RELEVANCE OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS AND THE INDIGENIZATION OF ENGLISH IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Language is an attitude subject, therefore, the awareness of attitude in any policy for language, especially in a multilingual context is very essential. No policy will succeed if it does not conform to the expressed attitude of those involved and also persuade those who express negative attitude about the rightness of the policy. Thus, language attitude offers an interesting area of study in sociolinguistics. The focus of this paper is to investigate the relevance of sociolinguistics to the indigenization of English in Nigeria and determine the trend of the nation’s compliance to indigenization of English in the country. The focus of the sociolinguist is on the effect that social institutions have on language and how the use of language affects each social class. As at today, in most educated Nigerian homes, English is encouraged as a medium of communication, hence its relevance and adoption in the society as an indigenized language