CAJES Vol.

4 No 1 | April 2016

CAJES: Capital Journal of Educational Studies, April 4(1), page 001 – 010. ISSN: 2996 – 103X. ©2016
FCT College of Education Zuba Abuja. www.fctcoezuba.edu.ng

Exploiting Information Technology Resources in The Development of Nigerian Languages

Baba, L. N.

General Studies Department, School of Education.

Niger State College of Education, Minna.
Phone: 07036446848, Email: lydiababa@yahoo.com

(Received: January 28, 2016 and Accepted March 02, 2016)

Abstract
Information technology is the current research tool utilized in virtually all areas of human endeavour
to achieve phenomenal strides. Indigenous Nigerian languages have struggled with the problem of
relevance in a changing world, especially when juxtaposed with the roles and functions of languages
such as English, Arabic and French. In this paper we explore how we can tap into the Information
technology resources for the development of indigenous Nigerian Language in the 21st century and
beyond. Some of the challenges are the need for human and technological resources.
Recommendations include proper funding is necessary, ACALAN and NINLAN should be empowered.

Key Words: Information, technology, resource, languages

Introduction
Various groups, linguists, governments both the local, national and continental, statesmen and
women, have long recognized the fact that Nigerian (African) languages have been and that the
languages needed to be „re-invented‟ or to „reinvent‟ themselves, as it were. This situation of African
languages and the aspirations associated with these languages are encapsulated in the words of
Konare.

It is time African continent provide herself with the means to make African languages working
languages in all the fields of public life. Only this will make our regional Economic Communities true
instruments of African integration, African Union on the other hand will become a reality for our
peoples rehabilitated and reinstalled in their identity and in the historical and cultural continuity of
their areas. Thus, the vehicular cross-border languages will strengthen the relationships between the
populations, beyond the political boundaries, which should be considered, as not a separation line but
rather as stitches for the lacerated sociocultural tissue, torn to pieces 116 years ago.

Although the deplorable situation of African languages, have been so affirmed, very little has been
done, in spite of the high faulting rhetoric, to rectify it. At various stages in the history of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), plans are still being made to
utilize the indigenous languages to achieve developmental goals/targets. Sometimes, the goals have
been scuttled, and today, steps have been retraced to the necessity and relevance of fully utilizing
African languages for regional and intra-continental cooperation.

In recognition of the importance of African languages for regional integration and development, the
African Union has accepted the idea of the establishment of the African Academy of languages
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(ACALAN). We The aims, objectives and principles in ACALAN‟S Plan of Action (2002) include
the following:
 To encourage each and every member state to have a clearly defined language policy
 To ensure that all languages within the boundaries of member states are recognized and
accepted as a source of mutual enrichment.
 To liberate the African peoples from undue reliance on the utilization of non-indigenous
languages as the dominant, official language of the state in favour of the gradual take-over of
appropriate and carefully selected indigenous African languages in this domain.
 To ensure that African languages, by appropriate legal provision and practical promotion,
assume their rightful role as the means of official communication in the public affairs of each
member state in replacement of European languages which have hitherto played this role.
 To encourage the increased use of African languages as vehicles of instruction at all
educational levels.
 To ensure that all the sectors of the political and socio-economic system of each member state
are mobilized in such a manner that they play their due part in ensuring that the African
languages prescribed as official languages assume their intended role in the shortest time
possible.
 To foster and promote national, regional and continental linguistic unity in Africa in the
context of the multilingualism prevailing in most African countries.

These objectives suggest that African languages have not been fulfilling the roles that such languages
ought to play. Many of the languages are yet to be used as vehicles of instruction; many are yet to be
established as official languages and few are promoted as national, regional or continental languages.
Even many more are yet to be documented and described.

An examination of the ACALAN objectives shows that many of the over 1000 languages spoken in
Africa are not in a position to meet the stated objectives of the action plan for obvious reasons, one of
which is the status of undeveloped or underpowered languages. In the presentations that follows an
attempt will be made to explore how information technology can be used to assist the development of
Nigerian languages

Classification of Nigerian Languages

Languages spoken in Nigeria can be classified into different groups according to different criteria. For
example, classify Nigerian languages can be categories into two such as; endoglossic and exoglossic.
The endoglossic languages are those languages that are considered to be indigenous to Nigeria, note
that there over 500 languages in Grimes (2000). The exoglossic languages are those that have been
introduced from other countries into Nigeria over the years such as; Arabic, English and French other
figures given by various authors include: Crozier and Blench (1992) over 400 languages and
Ethnologue (2000) over 500 langauges in Nigeria. The Ethnologue list includes both endoglossic and
exoglossic languages. In essence shall examine the level of development of indigenous Nigerian
languages using certain indices, such as include language documentation and description, language
use and relevance, language standardization, language of instruction and media participation.

Language documentation and description

Given the number of indigenous languages, very few of them proper of documentation or description.
For some time now the best documented and described indigenous Nigerian languages are Hausa,
Igbo and Yoruba. About a handful more have been added to that list but the number remains
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insignificant in comparison to the total number of endoglossic languages spoken in Nigeria. In order
therefore to consider indigenous languages as attaining some degree of development, there is a need
for urgent documentation and description of these languages. Without documentation, not much can
be known or done scientifically about the language.
Language Use and Relevance
Fishman (1991) advocates that one way of maintaining endangered languages utilizing it by that at
home. Many indigenous languages are relegated to domestic use only i.e. at the level of the family.
But in recent times, even that role is being threatened. In a bid to provide children with what parents
regard as a head start in the fluency and mastery of the English language, parents who share a
common indigenous language now use the English language at home and indirectly encourage visitors
speak English to the children on the pretext that the children do not understand the local languages, in
traditional marriage ceremonies, award of traditional honours and recognitions, etc. many of these
functions are conducted in English language, on the pretext that Nigerian have relations and
acquaintances colleagues across the ethnic group in Nigeria, who speak different languages. Another
factors that encourages the use of English language as a means of communication among Nigerians is
Inter-ethnic marriages among Nigerians. Therefore, people argue that there is a need for the use of
common language, widely understood by the different parties-like English language. These instances
and more, suggest the rapid erosion of the traditional functions of indigenous languages in Nigeria as
a result of the changing linguistic landscape and language shift in Nigeria.
Language Standardization
A large percentage of indigenous Nigerian languages have not been codified in terms of having
orthographies, dictionaries or grammars and are therefore not standardized nor codified in any way.
Hudson (1980) agree that for a language to be considered developed, it should be standardized with an
orthography, literary works, reference materials, used as language of instruction and of the media, etc.
However only a limited number of the indigenous Nigerian languages have been standardized in not
up to fifty of over five hundred endoglossic languages spoken in Nigeria can be considered to be
standardized. When a language is standardized, it has achieved the first stage of its development and
other developmental manifestations can take root from there.
Language of Instruction and Media Participation
Although the National Language Policy on Education (NPE 2004:9) says that “every child shall learn
the language of the immediate community”. Many of our indigenous languages have not been
equipped to undertake that exercise. As has been observed in section 2.3, many of our endoglossic
languages have neither been codified nor standardized, described or reference grammars and as a
result lack trained personnel to assist the children in learning the language of his/her immediate
community. But more significantly, the NPE is careful to say that the child „shall learn‟ not „shall be
taught in‟, which introduces another dimension, i.e., using the mother tongue as a language of
instruction. As a medium or language of instruction in schools, it is only three languages viz., Hausa,
Igbo and Yoruba (and a few others) that enjoy this status. In fact, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages
are required to be taught in schools outside their geographical zones “in the interest of national
unity…” (NPE, 2004). The reason may not be far-fetched, because they are the best documented and
described; as they have language dictionaries, grammar books, literary texts, reference materials and
trained personnel necessary for such an exercise. But more is still needed in the area of Information
Technology resource utilization. Including developed endoglossic Nigerian languages.

Studies have shown that people appreciate information better and also learn better if such information
is transmitted in a language they understand Fafunwa (1975) Cited in Skutnabb-Kangas (2000). Most
Nigerians who live in the rural areas are generally monolingual or minimally bilingual. The print and
electronic media utilize English and a few indigenous languages. The majority of Nigerians obviously
 CAJES Vol. 4 No 1 | April 2016

cannot assess the information using such mediums, because the information is not conveyed in a
language they understand.

A look at Crozier and Blech‟s (1992) Cited in Grimes (2002) provide a fair idea of the level of
development regarding information about Nigerian languages. They provide information on each
language as to whether it has been written, is used in the media, has had the Bible translated into it,
number of speakers, used as language of instruction in schools, studied in higher institutions, etc. The
picture that emerges therefore is that very few of our over 400 hundred languages have achieved a
reasonable level of development, a very negligible percentage indeed. As compared the English
language another important indication of how well developed a language is, lies in the degree of
relevance of that language. It is therefore, crucial that linguistic and general public should dwell
seriously on how this issue of non-development of our indigenous languages can be urgently
addressed.

How Information Technology (IT) can assist the development of indigenous languages
Information Technology involves the processing the storage the distribution and assessment of such
information with the use of the computer, modern telecommunication and digital devices. This
suggest that information and data can now be organized electronically in the development of local
languages such as Edo, Igede, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Gbagabyi having clearly set out the need for the
development of Nigerian languages, we proposed that one way of achieving this admirable goal, to re-
position it is in order to take their rightful place in the development and integration of Nigerian
citizens, as is stated in ACALAN‟s Plan of Action, using of information technology (IT).

Such as internet world wide website (www) The internet is a flexible computer-based global
information system with many interconnected computer networks, linking thousands of computers, to
enable them share information. With the Internet it is now possible for people, businesses and
governments throughout the world to communicate quickly and inexpensively. It has a wide range of
uses including research, teaching, and taxation and shopping. The Web consists of programmes
running on many computers and permits a user to find and display multimedia (multimodal)
documents (documents with a combination of text, photographs, graphics, audio and video).

Benefits of exploiting IT resources for the development of Nigerian Languages

There are obvious advantages of utilizing IT resources for the development of Nigerian languages. An
important advantage is that of storage capacity for various kinds of information and data. Information
and data pertaining to different aspects of our languages and cultures can be stored in a limited space.
Another closely related important advantage is accessibility-the resources and materials available on
the various languages are readily and easily accessible with a click of the mouse or button. It will raise
the level of awareness of the language speakers about their languages and materials available for
teaching and learning this language. Owners of languages will also have a sense of pride that their
language is part of a recognized and appreciated global cultural heritage. When Nigerian languages
are easily accessible, it means that these languages and cultures are given wide promotion and
publicity, thus generating more interest from people to carry out research on various aspects of local
languages, for national development.

Ways of exploiting information technology (it) resources for the development of Nigerian
Languages
According to Fishman (1991) Lack of frequent use of indigenous languages in the domestic and
formal settings has been identified as one area that militates against the development of these
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languages. The situation can be reversed if the members of a speech community are sensitized to the
importance of their language. Government programmes can be translated into the local languages to
make them have more impact on the community. This falls in the area of cyber information
dissemination. Using the current IT resources, community radio stations and information centres can
be set up to disseminate information to the people in their local languages. The India‟s Simputer
project, which provides information to local communities in at a rate affordable to members of the
local language communities is an example. The simputer is “a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by
which the benefits of IT can reach the common man”. It is especially suitable for the third world with
high illiteracy rates www.simputer.org. The advantages of PC are multifaceted-apart from
disseminating information on developmental programmes from government and other agencies or
other programmes of community interest, it also makes people in the rural areas aware of IT resources
the benefits of and how they can utilize the resources for community development. Much of these
falls into what Crystal (2000:142) calls giving a public profile‟ to language or making the language
more visible.

The bane of development generally in Nigeria is the absence or reliable statistics. Language statistics
is not excluded from this national dilemma. Of the 515 Nigerian languages According to Grimes
(2000), very few have been documented or described. In fact, accurate census of Nigerian languages
is not known. Tapping into the IT resources available can minimize the problem. We can now
document these languages computationally using IT resources. Computationally documenting these
languages will have a spiraling effect on other areas of language development. For instance, it will be
possible to provide useful descriptions of the languages and development of various language
resources based on the information obtained in the documentation project. Computational
documentation of languages presupposes the presence of computers and other IT tools such as the
Internet and the World Wide Web. (www)

Another advantage of utilizing IT resources is the possibility and practice of resource sharing, which
reduces the cost of having to replicate resources available on the Internet, teachings and learning these
languages on local, national and continental levels are feasible and easier. In order to effectively
develop our languages using IT resources, there is a need to create a large corpora building up a
database of information on all our languages from speeches, recorded materials, texts, etc. The
availability of such a large corpora will make materials accessible and easily extractible. Already
several languages have large corpora including Kiswahili, English, German, etc. Very few Nigerian
languages can boast of such robust corpora.

Research results and projects, including students‟ work could be stored electronically. In other words,
in addition to having paper reports, researchers and students could provide diskette copies of their
project in a diskette or CD Rom, with minimal space and cost; secondly, the reports and projects
become more easily accessible to other users, Thirdly, in this era of where students move from one
University to another to plagiarise other students‟ projects, it would be easy to keep track of project
titles, abstracts and where such work has been done, thereby reducing the incidence of plagiarism. For
instance, the University of Uyo Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages has embarked on
this on collection data in local languages collection with the 2001/2002 graduating students‟ projects.

These are general suggestions on the possibilities of making use of IT resources for language
development in Nigeria. There are specific examples of what has been done already and also on-
going.
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Uwe Seibert of the Summer Institute of linguistics and the University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria, has an
excellent website on Nigerian languages. According to Seibert the website serves the following
purpose:
 Enlightening one on the language ecology of Nigeria
 Gives report on ongoing research in Nigerian languages
 Informs dreamers about opportunities for studying Nigerian languages in Jos and abroad
 Emphasize the urgent need for the documentation of the endangered languages of Nigeria,
This is first website that is devoted exclusively to Nigerian languages from Nigeria designed
by a Nigerian. The website has several links to other useful pages and also provides information on
practical ways of language documentation, writing reference grammars and other related matters. The
same thing can be done in Nigerian languages.

Challenges
It would be naïve to think or suggest that exploiting IT resources for the development of Nigerian
languages is cheap. Such a project needs human and technological resources in addition to massive
funding Tadadeju and Chiatoh (2002), Cited in Urua (2003). From the human perspective, it will
require the training and retraining of linguists in modern IT application. Linguists and other resource
persons working in the field of language development need to be able to make use of computers,
browse the Internet and websites, utilize multimedia in teaching and research, create websites for the
indigenous languages and cultural groups, etc. Satellite communication devices and computer
hardware and software are necessary for the development of the languages. Taken together, both
human and technological involvement require huge financial layout, it is thereofore important that the
various tiers of government, private sector, socio-cultural groups and other stakeholders are persuaded
on the need to provide adequate funding for human development and technological acquisition in the
area of language development. One way to train is by starting programmes in the universities with
adequate financial and institutional support as is being initiated in Uyo with initial funding support
from the German Academic Foundation (DAAD). It is unrealistic to expect that the amount of
funding required can come from a single source such as the government. Funding must of necessity be
multisource-government, private industries, multinational groups, universities and research
institutions, socio-cultural groups and all stakeholders in our local language. When funding is derived
from interested source, more accountability, probity and a desire to achieve success will be the set
goal. Everyone will have a stake in the development of languages.

Conclusion
Information Technology resources such as the Internet and World Wide Web have revolutionized the
approach to problem solving, including language problems. Within a split second, and with a few
clicks of the computer mouse button, it is now possible to access information thousands of miles
away. It is also possible to collect and store masses of information (data) that using paper would
ordinarily occupy tens of buildings, on just a single CD Rom. Information is available to anyone who
has access to the Internet. Languages (especially previously unknown ones) have assumed a public
profile through websites, e-mails, chat groups, etc. (Crystal 2001). Carrying out research in Nigerian
languages with the availability of IT resources considerably reduces the time needed to search for
information and makes research much more fun! Given this scenario, it is believed that what had been
thought to be insurmountable in the development of Nigerian languages, can be made much easier if
and when we invest extensively in IT resources for our people. We can utilize shared ideas and
resources, especially the inexpensive ones, such as the Simputer developed in India. Such resources
can be modified to suit our own peculiar circumstances. Ease of doing collaborative research,
 CAJES Vol. 4 No 1 | April 2016

developing language teaching and learning resources, especially for cross border languages within
Nigeria and across the African continent, given the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN)
framework, will be much easier when IT resources are exploited in Nigerian languages.
Recommendation
Having shown the dwindling level of relevance of indigenous Nigerian languages, it is important that
as concerned and interested members of the Nigerian linguistic community, we suggest strategies to
address this unsatisfactory and inexcusable situation. One way of addressing the problem of the non-
development of indigenous languages in Nigeria in the context of the 21st century and current
scientific and technological development, is to look to the area of information Technology (henceforth
IT). In the next section we shall address ourselves to how IT can assist in the development of
indigenous Nigerian languages. But in order to move beyond mere rhetoric to action, we must begin
the process now. The ACALAN Plan of Action has important objectives and we sincerely believe that
NINLAN being the clearinghouse of language issues in Nigeria should be empowered, in conjunction
with other relevant arms of government, to actually move to implement these objectives. For instance,
we can begin from the basics, which is having a clearly defined language policy for Nigeria and then
proceed to the implementation stage, which is the real crux of the matter.
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