Indigenous Languages and Identity: A Socio-Linguistic Overview of Igbo Language

Résumé

Language is the most pertinent information and communication, characteristics of all human beings. It is a powerful, as well as, a great instrument for cultural transmission and preservation. Communities in the world are made up of many languages and each of these languages is being used to identify one speech community or race. Indigenous language or autochthonous language is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous people, often reduced to a status of a minority language. Igbo language is one of those indigenous languages used by Igbo for communication. Recently, the use of this language is diminishing as the Igbo people prefer to speak other languages like English or even French, in place of their mother tongue (Igbo language). This phenomenon has constituted a threat to Igbo language. Some of the effects of this language abandonment include loss of the people’s identity, collapse of Igbo culture because they no longer use their language in rites and rituals. This paper is therefore aimed at highlighting the importance and effective use of Igbo language as a major form of Igbo identity by the Igbo. A lost language is a lost identity and that amounts to a lost race and generation. The paper sourced data from primary and secondary sources. A framework was formulated to direct research effort on the development and study of Igbo language, the relationship between Igbo language and culture, the importance of Igbo language as a major form of Igbo identity, the place of Igbo language in the minds of the present Igbo and factors militating against the growth of the language and finally recommendations were given.