LANGUAGE PLANNING AS A SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABLE: THE NIGERIAN CONTEXT (original) (raw)

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH,
FACULTY OF ARTS,

UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, P.M.B. 1515,
ILORIN, KWARA STATE.

MOTTO: “PROBITAS-DOCTRINA”
SESSION: 2014/2015

COURSE TITTLE: THE SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF ENGLISH
COURSE CODE: ENG664

LECTURER: DR. M. A. ADEDIMEJI

AREA RESEARCH QUESTION: LANGUAGE PLANNING AS A SOCIOLINGUISTIC VARIABLE

BY

MBA LUKE IKEMEFUNA 09/15CD050
5TH5^{\mathrm{TH}} MAY, 2015

Abstract

The role language plays in any speech community cannot be overemphasised. Language can cause or prevent wars; unite or divide a group; create understanding among people or inflame prejudice among them. In a multilingual context where many languages are existing side by side and are competing for survival and prominence, there is always a need to embark on a goal oriented activity in order to assign functional roles to these languages. This goal oriented activity is called language planning - the systematic, organised pursuit of solutions to language problems. It is usually embarked on for the purpose of solving language or languagerelated problems in a multilingual context. This study was carried out in order to examine the concept of language planning as a sociolinguistic concept. Language planning variables, in relation to a multilingual context like Nigeria, were examined. Findings indicate that language is an integral part of nation building, and if languages in a multilingual context are allowed to exist without proper planning, the implication could be devastating. Therefore, even though language is a fundamental part of any human society how it aids national unity and development largely depends on the role assigned to it.

1.0 Introduction

When language is said to play a pivotal role in nation building, it means inter alia that it is often the basis for national unification and national cohesion. The first recorded instance of disintegration, as we have in the Holy Bible (Genesis 11:1-9), occurred when man started speaking different languages. This made them to stop their “fool-hardy” project (Tower of Babel), which had attained an enviable height when they were speaking a common tongue. As such, for any nation to be developed, they must be united, and for them to be united they must be one and speak with a “common voice” (not necessarily the same language). In a multilingual context where many languages are spoken by different ethnic groups, there is often language conflict (when a crisis is directly or indirectly triggered by language). Some nations have experienced language conflict as well as its negative implication. For instance, language conflict was part of the reasons that led to the civil war in Pakistan in March 1971. The war ultimately led to the separation of Eastern Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from Pakistan in December1971. The language conflict in Belgium was only resolved when the government decided to adopt Flemish, French and German as the official languages and languages of the media. Language conflict arose some time ago in Canada between the French minority speakers and the English majority speakers. The conflict was so severe but was only curbed when the government came up with a policy which states that the medium of instruction in schools for the English majority speakers should be French. The implications of language conflict can sometimes be overwhelming (in the case of Pakistan) and sometimes not too severe in the cases of Belgium and Canada. But these conflicts are better avoided. Therefore, in order to avoid language and language-related problems in a multilingual context, there is a need to embark on goal oriented activity. This goal-oriented activity is known as language planning, and it is usually undertaken by the government.

2.0 What is Language?

Language is human specific system of communication. Animals too can communicate with members of their species, but they do not have language. According to Crystal (1997) their systems of communication are fixed and rigid. For instance,
an ape gibbers, an ass brays, a bee hums, a bird chirps/sings, a cat purrs/meows, a dog barks, a donkey brays, an elephant trumpets, a frog croaks, a goat bleats, a horse neighs, a hyena screams, a lion roars, a mouse squeaks, an owl hoots and we can continue on and on. But a human being talks, and he/she can even imitate all other

creatures by braying, humming, singing, croaking, barking, grunting, etc. A parrot or a mynah may ‘talk’ in a fashion, but it is not possible to discuss a subject with a talking bird. Man is thus the only creature that uses language intentionally and habitually. This is why it has been an object of fascination and object of serious enquiry for more than two hundred years (cited in Adedimeji, 2012).

Crystal (1997) defines language as the systematic, conventional use of signs, sounds and written symbols in a human community for communication and self-expression. To Cruse (1990, p. 140) “a language is a system of conventional signs all aspects of whose structure - phonology, morphology, syntax, or whatever-exist ultimately to serve the sovereign function of conveying meaning.” Also, Watson and Hill (1993, p. 17, cited in Osisanwo 2008) define language as “a system of signs and representations, arranged by codes and articulated through various discourses”. Language, then, is shared, meaningful, symbolic, rule-governed, conventional, arbitrary, systematic and creative, among other features. Language is universal: wherever man exists, language exists. It is dynamic and runs through all cultures and it is also culturally transmitted. It is a property of man. Language is productive and can account for the experience of its users. All languages are equal; albeit, it does not necessarily mean they are equal functionally.

Brown and Yule (1983) identify two basic functions of language: transactional and interactional function. Transactional function is observed in the use of language to pass information and give instruction, while interactional function has to do with the use of language to establish and maintain social relationship. To Halliday (1985), language is used in any social context to perform three contextual functions he calls “Metafunction”. These are ideational (further divided into logical and experiential), interpersonal and textual functions. The ideational function of language has to do with using language to express content or message in an understandable manner by an individual. The interpersonal function is observed in the use of language for interaction among people. The use of language to create text through which a link is made between language and situation is the concern of the textual function. Adedimeji (2004a, cited in Adedimeji 2012) identified four systemic functions of language. He says language forms, language informs, language reforms and language transforms.

3.0 What is Planning?

Ideally, planning precedes all activities. He who fails to plan is planning to fail; and

prior planning, they say, prevents poor performance. Planning is therefore a detailed scheme, method for obtaining objectives. The Encarta English dictionary (2009) defines planning as a “system for achieving objective: a method of doing something that is worked out in advance.” Planning therefore is a process; planning is an arrangement; planning is organisation; planning is a scheme all put in place to attain certain objectives.

4.0 Language Planning

Hudson (1996, p. 1) defines sociolinguistics as “the study of language in relation to the society.” Sociolinguists are concerned, among other things, with the functional roles assigned to languages in a society; to put it in another way, how languages existing in a multilingual context are planned. The term ‘language planning’ was introduced by the American linguist Einar Haugen in the late 1950s (Babatunde 2013). According to Haugen, language planning refers to all conscious efforts that aim at changing the linguistic behaviour of a speech community. Fishman (1974), similarly, says language planning refers to efforts to deliberately affect the status, structure, or acquisition of languages. Language planning, to Akindele and Adegbite (1999), is a deliberate activity systematically designed to select from, organise and develop the language resources of a community in order to enhance the utilisation of such resources for development. Language planning can therefore be described as a deliberate effort to influence the function, structure or acquisition of a language within a speech community.

Language planning processes is usually carried out by the government but sometimes by non-governmental organisations or even individuals. In a multilingual context, a government undergo language planning activities in order to determine the educational and linguistic policies of a country. Often, in the language planning process, historical, political, ethnic, racial, social, and economic issues involving the current relationships among groups living in a country are taken into consideration. Before language planning there are usually needs or rather factors that can prompt the government to actually embark on such goal oriented activity. But before looking at the need for language planning, efforts will be made to distinguish between language planning and language policy. These two terms are often used inter-changeably but they do not mean the same thing.

5.0 The Difference between Language Planning and Language Policy

When we are talking about language planning we can subsume it under the general field of social planning which are carried out by the government. These social planning activities include a wide range of public-policy that concerns employment, taxation policies housing, immigration and even foreign policies. Language planning entails a statement of goals as well as a programme (plan) to achieve those goals. Language policy, according to Tollefson (2011, p. 357), “refers to explicit or implicit language planning by official bodies, such as ministries of education, workplace managers, or school administrators.” Language policies is concerned with the rules for language structure, its use, and its acquisition, established and implemented within nation-states or institutions such as schools and workplaces. Such guidelines or rules may be explicitly specified in official documents (e.g. a constitution) or implicitly understood, without a written statement. Language policy generally refers to the more general linguistic, political and social goals underlying the actual language planning process. It is a deliberate effort to mandate specific language behaviours in particular contexts.

Language planning usually precedes language policy formulation. As such language policy depends on language planning for effective implementation. It is after languages are planned that the outcomes of the planning are made policies. Finally, language policy is a deliberate effort; an official and deliberate allocation of roles to languages in a multilingual speech community that speak different language. It is based on the survey of language planners.

6.0 Why the Need for Language Planning?

There is no nation on earth that can pass as a monolingual nation. This is because the world as we have it today is a global village. People from different parts of the globe are in contact. In fact there is no country on earth that has not been in contact with another, and people move (migration: emigration and immigration) from one country or even continent to another. However, some countries speak predominantly just one language, while other languages barely exist (functionally) or perform ancillary function. Such countries in the world include Korea, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia etc. There are hardly any language related problems there. This is because only one language is predominant in such societies. However, when there is more than one language in a particular society such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Canada, Belgium, etc. there are bound to be language or

language-related problems. Such problems include the choice of lingua franca, which language to adopt as a national language, official language, language in education etc. It is the function of the government to allocate functions to the various languages existing in its domain. Therefore, to address the issue of language or language-related problems, government need to make some plans and implement some policies. This is done in the form of language planning.

One of the main reasons why language planning is embarked on is to avoid conflicts. When the languages spoken in a particular nation are assigned functional roles, it helps to bring order into the language situation of that nation. Languages in a multilingual context will not struggle for domination and survival; thereby preventing possible language conflict that could hinder national unity and cohesion.

Secondly, proper planning helps to avoid the extinction of minority languages. This is because the minority languages will be developed in terms of orthography, metalanguage, modernisation of numerals and literary texts will be created in them. Thereby empowering them functionally and making them a point of reference.

Thirdly, language planning will ensure that there is no marginalisation of any group. This is because once functional roles are assigned to all languages in a multilingual context, it means that those groups speaking that language are being carried along in terms of national development.

Another implication of an effective language planning policy is that individuals in that society are likely going to be multilingual or at least bilingual. They will be proficient in at least two languages: their mother tongue, and at least one or more other languages that the language policy supports.

In any case, the need for a national language plan is also very important especially in newly formed communities or newly colonised countries that are faced with immediate decisions about which language(s) to select as the official language, the medium of instruction in schools, the language of the media, language of wider communication etc. Newly independent states in the 1950s e.g. Ghana, 1960s, e.g. Nigeria, and 1970s e.g. Mozambique were faced with such a decision. Majority of these countries however chose to continue with the existing situation, that is, adopting the colonial language (which is usually the current official language), English for Ghana and Nigeria, and Portuguese for

Mozambique, as the official language. Nigeria for instance adopted English as an official and a national language because of its multilingual nature. This decision was largely adopted because selecting any indigenous language to perform these functions might likely lead to conflict. This explains why so many former British colonies still use English as their official language.

Apart from these, Cobarrubias (1983, cited in Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 357) identifies four typical ideologies that may motivate actual decision-making in language planning in a particular society. These are linguistic assimilation, linguistic pluralism, vernacularisation and internationalisation.

Firstly, there could be a need for linguistic assimilation. This has to do with the belief that everyone, regardless of origin, should learn the dominant language of the society. For instance, in Canada, the government encourage the English majority to learn French, while the French minority speakers who reside mainly in Quebec were encouraged to learn English as well. Secondly, language planning can be motivated by the need to promote linguistic pluralism. That is, the recognition of more than one language. Most countries tend to egg on their citizens to be proficient in more than language so that all or only some aspects of life can be conducted in more than one language in a society. Examples are countries like Canada South Africa Belgium, China, Japan, etc.

Another reason why language planning is undertaken could be due to the vernacularisation. That is, the restoration or elaboration of an indigenous language and its adoption as an official language or national language. This has been attempted in Nigeria before but to no avail. Some countries have attempted this with much success. Such countries include Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia; Tok Pisin (a pidgin based English) in Papua New Guinea; Hebrew in Israel; and Tagalog (renamed Filipino) in the Philippines. Finally, language planning is often motivated by the need to adopt a non-indigenous language of wider communication either as an official language or for such purposes as education or trade, e.g., English in Nigeria, Singapore, India, Ghana, and Papua New Guinea. This is known as Internationalisation.

7.0 Problems Language Planning can Proffer Solutions to

The central focus of language planning is mainly the identification of language problems. When these problems are identified, efforts are made to resolve them. These efforts

can be a deliberate attempt to influence the roles, functions, structure or acquisition of language or language variety within a speech community. According to Alabi (2013), scholars like Omanor (1994), Dill (1968) and Haugen (1996) have identified various problems that language planning can provide solutions for. According to Dill (1968), the following are areas that language planning can provide solution for:

1. Working out ways and means of coping with the problems of lack understanding among various communities.
2. Choice of medium of instruction in the educational system and the language in which to exchange the scientific information and knowledge.
3. Possibly determining necessary restriction on the use of specific language in particular societies or circumstances.

To Omanor (1994), these are:

1. Code-selection which requires official policy formulation by the political authority.
2. Standardisation of a selected code or code variety.
3. Satisfaction of a perceived need for expanding the scope of a language.
4. Responding to the necessity for distinguishing varieties of the same code by cultivation oriented planning.

Haugen (1996) identified the following:

1. Establishment of the norms of good writing and speaking.
2. Ensuring the adequacy of the language as an expression of the identity of the users.
3. Sharpening of the language as a tool for scientific and creative thinking.

(Alabi, 2013)

8.0 Language Planning Activities

According to Weinstein (1980, p. 56, cited in Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 356), ‘Language planning is a government authorised, long term, sustained, and conscious effort to alter a language’s function in a society for the purpose of solving communication problems.’ It may involve assessing resources, complex decision-making, the assignment of different functions to different languages or varieties of a language in a community, and the commitment of valuable resources. That attempt may focus on either its status with regards to some other language or variety or its internal condition with a view to changing that condition, or on both

of these since they are not mutually exclusive. The first results focus on status planning; the second results on corpus planning.

8.1 Status planning

Status planning has to do mainly with changing the function of a language or a variety of a language and the rights of those who use it. It is the allocation or re-allocation of a language or variety to functional domain within a society, which affects the status or standing of a language. The status of a language is the position of that language vis-à-vis other languages. In brief, status planning refers to all efforts to change the use and function (either to narrow or broaden the function and use) of a language or its variety within a given community. For example, when speakers of a minority language like Tiv are denied the use of that language in educating their children, their language has no status. Alternatively, when Nigerian government declares that henceforth Tiv will be officially recognised as an official language and the medium of instruction, in addition to English, in schools, Tiv has therefore gained a new status.

8.2 Corpus planning

Corpus planning on the other hand, seeks to develop a variety of a language or a language, usually to standardise it or to provide it with the means for serving every possible language function in society. Corpus planning may involve such matters as the development of an orthography, new sources of vocabulary, dictionaries, and a literature, together with the deliberate cultivation of new uses so that the language may extend its use into such areas as government, education, and trade. Corpus activity as such involves activities taken to ensure that the language itself is modified to conform to the demands made on it by its function.

9.0 The Language Planning Processes

There are four other activities involved in language planning processes. These can be divided into four stages: norm selection, codification, implementation and evaluation.
i. Norm Selection: this is more of a status activity. It refers to the choice of language variety to fulfil particular functions in a given society. For example, a language or its variety may be chosen to serve as medium of instruction, official language, language of religion and so on. In Nigeria, the English language serves as the medium of

instruction in schools and the nation’s official language. The three main indigenous languages Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa, have certain roles, particularly in each states of the nation where they are spoken.
ii. Codification: this refers to the creation of a linguistic standard or norm for a selected language or variety of a language. This process is commonly divided into: graphisation, (the development of writing system), grammatisation (deciding on the rules/norms of grammar), and lexicalisation (identifying the vocabulary). These make the selected language accessible; thereby making it the standard and the reference point.
iii. Implementation: at the implementation stage, the socio-political realisation of the decision made in the stages of selection and codification is realised. This includes the production of books, pamphlets, newspapers and textbooks in the newly codified language as well as its introduction into new domains such as education, mass media and so on.
iv. Evaluation: this involves looking at the three stages above and reviewing how effective these proposed solutions have been. If the proposed solutions are effective, then efforts should be made to maintain the standard; if otherwise, then the process is reviewed and revised, while alternative approaches might be considered.

Rubin (1979, cited in Alabi, 2013) says that in language planning, “goals are established, means are selected and outcomes are predicted in a systematic and explicit manner”. He further asserts that language planning involves the following steps:

1. A carefully researched and documented identification of language problems.
2. A plan of the various ways of tackling the problems and the possible outcomes are drawn up too.
3. A policy is taken followed by implementation with a careful evaluation of each stage of the entire operation.

Rubin further stresses that these three approaches entails the presence of a central authority: the government.

10. Language Categorisation

The language policy has a way of narrowing down languages in a nation. This done by grouping the languages and assigning various functions to them. This is done in a bid to

impose order in a situation of disorderliness. The process of grouping and assigning functions to languages is called language categorisation.

Language categorisation has to do with assigning different roles to different languages in a nation. It is a physical indication of status decisions.

Pitfalls to be avoided in language categorisation

1. An exaggerated promotion of the languages of colonial masters i.e. English at the detriment of the indigenous languages should be avoided. This is the situation in Nigeria today. English is highly elevated revered while the “local” languages are relegated and downgraded.
2. Ensure the development of the indigenous languages to ascertain the promotion of planned functional multilingualism in the country.
3. Ensure that the majority languages do not smoother or kill the minority languages. This is imperative in order to avoid a situation whereby speakers of the minority do not have a feeling of discrimination and marginalisation. There must be a balance of linguistic power and this can only be achieved by empowering minority languages.

If these pitfalls are avoided, the implication is that there will be relatively a linguistic balance. This will in turn promote peace which ensures the socio-political stability that is needed for the development of the nation.

Meanwhile, the languages spoken in any nation can be categorised into four: majority language, minority language, official language and foreign language.

1. Official language: this is the language of education, politics, administration, mass media, judiciary etc. The official language in Nigeria is English. Some countries have more than one official language. This is called co-official language e.g. Egypt (Arab/French), Canada (English/French), Belgium (French/Flemish/German), Tanzania (Swahili and English) etc.
2. Foreign languages: these are language that perform side roles beside the official language. They support the official language. In Nigeria, French and Arabic are categorised as foreign languages. They are used in international relation.
3. Majority languages: these are considered to be those languages that have the largest numbers of speakers in a community or a nation. The size of speakers is a good

yardstick for measuring a majority or even a minority language. Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba are regarded as majority languages in Nigeria.
4. Minority languages: these are languages spoken by a few number of people. They are usually the dominated languages, and they strive with the majority languages for recognition. The domination might be in terms of political or economic domination. Examples of minority language in Nigeria include Efik, Idoma, Igala, Nupe, Afrike, Ijaw, Itsekiri etc.

11. Language planning and the survival of minority languages:

Taking Nigeria as a case study, since independence, Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba are the three major ethnic groups dominating all spheres of life i.e. politics, economy, and in terms of population as well. They impose their languages on other language speakers. Language domination however leads to language death/shift/attrition: a situation in which certain minority languages due to lack of use or discrimination over time ceases to exist or gradually go into extinction. The following strategies can be adopted to ensure the survival of minority languages:

1. Cultural promotion: language and culture share a symbiotic relationship. If a particular culture is promoted, the language of that culture is promoted as well.
2. Linguistic empowerment: the language should be codified; its numeral system and metalanguage should also be developed. Production of literary works or books in them should be encouraged.
3. They should be used as the medium of instruction in schools
4. There use in government, media and commerce should be encouraged.
5. Status: functional roles should be assigned to the minority languages.
6. Bilingualism and multilingualism should be encouraged. This can be done through linguistic assimilation, pluralism vernacularisation and internationalisation.
7. Attitude: no language is inferior. Therefore of speakers, especially speakers of minority languages must be a positive attitude.

12. Language Planning in the Nigerian Context

Multilingualism is the art of using multiple languages by an individual speaker or by a community. It is a result or form of language contact and it arises in societies where different languages co-exist in specific patterns. It is the current linguistic phenomenon in almost all

the regions of the world. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Singapore, South Africa, Belgium, Switzerland, etc. are examples of a multilingual nation. Nigeria in particular is a conglomerate of many languages and cultures; current researches put it that she has more than five hundred (500) language. Three main languages Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba (from the three dominant groups) have been identified. Twelve further languages were also identified, viz., Ijaw, Efik, Jukun, Kanuri, Ibibio, Idoma, Nupe, Fulfulde, Edo, Ebira, Igala, Tiv and Edo as minor majority languages.

Nigeria has a multilingual language policy. This means that it recognises not only one but many languages as the languages of communication in the country. English is generally recognised as the official language and it is the medium of instruction from primary three or four to the highest level of education in Nigeria. According to the official document of the National Policy on Education first published in 1977, revised in 1981, the Nigerian language policy gives a pride of place to three regional languages, viz., Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba, and calls them national language. The policy allows the language of a child’s immediate environment or the child’s mother tongue or both to be used for the initial education of a child from the pre-primary to primary three. During that period, English language is just a language in the curriculum. French and Arabic exist under the policy as language options at both the Junior and Senior Secondary School levels. Efforts to assign more functional roles to the indigenous languages have been to no avail.

13. Factors that militates against Effective Language Planning in Nigeria

Firstly, one of the main factors militating against effective language planning in Nigeria is finance. There are about 500 languages in Nigeria, and most are not developed. Due to inadequate funds, not all language can be developed; some will have to be picked and others jettisoned. But because people attach so much sentiment to their languages, this could easily lead to rivalry. This is part of the reason the National Language Centre has made limited progress.

Secondly, size is another factor that is affecting the effective language planning in Nigeria. There is no official tally or reliable source for the number of languages we have in Nigeria, and the number of people who speak each language in the country. Hansford, Bender-Samuel, Stanford (1976, cited in Alabi, 2013) say we have 394 languages. This figure was however modified by Dr Roger Bleach as 452. But the tally may be as low as the 250 at which some investigators have approximately put it while others claim we have about 500.

This has been a perennial problem: the inability to determine the exact number of languages that are spoken. Partially contributing to this problem is the inability to draw a line between those to be called languages and those to refer to as dialect. Even most of those who speak dialects refuse to accept that what they speak is merely a variety of another language.

Another factor that serves as constraint in Nigeria’s national language planning is the state of development of most of the indigenous languages. It is only a language that is developed or relatively developed that can be assigned functional roles. Except for Hausa, Yoruba and maybe Igbo, the state of development of most of the indigenous languages are very low. Some of them barely have written forms before any language can be assigned any functional role in any context, it means, inter alia, that the language must be graphisized (orthography form), standardised (there must be a standard dialect), the numeration system must be modernised, and literary materials must be produced in them.

Politics is another major factor militating against a proper language planning. The interrelationship between language and politics in general and the political significance of a particular language in a particular situation constitute an important area of interest in sociolinguistics. Nigerians generally perceive language as a mark of ethnicity; the promotion of a particular ethnic language connotes the promotion of the corresponding ethnic group itself. The promotion of such language is usually viewed with suspicion by those who do not fall in the category of Lispeakers of the promoted language. Thus, any government policy that appeared to favour it would encounter serious and damaging opposition.

14. Summary and Conclusion

In this study, efforts have been made to examine the concept of language planning as a sociolinguistic concept. The significance of planning were highlighted as well as various planning activities and processes. After looking at categorisation, the researcher also examined the multilingual situation and the roles assigned to various languages are assigned. In sum, language can be found in all fabrics of human life. As such, it is a tool which can be processed and also susceptible to its use. In a multilingual set up like Nigeria, where we have several languages, language planning is necessary. This is because many indigenous languages and foreign languages co-exist. These languages should not be left to develop or survive on their own. If they are left alone to survive, it will give us a typical state or situation where only the fittest survives. The fittest in this case maybe those languages that have the highest number of speakers; those that have political power (and can easily use the tools of

government to make proclamation in order to enhance the influence of their), those that have economic power. It is the duty of the government to carry out result oriented language policies and make proper planning.

Language is an integral part of man. Anyone without the ability to use language for communication and self-expression is at best in a partial existence. Language development equals human development, and human development will lead to societal development. Therefore, it can be concluded that efforts in language planning, which are efforts largely channelled towards developing language and solving language and language-related problems in a society, are efforts in the right direction for the complete development of such a society.

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