Title: A Study Of The Eggon Language Shift In Masaka, Nasarawa Environs
Authors: Kabiru Sani Musa
Volume: 9
Issue: 9
Pages: 319-328
Publication Date: 2025/09/28
Abstract:
Language has life, and it expands and recedes as a result of the increase or decrease it acquires in terms of speakers. A language is said to suffer language shift when it goes through a consistent reduction in use and functionality. This happens, when the speakers of a given language consider another language more functionally viable than theirs. Hence, this causes them to lose their own language to that of others. According to Afreen (2013:2) "in a multilingual society the majority language erodes the minority language. This situation is commonly regarded as language shift. "Language shift occurs primarily in unstable or asymmetrical bi- or multilingual contexts in which one speech community gradually changes from the habitual use of one language to that of another," (Weinrich, 1953:68). Dorian (1982:44) considers language shift as "the gradual displacement of one language by another in the lives of a community of speakers." In the view of Jaspert and Kroon (1993:293), "language shift is the gradual displacement of a language in a community where it used to be spoken." Aitchison (1991:2) observes that in language shift, " one of two things is likely to happen. First, speakers of the old language will continue speaking it, but will gradually import forms and constructions from the socially dominant language." Katika-Ningish and Ross (2018:22) opines that language shift is "the process of making meaning realized in two or more languages, incorporating popular concepts such as code-switching and translanguaging." Defining language shift, Ravindranath (2008:1) posits that "language shift is the process by which a speech community in contact situation (i.e. consisting of bilingual speakers) gradually stop using one of its two languages in favour of the other." A significant number of works has been done on language shift. There are also studies on the Eggon language, only that the works are not on language shift. The works are on the analysis of complementation in the language. Also, there is a work on the influence of Hausa on other Nassarawa State languages from the perspective of lexical borrowing. The languages studied comprise the Eggon language. Thus, this work examines the Eggon language from the perspective of language shift.