The Sociolinguistic Context of Multilingualism and Language Maintenance in a Border Suburb, Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

This study observed the maintenance or otherwise of the languages in use in Saki, a border suburb in southwest, Nigeria. A total of 1200 questionnaires were administered at home, markets, schools, religious gatherings and offices and 1179 were retrieved. The theoretical framework adopted for the study is the Domain of Language Behaviour propounded by Fishman (1972). To find out the maintenance or otherwise of the languages in use in Saki, analyses of the pattern of language use in different domains were conducted. The result confirmed the words of some other previous scholars that the language situation of multilingual communities cannot be predicted as the result showed that despite the conglomeration of different languages in Saki, Yoruba the in-group language of the people extended its utility in all the domains of language use. The result showed that historical, cultural, and social factors contributed to the maintenance of Yoruba in this area. Other researchers should study sociolinguistic features such as code-mixing, code-switching and language variation in the selected border town, especially among the immigrants.