Multilingualism an Asset to National Development: Nigeria in Focus

International Journal of Sustainability in Research (IJSR) Vol. 2, No. 1 2024: 147-170 Multilingualism an Asset to National Development: Nigeria in Focus Lilian Oluchi1*, Udushirinwa Ijeoma Onyinyechi2, Nnani Henrietta Nonye3 Department of English Language and Literature, Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria Corresponding Author: Lilian Oluchi ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Multilingualism, Assest, National Development Linguistic diversity in the world today has been an issue of growing social importance because a majority of all living languages are threaded in their continued existence. This brought about this research work: “Multilingualism as an asset to national development, a study of Nigeria”. the main aim of this research work is to appreciate the idea that multilingualism may be an asset of national development or a liability, to find a way of supporting it, the equilibrium points between multilingualism and national development, to give it some valuable suggestions which might be of help in language planning in a multilingual and multicultural setting like Nigeria. to bring this to the limelight, some research works were carried out as the researcher shared out some questionnaires, of which the respondents were a total of one hundred copies were collected for the research, the respondent is the students of English department and from other departments in Madonna University Okija. With a percentage and a frequency table, the data were properly analyzed. The outcome or result obtained showed that multilingualism or linguistic diversity did not project or promote disintegration in the country; rather the linguistic diversity in Nigeria has been a national resource that helped to move the country forward and not take multilingualism to be an instrument for national disintegration. In conclusion, the researcher made some recommendations that both the people at the helm of affairs should help in promoting national development through the use of multilingual policy in the country and the dissemination of information materials to the public like newspapers, posters, computer applications and programs to promote multilingualism. Received : 21, November Revised : 22, December Accepted: 30, January ©2024 Oluchi, Onyinyechi, Nonye: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Atribusi 4.0 Internasional. DOI: https://doi.org/10.59890/ijsr.v2i1.1264 ( ISSN-E: 3025-7379 https://journal.multitechpublisher.com/index.php/ijsr 147 Oluchi, Onyinyechi, Nonye INTRODUCTION It is generally believed that every human survives with different activities with the help of different languages that are well handled. Languages can also be taken as a mere vehicle of thought. Language is also characterized by a set of arbitrary symbols. That is, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the object and the symbols which stand for it. The meaning attached to any object in any human society is purely arbitrary. For instance, the fact that an object is referred to as a book in English does not mean that there is something special about it that makes it a book. The same object is called “two” in Yoruba. Human language is conventional. This means that a symbol acquired meaning by convention or written agreement within a speech community. There is no inherent or obvious relationship between a symbol “key” and what it stands for. It is simply that the English society agrees that such an object be called “key” the same agreement makes the Hausa. For instance, to call the same object “amakulli”. Man uses language to communicate his thoughts, inner feelings and personal psychological experiences. To establish social relationships language is used, for instance, to greet the function is phatic rather than informative it does not contribute anything to the content of the ongoing discourse but only serves as a means of structural discourse. One of the important concepts developed in the process of studying the sociology of language is the speech community and the notion of language is the speech community and the notion of speech functions or speech acts and the notion of speech functions or speech acts. In order words, he explored the type of community. For instance, issues like language of the social class and the relationship between language and culture were differential. In addition, the sociology of language looks at all forms of interactions that go on within a society and the stages, procedures and procedures characteristics of such interactions. The term multilingual means speaking or using several different languages, in a multilingual nation. “Multilingualism is a co-existence of many languages in one nation” For instance in Nigeria certain languages are characterized as major while others are tagged as minor. Similarly, some languages are characterized as national, or official while some are regarded as lingua franca or regional. The attitude of society to each of these languages determines the functions assigned to them. Thus, the English language, for instance in Nigeria is considered a national language of some sort while Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo are considered as other forms of national languages. It also determines what language is second or foreign and which is the language of politics, trade commerce and of course science and technology. It is also believed that there are no monolingual states because even homogenous nations such as Poland and Japan have citizens whose main language varieties or linguistic diversity is one of many valuable attributes of the nation. Since Nigeria is the study of this work, we have estimated the number of about four hundred to four hundred and fifty ethnic languages and more than that number of idiolects. For instance, in Nigeria today, there is a language policy, document which also stipulates planning of such available languages in the country. For example, the policy states that education during the early years 148 International Journal of Sustainability in Research (IJSR) Vol. 2, No. 1 2024: 147-170 should be in the mother tongue, while the English language should be taught as a subject. In carrying out this policy, planning is taken into consideration. That is making provisions for teachers, equipment and other necessary things required for carrying out the moth tongue education policy. Having language variants should not be seen as a problem but we should see “multilingualism in Nigeria as an essential quality which can be effectively harnessed for national development” language policy and planning which consider language problems of nations, language in education and language selection and graphication. Each language in any society ought to have its standard form; hence we have standard Igbo, Efik, Hausa Yoruba and English in speech communities where they are used. Nigeria English for instance, is expected to have its standard which will be acceptable not only t (...truncated)