VEJOH - VERITAS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES

This paper historicized the word 'development', interrogated the construct called 'development' and defined the nexus between language and 'development' within the Nigerian socio-cultural, economic and political milieu. The paper underscored why the efforts at national development have been hampered because of the inability of 'development' experts, policy makers and implementers to come to terms with the linguistics of development and development linguistics. It is argued in this paper that Nigeria needs to rethink its development discourses and paradigms not only by understanding and contextualizing the term 'development' but also by understanding that language matters in development discourse and that as long as the language factor is not placed at the centre of development discourse, the yearning for national development may remain an agonizing mirage. The paper identified some linguistic imperatives as triggers for development in Nigeria which include among others, the need for the enactment of an enlightened and pragmatic language policy for national development which encapsulates the following: looking beyond the linguistic tripod in Nigeria, encouragement of linguistic egalitarianism and promotion of localized trilingualism, advocacy for the right to language and the right of language, and the promotion of linguistic conversation between and among languages in Nigeria and across the world as well as translanguaging.

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