Endangerment scenario: The case of Yorùbá

California Linguistic Notes Volume XXXIII, No. 1 Winter, 2008 Adeleke A. Fakoya Lagos State University Lagos, Nigeria Endangerment scenario: The case of Yor b Abstract. Numerous perils, including death, may befall a language and render its growth or relevance somewhat pointless, leading to the birth of a population with little regard for their own languages and an untamed interest in a foreign tongue and culture. The Yor b language currently suffering from numerous perilous factors is purportedly spoken by more than 22 million people (Sachnine 1997), a figure that ordinarily should ensure its strength and survival for many more years to come. However, statistics obtained for this paper demonstrates that most modern speakers of Yor b : 1) cannot perform purely in the language without using the crutches offered by the English language 2) hardly enrich their talk with the legacy of proverbs and axioms 3) do not know the meanings encoded in their own names 4) have totally lost contact with their ecological heritage.

the subject will be better understood if discussed in the broader context of language vitality, with more attention paid to factors which lie in the changing socio-economic conditions to which speakers respond adaptively for their survival.

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  Language, Case, Scenarios, Vitality, The case of, Endangerment, Endangerment scenario, Language vitality

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