It is estimated that, if nothing is done, half of 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. With the disappearance of unwritten and undocumented languages, humanity would lose not only a cultural wealth but also important ancestral knowledge embedded, in particular, in indigenous languages. “The death of a language is like the burning of a library.”
Ethnologist lists Nigeria as having 15 endangered languages,
According to the study of a research carried out in 2007 in Imo and Lagos state to test Igbo competency level of three age groups , aged 1-5 and,6-11,and adults, a grim picture awaits the language . The report shows that seventy percent of children between 6-11 years and ninety percent of children aged five years and below were unable to speak Igbo language . The Igbo language will likely become extinct in the next fifty years.
Many Yoruba adults and young elements – wittingly or unwittingly have declare a ceaseless war against their own language as it is their common enemy .
Ngugi wa thiong ‘o a popular Kenyan novelist said “for me enslavement is knowing all the languages of the world ,but you don’t known your own” Empowerment is when you know your own language and you add other languages to it
The way forward is too urge us all to start speaking in mother tongue to our children at home, we should promote our language and encourage our children to speak it .

This calls for some concern. But we 've got a federal Ministry that should be taking care of this.

Ability to speak english by a child is the beginning of wisdom to baby boomers in the southwest now.

a whole latin is all but extinct na our own una dey talk. its all part of civilisation. nobody speaks d language of the ancient Eyptians either

^^I'M PROUD OF YOU.

Yoruba can never be extinct, it can only evolve

macof: Yoruba can never be extinct, it can only evolve

lol. I hope so.

1 shortblackboy: a whole latin is all but extinct na our own una dey talk. its all part of civilisation. nobody speaks d language of the ancient Eyptians either

that is latin not our language do u think d latin people will be happy that their language is gone? u dont know d value of what u have until u lose it

1 shortblackboy: a whole latin is all but extinct na our own una dey talk. its all part of civilisation. nobody speaks d language of the ancient Eyptians either

Leaving our languages behind has nothing to do with being "civilized."

MamiWata:

Leaving our languages behind has nothing to do with being "civilized."

I didn't mean civilisation in d sense which u are using it. Meant it in d sense of the genral progression of mankind. Man and society has never been static. Some aspects of culture are done away with while some are borrowed from other cultures. And some are even invented. Language which is an aspect of culture is subject to these changes. Eg d English we speak today is not thesame spoken some 200 yrs ago

If those languages were useful, they would not disappear, while languages are disappearing, people are learning other languages. The best thing you can do for your child is to teach him fluent English without the hausa or igbo accent(base language), chinese (second best option) , french or spanish*( third best), german or korean or greek or hindi (fourth category).


But if you want them to become local government chairmen and councillors because your vision is extreemely limited , then go ahead and employ a teacher to teach them the thickest , toughest dialect of your village.


P.s
Zoque-Ayapaneco, an indigenous Mexican language is considered the most likely to become extinct, because the only two people in the world that speak it fluently, do not talk to each other!

And, it's not because they live in different countries, states or even villages - In fact, Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez, both in their 70's, reside within 500 yards of each other, in the village of Ayapa in the Southern Mexican State of Tabasco. They however, refuse to converse because they simply don't have much in common. Segovia is apparently a little 'brusque' in nature whilst Velazquez is described as 'stoic'.

Na WA

Hmmm, interesting post, I will take up with the ministry of culture and I will make sure this issue is resolved before it gets out of hand

no wonder my Igbo neighour's children preferring to speak Yoruba to Igbo here in Lagos. i dnt think Yoruba lang can fade away.

tragedy

macof: Yoruba can never be extinct, it can only evolve

yoruba is the 3rd most spoken language in cuba. Yet there ar so dumb.

Nothing will ever make me speak English to my child' NAWA for modern Parents. Its not like the English they speak to their Kids is Standard'

Chimzy2: Hmmm, interesting post, I will take up with the ministry of culture and I will make sure this issue is resolved before it gets out of hand

i di kwa sure?

Hausa is the last language that will ever go into extinction

When you lose your language you lose your culture! This must not be allowed to happen.

As long as there is Owambe, yoruba language cannot disappear.

Abeg no fear bro... Nothing go do PIDGIN ENGILISH.... E dey kampe like mama bomboys ponmo

homesteady: Hausa is the last language that will ever go into extinction

yea. There hav never known english or any other language.

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homesteady: Hausa is the last language that will ever go into extinction

i agree with you

1 shortblackboy: a whole latin is all but extinct na our own una dey talk. its all part of civilisation. nobody speaks d language of the ancient Eyptians either

True. But i don't believe that a language spoken by 45 million people will go extinct. It will only be modified, as words from other languages will be fused into it. If you read novels in old english, you go bow.

macof: Yoruba can never be extinct, it can only evolve

Into Igbo

macof: Yoruba can never be extinct, it can only evolve

As in kilo happen?

its so sad the way parents and guardians discourage der kids from speaking their mother tongue. Some think that when their kids speak English dey look exotic or intelligent. FYI the ability to speak more than 1 lang makes one intelligent. Look at the likes of Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe learned vastly in their mother tongue and Excelled in the White man's language. Missed placed priorities. In some years to come it has been predicted the same white man would come teach us our language.

I pledge to promote my language.

Honestly most of our indigeneous language are on there way to extinction, most of our parents have done more harm to the language, imagine some parents beating their children for speaking in their local language . Some time i wonder while would a parent speak english with their children when you can communicate easily in your language. That is y i love speaking my Yoruba Language, anytime anywhere anyplace , i only speak in english where i believe is needed anything outside that is my foot.