; that is, it is learned. To a lesser extent it is taught, when
parents, for example, deliberately encourage their children to talk and to respond to talk,
correct their mistakes, and enlarge their vocabulary. But it must be emphasized that children
very largely acquire their first language by “grammar construction” from exposure to a
random collection of utterances that they encounter. What is classed as language teaching in
school either relates to second-language acquisition or, insofar as it concerns the pupils’ first
language, is in the main directed at reading and writing, the study of literature, formal
grammar, and alleged standards of correctness, which may not be those of all the pupils’
regional or social dialects. All of what goes under the title of language teaching at school
presupposes and relies on the prior knowledge of a first language in its basic vocabulary and
essential structure, acquired before school age.

If language is transmitted as part of culture, it is no less true that culture as a whole is

transmitted very largely through language, insofar as it is explicitly taught. The fact that
humankind has a history in the sense that animals do not is entirely the result of language. So
far as researchers can tell, animals learn through spontaneous imitation or through imitation
taught by other animals. This does not exclude the performance of quite complex and
substantial pieces of cooperative physical work, such as a beaver’s dam or an ant’s nest, nor
does it preclude the intricate social organization of some species, such as bees. But it does
mean that changes in organization and work will be the gradual result of mutation
cumulatively reinforced by survival value; those groups whose behaviour altered in any way
that increased their security from predators or from famine would survive in greater numbers
than others. This would be an extremely slow process, comparable to the evolution of the
different species themselves.

There is no reason to believe that animal behaviour has materially altered during the period
available for the study of human history—say, the last 5,000 years or so—except, of course,
when human intervention by domestication or other forms of interference has itself brought
about such alterations. Nor do members of the same species differ markedly in behaviour
over widely scattered areas, again apart from differences resulting from human interference.
Bird songs are reported to differ somewhat from place to place within species, but there is
little other evidence for areal divergence. In contrast to this unity of animal behaviour, human
cultures are as divergent as are human languages over the world, and they can and do change
all the time, sometimes with great rapidity, as among the industrialized countries of the 21st
century.

The processes of linguistic change and its consequences will be treated below. Here, cultural
change in general and its relation to language will be considered. By far the greatest part of
learned behaviour, which is what culture involves, is transmitted by vocal instruction, not by
imitation. Some imitation is clearly involved, especially in infancy, in the learning process,
but proportionately this is hardly significant.

Through the use of language, any skills, techniques, products, modes of social control, and so
on can be explained, and the end results of anyone’s inventiveness can be made available to
20
anyone else with the intellectual ability to grasp what is being said. Spoken language alone
would thus vastly extend the amount of usable information in any human community and
speed up the acquisition of new skills and the adaptation of techniques to changed
circumstances or new environments. With the invention and diffusion of writing, this process
widened immediately, and the relative permanence of writing made the diffusion of
information still easier. Printing and the increase in literacy only further intensified this
process. Modern techniques for broadcast or almost instantaneous transmission of
communication all over the globe, together with the tools for rapidly translating between the
languages of the world, have made it possible for usable knowledge of all sorts to be made
accessible to people almost anywhere in the world. This accounts for the great rapidity of
scientific, technological, political, and social change in the contemporary world. All of this,
whether ultimately for the good or ill of humankind, must be attributed to the dominant role
of language in the transmission of culture.

2.4.2 Language and social differentiation and assimilation

The part played by variations within a language in differentiating social and occupational
groups in a society has already been referred to above. In language transmission this tends to
be self-perpetuating unless deliberately interfered with. Children are in general brought up
within the social group to which their parents and immediate family circle belong, and they
learn the dialect and communication styles of that group along with the rest of the subculture
and behavioral traits and attitudes that are characteristic of it. This is a largely unconscious
and involuntary process of acculturation, but the importance of the linguistic manifestations
of social status and of social hierarchies is not lost on aspirants for personal advancement in
stratified societies. The deliberate cultivation of an appropriate dialect, in its lexical,
grammatical, and phonological features, has been the self-imposed task of many persons
wishing “to better themselves” and the butt of unkind ridicule on the part of persons already
feeling themselves secure in their social status or unwilling to attempt any change in it. Much
of the comedy in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (first performed in 1913, with
subsequent film adaptations) turns on Eliza Doolittle’s need to unlearn her native Cockney if
she is to rise in the social scale. Culturally and subculturally determined taboos play a part in
all this, and persons desirous of moving up or down in the social scale have to learn what
words to use and what words to avoid if they are to be accepted and to “belong” in their new
position.

The same considerations apply to changing one’s language as to changing one’s dialect.
Language changing is harder for the individual and is generally a rarer occurrence, but it is
likely to be widespread in any mass immigration movement. In the 19th and early 20th
centuries, the eagerness with which immigrants and the children of immigrants from
continental Europe living in the United States learned and insisted on speaking English is an
illustration of their realization that English was the linguistic badge of full membership in
their new homeland at the time when the country was proud to consider itself the melting pot
in which people of diverse linguistic and cultural origins would become citizens of a unified
community. A reverse movement, typically by third-generation immigrants, manifests a
concern to be in contact again with the ancestral language.

21
The same sort of self-perpetuation, in the absence of deliberate rejection, operates in the
special languages of sports and games and of trades and professions (these are in the main
concerned with special vocabularies). Game learners, apprentices, and professional students
learn the locutions together with the rest of the game or the job. The specific words and
phrases occur in the teaching process and are observed in use, and novices are only too eager
to display an easy competence with such phraseology as a mark of their full membership of
the group.

Languages and variations within languages play both a unifying and a diversifying role in
human society as a whole. Language is a part of culture, but culture is a complex totality
containing many different features, and the boundaries between cultural features are not
clear-cut, nor do they all coincide. Physical barriers such as oceans, high mountains, and wide
rivers constitute impediments to human intercourse and to culture contacts, though modern
technology in the fields of travel and communications makes such geographical factors of
less and less account. More potent for much of the 20th century were political restrictions on
the movement of people and of ideas, such as divided western Europe from formerly
communist eastern Europe; the frontiers between these two political blocs represented much
more of a cultural dividing line than any other European frontiers.

The distribution of the various components of cultures differs, and the distribution of
languages may differ from that of nonlinguistic cultural features. This results from the
varying ease and rapidity with which changes may be acquired or enforced and from the
historical circumstances responsible for these changes. From the end of World War II until
1990, for example, the division between East and West Germany represented a major
political and cultural split in an area of relative linguistic unity. It is significant that
differences of vocabulary and usage were noticeable on each side of that division, overlying
earlier differences attributed to regional dialects.

2.4.3 The control of language for cultural ends

Language, no less than other aspects of human behaviour, is subject to purposive
interference. When people with different languages need to communicate, various expedients
are open to them, the most obvious being second-language learning and teaching. This takes
time, effort, and organization, and, when more than two languages are involved, the time and
effort are that much greater. Other expedients may also be applied. Ad hoc pidgins for the
restricted purposes of trade and administration are mentioned above. Tacit or deliberate
agreements have been reached whereby one language is chosen for international purposes
when users of several different languages are involved. In the Roman Empire, broadly, the
western half used Latin as a lingua franca, and the eastern half used Greek. In western Europe
during the Middle Ages, Latin continued as the international language of educated people,
and Latin was the second language taught in schools. Later the cultural, diplomatic, and
military reputation of France made French the language of European diplomacy. This use of
French as the language of international relations persisted until the 20th century. At important
conferences among representatives of different nations, it is usually agreed which languages
shall be officially recognized for registering the decisions reached, and the provisions of

22
treaties are interpreted in the light of texts in a limited number of languages, those of the
major participants.

After World War II the dominant use of English in science and technology and in
international commerce led to the recognition of that language as the major international
language in the world of practical affairs, with more and more countries making English the
first foreign language to be taught and thus producing a vast expansion of English-language-
teaching programs all over the world. Those whose native language is English do not
sufficiently realize the amount of effort, by teacher and learner alike, that is put into the
acquisition of a working knowledge of English by educated first speakers of other languages.

As an alternative to the recognition of particular natural languages as international in status,

attempts have been made to invent and propagate new and genuinely international languages,
devised for the purpose. Of these, Esperanto, invented by the Polish-Russian doctor L.L.
Zamenhof in the 19th century, is the best known. Such languages are generally built up from
parts of the vocabulary and grammatical apparatus of the better-known existing languages of
the world. The relationship between the written letter and its pronunciation is more
systematic than with many existing orthographies (English spelling is notoriously unreliable
as an indication of pronunciation), and care is taken to avoid the grammatical irregularities to
which all natural languages are subject and also to avoid sounds found difficult by many
speakers (e.g., the English th sounds, which most Europeans, apart from English speakers,
dislike). These artificial languages have not made much progress, though an international
society of Esperanto speakers does exist.

2.5 Local Languages and in Nigeria and Language Interactions

Nigeria is a linguistically rich nation. Recent mapping of number of individual languages in

Nigeria shows that the country is home to about five hundred and twenty (520) languages.
This makes Nigeria one of the most linguistically diverse countries of the world. Indeed, if
the record that places the number of languages in the world at 6000 is correct, it means that
Nigeria contributes nearly ten percent (10%) to the global pool of language resources. Out of
this number, about five hundred and ten (510) are regarded as living languages, that is
languages with current speakers and which are still transmitted to children. Two in this
language pool are without native speakers as they rely in their being used as second
languages for their survival while nine (9) are said to be extinct without any known living
speaker.

Despite our disposition in viewing all languages as equal in terms of value and achievements,
language scholars have ranked Nigerian languages as either major or minor languages. This
ranking as captured by Bamgbose (2013) is based on a number of speakers, status in
education, acquisition as a second language, and availability of written materials. While the
majority of Nigerian languages are regarded as minor languages, three are regarded as major.
The major languages include, Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba (in alphabetical order and not
necessarily in order of importance). The three major languages of Nigeria command regional
dominance. While the Hausa is dominant in the North, the Igbo in the East, the Yoruba holds

23
sway in the West. We should be mindful that our use of dominance here relates only to
number of speakers and geographical coverage.

The majority status accorded to these three languages is enshrined in section 55 of Nigeria’s
Constitution of 1999, where they are regarded as national languages. They were to be used in
the conducting of the business of the assembly. Also, the National language policy captured
in the National Policy on Education (2004) recommends that these three languages should be
studied in the pre-primary, primary and post-primary education levels. Students whose
languages fall under the minority languages are to study the major languages alongside their
minority languages in the junior secondary level.

Palpable tension exists in Nigeria as a result of labeling some languages minor and others
major. As expected, this comes from native speakers of the minority languages. This tension
is consequent upon the fear of political and cultural domination by the major language
groups. An examination of the level of translation that exists between the indigenous
Nigerian languages and the English language, and the one that exists between the English
language and other foreign languages was carried out by Eyisi et al (2010). Their findings
show that translation of texts from English into Nigerian languages enjoyed a robust time
during the colonial and missionary era. It was the era when Ajayi Crowther translated the
English Bible into Igbo and Yoruba, and other religious leaders also rendered the Catechism
into Nigerian languages. Despite the efforts of Ajayi Crowther and his men or rather due to
their efforts, translating from English into Nigerian languages was influenced by evangelical
reasons. No original indigenous literature (where it existed) was translated into English
during the period.

The 1950s and 1960s was a particularly significant era in the country’s history. It was the
period when the pioneer educated men and women from the country attained maturity. The
country witnessed a period of intense activity in the literary arena. Books were produced in
both Foreign languages (FL) like English and Arabic and the indigenous languages. Despite
the flurry of activities in Nigerian literary scene in both indigenous and Foreign language
publications not much has been done in terms of translation especially between English and
indigenous languages. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) has only been recently
translated into Igbo, Yoruba and Tiv nearly fifty years after publication. No other Nigerian
language can boast of a translation of that book despite widespread translation in almost three
dozen foreign languages. We are unaware of any text written in indigenous language that has
been translated into English or into any other foreign language for that matter, except the
frantic efforts made by some Nigerian ‘Ulama’ (scholars of Arabic) like Mas’ud Raji, ‘Abdul
Fatah Adigun, Ahmad Abdul Salam and Mash’uud Mahmud Muhammad Jimba in translating
few Yoruba novels into Arabic. (Oseni in Lawal, 2009). Most recent of such efforts is that of
Abduraheem ‘Isa Lawal of the Lagos State University, Ojo who translated into Arabic Oloye
Olu Owolabi’s Yoruba novel titled Ote Nibo (Lawal, 2009).

24
 CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY

This section presents the method to be used to carry out the research study under the
following sub-heading, such as: Research Design, Source of Data, Validity of Instrument,
Reliability of Instrument, Procedure for Data Collection and Method of Data Analysis.

3.1 Research Design

This study adopted a mixed research method. The study undertaken is a creative
research done in an exploratory and descriptive way. It is highly qualitative because no part
of it has been quantified. Qualitative research is mainly concerned with the ability to
encapsulate the nature of individual thoughts, actions and expressions in everyday life in
order to give them meaning (Wodak & Busch, 2012). A highly qualitative approach
purposefully designed for this research will be used to examine language and culture as a tool
of identifying Ijebu indigenous language of the Yoruba tribe.

3.2 Area of the Study

The study area for this particular research is Ijebu North LGA. Ijebu North is a Local
Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Ijebu Igbo. The
Local Government area is bounded in the north by Oluyole Local Government of oyo State,
in the west by Ijebu North-East, Odogbolu and Ijebu-ode Local Government and in the east
by Ikenne Local Government. This region is peopled by the Ijebus, who live in the following
major towns: Ago-Iwoye, Oru, Awa, Ilaporu, Mamu, etc. There are several markets in the
town but the most popular of them all is Station Market.

3.2 Population of the Study

The population of the study consists of all Ijebu indigenous residents of Ijebu North
Local Government Area, Ogun State. This population is chosen because towns in Ijebu North
LGA are part of the indigenous town of Ijebu people, a Yoruba tribe.

3.3 Sampling Size Techniques

About 15 respondents were randomly choosen, both male and females, who are
indigenous Ijebu people, were used for the purpose of this study. This is due to the limitations
of respondents wanting to give out their time to researcher. The sampling strategy adopted is
simple random sampling method.

25
3.4 Sources of Data
All the data for this research consists exclusively, reports from journal articles, library
books on language and culture as a tool of identifying people’s tribe/ethnic groups; which is a
secondary source of data. as well data from the interviews and observations made which is a
primary sources of data. These reports and data were analyzed to find the extent to which
language and culture can be used as a tool of identifying people’s tribe/ethnic groups.

3.5 Research Instrument

Interviews method and observational via recording was used as instrument for
gathering data. The interviews were conducted through physical engagement with people in
the locality; as well discussion of some indigenous people were observed while been
recorded. The data were transcribed and then analyzed.

3.6 Method of Analysis

To achieve the study research objectives, this study has made use of content analysis.

26
 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This section analyses and discussed data retrieved from the field using socio-
linguistics structure of greetings and proverbial words of the Ijebu people.

4.1 The Sociolinguistic Structure of Greetings in Ijebu Dialects

The grammatical structure of greetings among the Yoruba, (Ijebu), is determined by

some sociolinguistic variables such as the time of the day, the season, status of the people
being greeted and the social and psychological setting. There are two prominent structures,
the first is considered to be old use, while the second structure is more contemporary.

English Yoruba (Ijebu)

Good morning dad Kaaro baa mi
Good afternoon dad Kaasan baa mi
Good evening dad Kaale baa mi
Good night sir O’daaro sa
Table 1. Old pattern of greetings in Ijebu dialects

In the standard Yoruba, the structure is:

a. Pronoun + ku + time of the day, as in: 'E ku owuro' or 'e k aaro' = Good morning. “E”
is either plural “you” or singular “you” but called honorific plural, used for elders,
kings, etc.

b. 'Ku awuro' or 'kaaro' = good morning, used among mates, or an elder greeting a
younger person.

The table below shows the contemporary greeting of the Ijebu.

English Yoruba (Ijebu)

Good morning dad Wen/E Kaaro bami
Good afternoon dad Wen/E kaasan ba mi
Good afternoon dad Wen/E kaasan ye mi
Good evening dad Wen/E Kaale ba mi
Good evening mom Wen/E kale ye mi

27
The Standard Yoruba forms are: Morning: 'E kaaro baba mi; Afternoon: 'E kaasan baba mi';
Night: ''E kale baba mi'. 'The honorific or respect pronoun used by the Ijebu are “in” and
“wen” or “e”.

English language and western civilization have made inroads into the language and
culture of the Yoruba. Many of the Yoruba greeting forms are fast disappearing from their
ethnography of communication. The following greetings are gradually becoming moribund:

Festival Greetings

'E ku odun, e ku iyedun, Olorun yoo je kase opo odun laye'.

This corresponds to happy + name of the festival, e.g. happy Christmas, happy Easter, happy
Id-el-kabir, etc. The youths are gradually losing these structures, as they simply say “e ku
odun” without adding the other deep sociolinguistic forms.

Marriage Greetings

'E ku I nawo iyawo O, eyin iyawo ko ni meni'.

“You + greeting + expenses + bride, + back + bride + will not+ know + mat”.

This means well-done for the expenses of the wedding, may the bride not suffer or stay long
before becoming pregnant. The youths will simply say “E ku inawo” or congratulations. Only
the elders go on into detailed or more complex greetings, with well wishes or prayers.

Childbirth Greetings

'E ku ewu omo, Olorun yoo da omo naa si' . You + greeting + risk + child + God + will +
save + child + the alive.

This corresponds to congratulations on the child's delivery, may God protect the child or keep
the child alive.

Greetings to Kings

'Kabiyesi o, kade ko pe lori, ki bata ko pe lese'.

Your royal majesty, may crown stay long on your head, and may your shoes stay long on
your feet. This corresponds to: long live the king! The youth just simply say: “kabiyesi oo”
and then prostrate, with their cap removed.

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 From these and many other greetings, there are other structures found in Standard
Yoruba greetings that are different from “Pronoun + ku +time of the day, season, festival”
pattern. “E ku ise” has almost replaced all types of greetings, especially if one wants to greet
somebody who is working or doing something, the type of work or job notwithstanding. The
morphological and syntactic make up of the greetings in Ijebu dialects is different from
Standard Yoruba.

4.2 The Sociolinguistic Structure of Proverbial words in Ijebu Dialects

Among the Yoruba society, some proverbs are used as essential tools to pass on some
cultural ethos that have become inherently attributed to, and are already identified with the
Yoruba, among the larger African societies. Yoruba members give an insight to the rich
culture and moral values of the Yoruba race. The tone of their proverbs cover the various
ways of life of the people in whatever position they find themselves such as:
Ijebu Dialect: Itelorun ri baba iwa
Eng: Contentment is greater than riches.

It is the believe of the Yoruba that a person’s peaceful existence and the ability to exhibit
perfect life in a stressful situation, shows one’s inner mind and reveals one’s feelings towards
all situations. When it comes to any adverse circumstances of life, Yoruba people remain
unruffled.

Other similar proverbs identified with such attributes among the Yoruba people are:

Ijebu Dialect: Aii legbaa nile, ka ma wegba rode

Eng: You cannot have Two Thousand at home and begin to find a way of borrowing
same amount elsewhere.

Proverbs, especially, in Yoruba language enhance the peoples‟ integrity and equally reveal
the extent of their attachment to the cultural ethics of the community. Therefore, members are
frequently and always used by eloquent speakers who are known to be vast in the norms,
values and etiquettes of the people. Thus, proverbs give a detailed picture of the people as
how to behave, what they should do or not at a particular time, their overall beliefs, policy
and preoccupations at all time.

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Some Yoruba proverbs emphasize that human characters cannot be hidden so people are
encouraged to be morally behaved as in the following proverbs:

Ijebu Dialect: Eefin rii iwa, k’a boo mole, a tun ru jade.

Eng: Behaviour is like a smoke/fume that defies covering up as it is pliable to coming

up again.

Ijebu Dialect: Esi ba ma ti se ifa, ko un ni huwa ekuro.

Eng: There is no way we can prevent the Ifa oracle from exhibiting similar traits like
that of palm kernel.

Ijebu Dialect: Esi ba ma se se Ebolo kouni run igbe

Eng: There is no how an Ebolo vegetable is prepared that it will not maintain its
pungent smell (like feaces).

Cultural Identity: The Ijebu (Yoruba) people are traditionally inclined with the items as:
ekuro, ebolo, ifa, eefin which are culturally identified with and peculiar to Yoruba tribe that
hearers easily get acclimatised to as soon as they are mentioned anywhere. Proverbs can be
used to warn listeners to desist from unethical behaviour and to remind them of a point earlier
on mentioned or to affirm realistic points raised among the speakers. Another instance is
when a stubborn child keeps behaving somehow that might, at the end, deforms him, the
elder may say.

Ijebu Dialect: aii fo komode ma hu ehin ganagana, o di igba ri e ba ri ete boo k’oju re
ra jaa.

Eng: A child is not warned all the time not to have a protruded teeth, until his lips
refused to cover up then he learns to be obedient. (You cannot keep on warning a
child who’s fond of opening his mouth of the impending long teeth, until the lips
refuse to cover them.

Or

Ijebu Dialect: a ii fo komode maadete, kon ba ti le da’gbogbe

Eng: You do not ask a child not to become leprous, if, he, alone can live in the
forest).

30
The above proverbs are warnings and reminders to a child to desist from exhibiting bad traits
that mar less he bears the consequences at least for life. This aspect of training and retraining,
that is solely peculiar to Yoruba tribe is done ironically, indirectly and softly to impact
knowledge, remind, rebuke and dissuade younger ones from behaving unethically in the
society.

Further, when a proverb that reflects cultural allusions to rural and farmland living such as in
mentioning some farmland implements, animals, communal activities; readers or hearers of
such are quickly reminded of their local settings or background and get attached to such.

Examples-

Ijebu Dialect: Aaro iijo lasan, omoeniyan re nn danasii

Eng: The hearth does not burn by itself, it is human beings that put fire in it –

Though literally, it means that there is no problem without its source as there is no smoke
without a gloving light at first instance.

Cultural Identity: But the traditional implements as earthen- ware where local farmers /
women prepare food like the modern stove is mentioned to remind the modern people of the
local implements used before civilisation. Once this type of proverbs is said, younger ones
are made to identify with what their grandparents used for survival before they were born.

Some Yoruba proverbs reflecting customs and beliefs of the Yoruba people, expressing and
emphasizing humility, destiny, and hard work as good conduct among the Yoruba are:

Ijebu Dialect: Asọ debo Ọmoyemimό, Omoyemi ti rin ìhòhò wọọjà”

Eng: The cloth cannot longer cover Omoyemi as Omoyemi has gone to the market
nakedly.

Yoruba people abhorred a typical act of modern fashions when a lady is involved in going
about the streets half naked in the name of societal/ modern fashion. Any attempt to run after
covering her with a dress from her shame of nakedness, was too late. Literal: The hidden
secret is already made known, no hide and seek game since the intended matter has gone
haywire.

31
Cultural identity: This shows that the Yoruba, unlike some other tribes in Nigeria, dislike
the act of going out nude. The proverb is used by the speaker to let his hearer know that the
situation on ground have been marred beyond amendment and solution.

Ijebu Dialect: Oruko reda san ju’wura

Eng: A good name is better than gold

Ijebu Dialect: Ikoko re ma je gbadun, idi re a gbonaa

Eng: The saucepan that will taste of savoury food, will have its bottom glow red with
heat. (i.e all in search of distinction with hardships.

Ijebu Dialect: Aii gbin alubosa ko hu efo, ohun re eniyan ba gbin ron ma ka

Eng: you cannot sow onions and reap vegetables whatever a man sows, he shall reap.

Cultural identity: The Yoruba believes in perseverance and forthright in whatever they do
believing that a man is identified with whatever the skill he chooses to be known with. Hence
an efficient, diligent and forthright person would learn to be digenetic in whatever betides
along the profession of his choice believing that.

Ijebu Dialect: Igba nn lo bi orere, ojo mm to bi opaibon-

Eng: Time does not go like a vista and that a day is not as straight as a gun’s stem?

Cultural Identity: Once a father or an adult tells an aspiring or suffering younger person
with challenges in his choice of work, he quickly summons up courage putting on a die-hard
attitude in his choice of profession hoping for the brighter future. The Yoruba people ditch
out advices, counseling and admonitions indirectly and persuasively, not with bitterness but
surprisingly, to the best understanding of the addressee- a lasting cultural attributes of the
morally cultured tribe.

Some Yoruba proverbs as expression of socio- cultural identity:

Ijebu Dialect: Baa ba r’adan, sa maa nnfi oode seebo; Ibanuje moniwon fun eni reri
gaari mu

Eng: Half a loaf is better than none | Beggers have no choice Literal- If one does not
get an owl for a sacrifice, one surely will go for a parrot, A hungry man is half
satisfied, having soaked garri (a local fried powdered cassava flour) as food.
32
Cultural identity – Elements such as adan, oode, are local names of birds which are
traditionally identified with Yoruba origin and when a younger generation of people hear of
such names, they are easily thrilled and get attached with such, feeling good to being part of
the Yoruba tribe. And of course, the idea of eating garri, a fried cassava powder which is
second to none in Yoruba land as their local custard- nicknamed students’ saviour.

Ijebu dialect: Enitere, ejilere ri agbe fi nkun—

Eng: Step by step one goes far/ Little by little, birds build their nests.

Literal- Counting one, two drops of water, the gourds fills to the brim.

Cultural:- Traditional counters begins from one, two, and three up till a thousand. Or a filled
up gourd/keg of water begins with a little drops. The cultural inclination here is the Yoruba
way of counting numbers eni, eeji and the idea of a local gourd as opposed to a plastic keg or
water tank used this modern time as storex or to contain water. It is a way of letting the
younger ones get to know our system of numbering before civilization of ookan, eeji, etc.

Ijebu dialect: A kiinaowo asa niile awodi

Eng- You don’t rub Peter to pay Paul

Literal- The vultures‟ money is not spent for the hawk. The different things from the above
help clarified the difference from the two types of birds, which of course, our children could
not have discerned.

Cultural: The difference in asaa (the vulture) and awodi (Igunnugun) meanings, which are
culturally attached to Yoruba origin are spelt to the hearers through this proverb.

Ijebu dialect: ko petiti ra ti nda obi, obi a yan

Eng: Good practice makes perfection.

Cultural- Kolanut is identified with Yoruba as a means of future tale-tell stories- The „nda
obi‟ are identified with the Yoruba traditional means of knowing the future.

Ijebu dialect: Titariro raa nn ko ila, ko ba jinna tan a di ewa.

Eng- There is no rose without a thorn.

33
Literal- Tribal marks are extremely painful initially, but at the end becomes an established
form of beauty.

Cultural: This type of proverb orientates and establishes one of the customs of the Yoruba
people- tribal marks with which the Yoruba race is identified wherever they are in the larger
societies in Africa.

Ijebu dialect: Wonyin! ri eebu agba.

Eng: Action speaks louder than voice.

Literal- Smearing remarks suffice an elderly person’s insult.

Cultural- This shows a culturally inclined ethics of the Yoruba society that the act of not
behaving morally to the elderly ones in the society, has no other meaning but being rude.
There are others that are socio-culturally inclined like; warning and advice, settlement of
disputes and entertainment.

Yor: Eni ri egun gun lese re nse lakanlaka lo rodo alabe

Eng: He who is pierced with a thorn must limp off to him who has a knife When an
adult perceives laziness in a young man, he tells him or calls his attention to this by
encouraging hard work into him without revealing his notion of calling the man a lazy
one but tries to tell him to buck up, without relenting.

4.3 Some of the Socio-Cultural Beliefs peculiar to the Yoruba (Ijebu) society

The Yoruba people are culturally inclined and believe that whatever one does, be it
good or otherwise, that he will reap or take back in the nearest future so one learns that one
should do well because:

Ijebu dialect: Agba re bagbin ebu ika, omo re a je e

Eng: The man who puts down the seedling of wickedness, has really planted it on the
head of his own child. Okunrin ti ogbinebuikaomo re a je ni be.

Yoruba society relies on proverbs as one of the means to educate the younger ones on their
beliefs, philosophy and morality as:

Ijebu dialect: Enisangotoju re wole,konib’ObaKoso.

34
 Eng: He who witnesses how Sango (god of thunder) enters the ground will never
abuse Oba Koso (the king did not hang himself).

Others that are used to identify social attributes are:

Ijebu dialect:: Gele dun bi K’amowe, kamo we ko ke, ele dabi ko ye ni.

Eng: The head-tie is not elegant unless it is well tied and even if it is well tied, it is
not gracefully shown, unless it suits the wearer.

Socio-cultural:–the need to dress neatly in a pleasing and acceptable manner that

portray one of the many corporate ways the Yoruba people would dress and are socially
identified in the society.

Ijebu dialect: Enikan iisupo alaaye.

Eng: Nobody marries a woman whose husband is still alive.

Socio-Cultural: A socio-cultural etiquette by which the Yoruba are identified.

Another man’s wife is not bequeath to another man when such a man still lives, all
things equal.

Others are:

Ijebu dialect: Giri giri m’ola, kasise bi eru ee da nkan.

Eng: Restless efforts are not criteria for one to be rich, working like a slave does not
make one become important.

Ijebu dialect: Omo re bam’owoo we a ba agba jeun.

Eng: A child who knows how to wash his hand will eat with the elders.

For socio-cultural Advice and admonition

Ijebu dialect: Bi eegun nnle ni k’aa r’oju, b’ose n re ara aye r’on re ara orun.

Eng: If the masquerade chases one, one should not give up because as human beings
can get tied, so also the heavenly beings.

Ijebu dialect: Omi re danu, agbe fo.

Eng: It is water that spits, the keg has not broken.

35
 Socio- cultural lessons: The above proverbs are given ironically as comfort,
admonition, ethical warnings and hope at every point; offered to bereaved parents at the
cause of losing their children, to warn a wanton person and so on. This shows the diverse
ways through which the Yoruba community get identified with, and pass on their rich culture
that binds them together, especially, in times of troubled happenings.

36
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This section summarized the findings of this study as well as conclusion and
recommendations based on the findings.

5.1 Summary

This study examined language and culture as a tool of identifying people’s tribe/ethnic
groups in Nigeria, a study of Ijebu indigenous language of the Yoruba tribe. Hence, the study
revealed the importance of language and culture in identifying with the Ijebu dialect of the
Yoruba tribe through their language use either in greetings and proverbial expressions.
Language is a value system that marks the identity of a people, their way of life and defines
the whole essence of man and his environment. It is a vehicle for transmission of culture,
beliefs, value system, norms and institutions. It unites a people and creates a special bond
amongst them. The study found out that the grammatical patterns of greetings are different,
particularly the differences in the plural markers and the pronouns. Also, it was established in
the study that the use of Yoruba proverbs is part of a cultural identity to impacting
knowledge, especially, ironically among the Youths, makes it expedient for its cultural
foresight, survival, self-sensibility and discernment.

5.2 Conclusion

To conclude, the studies discussed in this chapter have sought to highlight the
relationship between language, culture and ethnic identity across the contexts Yoruba tribe
with Ijebu dialect through greetings and proverbial expression. The study and the
documentation of the sociolinguistic structure of greetings is both anthropological and
ethnographic because greetings, as part of Speech Act, belong to the domain of language and
culture. The study also emphasized that, even though, greetings, proverbs in Yoruba can be
seen to be an offshoot whose main goal, according to their users is to be different
linguistically from the other members of society. It has been reiterated that verbal expressions
in Ijebu dialect of the Yoruba tribe are created and employed not only by all section of the
Yoruba community but by some particular part of the Yoruba tribe as a result of indigeneity
which manifest in all sphere of the society to communicate any form of ideas like the
language of ordinary usage. In the face of the increasing mobility of people and languages as

37
a result of globalisation, ethnic boundaries and ethnic classifications linked to essentialist
notions of authenticity continue to persist in people's lives.
It is however affirmed that communication matters a lot and that effective
communication in Nigeria requires a good mastery of cultural identification, which bring out
real identity though ironically and sarcastically and impact cultural sensitivity into the hearers
than other general language expressions. The literal, contextual meanings as well as the
cultural attributes that identified with element of the Ijebu dialect in the selected expression
through greetings and proverbs are underscored.

5.3 Recommendations
Based on the above points, the following recommendations are made: ·
1. Grants should be made available by stakeholders, including cultural experts,
governments and language research centres, for the collection and documentation of
Nigerian indigenous languages and dialects to boost the indigenous knowledge base
of the people. The government should also endeavor to encourage and stimulate
interest in the study of indigenous languages.
2. The study of Ijebu dialects should be given a place in the curriculum of studies for
schools and universities in Nigeria. And more importantly, every parent, belonging to
this noble race should make it a compulsory affair to train and encourage the children
the easiest way of speaking and learning their dialects within and around the home, as
a way of incurring into them their cultural heritage through language identity
3. Cultural identity that unite the country and make the Nigeria calm should be
emphasized. Much emphasis should be placed on the languages and cultures that
teach tolerance, honesty, hard work and sense of self-worth coupled with sense of
acculturation and identity.
4. It is hoped that this work will act as a pivot for future researchers, especially those
who are interested in socio-cultural linguistics; it important that future researcher
should attempt to develop orthography for indigenous languages like Ijebu dialect of
the Yoruba tribe so as to case the analysis of the phonology, morphology syntax and
semantics of the indigenous languages.

38
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