EKWE Volume 18 Number 4 2025

AN EVALUATION OF IGBO LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT AND PRESERVATION IN NIGERIA

Ngozi Clara Chinwuba
Abstract

Language is an indispensable tool of communication in every society. Societies vary, so do their languages. Each language serves the purpose of expressing the culture of the people that owns it, hence the saying that no language is better than the other. One thing that poses a problem in language discussion is the origin of any given language. By this we mean that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to tell, who first spoke Igbo language, where, when and how it was first spoken. Igbo language was left generally at the hands of generation of old parents. The researcher uses descriptive and historical theory in analyzing the data. The study covers the whole Igbo speaking regions in Nigeria. It was observed that many younger generations of Igbo and families no longer speak Igbo language. It was also stated that most Igbo persons have undesirable language attitudes and disloyalty to Igbo language. The Igbo nation is fast losing her good attributes as a result of colonization, civilization and marginalization. As a result, it is on this premise that this paper sets out to look into how the linguists and scholars can display a great loyalty to the Igbo language by sensitizing the Igbo both young and old to retrace their steps and start speaking the language in whatever engagement in their daily lives so as to rescue it from imminent death. 

Keywords:
Copyright © 2026 ACJOL.