Broadcasting and Endangered Language: a Study of the Perception of University of Port Harcourt Students
BROADCASTING AND ENDANGERED LANGUAGE: A STUDY OF THE PERCEPTION OF UNIVERSITY OF PORT HARCOURT STUDENTS
NJOKU JOY CHINONSO
U2007/1825614
LINGUSTICS AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Language can be defined as a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area or the same cultural tradition (Dictionary.com 1989). It is a human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols (Richard Nordquist 2001). It is an important channel of cultural expression and preservation of social values, including personal and national identities (Levi Obijiofor 2011).
Terralingua (2000) divides languages into the following three groups - moribund (no longer learned by children), endangered (those which will soon cease to be learned by children) and safe (neither moribund nor endangered). In this project Endangered Language refers to both moribund and endangered languages in the Terralingua classification.
The rapid increase in language extinction can be seen to be largely as a result of globalization and neocolonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages (Goldstein, R. A. (Feb 2012). This type of loss of language can be looked at in reference to Charles Darwin 's theory of "survival of the fittest" (Lawrence Baines 2012). The more commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages and therefore, the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear from populations (Lawrence Baines 2012). It is a known fact that among the social structures gravely threatened by globalization is language and communication. In this area, globalization presents an amazing paradox of development –it is an ideology that not only reinforces the hegemony of ex-colonial languages such as English but
NJOKU JOY CHINONSO
U2007/1825614
LINGUSTICS AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Language can be defined as a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area or the same cultural tradition (Dictionary.com 1989). It is a human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols (Richard Nordquist 2001). It is an important channel of cultural expression and preservation of social values, including personal and national identities (Levi Obijiofor 2011).
Terralingua (2000) divides languages into the following three groups - moribund (no longer learned by children), endangered (those which will soon cease to be learned by children) and safe (neither moribund nor endangered). In this project Endangered Language refers to both moribund and endangered languages in the Terralingua classification.
The rapid increase in language extinction can be seen to be largely as a result of globalization and neocolonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages (Goldstein, R. A. (Feb 2012). This type of loss of language can be looked at in reference to Charles Darwin 's theory of "survival of the fittest" (Lawrence Baines 2012). The more commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages and therefore, the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear from populations (Lawrence Baines 2012). It is a known fact that among the social structures gravely threatened by globalization is language and communication. In this area, globalization presents an amazing paradox of development –it is an ideology that not only reinforces the hegemony of ex-colonial languages such as English but
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