| Abstract: |
For any nation to succeed there is the need for her to understand her socio-cultural realities and put them into context for a result–oriented policy formulation and development considerations. Language is a powerful instrument of thought, and since every given language is rooted in a culture, the language of a people then is vital in their way of perceiving the world and their reaction to life in general. As different cultures have different languages, so we may expect different philosophical temperaments. The implication here is that in order to understand the culture and philosophy of a people, there is the need to also understand the language which is the medium of thought. Nigeria has well over 400 indigenous languages, but the language of the Nigerian colonial masters, English, is till date used as the country’s lingua franca in spite of the stiff opposition against it. While the role of English as a unifying factor in Nigeria cannot be too stressed, the researcher is of the view that the development of African philosophy is better done with an African Indigenous language. By extension, the development of what could be termed a Nigerian philosophy as we have the English empiricism; German Idealism or American empiricism could be better realized through an indigenous language, which is a product of Nigerian culture. The historical background of Nigeria proves that it has abundant cultural endowment. In the case of Nigeria, since the adoption of one indigenous language as a lingua franca will not only result in chaos but also in the suppression or death of many cultures, this paper advocates the effective implementation of the language policy by ensuring that every Nigerian child studies the major indigenous languages of Ibo, Yoruba, and Hausa in addition to English which at the moment serves as the only language of national integration. |
EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
