1. Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to foreground the extent to which the English language has eroded the originality and purity of the Yoruba language. The main focus will be on code-switching practices, which I believe to be detrimental to Yoruba in the long run. Although linguists have long proposed a ‘leave-your-language-alone’ attitude (see Hall, Reference Hall1950), there is little doubt that the effects of first British colonization and then globalization have changed the linguistic ecology of Africa. Few sociolinguists would deny that a people's language is a symbol of their identity and culture. In an important textbook in the field, Holmes (Reference Holmes1992: 70) confirms that ‘Language is an important component of identity and culture for many groups, maintaining their distinct identity and culture is usually important to … self esteem.’ What are we then to make of the extensive code-switching that I will be documenting in this article? Linguists' tolerance has certainly extended to code-switching studies in Africa, from which much important data has been drawn. The main scholar in this area is Carol Myers-Scotton, whose two books on code-switching (Reference Myers-Scotton1993a,Reference Myers-Scottonb) were based primarily on her research in Africa and remain central to the field internationally. Scholars like Coupland and Jaworski (Reference Coupland and Jaworski1997) propose that the use of mixed speech in a conversation is not necessarily a language defect but a sign of flexibility and creativity. Understanding the social, psycholinguistic and syntactic motivations for switching is one thing, but the applied linguist and educationist also has to ask serious questions about what this means for the future of local languages heavily implicated in code-switching.
2. The position of English in Nigeria today
English was entrenched in Nigerian society mainly via colonialism; and fifty years after independence in 1960, there is no doubt that Nigerians are still indirectly under the siege of colonialism considering their political, educational and linguistic systems. The dominant role of English in politics and education is perhaps understandable. In the postcolonial era, English remains the language through which the country carries out its international transactions and through which the citizens access scientific and technological information. English also continues to function as an important language in Nigeria for internal interaction (language of education, politics and law). Equally importantly, it is the language of interethnic communication (together with Nigerian Pidgin English), serving as a social binding cord in a nation of more than 400 local languages.
So deeply has English penetrated into national life that many Nigerian parents use the language to communicate with their children and wards at home. Many children are therefore growing up bilingual in English and their mother tongue. People see English as the key to modernization, ‘civilization’ and development. For this reason, it is seen by many as a superior language to all other indigenous languages in Nigeria. So, whenever Nigerians find themselves speaking an indigenous language, there is a tendency to code-mix the language with English. This phenomenon is particularly prevalent, and indeed habitual, among the Yoruba. Code-mixing is an offshoot of bilingualism, a communicative strategy involving the spontaneous use of two codes in a conversation. The intensity and depth of code-mixed elements of English in the conversation of Yoruba speakers raises questions about the long-term effects on the latter. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for Yoruba elites in particular to speak in their language without code-mixing with English. This code-mixing is not used in connection with an inadequate knowledge of English or Yoruba. Rather, it is used as a fashion which is indexical of elite status and literacy. Code-mixing with English has become a status symbol among the Yoruba, particularly among the youth.
3. The linguistic interplay between Yoruba and English
Below are excerpts from typical conversations of Yoruba speakers, which I recorded and subsequently gained permission from the participants to use for research purposes.
Conversation A
This conversation took place in the sitting room of a young couple, who were chatting about the day's activities at work (female, 30 years; male, 34 years). Translations are given in brackets.
Speaker A: Won ti fun mi ni appointment letter ni company ti mo ti lo se interview lana.
(I have been given an appointment letter at the company where I attended an interview yesterday.)
Speaker B: Ah! Mo congratulate e o. (Ah! I congratulate you.)
Speaker A: O mean pe ma need aso office lorisirisi ni yen o. (That means I will need office clothes of different kinds.)
Speaker B: Se o ti wo account e recently?
(Have you checked your (bank) account recently?)
Speaker A: Won ni fifty thousand lo wa ni be. (I was told that there is fifty thousand in it.)
Speaker A: Ba wo ni trip e ojire. (How was your trip, by the way?)
Speaker B: Trip mi wa wonderful. Mo enjoy e gan ni.
(My trip was wonderful. I really enjoyed it.)
Conversation B
The participants in this conversation are female friends aged 35–40.
Speaker A: Make sure pe o phone mi.
(Make sure you phone me.)
Speaker B: Mi le phone e o, mo ni meeting. (I cannot phone you, I have a meeting.)
Speaker C: O difficult fun mi lati believe pe o ni wa o. (I find it difficult to believe that you will not come.)
Speaker B: O wa very very important ni. (It is very important.)
Speaker A: Ma binu. Kii se fault mi now. (Don't be angry. It is not my fault.)
Speaker C: Anyway, ko seni to wa above mistake. (Anyway, nobody is above mistakes.)
Conversation C
This is a dialogue between a male Yoruba movie producer and a Yoruba actress.
Producer: At the end of the day won sha agree pe ko play role yen. (Anyway, at the end of the day, they agreed that you should play that role.)
Actress: Ese gan ni, (Thank you very much.)
Producer: In fact, role yen ko cost e ni anything. Won a de san 400,000 thousand naira fun e. (In fact, the role does not cost you anything and you will be paid 400,000 naira.)
Actress: Mo mon, sugbon e le keep owo yen for the time being. (I know, but you can keep the money for the time being.)
Actress: So, awon wo lo maa san owo transport? (So, who will pay the transport fare?)
Producer: Awon Production Outfit yen lo ma san owo e patapata: onje, transport, accommodation ati everything. (It is the Production Outfit that will pay for all the expenses: food, transport, accommodation and everything.)
One does not have to look too hard into the data above to see how thoroughly compromised the Yoruba language has become by such deep switching evident in an expression such as ‘Make sure pe o phone mi’. Such Anglicization of the Yoruba language in the speech of young elites has certain consequences which I will discuss in the next section.
4. Implications for language maintenance
The code-mixing data raises questions about whether the link between African languages and the traditional world of sense and experience is being compromised. Certainly the usage of young urban elites seems far removed from the cultural world of their grandparents' generation. Romaine contends that where the language being code-mixed involves a powerful language like English, it is a catastrophic situation because it could be ‘a step on the way to eventual extinction of its original language’ (Reference Romaine1992: 39). Warnings about the long term future of Yoruba (and other Nigerian languages) therefore do not seem out of place. It is very difficult to legislate how bilinguals should speak, or to regulate the use of languages of prestige like English once they have taken root. But Nigerians need to be aware that indigenous languages are at a critical juncture. The only ones who use the Yoruba language regularly in undiluted form are older and rural speakers. Whilst Yoruba is relatively secure in this sector, and in fact still has some 20 million speakers, the practices of the younger elites need to be studied further. Do they only use Yoruba in code-switched forms, or are there contexts in which they too ‘unmix’ (Mesthrie 2001: 443)? It is the task of applied linguists to monitor such situations so as to ensure that Yoruba does not fall further behind in status to English. Tunde Odunlade forcefully said in a speech at the commissioning of the Marguerita Lucretia Omotoso Library and Information Centre in Ibadan on 5 August Reference Odunlade2004, ‘If you remove language from its people, all you have left is a mere geographical expression.’ The Yoruba must, as a matter of urgency, reject a situation where all they have left is ‘a mere geographical expression’.■
DR GRACE EBUNLOLA ADAMO is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Literary Studies at Kogi State University in Anyigba, Nigeria. She has a BA (Ed) and MA in English from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. She also has a PhD in English (Semiotics) from the University of Benin, Nigeria. She teaches Linguistics and Sociolinguistics (her main interests) as well as Semantics, History of English and Phonetics. She has published articles in international and national journals. Email: adamodt@yahoo.com
