LINGUISTIC IDENTITY AND CULTURAL INTEGRATION OF HAUSA COMMUNITY IN IDIARABA, LAGOS STATE

Abstract

Integration into an alien culture often poses a great challenge to immigrants and minority groups as a result of ethnolinguistic disparities. Among other means of indexing cultural identity, language stands out as a core element. This study aims at investigating cultural integration among Hausa groups resident in Idiaraba, Lagos State with a view to delineating the degree to which they used Yoruba, attitudes to Yoruba (language) and perception of Yoruba (people). The significance of this study is anchored on the dominance of indigenous Hausa in Idiaraba community and its implication on peaceful co-existence with the host community. The ethnolinguistic identity theory was adopted in the quantitative survey. Through stratified random sampling, 300 respondents were sampled and later divided into two strata: Hausa Born in Lagos (HBL) and Hausa Born in the North (HBN). The variable adopted in the study is place of birth and analysis was carried out with the aid of simple percentage. The result revealed that a significant majority of the (HBL) used Yoruba to an appreciable degree, had a positive attitude to Yoruba and a positive perception of Yoruba. Among the HBN, a significant majority used Yoruba negligibly, had negative attitude towards Yoruba and a negative perception of Yoruba. However, the reasons advanced for the negative perception of Yoruba were mainly influenced by stereotypes and prejudice. Evidently, place of birth was a significant predictor of ethnolinguistic integration and bi-culturation. This study posits that ethnolinguistic groups, irrespective of status, should linguistically identify and integrate with the host community as a leeway to cross cultural interaction and understanding, and the benefits of inclusion and diversity.