EBONYI JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE
EJLLS Publication
EJLLS| Title: | Publishing in Yoruba Language: Considerations from Demand and Supply Economic Theory |
| Author(s): | Samson Olusola Olatunji |
| Abstract: | This descriptive survey of the ex post type was carried out to find a statistical explanation to the leanness of Nigerian publishers’ interest in producing Yoruba-medium books in comparison with the English-medium ones. Publishers do not write books and they cannot adequately patronize themselves but authors and readers do so respectively. Since authors and publishers are out to make financial gains from their endeavours, it is presumable that they would not hesitate to exploit any area of publishing that will provide sumptuous economic benefits. The reasons for the reluctance or failure to publish as many books in Yoruba as those in English were thus sought from the angles of authors and readers. Hence this study is premised on the economic theory of demand and supply. Two instruments were used for data collection. The first was a self-constructed thirteen-item questionnaire titled “Yoruba-English Bilinguals’ Reading Language Preferences Questionnaire” (YEBRLPQ) validated at 89.3 Cronbach alpha and administered to 200 bilinguals in Ibadan. The other one was a self-constructed eleven-item questionnaire titled “Yoruba-English Bilingual Authors’ Language Preference Determinants Questionnaire” (YEBALPDQ) that yielded 87.4 Cronbach Alpha administered to 25 published authors that were Yoruba-English bilingual. The statistical tools of frequency counts, percentage and t-test were employed in analysing the data collected to answer two research questions and test one null hypothesis. The findings reveal the inadequate interest in reading Yoruba-medium books by Yoruba-English bilinguals and authors’ general preference for English-medium writing as a result of its comparative economic advantage. This portends a bad omen for sustainable development of the language. |
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