Of Nigerians, Languages, and Accents

(By Uzoamaka Doris Aniunoh) - Two things I'm interested in discussing today: language and accent.

I am guilty of some problems I want to point out, but I'll talk about them regardless.

So back in Birmingham, I dated a Spanish man who was Spanish in every sense of it. Like, his English was Spanish English. His accent was Spanish. His style of cooking was Spanish. He had absolutely no problems telling me he didn't know the meaning of a very basic English word. He would use a translator to find the meaning of the word in Spanish and only then would he know what it actually means and the context it was used.

I liked his accent and even found his not-so-vast knowledge of basic English, cute.

Now, when I served in Abeokuta, it was different. I dated a Yoruba guy whose English was kinda like that of four year old, and I had no atom of patience for his nonsense.

Would it be because Nigeria is an English speaking country, and considering that the latter was my colleague at work, I expected more from him? Did I tolerate my Spanish man because, well, Spain is a Spanish speaking country? Or was there something else?

Language and National Development

Indigenous Languages and Development in Nigeria

By A. H. Amfani

1. INTRODUCTION The present Institute for Nigerian Languages of the University of Nigeria is not a new institution.  It is the former National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN).  Indeed the function and the objectives are very much the same.  Essentially, the Institute is all out to cater for the development and sustenance of all Nigerian languages.  However, under the new administration of the Institute and especially under the stewardship of Professor Clara Ikekeonwu, and in line with the vogue around, and more so one initiated by women of caliber, we shall all expect a re-branding of the entire activities of the institute.  This public lecture is part of the re-branding.

I have been called upon, in my capacity as the President of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria, to talk on the topic Indigenous Languages and Development in Nigeria.  The topic sounds simple and straight forward, but on a close examination, it is elusive and controversial.  On one hand, it is not easy to say with some degree of precision, the number of indigenous languages available in Nigeria.  On the other hand, it is equally not easy to convince people that indigenous Nigerian languages have any significant role to play in the overall development of the Nigerian nation.  My task in this talk is to try and give a picture of the indigenous Nigerian languages with a view to sensitizing Nigerians on the need to appreciate their mother tongues.  Another task is to explain how indigenous Nigerian languages can play significant roles in various sheds of development.  It must be pointed out here and now that development is a very wide concept and subsumes quite a number of issues.

Feature Film Languages and Cultural Diversity

Language of production in feature films, 2011

What do the offerings of the local cinema hall or multiplex tell us about cultural diversity in the 21^st century? According to new data from the UIS, the choices movie-goers make at the box office, as well as the language of film production, can provide a glimpse of the diversity of one of the most vibrant cultural industries.

At one end of the spectrum lies India, home of the world’s most prolific film industry, but no single language dominates it. In 2011, 16% of films were produced in Hindi. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Bengali held the remaining shares, making India the most diverse country for language of production.

In South Africa, English was the dominant language (59%), followed by Afrikaner (32%), while African languages such as Zulu represented only 5% of production.

The Arab States and sub-Saharan African regions showed the least language diversity in film production. However, this is partly due to the lack of data about movies released on DVD. In Nigeria 75% of films are produced in local languages, such as Yoruba, Hausa and Bini.